The Case of the Widdow and Children OF JOHN SAYER Esq; Deceased, and WILLIAM LIGHTFOOT, Gent. Relating their TITLE to the Mannour of BIDSTONE, about to be Impeached by a BILL brought in before the Lords in Parliament, in Order to be passed into an Act for Restoring the Earl of Derby to the said Mannour.
BY INDENTƲRE primo Septembris, 1653. and FINE for Corroborating thereof, the Right Honourable Charlotte, Countess Dowager of Derby, the present Earl's Grandmother, and Charles Earl of Derby, and Dorothy Henene Countess of Derby, the now Earl's Father and Mother, convey the said Mannour of Bidstone, and other Lands in the County Palatine of Chester, to William Steel, his Heirs and Assigns, to the Use of him, his Heirs and Assigns for ever: But subject to the Joynture of the said Countess Dowagers, secured by a Lease for ninety nine Years to Trustees determinable upon her death, with Covenant, That the said Mannour and Premises were free from all other Incumbrances, and for enjoyment and further assurance.
By Indenture the 25th. Septembris, 1655. the said Countess Dowager and her Trustees Demise the said Mannour and Premises to William Steele for ninety eight years, if she should so long live, under the Rent of 300 l. per Annum, clear of all Taxes or Payments; and Steele enters and enjoys accordingly, and duely pays the said Rent.
In April 1662, William Steele in consideration of 6000 l. Sells and Conveys the said Mannour and Premises to John Lord Kingstone and his Heirs, but subject to the said Rent of 300 l. per Annum; who likewise enters and enjoys, and pays the said Rent during the Life of the said Countess Dowager.
The said Lord Kingstone Mortgages the same for 6000 l. and being in Possession of the Premises by his Will, 9th. of March, 1675, devises to several Trustees therein named, and their Heirs, all his Lands in England and Ireland in Trust, to sell and dispose of such parts thereof as they should think fit, for Payment of his Debts.
The Heir, Trustees, Executors, and Mortgages of the said Lord Kingstone, by good Conveyances and Assurances in the LAW in the year 1680: In consideration of 6260 l. in Money really and bona fide paid, and subject to a Judgment of 4000 l. Penalty from the Lord Kingstone to Sir Robert Vyner, not yet paid; Sell and Convey the said Mannour and Premises to the said William Lightfoot and John Sayer, Deceased; under whose Will his Widdow and Children now claim.
NOTE,
That in the Year 1662, Charles Earl of Derby, the Father of the present Earl, endeavoured to obtain an Act of Parliament to Restore him to the Mannor of Mould and Mouldsdale, Hope and Hopesdale, in the County of Flint, but never attempted to be Restored to the Mannor of Bidstone, or to Impeach the Purchasors Title, when the Original Purchasor, Steele, was alive, and in possession; but in December 1665, wrote a Letter to the said Lord Kingstone, claiming his Promise, that he might be the Purchaser, or have the Praeemption of the said Mannour, in Case his Lordship parted with it.
But now after all this length of Time, there is a BILL brought in before the Lords in Parliament, to destroy a Legal and undoubted. Title by Conveyances and Assurances solemnly and duly executed; and by a New Law, to take away this Estate from Purchasers who bought at a full vallue, and that too under a Devise for Payment of Debts by the Will of the Lord Kingstone, who was likewise a Purchaser himself for a full Consideration, and that without the least shadow of Fraud or unfair Practice in either of the said Purchasers, who had not the least reason to suspect that any such Matter would ever have been attempted, the said Charles Earl of Derby acquiesing as to this Mannour when Mr. Steele had it in Possession, though he sought to be restored to other Mannours and Lands: And yet by the said BILL the Original Conveyance is to be taken as a Mortgage, and the Purchasers in Possession, who bought it but in 1680, and are meer Strangers to the Transactions between William Steele and Charles Earl of Derby, must account for the Profit of the Premises thirty two years back, and loose the whole Consideration Money by them paid; unless they should chance to save some part thereof, by proving that William Steele, to whom they are meer Strangers, did two and thirty years ago pay a greater Consideration than the Profit of the Premises from that time till this, will amount to Satisfie.