Livery of seisin () is an archaic legal

conveyancing In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contract ...

ceremony, formerly practised in

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and in other countries following English

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

, used to convey holdings in

property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ...

. The term ''livery'' is closely related to if not synonymous with ''delivery'' used in some jurisdictions in

contract law A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more Party (law), parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, Service (economics), services, money, or pr ...

or the related law of

deed A deed is a legal document that is signed and delivered, especially concerning the ownership of property or legal rights. Specifically, in common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right ...

s. The oldest forms of common law provided that a valid conveyance of a feudal tenure in land required physical transfer by the transferor to the transferee in the presence of

witnesses In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know. A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...

of a piece of the ground itself, in the literal sense of a hand-to-hand passing of an amount of soil, a twig, key to a building on that land, or other token.

Varieties

Livery of seisin could refer to either: * ''Livery in deed'', whereby the parties met together on the land and the transferor symbolically delivered possession of the land by handing over a twig or a clump of earth to the recipient. * ''Livery in law'', whereby the parties went within sight of the land and the transferor declared to the recipient that possession was being given, followed by the recipient entering onto the land. The symbol of livery for a house was the door's ring or hasp; for mills, the "clap and hopper"; for a church, a psalm book and keys, and so on.

Legend

According to Widukind of Corvey, a

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

was approached by a local who asked to buy the Saxon's

torc A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some have hook and ring closures and a few hav ...

and

bracelet A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, ...

s. The local offered him a pile of dirt in exchange for the ornaments, which the Saxon eagerly accepted. The Thuringians thought they had made a good deal until the Saxons claimed the entire country on the basis that the dirt had been a livery of seisin, and made their legal claim good by force of arms.

Turf and twig ceremony

The turf and twig ceremony dates from the

era but was used regularly in early colonial America allowing the English and Scottish ( after 1707 termed the British), by virtue of their monarch's claims, to take sovereign possession over unclaimed lands. The process has taken several forms over the centuries. Bernulf Hodge in ''A History of

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

'' describes the process in at least Wiltshire, discontinued in the late 17th century, as follows: The last legal ceremony of seisin (sasine) in Scotland was performed in 2002 as Glenmorangie handed over the land of St Mary’s Chapel in Easter Ross to the Cadboll Trust.

Inquisitions post mortem and livery of seisin

Under the feudal system all land belonged to the monarch and was therefore either held by him directly (the royal demesne) or on his behalf, directly or indirectly.http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/inquisitions-post-mortem/ "Why were inquisitions post mortem held?" ''Inquisitions post mortem: land ownership and inheritance in the medieval and early modern periods'', The National Archives, access date 2017-09-22. Those who held land directly on the king’s behalf were known as tenants in chief. When a tenant in chief died without an heir his lands " escheated" to (fell into the hands of) the king. If there was an heir, the king kept the lands until a livery of seisin took place: the heir paid a sum of money, a "relief", to take lawfully, "assume possession" of the land. If the heir was under age the king kept the lands until he or she came of age (at 21 for men or 14 for women) and the king received rights of wardship and marriage, collecting the revenues of the estate and disposing of the heir in marriage. He was able to sell these rights to third parties, who were not necessarily the ward's next of kin. These feudal tenures and rights were abolished in the Interregnum, reintroduced and then abolished in the following period of government, the reign of Charles II (1660–1685).

Continuing ecclesiastical use

A vestige of the procedure survives in the act by which a candidate is admitted to the office of

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. Canon C11 provides:{{cite web , url=http://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/churchlawlegis/canons/section-c.aspx#Head1-71 , title=Canons 7th Edition , website=www.churchofengland.org , access-date=17 January 2022 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120711024943/http://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/churchlawlegis/canons/section-c.aspx#Head1-71 , archive-date=11 July 2012 , url-status=dead * The

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, after giving institution to any priest, shall issue directions for induction to the

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

or other the person to whom induction belongs, who shall thereupon induct the said priest into possession of the

temporalities Temporalities or temporal goods are the secular properties and possessions of the church. The term is most often used to describe those properties (a '' Stift'' in German or ''sticht'' in Dutch) that were used to support a bishop or other religious ...

of the

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

. ** The archdeacon or other such person, when he makes the induction, shall take the priest who is to be inducted by the hand and lay it upon the key or upon the ring of the church door, or if the key cannot be had and there is no ring on the door, or if the church be in ruins, upon any part of the wall of the church or churchyard, at the same time reading the words of induction; after which the priest who has been inducted shall toll the bell to make his induction public and known to the people.

References