Property Law in Colonial New York

rdf:langString Property Law in Colonial New York

rdf:langString Property Law in New York during the 17th Century colonial period was based upon manorialism. Manorialism was characterized by the vesting of legal and economic power in a Lord of the Manor, supported economically from his own direct landholding in a manor and from the obligatory contributions of a legally subject population of tenants and laborers under the jurisdiction of his manorial court. These obligations could be payable in several ways, in labor, in kind, or, on rare occasions, in coin. However, by the start of the 18th century, the political influence of popularly supported "assemblies," notably the Albany Assembly, had begun to effectively break the legal power of the manor lords, and place it quite firmly in the hands of those who held the vote under the "Lawes of England." This was interpreted in the Province as persons who were freehold land owners and leasehold tenants with a lifetime lease, provided that in either case the land was valued at least £40. Politically, this may not have resulted in much change considering that manor lords won representation of their manors in every election from 1691 to 1776. In fact, only two elections were even contested, and then simply by rival factions within the same manorial families. In the law, however, there was a quite radical change as tenants were converted from mostly "at will" leaseholders, whose lease was at the will of the manor lords, to mostly lifetime leaseholders and freeholders.