Baron Longford Baron Annaly Delvin Lord Baron Ireland

Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Laws of England” (1768) applies to the Honour and Feudal Principality of Annaly and Longford, held by Dr./Jur. George Mentz, Seigneur of Fief Blondel — while preserving Blackstone’s original meaning and spirit.

⚜️ Commentary on the Feudal and Incorporeal Rights of the Honour of Annaly and Longford

Adapted from Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (1768), Book II, Chapters II–III.

Of Incorporeal Hereditaments within the Honour and Principality of Annaly–Longford

The Honour and Seignory of Annaly and Longford, now held by George Mentz, Seigneur of Fief Blondel, represents a collection of incorporeal hereditaments—that is, hereditary rights and privileges issuing out of, or annexed to, lands and tenements within the ancient territories of Annaly, Westmeath, and Longford, formerly part of the Liberty of Meath.

In legal contemplation, these incorporeal rights are intangible dignities, franchises, and liberties—not the soil or land itself, but the honours, jurisdictions, and profits issuing therefrom.
They are not visible possessions such as castles, mills, or fields; rather, they are the invisible legal and sovereign powers historically vested in the lords of the territory by royal charter, feudal tenure, or prescription.

Nature of the Honour

These rights are incorporeal hereditaments: unseen yet lawful and inheritable dignities derived from royal authority.

Of Feudal and Palatine Liberties

Under the ancient Liberty of Meath, the Nugents (Barons of Delvin, later Earls of Westmeath) and their heirs exercised palatine powers across western Meath and Annaly—powers akin to those of a small sovereign.
Such liberties included:

In modern legal language, these are incorporeal but inheritable dignities—juridical powers attached to the seignory, not to any one manor or castle.

Of Dignities and Franchises

The Honour of Annaly and Longford comprises dignities and franchises, meaning royal privileges held by a subject.
Such franchises include:

These rights are treated in law as franchises subtracted from the Crown and vested perpetually in the grantee or his heirs.

Of Rents and Services

The feudal nature of the Annaly–Longford Honour is evidenced by its rents and feudal services.
These include rents-service and rents-charge, wherein lands within the seignory yield annual or perpetual tribute to the lord as acknowledgment of tenure.
Such rents, being annual profits issuing from land, are incorporeal hereditaments, forming part of the substance of the Honour and attaching to it by inheritance.

Of Common Rights, Fisheries, and Forests

The Honour further embraces rights of common, pasture, turbary, and free fishery—all classical incorporeal rights in the sense of Blackstone.
These allow:

These rights, though invisible, are perpetual and inheritable components of the seignory, descending with the title of lordship.

Hereditaments of a Dignity and Legal Status

In English law, a dignity—such as a barony, honour, or palatine lordship—is itself an incorporeal hereditament of the highest order. It conveys precedence, feudal authority, and hereditary title, independent of landholding.

Thus, the Honour and Principality of Annaly and Longford is not merely an estate, but a juridical sovereignty-in-miniature—a feudal dignity held in fee simple, originally granted from the Crown to the Nugent line and lawfully conveyed to Dr./Jur. George Mentz in the modern era.

⚖️ Summary

Feudal Property Hereditaments Titles and Historic Territorial Designations

Why Ireland Preserves Them While Many Other Nations Prohibit Them

Core Rule (Stated Clearly)

Ireland abolished feudal tenure and public sovereignty, but it did not abolish feudal property titles or historic territorial designations when they exist as private property interests.
By contrast, many European states explicitly outlawed, neutralized, or reduced such titles to mere surnames, making them legally inoperative or illegal.

1. What Are “Feudal Property Titles”?

A feudal property title is a title that historically arose from territorial jurisdiction or land-based authority, not merely social rank. These titles were attached to land, honours, liberties, or jurisdictions and could be owned, inherited, and conveyed.

