{
  "schema": "https://archive.neruda-archives.org/files/context/public-context-v1.schema.json",
  "identifier": "NRA-L-000027",
  "language": "en",
  "status": "published",
  "title": "Conveyancing reform in an 1841 legal letter",
  "deck": "A property transaction written months after Parliament changed lease and release",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-07-29",
  "version": "1.0",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "The transaction under discussion",
      "paragraphs": [
        {
          "text": "R. C. Campion's letter of 11 October 1841 to J. Phillips discusses the conveyance of a reversion in fee. It refers to Rowe as the original lessee, Gliddon as assignee and person in possession, and an intended purchase of the reversion. Campion says that he holds the original lease as security.",
          "sources": [
            1
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Lease and release after the 1841 Act",
      "paragraphs": [
        {
          "text": "Lease and release was a two-part method of conveying freehold land: a lease for a year first placed the buyer in possession, followed by a release of the seller's remaining estate. The Conveyance by Release Act 1841, formally 4 & 5 Vict. c. 21 and enacted on 18 May, allowed a release to operate without the preceding lease for a year. Campion wrote less than five months later and expressly considered the effect of the new Act.",
          "sources": [
            1,
            2,
            3
          ]
        },
        {
          "text": "The letter also weighs older language and forms, including livery of seisin and the words 'demise and grant'. Its question is practical: which instrument and wording would safely complete this particular chain of title?",
          "sources": [
            1,
            3
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Stamp duties",
      "paragraphs": [
        {
          "text": "Campion compares stamp charges of 20 shillings on a mortgage and 25 shillings on another deed. The Stamp Duties Act 1815 supplies the broader statutory setting, but the letter alone does not establish which duty was legally correct for the proposed instrument.",
          "sources": [
            1,
            4
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "evidence_limits": [
    {
      "text": "The context identifies the Act by its formal regnal citation, 4 & 5 Vict. c. 21, without silently altering the manuscript transcription. The final conveyance, the Town Council's position and the correct stamp assessment have not been located in a related deed or case file.",
      "sources": [
        1,
        2,
        4
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "source-1",
      "kind": "Primary source · manuscript",
      "citation": "Neruda Archives, NRA-L-000027, digital images and reviewed transcript of R. C. Campion's letter dated 11 October 1841.",
      "url": "https://archive.neruda-archives.org/NRA-L-000027",
      "link_text": "View the archive record",
      "support": "Supports the parties, chain of title, legal questions and stated stamp amounts."
    },
    {
      "id": "source-2",
      "kind": "Primary source · legislation",
      "citation": "Conveyance by Release Act 1841, 4 & 5 Vict. c. 21, enacted 18 May 1841.",
      "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/4-5/21/contents/enacted",
      "link_text": "Read the enacted Act",
      "support": "Confirms the formal citation, date and abolition of the preceding lease for a year."
    },
    {
      "id": "source-3",
      "kind": "Archival research guide",
      "citation": "University of Nottingham, Manuscripts and Special Collections, 'Lease and Release'.",
      "url": "https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/researchguidance/deedsindepth/freehold/leaserelease.aspx",
      "link_text": "Read the research guide",
      "support": "Explains the historical two-document conveyancing mechanism."
    },
    {
      "id": "source-4",
      "kind": "Primary source · legislation",
      "citation": "Stamp Duties Act 1815, 55 Geo. III c. 184, enacted text.",
      "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo3/55/184/enacted",
      "link_text": "Read the enacted Act",
      "support": "Provides the wider statutory context for the stamp-duty discussion."
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "NRA-L-000027-claim-01",
      "statement": "Campion discusses a reversion in fee, an existing lease and the instrument needed to complete the conveyance.",
      "evidence_type": "stated_in_document",
      "certainty": "documentary",
      "source_ids": [
        "source-1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "NRA-L-000027-claim-02",
      "statement": "The Conveyance by Release Act 1841 allowed a release to operate without a preceding lease for a year.",
      "evidence_type": "independently_confirmed",
      "certainty": "confirmed",
      "source_ids": [
        "source-2",
        "source-3"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "NRA-L-000027-claim-03",
      "statement": "Campion wrote less than five months after the Act was enacted.",
      "evidence_type": "scholarly_inference",
      "certainty": "confirmed",
      "source_ids": [
        "source-1",
        "source-2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "NRA-L-000027-claim-04",
      "statement": "The correct stamp duty and final form of the conveyance remain unresolved.",
      "evidence_type": "unresolved",
      "certainty": "open",
      "source_ids": [
        "source-1",
        "source-4"
      ]
    }
  ]
}