To Benjamin Franklin from John Alleyne, M[arch?] 17, 1772
From John Alleyne3
ALS: Historical Society of Pennsylvania
17 M[arch?4] 1772
Dear Sir,
I am oblig’d to enquire in what Manner the People of Georgia usually transfer their Property in Lands, whether by the old mode of Conveyancing by Feoffment or by the modern Refinements of Lease and Release, Bargain and Sale &c.5
As I cannot obtain this Peace of Information from any of my young Friends at the Temple, I trouble You with this Epistle, and shall think myself oblig’d by your Answer. I am Dear Sir Your most Obedient Humble Servant
J Alleyne
3. See above, XV, 182–3.
4. This could, of course, be either March or May, and our policy is to choose the earlier.
5. The conveyancing of a freehold by feoffment, with livery of seisin, involved a public ceremony in which the donor, before witnesses, invested the donee with the land. The “modern Refinements” were later methods of transferring real property without such a ceremony. In Georgia a statute of 1768 recognized both feoffment and deeds of bargain and sale. Candler, ed., Ga. Col. Recs.,XIX, 96–9.