TITLE XXVII. A $42. A Foreft. 61. A Free Warren. 72. Of the Title to Franchifes. froyed. 76. Reunion with the Crown. 78. Surrender. 79. Forfeiture. Section 1. FRANCHISE is defined to be a royal privilege or branch of the royal prerogative, fubfifting in the hands of a fubject, by grant from the King. And formerly grants of royal franchises were so common, that in the parliament which was held 21 Edw. 3. there is a petition from the Commons to the King, ftating that franchifes had been fo largely granted in times past, that almost all the land was enfranchised, to the great averisement and eftenyfment of the common law, and in great oppreffion of the people; and praying the King to restrain fuch grants for the time to come; to which his Majefly answered, that the franchises which fhould be granted in future, fhould be made by good advisement. § 2. Franchifes are extremely numerous, and of various kinds; but only fome of those will be here treated treated of, which are immediately annexed to, or connected with real property. § 3. There are a variety of franchises annexed to manors, the principal of which are, the right to hold a court leet, and to have waifs, wrecks, eftrays, trea-, fure-trove, royal fifh, forfeitures, and deodands: all which were originally a part of the royal prerogative, and were granted by the crown to the perfons entitled to thofe manors. § 4. A court leet is a court of record, having the fame jurifdiction within fome particular precinct, which the Sheriff's torn hath in the county. This court is not neceffarily appendant to a manor, like a court baron, but is derived from the Sheriff's torn; being a grant from the King to certain lords, for the ease of their tenants, and refiants within their manors, that they may adminifter juftice to them in their manors. § 5. To every court leet is annexed the view of frankpledge; vifus frankplegii; which means the examination or furvey of the frankpledges of which every man, not particularly privileged, was anciently obliged to have nine, who were bound that he should always be forthcoming to anfwer any complaint. § 6. Waifs are goods, which have been ftolen, and waived, or left by the felon, on his being purfued, for fear of being apprehended. 5 Rep. 109 a. 3 Hawk. P. C. 450. 5 Rep. 109 a. Thus, if a felon, who is pursued, waives the goods, or, thinking that he is purfued, flies away, and leaves the goods behind him; the king's officer, or the bailiff of the lord of the manor, who hath the franchife of waif, may feife the goods to the king's or lord's use, and keep them; unless the owner makes a fresh pursuit after the felon, and fues an appeal of robbery, within a year and a day; or gives evidence against him, whereby he is attainted, &c. in which cafe the owner fhall have reftitution of his goods, fo ftolen and waived. § 7. The reason that waifs are forfeited, and that the perfon, from whom they were ftolen, fhall lofe his property, is, on account of his default in not making fresh fuit, to apprehend the felon; for which the law has imposed this penalty on the owner. § 8. Though waif is generally fpoken of goods ftolen; yet, if a man be pursued with hue and cry as a felon, and he flies, and leaves his own goods, these will be forfeited as goods ftolen. But they are properly fugitive's goods, and not forfeited, till it be found before the coroner, or otherwise of record, that he fled for the felony. § 9. If the thief had not the goods in his poffeffion when he fled, there is no forfeiture; for, if a felon fteals goods, and hides them, and afterwards flies, there is no forfeiture. So, where he leaves stolen goods any where, with an intent to fetch them at another time, they are not waived; and, in these cafes, cafes, the owner may take his goods where he finds Cro. Eliz. them. - 694. § 10. Wreck fignifies fuch goods, as, after a fhip Wreck. has been loft, are cast upon the land: for they are not 2 Inft. 167. wrecks as long as they remain at sea, within the jurisdicton of the Admiralty. And where a ship perishes 5 Rep. 106. at fea, and no man escapes alive out of it, or is driven on fhore, abandoned by her crew, this is called a wreck. 108. § 11. By the common law, all wrecks belong to the 2 Inft. 167. king; and this prerogative is founded on the dominion he has over the feas: for, being fovereign thereof, and protector of fhips and mariners, he is entitled to the derelict goods of merchants; which is the more reasonable, as it is a means of preventing the barbarous cuftom of deftroying perfons, who in shipwrecks approach the fhore, by removing the temptations to inhumanity. And this right may, and often does, belong to lord of manors, having the franchise of wreck. S 12. By the ftatute of Westminster 1. 3 Edw. 1. c. 4. it is enacted, that, when a man or any living creature escapes alive out of a ship cast away, whereby the owner of the goods may be known, the fhip or goods fhall not be a wreck. 2 Inft. 166. § 13. Flotfam is, where a ship is funk, or otherwife 5 Rep. 106 a perished, and the goods float on the fea; jetfam is, when the fhip is in danger of being funk, and, to lighten a. 2 Inft. 167. 6 Mod. R. 149. lighten the fhip, the goods are caft into the fea, and afterwards the fhip perifhes; lagan or rather ligan, is, when the goods are fo caft into the fea, and afterwards the fhip perifhes, and fuch goods caft are fo heavy that they fink to the bottom, and the mariners, to the intent to have them again, tie to them a buoy, or cork, or fuch other thing that will not fink, fo that they may find them again, et dicitur ligan a ligando and none of thefe goods, which are called jetfam, Alotfam, or ligan, are called wreck, fo long as they remain in or upon the fea; but if any of them by the fea be put upon the land, then they shall be deemed wreck. So, flotfam, jetfam, or ligan, being caft on the land, pafs by the grant of wreck: and, where it is provided by the ftatute of 15 Rich. 2. c. 3. that the Court of Admiralty fhall not have cognizance or jurisdiction of wreck of the fea; yet it shall have conusance and jurifdiction of flotfam, jetfam, and ligan: for wreck of fea is, when goods are by the fea caft on the land, and fo infra comitatum, whereof the common law takes conufance; but the other three are all on the sea, and therefore of them the Admiral has jurifdiction. S 14. If a fhip is purfued by the enemy, and the mariners come afhore, and leave the fhip empty, and fhe comes to land without any person in her; yet she is not a wreck, but fhall be restored to the owners. § 15. If a man, either by grant or prescription, has right to a wreck thrown upon another man's land, of |