This is from the Introduction of Langley's, South Carolina Deed Abstracts 1719-1772. These four volumes of deeds consist largely of abstracts of conveyances or transfers of title to land that had earlier been granted. Conveyances during the Royal period usually took the form of a "lease and release." Under English law, for an unrestricted conveyance to be made, a buyer had to have possession of a piece of land as a lessor. A separate "lease" for a nominal amount gave him tenancy rights for up to a year. He became eligible to claim possession one day following execution of the lease and thus became entitled to obtain a "release" that gave him absolute and unqualified ownership. These "L. & R." documents contain essentially the same information, and each set was accordingly abstracted as though it were a single record. Joy ----- Original Message ----- From: Mickey Fournier To: SC-Genealogy-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 8:21 PM Subject: [SC] Lease and Release While we are on the subject of land transfers in South Carolina, can someone please explain to me the "lease and release" system? In terms an old lady can understand?

Thank you. I have a copies of a couple of these where the lease was one day and the release the next. The rent was "one peppercorn" or something and, as you mentioned, the release had almost identical language. It just all seemed very odd to me! Mildred "Mickey" Fournier 1730 SE CR 252 Lake City, FL 32025 mickey@se.rr.com > -----Original Message----- > From: Joy King [mailto:joyk@sc.rr.com] > Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 10:16 PM > To: SC-Genealogy-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [SC] Lease and Release > > This is from the Introduction of Langley's, South Carolina > Deed Abstracts 1719-1772. > > These four volumes of deeds consist largely of abstracts of > conveyances or transfers of title to land that had earlier > been granted. Conveyances during the Royal period usually > took the form of a "lease and release." Under English law, > for an unrestricted conveyance to be made, a buyer had to > have possession of a piece of land as a lessor. A separate > "lease" for a nominal amount gave him tenancy rights for up > to a year. He became eligible to claim possession one day > following execution of the lease and thus became entitled to > obtain a "release" that gave him absolute and unqualified > ownership. These "L. & R." documents contain essentially the > same information, and each set was accordingly abstracted as > though it were a single record. > > Joy > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Mickey Fournier > To: SC-Genealogy-L@rootsweb.com > Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 8:21 PM > Subject: [SC] Lease and Release > > > While we are on the subject of land transfers in South > Carolina, can someone > please explain to me the "lease and release" system? In > terms an old lady > can understand? > > > ==== SC-Genealogy Mailing List ==== > To UNSUBSCRIBE > Write SC-Genealogy-L-Request@RootsWeb.com > Plain Text with just the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of > letter Change the "L" to "D" if you have Digest Mode > > ============================== > Jumpstart your genealogy with OneWorldTree. Search not only > for ancestors, but entire generations. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13972/rd.ashx >