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1721 Complaint & Answer - Jonathan Reeve et al vs. John Reeve & Thomas Baynes

17210609_Chancery_Reeve_et_al_vs_Reeve_and_Baynes

1721 Complaint & Answer - Jonathan Reeve et al vs. John Reeve & Thomas Baynes


Introduction

Court of Chancery: Six Clerks Office: Pleadings 1714 to 1758

Transcript

9th June 1721
To the Right Honorable Thomas Lord parker Baron of Macclesfield Lord High Cancellor of Great Britain

Hmbly Complaining sheweth unto your Lordship your Orators & Oratrix Jonathan Reeve John Reeve & Elizabeth his wife (which said Jonathan Reeve & Elizabeth are two of the children of Jonathan Reeve deced by Elizabeth his wife & Grandchildren of Jeremiah Reeve late of Bocking in the County of Essex Gent deced) And your orators Joseph Reeve & James Reeve two other of the children of the said Jonathan Reeve deced by the said Elizabeth his wife & grandchildren of the said Jeremiah Reeve both infants under the age of twenty one years (by the said Elizabeth Reeve their mother & next friend) that the said Jeremiah Reeve was in his life time (that is to say) in or about the year of our Lord one six hundred ninety three seized in fee simple to him & his heirs of & in one messuage tenement or farme with all the lands meadows pastures woods & woodgrounds thereto belonging with every of their appurtenances situate lying & being in Stamburne Ridgewell & Birdbrooke or in some or one of them in the said County of Essex and then or then late in the tenure or occupacon of Robert Smith his assignee or assigns And alsoe all that messuage tenement or farme called Fenns with all the lands meadows pastures woods & woodgrounds with their & every of their appurtenances thereunto belonging situate lying & being in Bocking aforesaid and then in the tenure or occupacon of Joseph Polley his assignee or assignes and also all that mesuage tenement or farme comonly called Willowbyes with all the lands meadows pastures feedings & appurtenances thereunto belonging situate lying & being in Bocking aforesaid then or then late in the tenure or occupacon of William Pettit his assignee or assignes and alsoe all those two messuages or tenements then called or known by the name of the Red Lyon situate lying & being in Bocking aforesaid & then or late in the tenure or occupacon of Joseph Holmes his assignee or assigns and alsoe one feild or hose? of land comonly called Eney or otherwise containing by estimacon seven acres more or less lying & being in Stysted in the County of Essex & then or then late in the tenure or occupacon of John Kelley his assignee or assignes and was alsoe seized of & in all that customary messuage tenement or farme called Gunnells or otherwise and of all the lands meadows pastures & appurtenances thereunto belonging situate lying & being in Woodham Walter in the said County of Essex and then or then late in the tenure or occupacon of Isaac Osborn his assignee or assignes held of the mannor of Woodham Walter in the said County of Essex and which he the said Jeremiah Reeve had in his life time surrendered to the uses menconed in his last will and the said Jeremiah Reeve being soe seized did whilst he was of sound & disposing mind & memory duly make his last will & testament in writing bearing date on or abbout the nineteenth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred ninety three which will was by him duly executed in the presence of four credible witnesses & he did thereby among other things give & bequeath unto his loving friends John Reeve of Bocking aforesaid Gent & John Morley of Little Maplested in the said County merchant all his said messuages lands tenements & hereditaments by the name of of all his houses & lands whatsoever & wheresoever both freeholds & coppyhold with their & every of their appurtenances to them & their heirs for ever upon the severall trusts & for the severall uses herein after menconed (that is to say) To the use of the said John Reeve one of the Defds herein after named during the term of his natural life (he keeping the same in tenantable reparacons) & after his decease thento the use of all the grandchildren of the said Jeremiah Reeve that should be liveing at the death of his said son and that should be the children begotten or to be begotten between the body of his son in law Jonathan Reeve & Elizabeth his wife & his son in law John Baynes & Ellen his wife & the survivor of them as by the said will (relacion being thereunto had) may appear And your orators & oratrix further shew unto your Lordshipp that the said Jeremiah Reeve departed this life soon after the makeing & publishing his said will without revoakeing the same or any part thereof And after his death the said John Reeve his son entred upon the said Houses & lands & hath enjoyed the same ever since and is now in possession thereof that your orator Jonathan Reeve & oratrix Elizabeth Reeve now the wife of your Orator John Reeve and your orators Joseph Reeve & James Reeve the infants are all the children of the said Jonathan Reeve & Elizabeth his wife and as such are by virtue of the said will well intitled jointly with the children of the said John Baynes & Ellen his wife herein after named for Defts to the Revercon or Remainder of the said Houses & lands both freehold & coppyhold expectant upon the death of the said John Reeve son of the said Jeremiah Reeve and your orators did hope that the said John Reeve the son of the said Jeremiah would not only have kept the said premises & estates good reparacons but that he would not alsoe have done anything to the prejudice of the said estates either