The Impact of the Law of Property Legislation 1922-1925 on Manors and Manorial Records in England and Wales

The abolition of copyhold tenure by section 128(1) the Law of Property Act 1922 effectively marked the end of the manorial system in England and Wales. The Law of Property Amendment Act 1924 granted to the Master of the Rolls jurisdiction over manorial records. In 1926, Manorial Documents Rules and a Manorial Documents Register were made to ensure their preservation. The paper will take the position that the impact of the Manorial Documents Register has been beneficial as it has ensured the preservation of a range of historical evidence which has little or nothing to do with copyhold.
However, criticisms may be made of the Manorial Documents Rules. These Rules include some records which are generic Estate records rather than exclusively manorial, to the intent that the word manor is used to mean a unit of administration rather than an ancient jurisdiction. This is particularly the case in Wales It will be argued that around the 2013 deadline, when manorial rights lost their overriding status, there were questionable assumptions about the universality and homogeneity of a manorial system. By way of a backdrop, a mid-nineteenth century Welsh case1 concerning manorial rights will be analysed to make a link with s.117 LRA 2002.