Relating to Lands in Co. Kerry, 1762 Manuscript: Large docu...

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€200 - €300

Relating to Lands in Co. Kerry, 1762

Manuscript: Large document on Vellum, in English, 3 membranes. Royal portrait at top left corner; across the top a scroll of vine leaves with an English rose and a Scottish thistle. Seal of the Irish Court of Common Pleas (intact).  Endorsed: “An exemplification of a recovery suffered by Richard Chute Esq. and Francis Chute his son of lands in the county of Kerry, Easter Term 1762.”

Prior to 1834 it was illegal for the owner of an entailed estate to sell any part of his lands.  Lawyers, however, found some ingenious methods of evading this restriction, one of which was a fictitious lawsuit in which the owner was said to “suffer a common recovery”.  An “exemplification of common recovery” was generally  an impressive (and no doubt expensive) document – large, written on vellum in an ornate script, headed with the royal portrait and national emblems, and bearing the large seal of the relevant court. The legal phraseology was often extremely complicated, but so formulaic that it was seldom written out in full.

In this case, the owners were Richard and Francis Chute of Tullygarran and the prospective purchasers were the Hon. William Crosbie of Ardfert and Stephen Mills of Cork, banker. The lands are named as Tullygarran, Ballygakin alias Ballygakee, Ballyard, and Clogherclinin alias Clogherclemin, in the barony of Traughanackmee. A large impressive document, as a m/ss., w.a.f. (1)