CONSTRUCTIVE MANUMISSION 287
be shown where such agreements have been made;1 and, what is
more to the point, we have instances which reveal that some
lords were aware of the risk and acted accordingly. Thus, when
the Chapter of Wells made a grant in 1247 to a villein who held
2^ acres of their demesne, they added a clause which stated that,
"nevertheless he and his heirs should not be free men by means
of the said grant but perform rents and services as before".2
The risks the unwary lord ran are well illustrated by the case in
Bracton's Note Book where a certain Roger de Sufford gave a
piece of land to one of his villeins, William Tailor, to hold freely
by free services, and when Roger died, his son and heir William
de Sufford confirmed the lease. The lord afterwards ejected the
tenant who brought an action against him and recovered posses-
sion.3 Here, it is clear that the lawyers considered the serf had
acquired the freehold by reason of the free services attached to it,
and therefore they decided that, before the law, he was a free man.
By Britton's time (c. 1291) a great many things were taken by
the lawyers to imply constructive manumission:4
A villain may recover his freedom several ways, as if his Lord enfeoff
him of any tenement to him and his heirs, whether he receive his
homage or not.... A bondman also becomes free if he marries his Lady,
aswellasabondwomanwhenherLordmarriesher... .When any bond-
man or bondwoman once becomes free, or is enfranchised by the free
bed of his Lord or of any other, we ordain in favour of freedom and of
matrimony that they and their issue shall for ever be held free----A
bondman may be enfranchised by the recognisance of his Lord, as
if his Lord has acknowledged him to be free in a court of record....
Likewise by writing of his Lord as if his Lord has for himself and for
his heirs quitclaimed to the bondman and his heirs all manner of
right.. .by reason of the bondage of his blood----So also where the
bondman can prove by record of our court that the Lord has knowingly
suffered him to be upon juries and inquests in our courts as a
freeman.
The above passage may serve as a comprehensive statement of
the law concerning such manumissions, and undoubtedly it
aided a number of men to win their freedom. But the law of the
ICing's Courts was not a thing easily comprehended by the
1 Pollock and Maitland, op. cit. I, 418; CaL Inquis. Misc. II, 473.
* Hist. MSS. Com. Wells, i, 72. In 1327 another grant makes similar
reservations; I, 216.
a B.N.B. No. 184, * Op. cit. I, 198-209 passim.