Manerium, (à manendo, because the usual residence of the owner,) seems to have been a district district of ground, held by lords or great personages; who kept in their own hands so much land as was necessary for the use of their families, which were called *terrae dominicales*, or *domestic lands*; being occupied by the lord, or *dominus manerii*, and his servants. The other, or *tenantial lands*, they distributed among their tenants; which, from the different modes of tenure, were called and distinguished by two different names.—First, *book land*, or charter-land, which was held by deed under certain rents and free services, and in effect differed nothing from free socage lands: and from hence have arisen most of the freehold tenants who hold of particular manors, and owe suit and service to the same. The other species was called *folk-land*, which was held by no assurance in writing, but distributed among the common folk or people at the pleasure of the lord, and returned at his discretion; being indeed land held in villenage. See *Villenage*.

The residue of the manor, being uncultivated, was termed the *lord's waste*, and served for public roads, and for common of pasture to the lord and his tenants. Manors were formerly called *baronies*, as they still are *lordships*; and each lord or baron was empowered to hold a domestic court, called the *court-baron*, for redressing misdemeanors and nuisances within the manor, and for settling disputes of property among the tenants. This court is an inseparable ingredient of every manor; and if the number of suitors should fail, as not to leave sufficient to make a jury or homage, that is, two tenants at the least, the manor itself is lost.

In the early times of our legal constitution, the king's greater barons, who had a large extent of territory held under the crown, granted out frequently smaller manors to inferior persons to be held of themselves; which do therefore now continue to be held under a superior lord, who is called in such cases the *lord paramount* over all these manors: and his seigniory is frequently termed an *honour*, not a *manor*; especially if it hath belonged to an ancient feudal baron, or hath been at any time in the hands of the crown. In imitation whereof, these inferior lords began to carve out and grant to others still more minute estates, to be held as of themselves, and were so proceeding downwards in *infinitum*, till the superior lords observed, that, by this method of subinfeudation, they lost all their feudal profits of wardships, marriages, and ejectments, which fell into the hands of these mesne or middle lords, who were the immediate superiors of the *terrae tenant*, or him who occupied the land; and also that the mesne lords themselves were so impoverished thereby, that they were disabused from performing their services to their own superiors. This occasioned, first, that provision in the 32d chapter of *magna charta*, 9 Hen. III. (which is not to be found in the first charter granted by that prince, nor in the great charter of king John,) that no man should either give or sell his land, without reserving sufficient to answer the demands of his lord; and, afterwards, the statute of Wiltshire, or *qua emptores*, 18 Edw. I. c. 1., which directs, that, upon all sales, or sequestrations of land, the secoffee shall hold the same, not of his immediate secoffor, but of the chief lord of the fee, of whom such secoffor himself held it. But these provisions not extending to the king's own tenants in capite, the like law concerning them is declared by the statutes of *prerogativa regis*, 17 Edw. II. c. 6. and of 34 Edw. III. c. 15., by which last all subinfeudations, previous to the reign of king Edward I., were confirmed; but all subsequent to that period were left open to the king's prerogative. And from hence it is clear, that all manors existing at this day, must have existed as early as king Edward the First: for it is essential to a manor, that there be tenants who hold of the lord; and, by the operation of these statutes, no tenant in capite since the accession of that prince, and no tenant of a common lord since the statute of *qua emptores*, could create any new tenants to hold of himself. See *Villenage*.

*MANS*, an ancient, rich, and populous town of France, capital of the county of Maine, with a bishop's see. Its wax and stuffs are famous. It is seated on a high hill near the river Sarthe, in E. Long. o. 10. N. Lat. 47. 58.

*MANSFELD*, a city of Germany, and capital of a county of the same name, in the circle of Upper Saxony. E. Long. 12. 55. N. Lat. 51. 35.

*MANSFIELD*, a town of Nottinghamshire in England, seated in the forest of Sherwood. It is a pretty large town, with good houses; drives a great trade, and is famous for malt. W. Long. 1. 6. N. Lat. 53. 12.

*MANSIO*, a term often mentioned in itineraries, denoting *inn* on the public roads to lodge in, at the distance of eighteen miles from each other; (Lactantius.) Also, in the lower ages, it came to denote, "an encampment for one night," (Lampadius).

*MANSIO*, or *Mansus*, was sometimes also used in the same sense with *hide*; that is, for as much land as one plough could till in a year. See *HIDE*.

