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Landholder of a rural estate

Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The titles date to the English feudal (specifically Baronial) system. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seignory, the right to grant or draw benefit from the estate (for example, as a landlord). The title continues in modern England and Wales as a legally recognised form of property that can be held independently of its historical rights. It may belong entirely to one person or be a moiety shared with other people. The title is known as Breyr in Welsh. In the British Crown Dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey the equivalent title is Seigneur. A title similar to such a lordship is known in French as Sieur or Seigneur du Manoir, Gutsherr in German, Kaleağası (Kaleagasi) in Turkish, Godsherre in Norwegian and Swedish, Ambachtsheer in Dutch, and Signore or Vassallo in Italian.

The manor formed the basic unit of land ownership within the baronial system. Initially in England the feudal "baronial" system considered all those who held land directly from the king by knight service, from earls downwards, as "barons". Others forms of land tenure under the feudal system included serjeanty (a form of tenure in return for a specified duty other than standard knight service) and socage (payment of a fee). Under King Henry II, the Dialogus de Scaccario already distinguished between greater barons (who held their baronies per baroniam by knight service), and lesser barons (who owned the manor without knight service). As they held their title due to ownership of manors, and not per baroniam knights service, Lords of the Manor were in the group of lesser barons. The entitlement or "title" to attend the King's Council in parliament began to be granted exclusively by decree in the form of a writ of Summons from 1265 entrenching the status of the Greater Barons and effectively founding the House of Lords. Magna Carta (which had been first issued in 1215) had declared that "No free man shall be seized, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or ruined in any way, nor in any way proceeded against, except by the lawful judgement of his peers", and thus this body of greater Barons with a right to attend parliament were deemed to be "peers" of one another, and it became the norm to refer to these magnates collectively as the "peerage" during the reign of Edward II. Meanwhile the holders of smaller fiefdoms per baroniam ceased to be summoned to parliament, and instead lesser barons of each county would receive a single summons as a group through the sheriff, and representatives from their number would be elected to attend on behalf of the group (this would later evolve into the House of Commons). This meant the official political importance of ownership of manors declined, eventually resulting in baronial status becoming a "personal" title rather than one linked to ownership of territory. The lesser Baronial titles, including Lordships of the Manor, therefore were not incorporated into the peerage. It is understood that all English Feudal Baronies that were not Lordships of the Manor and had not been upgraded into a peerage, were abolished by the Tenures Abolition Act 1660, passed after the Restoration, which took away knight service and other legal rights. This left Lordships of the Manor as the sole vestige of the English feudal system. Like their English counterparts, by 1600 manorial titles in the formerly Norman territories in France and Italy did not ennoble their holders in the same way as did, for example, a barony in these territories. Lordships of the Manor often have certain feudal era rights associated with them. The exact rights that each manor holds will be different: the right to hold a market, a right over certain waterways or mineral deposits are all within scope.

In England in the Middle Ages, land was held on behalf of the English monarch or ruler by a powerful local supporter, who gave protection in return. The people who had sworn homage to the lord were known as vassals. Vassals were nobles who served loyalty for the king, in return for being given the use of land. After the Norman conquest of England, however, all land in England was owned by the monarch who then granted the use of it by means of a transaction known as enfeoffment, to earls, barons, and others, in return for military service. The person who held feudal land directly from the king was known as a tenant in chief (see also Land tenure).

Military service was based upon units of ten knights (see knight service). An important tenant in chief might be expected to provide all ten knights, and lesser tenants in chief, half of one. Some tenants in chief "sub infeuded", that is, granted, some land to a sub tenant. Further sub infeudation could occur down to the level of a lord of a single manor, which in itself might represent only a fraction of a knight's fee. A mesne lord was the level of lord in the middle holding several manors, between the lords of a manor and the superior lord. The sub tenant might have to provide knight service, or finance just a portion of it, or pay something purely nominal. Any further sub infeudation was prohibited by the Statute of Quia Emptores in 1290. Knight service was abolished by the Tenures Abolition Act 1660.

Manors were defined as an area of land and became closely associated to the advowson of the church; often by default the advowson was appended to the rights of the Manor, sometimes separated into moieties. Many lords of the manor were known as squires, at a time when land ownership was the basis of power. This situation could create legal problems. In January 1872, as a group, the "lords of the manor of Leeds" applied to the Law Courts to ascertain if they could "exercise acts of ownership" over land at a time when manorial rights were being sold to larger city corporations. In 1854, the lords of the manor of Leeds had "sold" these acts of ownership to the "corporation of Leeds" which would become the City of Leeds. Other town corporations bought their manorial titles in the 19th century, including Manchester, where the corporation paid £200,000 for the title in 1846. By 1925, copyhold tenure had formally ended with the enactment of Law of Property Acts, Law of Property Act 1922 and Law of Property (Amendment) Act 1924, converting copyhold to fee simple. Although copyhold was abolished, the title of Lord of the Manor remains, and certain rights attached to it will also remain if they are registered under the Land Registration Act 2002. This Act ended manorial incidents unprotected by registration at the Land Registry after October 2013. The Land Registration Act 2002 does not affect the existence of unregistered lordships after October 2013, only the rights that would have previously been attached to the same. During the latter part of the 20th century, many of these titles were sold to wealthy individuals seeking a distinction. However, certain purchasers, such as Mark Roberts, controversially exploited the right to claim unregistered land. A manorial title (i. e. Lord of the Manor) is not a title of nobility, as in a peerage title.

