1 Inst. 62 a. 4 Rep. 29 b. Frosel v. Welsh, Admittance. any subsequent act of his which shows his assent to the surrender, will be sufficient. 38. A surrender is good though the surrenderor dies before it is presented, provided it be presented within the time required by the custom. is if the persons to whom the surrender is before presentment. And so it made die 39. Copyhold lands were surrendered to two te nants out of court, who died before presentment. It was held, that the surrender was good, and might be presented at the next court, by any other copyholder of the manor. 40. When a surrender is duly presented in court, by the homage or jury, the lord, by his steward, grants the copyhold which has been surrendered and presented, to the person to whose use it was surrendered, and thereupon admits him tenant to the copyTit. 10. c. 2. hold; and the grant and admittance is entered on the court-rolls of the manor, in the following words: § 5. c. 2. § 3. 41. "And the said C. D. being present in court in his own proper person, prayed to be admitted tenant to all and singular the said last-mentioned premises, according to the form and effect of the said surrender to whom the lord of the said manor, by his said steward, granted seisin thereof by the rod, to hold to him the said C. D. and his heirs for ever, at the will of the lord, according to the custom of the said manor, by the rents, duties, and services therefore due and of right accustomed. And he was admitted tenant thereof in form aforesaid; gave to the lord for a fine five shillings, and made his fealty." 42. It has been stated in Title X. Copyhold, that every copyhold estate is held by a grant from the lord. But in the case of a sale or descent of a copy hold, no separate grant is made to the purchaser or heir, the grant being inserted in the admittance. 4 Rep. 22 b. From which it has been held, that the admittance ४ may be pleaded by way of grant. 1 E Cro. Ja. 103. 43. Lord Coke says, in admittances upon sur- Co. Cop. renders, the lord to no intent is reputed as owner, § 41. but wholly as an instrument; and the party admitted shall be subject to no charges or incumbrances of the : lord; for he claims his estate under the party that made the surrender; and in a plaint in the nature of a writ of entry in the per, it shall be supposed in. the per by him, not by the lord. 282. 44. The acceptance of the new tenant by the lord, Gilb. Ten. constitutes the essence of an admission, all the rest is mere form; and therefore any act of the lord showing his consent to the surrender, amounts to an implied admittance; but still the admission must be regularly entered on the court-rolls, 45. The mere acceptance of a surrender by the steward, and the entry thereof in the court-rolls, with the delivery of a copy of such entry to the surrenderee, will not amount to an admittance. 46. A copyholder surrendered out of court, ac- Rawlinson cording to the custom of the manor, and the surrender V. Green, Poph. 127. was presented at the next court, and an entry thereof made by the steward thus,-Compertum est per homagium, &c.; but there was no admittance. It was determined, that this entry on the rolls did not amount to an admittance. 1st. Because the a ceptance of the presentment by the steward from the homage was no more than what he was bound to do, as being judge of the court. 2dly. Because the entry of it on the roll was but an office of duty, being but evidence to the court, as also to him to whose use the surrender was made; and so was the delivery Tit. 10. c. 4. 2 Term R. 484. Who may admit. § 4. I Inst. 59 b. of the copy to the surrenderee. But none of these things did imply the consent of the lord that the cestui que use should be admitted to have the land according to the surrender; and all these things together did not imply an admittance; for all of them might be done, though no admittance were in the case. 47. It has been stated, that the admittance of a tenant for life is an admittance of the persons in remainder; because the estate for life and the remainder only constitute one estate of inheritance. 48. A mandamus will be granted by the Court of King's Bench to compel the lord of the manor to admit a person, to whom a copyhold has been surrendered. 49. We have seen that in the case of voluntary Tit. 10. c. 2. grants of copyholds, every lord of a manor pro tempore may make such grants, and admittances in consequence thereof: but in the case of admittances upon surrenders, this doctrine is carried still farther, because the lord is only deemed an instrument to admit the cestui que use, and no more passes to the lord than is necessary to serve the limitation of a use: so that no respect is had to the quantity or quality of his estate in the manor; for whether it be by right or by wrong, admittances made by him can never be called in question on account of any defect in his title, because they are judicial acts, which every lord is bound to do. 4 Rep. 24 a. The Admit tance must to the Sur render. 50. As the lord has only a customary power to be according make admittances, according to the terms of the surrender, and is nothing more than a mere instrument; it follows, that if there be any variance between the admittance and the surrender, either in the person, the estate, or the tenure, or in any other point, the Co. Cop. $ 41. admittance is good, so far as the lord has executed his power; but where he exceeds it, he acts without authority, and therefore the excess is void. 51. Thus, Lord Coke says, if A. surrenders to Idem. 4 Rep. 29. the use of I. S. for life, and the lord admits him in fee, an estate for life only passes. So if a person surrenders without mentioning any certain estate; because by implication of law an estate for life only passes; though the lord admits in fee, no more passes Vide infra. than the implication of law will warrant. If a person surrenders with the reservation of a rent, and the lord admits, not reserving any rent, or reserving a less rent than was reserved on the surrender, the admittance would be wholly void: but if the lord reserved a greater rent, then would the reservation be void only for the surplusage; and the admittance so far good, as it agreed with the surrender. If a surrender was made upon condition, and the lord omitted the condition, the admittance would be wholly void; but if the surrender was absolute, and the lord's admittance conditional, the condition would be void, and the admittance, in all other respects, good. Surrender 52. A surrender and admittance, when made pur- Effect of a suant to the custom of the manor, operate as effec- and Admittually in transferring a copyhold estate, as a feoffiment tance. or any other common law assurance can operate in transferring an estate of freehold. 53. It is laid down by Lord Coke, that a surrender, Co. Cop. where by a subsequent admittance the grant is to re$39. ceive its perfection and confirmation, is rather a manifesting of the grantor's intention, than of passing away any interest in the possession; for, till admittance, the law takes notice of the grantor as tenant, and he shall receive the profits of the land to his own use, and The Admittance relates Surrender. § 53-55. shall discharge all services due to the lord; yet the interest is in him but secundum quid, and not absolutely, for he cannot pass away the land to any other, or make it subject to any other incumbrance than it was subject to at the time of the surrender: neither in the grantee is any manner of interest invested before admittance; for if he enter, he is a trespasser, and punishable in trespass; and if he surrender to the use of another, the surrender is merely void, and by no matter ex post facto can be confirmed. But though the grantee hath but a possibility upon the surrender, yet this is such a possibility as is accompanied with a certainty; for the grantee cannot possibly be deluded or defrauded of the effect of his surrender, and the fruits of his grant: for if the lord refuse to admit him, he is compellable to do it by a subpæna in Chancery; and the grantor's hands are ever bound from the disposing of the land any other way, and his mouth is ever stopped from revoking or countermanding his surrender. 54. This doctrine has been in some degree altered back to the by determinations, in which it has been established that the surrender is the substantial part of the conveyance, and a complete execution of the contract, as between the vendor and vendee; that the admittance must be pursuant to the surrender, and consequently must relate to it; but that the estate of the surrenderee is complete to many purposes before admittance. 1 Inst. 59 b. Porter v. Porter, 55. Thus Lord Coke, in his Comment on Littleton, says, if two joint tenants be of copyhold lands in fee, Cro. Ja. 100. and one out of court, according to the custom, surrenders his part to the use of his last will, and devises it to a stranger in fee, and dies, and at the next court |