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on the death of Philip, Lord Wharton, his father; and he thereupon re-admitted all the tenants to their estates, and assessed and received a general fine from them on that occasion.

In 1715, the Marquis died seised and in possession of the said manors; and thereupon a general fine was paid by all the tenants to Philip, Duke of Wharton, his only son and heir, who was the last general admitting Lord.

[454] In the year 1721, the Duke being seised of all the said several manors granted and conveyed the same to certain trustees, upon trust, to be sold for payment of his debts; and some time in the year 1729, the appellant purchased all the said manors, with the rents, fines, and services thereto belonging, of the trustees, for £30,400, and accordingly entered upon the possession thereof, and received the dropping fines, and the annual rents of the respective tenants, as the same from time to time became due and payable.

The Duke, after the appellant's purchase, withdrew himself out of this kingdom, and died in Spain, on the 6th of June 1731; whereupon the appellant conceiving that a general fine was become due to him by the death of the Duke of Wharton, the last general admitting Lord, held several courts customary, or courts of general dimissions, in and for the said several manors, and set and assessed & general fine upon all the customary tenants thereof.

The respondents and all the other tenants of the several manors, who were owners of the customary lands or tenements belonging to the several customary tenants, parties to the said indentures of 1613, refusing to pay the said general fine so assessed by the appellant; he, in Hilary term 1731, exhibited his bill in the Court of Chancery against the respondents, setting forth the said indentures and decrees; and insisting, that by the custom of the said several manors for time immemorial, a general fine was due upon the death of the last general admitting Lord, who continued still to be Lord till the time of his death, with regard to the payment of a general fine, notwithstanding he had sold or aliened the manors before his death; and that such custom was not varied or altered by the said indentures or decrees; and therefore prayed, that the respondents and all other the customary tenants, who claimed any customary estate within the appellant's said manors, which were the estates of any of the tenants, parties to the said indentures of 1613, might be decreed to pay the general fines assessed upon them for their said estates, as due to him on the death of the late Duke of Wharton, the last general admitting Lord, or such other fines as became due according to the said indentures and decrees, or such other fines as the court should adjudge, together with interest from the time the same ought to have been paid; and that the appellant might have the benefit of the said former decrees; and that the indentures of 1613, and the decrees thereon, might be carried into execution.

The respondents, by their answers, admitted that they were severally seised of several customary estates within, and holden of the said manors, as tenant-right, or customary estates of inheritance, descendible from ancestor to heir, according to the customs of the said manors, as the same were explained, fixed, and ascertained by the said indentures of 1613, and the decrees made thereupon; and said, that however the customs of the said several manors might have been before the said indentures [455] and decrees, with regard to the payment of a general fine on the death of the last admitting Lord, (which the respondents did not admit, but on the contrary insisted, that the fines, by the ancient custom, were payable on the death of the Lord for the time being in possession only;) yet, by the said indentures, it was clear and established, that the said general fines were now payable on the death of the Lord for the time being only.

The cause being at issue, the appellant examined several witnesses, well acquainted with the nature and practice of customary manors in the counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland; who proved, that after the death of the last general admitting Lord or Lady of any customary manor, a general fine became due and payable from all the customary tenants of the manor to the next succeeding Lord, whether he came in by descent or purchase; or whether such last general admitting Lord was, at the time of his death, in possession of the manor or not; he being considered, with respect to the continuance of the tenants estates, as Lord during his life. The appellant also proved and exhibited several indentures between the Lords and tenants of the neighbouring