*MANSE*, *MANSUS*, *Manfa*, or *Manfum*; in ancient law-books, denotes an *house*, or habitation, either with or without land. See *House*, and *Mansion*. The word is formed *a mansendo*, "abiding;" as being the place of dwelling or residence.

*Capital Manse*, (*Manfum Capitale*) denotes the *manor-house*, or lord's court. See *Manor*, and *Court*.

*Mansus Presbyteri*, is a parsonage or vicarage house for the incumbent to reside in. This was originally, and still remains, an essential part of the endowment of a parish-church, together with the glebe and tithes. It is sometimes called *Presbyterium*. See *Presbytery*.

*MANSION*, *MANSIO*, a dwelling-house, or habitation, especially in the country. See *Manse*.

*Mansion* is more particularly used for the lord's chief dwelling-house within his fee; otherwise called the *capital messuage*, or chief manor-place. See *Manor*.

*MANSLAUGHTER*, the unlawful killing of another, without malice either express or implied: Which may be either voluntarily, upon a sudden heat; or involuntarily, but in the commission of some unlawful act. These were called, in the Gothic constitutions, *homicidia vulgaris*; *qua aut cafa, aut etiam sponte committitur, sed in subitaneo quodam iracundia calore et impetu*. And hence it follows, that in manslaughter there can be no accessories before the the fact; because it must be done without premeditation.

1. As to the first, or voluntary branch: If upon a sudden quarrel two persons fight, and one of them kills the other, this is manslaughter; and so it is, if they upon such an occasion go out and fight in a field; for this is one continued act of passion: and the law pays that regard to human frailty, as not to put a hasty and deliberate act upon the same footing with regard to guilt. So also if a man be greatly provoked, as by pulling his nose, or other great indignity, and immediately kills the aggressor, though this is not excusable se defendendo, since there is no absolute necessity for doing it to preserve himself; yet neither is it murder, for there is no previous malice; but it is manslaughter. But in this, and in every other case of homicide upon provocation, if there be a sufficient cooling-time for passion to subside and reason to interpose, and the person so provoked afterwards kills the other, this is deliberate revenge, and not heat of blood; and accordingly amounts to murder. So if a man takes another in the act of adultery with his wife, and kills him directly upon the spot; though this was allowed by the laws of Solon, as likewise by the Roman civil law, (if the adulterer was found in the husband's own house), and also among the ancient Goths; yet in England it is not absolutely ranked in the class of justifiable homicide, as in case of a forcible rape, but it is manslaughter. It is, however, the lowest degree of it; and therefore in such a case the court directed the burning in the hand to be gently inflicted, because there could not be a greater provocation. Manslaughter therefore, on a sudden provocation, differs from excusable homicide se defendendo in this: That in one case there is an apparent necessity, for self-preservation, to kill the aggressor; in the other no necessity at all, being only a sudden act of revenge.

2. The second branch, or involuntary manslaughter, differs also from homicide excusable by misadventure, in this; That misadventure always happens in consequence of a lawful act, but this species of manslaughter in consequence of an unlawful one. As if two persons play at sword and buckler, unless by the king's command, and one of them kills the other: this is manslaughter, because the original act was unlawful; but it is not murder, for the one had no intent to do the other any personal mischief. So where a person does an act, lawful in itself, but in an unlawful manner, and without due caution and circumspection; as when a workman flings down a stone or piece of timber into the street, and kills a man; this may be either misadventure, manslaughter, or murder, according to the circumstances under which the original act was done. If it were in a country village, where few passengers are, and he calls out to all people to have a care, it is misadventure only: but if it were in London, or other populous towns, where people are continually passing, it is manslaughter, though he gives loud warning; and murder, if he knows of their passing and gives no warning at all, for then it is malice against all mankind. And, in general, when an involuntary killing happens in consequence of an unlawful act, it will be either murder or manslaughter, according to the nature of the act which occasioned it. If it be in prosecution of a felonious intent, or in its consequences naturally tended to bloodshed, it will be murder; but if no more was intended than a mere civil trespass, it will only amount to manslaughter.

3. As to the punishment of this degree of homicide: The crime of manslaughter amounts to felony, but within the benefit of clergy; and the offender shall be burnt in the hand, and forfeit all his goods and chattels.

But there is one species of manslaughter, which is punished as murder, the benefit of clergy being taken away from it by statute; namely, the offence of mortally stabbing another, though done upon sudden provocation. See STABBING.