Examples include:

Prince (territorial or palatine prince)
Chief (Gaelic rí, taoiseach, or territorial clan lord)
Baron (feudal baron holding a barony or honour)
Count / Earl (territorial count or palatine earl)
Captain (e.g., Captain of a territory, sept, or lordship)
Lord / Lord Governor / Lord of the Honour
Seigneur / Lord of the Manor
Lord of a Liberty or Honour

Historically, these titles were legal incidents of land and jurisdiction, not merely honorifics.

2. Ireland: Feudal Property Titles Remain Lawful (Key Point)

What Ireland abolished

Ireland abolished:

feudal tenure (the feudal system of landholding),
public jurisdiction and sovereignty,
governmental powers of nobles.

What Ireland did not abolish

Ireland did not abolish:

feudal or manorial titles as property,
historic territorial designations,
honours, liberties, or seignories,
incorporeal hereditaments tied to land.

Crucially:

Ireland never passed an “Abolition of Manorial Rights Act” like England (1935),
never enacted a revolutionary ban like France,
never converted titles into surnames like Germany,
never prohibited noble or territorial titles like Austria.

Legal result in Ireland

In Ireland, feudal property titles may still:

✔ exist as private property interests
✔ be owned, conveyed, and inherited
✔ be recorded in the Registry of Deeds
✔ retain dignitary, territorial, and historical identity
✔ be used lawfully as titles of property or dignity

They may not:

❌ exercise public authority
❌ claim sovereignty
❌ override Irish law

This distinction is fundamental.

3. Concrete Irish Examples

In Ireland, the following remain legally possible where properly documented:

Prince / Princely title
As a historic territorial or palatine dignity (not sovereign)
Chief
As a hereditary territorial or clan dignity (property-based, not governmental)
Baron
As a feudal barony, honour, or lordship
Count / Earl
As a historic territorial dignity tied to an honour or jurisdiction
Captain
As a hereditary territorial captaincy (e.g., Captain of a territory or sept)
Lord Governor / Lord of the Honour
As a historic jurisdictional or seignorial office now ceremonial

These titles survive as private dignities attached to property, not as offices of state.

4. France: Feudal Property Titles Are Illegal

France took the opposite approach.

All feudal titles and territorial designations were abolished by law
Seignories, principalities, and baronies were destroyed as legal concepts
Titles like Prince, Baron, Count, or Seigneur:
- ❌ cannot exist as property
- ❌ cannot be owned or conveyed
- ✔ survive only as social or historical names

In France, a territorial title tied to land is illegal as a legal concept.

5. Germany: Titles Reduced to Surnames Only

Germany neutralized feudal titles rather than banning them outright.

Nobility abolished in 1919
Titles became part of the surname
Territorial meaning explicitly removed

Example:

“Graf von X” or “Fürst zu Y”:
- ❌ no longer refers to land
- ❌ cannot exist as a property title
- ✔ is merely part of a legal name

In Germany, feudal property titles no longer exist.

6. Austria: Feudal Titles Explicitly Prohibited

Austria went further than Germany.

1919: Abolition of Nobility Act
All noble and territorial titles:
- banned by statute
- illegal to use in law
- stripped of any property meaning

Titles such as Prince, Count, Baron, or Lord are illegal in Austria.

7. Comparative Legal Summary

Country	Feudal Property Titles
France	Abolished and illegal
Germany	Neutralized into surnames
Austria	Explicitly prohibited
England	Severely curtailed (manorial rights abolished)
Ireland	Preserved as private property titles

8. One-Sentence Legal Doctrine (Reusable)

Ireland abolished feudal tenure and public jurisdiction but preserved feudal property titles—such as prince, chief, baron, count, captain, and lord—as lawful private territorial dignities, whereas many European states abolished, prohibited, or neutralized such titles entirely.

Plain-English Conclusion

In much of Europe, calling yourself a Prince, Baron, Count, or Lord tied to land is illegal or meaningless.
In Ireland, those same titles may still exist lawfully when they are historic property interests, properly conveyed and documented.

That makes Ireland one of the last jurisdictions in Europe where feudal property titles survive as law, not just tradition.