The holder of a lordship of the manor can be referred to as Lord or Lady of the manor of [Placename], or Lord or Lady of [Placename], for example Lord or Lady of Little Bromwich, this shortening is permitted as long as "of" is not omitted and the name of the holder is included before as not to imply a peerage. The style 'Lord of the Manor of X' or 'Lord of X' is, in a sense, more of a description than a title, somewhat similar to the term Laird in Scotland. King's College, Cambridge has given the view that the term 'indicated wealth and privilege, and it carried rights and responsibilities'. It is debated whether manorial lordships can be classed as a noble title, historically holders of manorial titles were seen as people of rank. They are a semi extinct form of hereditary landed title that grants the holder the rank of Esquire by prescription and are considered high gentry or lower, non peerage nobility by contemporary heralds and students of nobiliary. Lordship in this sense is a synonym for ownership, although this ownership involved a historic legal jurisdiction in the form of the court baron. The journal Justice of the Peace & Local Government Law advises that the position is unclear as to whether a lordship of a manor is a title of honour or a dignity, as this is yet to be tested by the courts. Technically, lords of manors are barons, or freemen; however, they do not use the term as a title. Unlike titled barons, they did not have a right to sit in the House of Lords, which was the case for all noble peers until the House of Lords Act 1999. John Selden in his esteemed work Titles of Honour (1672) writes, "The word Baro (Latin for Baron) hath been also so much communicated, that not only all Lords of Manors have been from ancient time, and are at this day called sometimes Barons (as in the stile of their Court Barons, which is Curia Baronis, &c. And I have read hors de son Barony in a barr to an Avowry for hors de son fee) But also the Judges of the Exchequer have it from antient time fixed on them."

Since 1965 lords of the manor have been entitled to compensation in the event of compulsory purchase. Before the Land Registration Act 2002 it was possible for manors to be registered with HM Land Registry. No manorial rights could be created after 1925, following entry into force of the Law of Property Act 1922. Manorial incidents, which are the rights that a lord of the manor may exercise over other people's land, lapsed on 12 October 2013 if not registered by then with the Land Registry. This is a separate issue to the registration of lordships of manors, since both registered and unregistered lordships will continue to exist after that date. It is only their practical rights that lost what is called 'overriding interest', or in other words the ability to affect land even if the interests or rights are not registered against that land, as of 12 October 2013. Manorial incidents can still be recorded for either registered or unregistered manors; however, proof of existence of the rights may need to be submitted to the Land Registry before they will be noted and they may not be registered at all after affected land is sold after 12 October 2013. This issue does not affect the existence of the title of lord of the manor.

A manorial lordship or ladyship is not connected to the English or British Peerage system, but rather is a remnant of the feudal or Baronial system that pre dates it. It is debated as to whether the title forms part of the "titled" strata of the British nobility which is these days predominantly linked to titles of peerage, but the title has historically been associated with the English landed gentry and squirearchy within the context of the class structure of the United Kingdom. The status of lord of the manor is today often associated with the rank of esquire by prescription. The Historical Manuscripts Commission maintains two Manorial Document Registers that cover southern England. One register is arranged under parishes, the other is arranged under manors and shows the last known whereabouts of the manorial records, the records are often very limited. The National Archives at Kew, London, and county record offices maintain many documents that mention manors or manorial rights, in some cases manorial court rolls have survived, such documents are now protected by law. Ownership of a manorial lordship can be noted on request in British passports through an official observation worded, 'The Holder is the Lord of the Manor of '.

The issues of land claims were raised in the UK Parliament in 2004 and were debated with a reply on the subject from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs acknowledging 'need for reform of the remnants of feudal and manorial law' as a case was highlighted in Peterstone Wentloog, Wales, where villagers were being charged excessive fees to cross manorial land to access their homes.

There were fears in 2014 and earlier, that holders of the manorial rights would allow fracking under the homes and near local communities of people living within the manorial estate after a disclosure that 73,000 applications to assert manorial mineral rights had been received by the Land Registry. Many of the applications received were from the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall asserting their historic "manorial mineral ownership".