Exemplification of the Common Recovery, with Double Voucher, (1683-1760, King of Great Britain)

by Richard Weale and Thomas Wroughton from Jonathan Evendon, Gent., of "3 messuages, 7 gardens, 70 acres of land, fifty acres of meadow, 50 acres of pasture and 10 acres of wood" in Bromley Chart next Sutton Valence, Boughton Monchelsea, Langley and Erith, Kent, heard before Sir John WILLES, 1685-1761, from 1737 Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and implemented by Thomas Hodsdon Esq., Sheriff of Kent, Evendon vouches [calls upon] to warrant him in possession the original owners in tail Charles and his wife Sarah Raymond, John and Thomas Webster, who are thereupon sued by Weale and Wroughton, so the original owners in tail call upon Samuel Ward as common vouchee, fine large portrait of George II in elaborate initial 'G', 8¾" x 7½", the heading continues along the top with a wide border of female figures including Britannia, and the Royal Arms, all engraved, vellum tab, Seal of the Court of Common Pleas in green-brown wax, 4½ inch diameter, the obverse bears George II enthroned, with figures emblematic of power and justice, the reverse bears the Royal Arms supported by a dragon and greyhound, below are the remains of the legend 'PRO BREVIBUS CORAM IUSTICIARIIS', the document vellum 28¼" x 33", Westminster, 7th May, 17th year of George II, seal defective at top near tab and on sinister side of the king's figure, lacking about one third in all, worn and legends faint, rust offset of former metal seal case affects several words near end (all can be supplied) and has caused three small holes in the decorative heading A 'common recovery' converted an 'estate in tail', burdened by conditions as to who might inherit, into an 'estate in fee simple', with absolute power to dispose of it. A friend of the owner claimed in court that the estate was all along in fee simple, and that he had been disseised of it by a fictitious Hugh Hunt within the past thirty years (in Ireland, Hugh Blake and twenty years). A 'common vouchee', usually the court crier, next claimed, untruthfully, that he had sold the lands to the present owner. Judgment was given for the friend, and against the common vouchee, who was supposed to give the present owner lands of equal value. As he was a 'man of straw', he never did. In this way the estate was conveyed to the friend, to be returned or disposed of by private arrangement. In later recoveries 'with double voucher', as here, the present owner in tail previously conveyed the estate to a further friend. The further friend called upon the owner in tail to warrant his possession, and the owner in tail called on the common vouchee. Common recoveries, designed to bind all parties and cover all loop-holes, were abolished in 1833, and replaced by a simple form of deed made by the owner.