Section 2.
SECOND SCHEDULEAmendments of principal Act
Saving of offices of profit from the Crown.
1The following section shall be inserted after section one hundred and forty-two of the principal Act:—
“142ANotwithstanding that, as respects manors belonging to the Crown, all manorial incidents may become extinguished, the acceptance of the office of steward or other principal officer shall be deemed to be an acceptance of an office of profit from the Crown for the purposes of section twenty-five of the Succession to the Crown Act, 1707.”
Manorial documents.
2The following section shall be inserted after section one hundred and forty-four of the principal Act:—
“144A(1)All manorial documents shall be under the charge and superintendence of the Master of the Rolls.
(2)Save as hereinafter provided, manorial documents shall remain in the possession or under the control of the lord for the time being of the manor to which the same relate and he shall not be entitled to destroy or damage wilfully such documents.
(3)The Master of the Rolls may from time to time make such enquiries as he shall think fit for the purpose of ascertaining that any manorial documents are in the proper custody, and are being properly preserved, and the lord of the manor to which such documents relate, or the governing body of any public library, or museum or historical or antiquarian society, to which the same may have been transferred, as hereinafter provided, shall furnish the Master of the Rolls with all such information with respect thereto as he may require.
(4)The Master of the Rolls may direct that any manorial documents which, in his opinion, are not being properly preserved, or which he is requested by the lord of a manor to deal with under this subsection, shall be transferred to the Public Record Office, or to any public library, or museum or historical or antiquarian society, which may be willing to receive the same, and if the same shall be transferred to any public library, or museum or historical or antiquarian society, the governing body thereof shall thereafter have the custody thereof and shall be responsible for the proper preservation and indexing thereof.
(5)Nothing contained in this section shall prejudice or affect the right of any person to the production and delivery of copies of any manorial documents or to have the same kept in a proper state of preservation; in particular the lord of the manor shall remain entitled to require the same to be produced to him, or in accordance with his directions, free of any cost.
(6)In this section “manorial documents” mean court rolls, surveys, maps, terriers, documents and books of every description relating to the boundaries, franchises, wastes, customs or courts of a manor, but do not include the deeds and other instruments required for evidencing the title to a manor; “manor” includes a lordship and a reputed lordship; and “lord of the manor ” includes any person entitled to manorial documents.
(7)The Master of the Rolls may make rules for giving effect to this section, and may revoke or vary any such rules.”
Extinguishment of manorial incidents.
3(1)At the end of paragraph (viii) of subsection (1) of section one hundred and tbirty-nine of the principal Act the words “On the application of the lord or of at least twenty ” tenants a general order may be made under this paragraph as “respects any manor ” shall be inserted.
(2)In section one hundred and forty-two of the principal Act the words “in fee ” where they first occur, are hereby repealed.
Amendments of Schedules XII and XIII.
4The Twelfth Schedule to the principal Act is hereby amended as follows :—
(1)In sub-paragraph (6) of paragraph (8) the words “or a mortgagee has been admitted,” and “or would have had such right if a mortgagee had not been admitted” are hereby repealed, and, in lieu of the last-mentioned words, the words “otherwise than as mortgagee ” shall be inserted ;
In the same sub-paragraph the words “(being a trustee) ” shall be substituted for “(not being a mortgagee) ” ; and the words “if any ” shall be inserted after " personal representative. "
In the same sub-paragraph the words “a better right to be admitted than the devisee or customary heir ” shall be substituted for “the best right to be admitted, ” where those words secondly occur.
(2)The following sub-paragraphs shall be inserted at the end of the said paragraph :—
“(f)If the copyholder in fee is a mortgagee the freehold estate in fee simple shall (subject to the terms of years absolute of any mortgagees) vest in the person entitled to the equity of redemption:
(g)If a copyholder in fee, or other person entitled to an interest corresponding to a legal estate, is a trustee for a corporation or other person absolutely and beneficially entitled, the freehold estate in fee simple, or other corresponding legal estate (as the case may be) shall vest in the corporation or other person so entitled:
(h)If a person has, under the Limitation Acts, acquired a customary estate corresponding to a legal estate, then a legal estate corresponding to the customary estate so acquired shall vest in him.”
(3)In paragraph 13 of Part II. of the Thirteenth Schedule to the principal Act:—
(a)The words “forfeitures and all other” shall be substituted for “all ” ;
(b)The words “or where the copyhold interest liable to ” forfeiture is less than a customary fee simple or is " subject to a lease binding on the lord twenty per cent. “of the annual value of such copyhold interest to be ” ascertained in such manner as the Minister may “determine to be proper” shall be inserted after the words " paragraphs 3 and 4. "
Amendments of Schedule XV.
5The Fifteenth Schedule to the principal Act is hereby amended as follows :—
(1)The words “cease or ” shall be inserted after “notice shall ” in the proviso to sub-paragraph (1)(i) of paragraph 10;
(2)In sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 12 the words “an amount to be ascertained as hereinafter provided” shall be substituted for “the like amount as would have been payable if this Act had not been passed and the lease or underlease or all successive leases or underleases have been renewed in due course ” ;
(3)For sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 12 the following sub-paragraph shall be substituted :—
“(2)In default of agreement and unless the Minister, having regard to the practice and other circumstances of the case, otherwise directs, the following provisions shall have effect for the purpose of ascertaining the annual instalments of additional rent:—
(a)the additional rent shall be ascertained on the basis of the fines and other payments which would have been payable on the occasion of the first renewal after the commencement of this Act, if this Act had not been passed;
(b)where the lessee or underlessee has a right to renew at different times, the occasion of the first renewal shall be such date as he may, by notice in writing given to the lessor within one year after the commencement of this Act, select from among the dates at which he would have been entitled to renew his lease or underlease had it remained renewable, or, in default of such notice, the last day on which he would have been entitled to renew, regard being had to the date of the last renewal”;
(4)In sub-paragraph (3)-of paragraph 12 the words “or in default” shall be substituted for “and in default ” ;
(5)In sub-paragraph (5) of paragraph 12 for the words from “dividing the aggregate” to the end of the paragraph, the following words shall be substituted :—
“an actuary, regard being had to the interval or average interval occurring between the dates of renewal and to any circumstances affecting the amount payable on renewal”;
(6)In sub-paragraph (6) of paragraph 12 the words “such” percentage as the Minister may generally or in “any particular instance with a view to maintaining ” any existing practice, prescribe “shall be substituted for the words ” five per cent. " ;
(7)At the end of sub-paragraph (1) (a) of paragraph 14 the words “or any part thereof ” shall be inserted;
(8)In sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 16, the words “or the ” appointment of or instructions to be given to an “actuary under paragraph 12 (5) of this Schedule” shall be inserted after “other agent ” ;
(9)At the end of sub-paragraph (3) of paragraph 16 the following words shall be inserted:—
“For the purposes of this sub-paragraph the compensation to be given for the loss of the said right shall be regulated by the practice (if any) which obtained, before the commencement of this Act, in assessing the value of the said right, unless the Minister otherwise directs.”