(Vol. ix., pp. 173. 309.)
The following paragraphs, containing both Notes and Queries, will doubtless
interest your readers
At the last Kent assizes held at Maidstone (March, 1854) a case was tried
by a special jury, of whom the writer was one, before Mr. Baron Parke;
plaintiffs, "the Earl of Romney and others," trustees under an act of
parliament to pay the debts of the borough of Queenborough, county Kent;
defendants, "the Inclosure Commissioners of England and Wales." Tradition
relates that Edward III. was so pleased with his construction of the Castle
of Queenborough, that he complimented his consort by not only building a
town, but creating a borough[4], which he named after her honour.[5] The
case, in various shapes, has been before the law courts for some time, and
was sent to these Kent assizes to ascertain whether Queenborough was either
a manor or a reputed manor. In the course of the trial Baron Parke said,
that, in despite of the statute _Quia Emptores_, he should rule that manors
could be created when they contained the essentials.
My first Query is, therefore, Have any manors been created in England since
the passing of that statute? In my _History of Deptford_ I have alluded to
the manor of Hatcham as one of the last manors I supposed to have been
created.
The Inclosure Commissioners, as the defendants, had been prayed by the
Leeze-holders[6] of {449} Queenborough to inclose sundry lands called
Queenborough Common; such inclosure was opposed by the trustees, who
claimed under the act of parliament which constituted their existence to be
in the position of the mayor[7], &c., and thus, if they were the lords of
the manor, to have a veto upon the inclosure of the waste. The plaintiffs
relied very much upon the following fact, which I here embalm as a _note_,
and append thereon a _query_:--During the Mayoralty of Mr. Greet[8], a
gentleman who died in 1829, a turbot was caught by a dredger on the
Queenborough oyster-grounds: this unlucky fish was immediately pounced upon
by the Queenborough officials, and seized for the mayor's behoof as his
perquisite, _a la_ sturgeon.
Query, a like instance?
The Jury, after two days' long sitting, decided that Queenborough was
neither a manor nor a reputed manor.