Page:An Essay on a Registry for Titles of Lands - Asgill (1698).djvu/18

 is bilkt, and these Conveyances by Lease and Release, which are Clandestine Conveyances, and invented by the Abuse of one Statute, and the Elusion of the other, are become the Common Conveyances of the Kingdom.

I challenge the Inns of Court to shew, that either the Common Law, or any Parliaments of England, ever directed any Incumbrances to affect Lands, but by Solemn Livery and Seisin, or matter of Record; and therefore these Clandestine Conveyances are crept in, contrary to the Intent and Meanings of Parliaments, and all the avowed Laws and Customs of the Kingdom.

There are two Common Titles to Lands in England: The one by Descent, which is proved by Marriages, Baptisms and Burials; and the other by Purchase, which is proved by Deeds; and where there is one Dispute of Title by Descent, there are ten by Purchase; because the Titles which shew the Descent are registred, and those by Purchase are not; for were these Marriages, Baptisms and Burials, left at large, without notifying of them, as Purchases are, it would soon breed Confusion in all the Descents of the Kingdom. And is it not a Reproach to the Law, that that part of the Titles of Lands, which is the Province