by cutting down any timber or other trees therefrom or otherwise he the said John Reeve son of the said Jeremiah being by the express words of the will of the said Jeremiah made only tenant for life & being thereby also obliged to keep the same in tenantable reparacons But now soe it is may it please your Lordship that the said John Reeve son of the said Jeremiah Reeve combineing & confederating to & with Thomas Baynes John Baynes William Baynes Robert Baynes & Mary Baynes now the wife of Charles Gibbs & Elizabeth Baynes children of the said Thomas Baynes & Ellen his wife and to & with divers other persons unknown to your orators (whose names when discovered your orators pray may be inserted in this their Bill of complaint and they made partyes thereto with apt words to charge them) how to lessen the yearly value of the said houses & lands in reverson to the prejudice of your orators & oratrix the said John Reeve son of the said Jeremiah Reeve hath cutt down great numbers of timber & other trees from all the said lands and doth threaten to destroy & cutt down all the young trees & saplins and all other timber trees now standing & growing upon the said premisses and to justifye such his proceedings he the said John Reeve doth sometimes pretend & give out in speeches (tho' untruely) that his said father did not make such will as herein before is set forth but that he dyed intestate & didn't make any disposicon in his life time of his estate neither free hold nor coppyhold and that therefore all his said lands & tenements both freehold & coppyhold upon the death of the said Jeremiah descended & came to the said John Reeve as his son & heir and for that reason the said John Reeve son of the said Jeremiah Reeve doth pretend that he is not restrained from cutting down any timber or timber trees or comitting any other wast or spoyle upon the said premisses or any part thereof and at other times the said John Reeve doth pretend that if his said father did make such will & thereby devise all his houses & lands to the said John Reeve for life as aforesaid that he was not compos mentis at the time of making thereof, or if he was that the said John Reeve is not thereby restrained from cutting down any timber or comitting any wast upon the said premisses whereas your orators expressly charge (as the truth is) that the said Jeremiah Reeve did make such will as aforesaid and that he was of sound mind & memory at the time of makeing thereof & that by the express words of the said will the said John Reeve is made only tenant for life of the said estate & is to keep the same in tenantable reparacons & hath not therefore any power to cutt down any of the said timber of from the said estate and the said John Reeve hath promised and agreed to make the said Thomas Baynes John Baynes William Baynes Robert Baynes Charles Gibbs & Mary his wife & Elizabeth Baynes atisfaccon for what damage they shall sustain by cutting down the said timber trees from of the said premises & therefore they are unwilling to joyn with your orators in tender consideracon whereof & for that your orators are remediless in the premisses in & by the strict rules of law and are proper before your Lordship in a court of Equity where matters of the like nature or cognizable to the end therefore that the said John Reeve son of the said Jeremiah Reeve Thomas Baynes John Baynes William Baynes Robert Baynes Charles Gibbs & Mary his wife Elizabeth Baynes may true answer make to all & singular the said premises as if the same were herein again particularly repeated and interrogated unto and that the said John Reeve son of the said Jeremiah Reeve may set forth whether the said Jeremiah Reeve did not make his will to the effect aforesaid and may set forth verbatim the severall clauses in the said will whereby he did devise the said estate to the said John Reeve & to your orators & oratrix and alsoe may set forth a particular account of all & every the timber or other trees he or his agents have cutt down or permitted to be cutt down from of all the said premisses since the death of the said Jeremiah Reeve & an account of the severall times when & true values of the said timber which hath been soe cutt down & to whom sold & disposed off & for what and that the said John Reeve son of the said Jeremiah Reeve may by injuncon of this honourable court be stayed from cutting down any more timber or other trees & from comitting any other waste or spoyle upon the said premisses for the future and that the money which the said John Reeve hath reced by or from any timber or other trees cutt from of the said estate may be by him duly accounted for as this honourable court shall direct your orators & oratrix hereby waveing all forfeitures comitted by the said John Reeve by his comitting the wast & spoyle aforesaid and that your orators may be releived in all and singular the premises according to equity & good conscience may it please yoru Lordship to grant unto your orators & oratrix his majestyes most gracious writt or writts of subpena to be directed to the said John Reeve Thomas Baynes John Baynes William Baynes Robert Baynes Charles Gibbs & Mary his wife & Elizabeth Baynes thereby requiring them & every of them personally to be & appeare before your Lordship at a certain day & under a certain penalty therein to be limitted & then & there true & perfect answer made to all & singular the premisses & further to stand to & abide such order direccon & decree of this honourable court as to your Lordships wisdom shall seem meet & agreeable to equity and your orators & oratrix shall ever pray &c
Paul Jodrell

