First, whereas it is surmised by the said Elizabeth that she was possessed and seised of a messuage and four acres of land in the town of Great Hormead in the shire of Hertford, and the said messuage and land held to her and to her heirs at the will of my lord of Oxford as of his manor of Hormead in the same shire by copy of court roll after the custom of the said manor, and that the said Harry Edmond, farmer of the same manor, without cause reasonable and contrary to the custom of the said manor, entered into the said messuage and land and put out the said Elizabeth: The said Harry saith that the said messuage and land be holden of my said lord of Oxford bondly at the will of my said lord as of his said manor by the services of three shillings and halfpenny of yearly rent and by a certain service called the common fine, as it falleth more or less after the entries and ... of the tenants of the said manor by the custom of the said manor, by cause whereof the said Harry with one Thomas Denys, under-steward of the court of the said manor, by the commandment of my said lord of Oxford entered into the said messuage and land, after which entry my said lord let the said messuage and land to the said Harry for term of years, by virtue of which lease he [entered] the said messuage and land, as lawful is for him, which matter the said Harry is ready to prove as this Court will [award], and prayeth as for that to be dismissed out of this Court. [And as for t]he seizing and withholding of certain goods and chattels of the said Elizabeth, Harry Baron and Richard, to the value of [40 marks, as is sur]mised by the said bill, the said Harry Edmond saith that the seizing and withholding of the said goods and chattels is a matter determinable at the Common Law, and not in this Court of the Chancery. Wherefore as for that he prayeth to be dismissed out of this Court. And as for the declaration of the said Harry as for the said goods and chattels, the said Harry saith that he never seized nor withheld the said goods and chattels neither no parcel thereof, as it is surmised by the said bill, which matter the said Harry Edmond is ready to prove as the Court will award, if the Court rule him thereto. And as for the lying in await surmised by the said bill the said Harry Edmond saith that the said lying in await is matter determinable by the Common Law and not in this Court of the Chancery, wherefore as for that matter he prayeth to be dismissed out of this Court of the Chancery. But, for the declaration of the said Harry Edmond in that matter, the said Harry Edmond saith that he never lay in await neither to beat nor to slay the said Harry Baron nor the said Richard, as they surmise by their said bill, which matter the said Harry Edmond is ready to prove as this Court will award, if the said Court will rule him thereto.[136]