It will be noticed that in this description the Court- Leet is not mentioned. This is because, though it existed in every Manor, it was not of its essence as the Court-Baron was. The Court-Leet was a Sheriff's court and had cognizance only of offences against the King, or the King's peace, below the degree of high treason.

The Manors of New York, in consequence of their having been erected after the statute of Charles II. (12 Charles IL, ch. 24, Anno 1660) abolishing the

iThis word is 90 spelled in the Report, but it is spelled 'Theam ' or 'Team,' by Sir Henry Ellis in the "Introductiun to Domesday," vol. i. p. 275.

-Fourth Report of CommissioDers, Appendix, p. 106. 3 Coke's preface to his 10th report. [ * Terms of the Law 490, ed. of 1685.

military tenures and turning them into free and common soccage, never possessed, nor were their lords ever invested with, the powers, privileges, rights, duties, and burdens of the old feudal manors of England as thus described. It is owing to ignorance of this fact, or the concealment of it, as the case may be, that s« much misconception has been generated in the popular mind, by some writers, and also by some lawyers and men in public life, who in the recent past sought political preferment, or private gain, in relation to the manors of New York, their tenants, and their owners. As to the latter, a curious error has obtained credence. We often, at this day, see them written of, and hear them spoken of, as Nobles. " Lord Philipse " and " Lord Pell " are familiar examples of this ridiculous blunder in Westchester County. No grant of a feudal manor in England at any time from their first introduction ever carried with it a title,' and much less did any grant of a New York freehold manor ever do so.