SECTION 2. lands therein comprised, such fine or recovery shall not be rendered valid by this act so far as the same shall have been reversed; and where any person who would have been barred by any fine or common recovery if valid shall before the passing of this act have had any dealings with the lands comprised in such fine or recovery on the faith of the same being invalid, such fine or recovery shall not be rendered valid by this act; and this act shall not render valid any fine or common recovery as to lands of which any person shall at the time of the passing of this act be in possession in respect of any estate which the fine or common recovery, if valid, would have barred, nor any fine or common recovery which, before the passing of this act, any Court of competent jurisdiction shall have refused to amend; nor shall this act prejudice or affect any proceedings at law or in equity, pending at the time of the passing of this act, in which the validity of such fine or recovery shall be in question between the party claiming under such fine or recovery and the party claiming adversely thereto; and such fine or recovery, if the result of such proceedings shall be to invalidate the same, shall not be rendered valid by this act; and if such proceedings shall abate or become defective in consequence of the death of the party claiming under or adversely to such fine or recovery, any person who but for this act would have a right of action or suit by reason of the invalidity of such fine or recovery shall retain such right, so that he commence proceedings within six calendar months after the death of such party. XXVII. With regard to the records of fines and and SECTION 2. cords of fines and recoveries in the courts of Common Ma- minster and Lancaster, and Pleas at West the court of Pleas at Dur ham, after the 31st of Dec. 1833. recoveries, it is by s. 13 enacted, that after the As to the rethirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three the records of all fines common recoveries levied and suffered in his jesty's court of Common Pleas at Westminster, and all the proceedings thereof, shall be deposited in such places and kept by such persons as the said court of Common Pleas shall from time to time order or direct; and the records of all fines and common recoveries levied and suffered in his Majesty's court of Common Pleas at Lancaster, and all the proceedings thereof, shall be deposited in such places and kept by such persons as his Majesty's justices of assize for the county palatine of Lancaster for the time being shall from time to time order or direct; and the records of all fines and common recoveries levied and suffered in the court of Pleas of the county palatine of Durham, and all the proceedings thereof, shall be deposited in such places and kept by such persons as the said court of Pleas shall from time to time order or direct; and in the meantime the said records and proceedings shall remain in the same places respectively where they are now deposited, and be kept by the respective persons who would have continued entitled to the custody thereof if this act had not been passed; and while the said records and proceedings respectively shall be kept by such persons respectively, searches may be made and extracts and copies obtained as heretofore, and on paying the accustomed fees; and when any of SECTION 2. the records and proceedings shall, by the order of the court or justices having the control over the same, be kept by any other person, then, so far as relates to the records and proceedings in the custody of such other person, searches may be made and extracts or copies obtained at such times and on paying such fees as shall from time to time be ordered by the Court or justices having the control over the same; and the extracts or copies so obtained shall be as available in evidence as they would have been if obtained from the person whose duty it would have been to have made and delivered out the same if this act had not been passed. Instruments on record. XXVIII. It often happens that deeds are enrolled either in conformity to some statutory requisition, or for the purpose of safe custody; such instruments, however, (with one exception) though said to be on record, are not, properly speaking, assurances by matter of record. The exception alluded to is the case of a bargain and sale of lands indented and enrolled in pursuance of the stat. 27 Hen. 8, c. 16 (a). Copies of enrol- With regard to copies of enrolments, "the rule is," ments, when evidence. says Mr. Phillips (b), "that an examined copy of the enrolment of a bargain and sale of freehold in lands, pursuant to the statute of Henry 8, is as good evidence as an examined copy of the original itself; and where the original is wanting (as where it has been lost or destroyed, or where different parcels of land are comprised in the same indenture, and after (a) Rex v. Hopper, 3 Pri. 495. (b) Phill. Evid. i. 463. wards derived to different persons) (a), a copy of the SECTION 2. enrolment, signed by the proper officer, who has the custody of the enrolment, and proved by oath to be a true copy, will have the same force and effect as the original itself would have, if produced (b). But a copy of the enrolment of a bargain and sale of a chattel interest, or of any other deed enrolled for safe custody, is not admissible in evidence, except as against the party acknowledging the deed, or persons claiming under him; and against such party, and against all claiming under him, an examined copy of the enrolment of any deed is admissible, and equivalent to an examined copy of the original deed " (c). XXIX. It was remarked in a former part of this section (Art. XXI.), that whenever the original title deeds cannot be delivered into the custody of the purchaser, he is entitled, at the expense of the vendor, to attested copies of them. This, however, must be understood of instruments not on record. "In some cases, however," says Sir E. Sugden, a purchaser can obtain attested copies even of instruments on record: for a purchaser is entitled to examine the abstract with the original title deeds, or with attested copies of them; and, therefore, if a vendor has not the instrument itself, and cannot obtain it, he is bound to procure an attested copy of it, to enable the purchaser to ascertain that the (a) See preamble of sect. 3, See 14 East, 231; 1 Schoal. & 10 & 11 Anne, c. 18. Lef. 207. (b) St. 10 Anne, c. 18, s. 3. (c) Phill. Evid. i. 464. of the right to attested copies of instruments on record. SECTION 2. abstract is correct; and when it is obtained, the purchaser is of course entitled to it, on the completion of the purchase, unless, indeed, the vendor retains other estates holden under the same title” (a). 3. Assurances by special cus tom. of court rolls. XXX. 3. Assurances by special custom are usually by surrender and admittance, and principally relate to property of copyhold tenure. The proper evidence of title to such property, consists of the Stamped copies several stamped copies of court rolls originally made out by the steward of the manor, and delivered by him to the parties concerned; for these are the ordinary indicia of property, and, as it were, the title deeds of a copyhold estate. If the original copies produced, their are not produced, their absence must be satisfactosatisfactorily acrily accounted for; and until it is shewn beyond all If the original copies are not absence must be counted for. doubt that they are either lost or destroyed, a purchaser or mortgagee cannot be advised to rely altogether on a reference to the manor rolls; for these inform him only as to any legal incumbrances on the estate, and not as to any equitable mortgage created by a deposit of the copies of court rolls (b). tice, and, as they believed, the general practice of the profession, (a) Sugd. Vend. & Pur. i. 529. (b) Whitbread v. Jordan, 1 You. & Coll. 303. In this case, to require from the vendors or evidence was produced on both sides relative to the practice of solicitors upon the sale or mortgage of copyholds, in requiring or not requiring stamped copies of the admissions of the vendors or mortgagors. On the part of the plaintiff, it was stated by several solicitors to be their prac mortgagors of copyhold premises the production of such copies; and that it was the duty of the solicitor, if such copies could not be produced, to inquire and satisfy himself of the reason of their non-production, and to explain the circumstances to his client. On the other side, an equal num |