Ambo Jur 27 Junii 1721

The joynt & severall answer of John Reeve & Thomas Baynes Defts to the Bill of Compt of Jonathan Reeve John Reeve & Elizabeth his wife Joseph Reeve & James Reeve Complts

These Defts saving & reserving to themselves now & att all times hereafter all & all manner of benefitt & advantage of excepcon to the manifold incertainties insufficiences & imperfeccons in the complts said Bill of Complaint conteyned for & answr thereunto or to so much thereof as these Defts are advised is materiall for them to make answr unto they answr & say that they reseive? & admitt it to be true that Jeremiah Reeve of Bocking in the County of Essex Gent father of this Deft John Reeve & Grandfather of the said other Deft was in this life time & att the time of his death seized in fee of & in the messuages lands & hereditms in the Bill mencioned & also seized to him & his heires according to the custome of the mannor of Woodham Water of & in a copyhold tenemt & lands held of the said Mannor in the sd County of Essex but whither the said Jeremiah Reeve did in his life time surrender the said copyhold tenemt & lands to the use of his will this Deft John Reeve knoweth not but leaveth the Complts to make such proof thereof as they shall be able and these Defts admitt that the said Jeremiah Reeve did on the nineteenth day of May One thousand six hundred ninety and three make his last will & testament in writing which will so far as relates to the devise of the said estates to ye orators or the said Compts is in the words or to the effect following (viz) I give & bequeath to my loveing friend John Reeve of Bocking aforesd Gent & John Morley of Little Maplested in the sd County merchant all my houses & lands whatsoever wheresoever both freehold & copyhold with their & every of their apptences to them & their heires forever upon the severall uses thereinafter mentioned (that is to say) To the use of my son John Reeve during the term of his naturall life he keeping the same in tenantable reparacons & after his decease thento the use of all my Grandchildren that are living at my said sons death that are the children begotten or to be begotten between the Bodyes of my son in law Jonathan Reeve & Elizabeth his wife & my son in law John Baynes & Ellen his wife & the survivors of them but if my said son John Reeve have heirs lawfully begotten of his body then to the use of such heires for ever & to no other use & purpose whatsoever Item my further will & meaning is that my said son John Reeve shall pay to my Daughter Jane Reeve or her assigns during the term of her naturall life the sume of sixteen pounds yearly & every year without any abatements whatsoever by four quaterly payments the first payment to be ade within one month next after my decease and if my said son John shall neglect or refuse to pay the same as aforesd that then it shall & may be lawfull for my said daughter Jane or her assigns to enter into & upon that land now in my own occupacon called the Fens or any part thereof & the same to hold & receive the profits thereof untill she be fully satisfied & pay together with all charges for entering upon the same Item My further will & meaning is that my said son John shall pay to my son in law John Ager or his assigns during the naturall life of Abigale his now wife the sume of tenn pounds yearly & every year by two equall payments without any abatement whatsoever the first payment within three mounts next after my decease but if my said son John shall refuse or neglect to pay the same as aforesd then it shall & may be lawfull for my said son in law John Ager or his assigns to enter into & upon all that land now in the occupacon of William Pettit or his assignes called Willibyes which I lately purchased of John Morley or any part of it & the same to hold & receive the profitts untill he is fully satisfyed & paid together with all charges for entering upon the same but whither the said will was duly executed insuch manner as is necessary & effectuall for the devising & disposeing of lands this Deft John Reeve sayth that he knoweth not nor can set forth but saith that he never had nor now hath any lands or estate reall or personall by virtue of the said will out of which the said severall annuityes of sixteen pounds and ten pounds p anm payable to the said Jane Reeve and John Ager respectively during the respective lives of the said Jane Reeve & of Abigale the wife of the said John Ager can or ought to be paid other than the lands & hereditamts herein & in the compts Bill particularly described & menconed & this deft John Reeve saith that he is the eldest son & heir of the said Jeremiah Reeve the testator & as such hath as he is advised notwithstanding the said will such an interest & estate in the said lands & pmisses whereof the said Jeremiah Reeve was seized as that he may lawfully cutt downe. XXXX & carry away the timber trees standing growing or being upon any of the said lands & premises and doth admitt that he did cause to be felled & cutt doin? from off the said farms and lands called the Fens about Christmas last six ?ags of logs & sold the same for one pound twelve sintts & eleven pence & no more to the best of this Defts knowledge and saith that in the months of Aprill & May last he cause to be felled but at no other time *save as aforess) since the death of the sd Jeremiah Reeve severall timber treest but the exact number of trees cannot now sett forth but saith all the timber trees so felled have been measured & they all conteyne sixty eight loads seven foot & about halfe part thereof was sold to Zacharaiah Child Thomas Huker James Punt William Baynes one of the Defts & t one (blank) a Miller of Bocking for sixty three pounds twelve shills & two pence & no more to the best of this Defts knowledge & part of the said timber so felled hath been used already in the repairing of the said messuage & farme called Fens & the remainder of the sd timber unsold is intended & ordered by this Deft for the finishing the repairs belonging to the said farme called Fens And the red Lyon part of the devised prmisses But this Deft being on the fifteenth of this instant month of June served with an injuncon issuing out of this Honble Court the greatest part of the said timber trees have not been removed & carried away from off the said prmisses but the Deft saith that Jonathan Reeve & Elizabeth Reeve his wife the father & mother the Compts having been in possession of the said lands & prmisses by the kindness of this Deft for severall years by seale from this Deft John Reeve at a small rent & his Deft hath been informed & beleives that the said Jonathan & Elizabeth Reeve did during the continuance of the said lease clandestinly cutt down & convert to their own use diverse quantities of timber from off the said prmisses or some of them of which this Deft can give no particular account But it is plain by the said will that even the said Complts being only tenants for life joyntly with the sayd Defts the Baynes's cannot be intitled to any timber felled or cutt of the said prmisses as this Deft is advised therefore this Deft beleives this suit is sett up against this Deft because this Deft hath taken the said lands & prmisses again into his own possession and thus Deft denys that he did ever threaten to cutt down all the young trees & saplins & other timber trees standing & growing upon the said prmisses or ever intended so to do but this Deft is advised he hath power so to do if he shall so think fitt & doth humbly insist that the revercon & inheritance of & in the lands prmisses not being by the said will devised from this Deft to any other person the same did upon the death of the said Jeremiah Reeve descend unto & vest in this Deft as his eldest son & heir who is now lawfully seized thereof in fee simple and the said Deft Baynes denys that the said Deft John Reeve did ever promise or agree to make settisffaccon to him for any damage he should sisteine by the cutting downe the sd timber trees from off the said prmisses but this Deft John Reeve saith that the reason why the said Thomas Baynes John Baynes William Baynes Robert Baynes Charles Gibbs & Mary his wife and Elizabeth Baynes refused to joyn with the said Compplainants in bringing their Bill in equity against this Deft was bbecause they were fully sattisfyed as this Deft John Reeve beleives that he had good right to cutt down & dispose of the said timber and these Defendts deny all unlawfull considerg canbination charged against them without that that any other matter or thing in the Complts said Bill of Complt conteyned materiall or effectuall for these Defts to make answer unto & not herein & hereby well and sufficiently answered unto confessed or avoyded have ? ordeyne ? to the knowledge of these Defts tend all which matters & things these Defts are ready to averr maintaine and prove as this Honble Court shall award and humblypray to be ? dismissed with their reasonable costs and charges in this behalfe most wrongfully susteyned
B Hale

Commentary

Parties to the case:

vs.

Source

National Archives, Kew - C 11/2793/38
TNA Series C11