rgained and
sold his land to another for pecuniary consideration, which might be merely
nominal, and need not necessarily be actually paid, equity held the
bargainer to be seised of the land to the use of the bargainee. The Statute
of Uses (1535), by converting the bargainee's interest into a legal estate,
had an effect contrary to the intention of its framers. It made bargain and
sale an easy means of secret or private conveyance, a policy to which the
law was opposed. To remedy this defect, a statute (called the Statute of
Enrolments) was passed in the same year, which provided that every
conveyance by bargain and sale of freehold lands should be enrolled in a
court of record or with the _custos rotulorum_ of the county within six
months of its date. The Statute of Enrolments applied only to estates of
inheritance or for life, so that a bargain and sale of an estate for years
might be made without enrolment. This in turn was the foundation of another
mode of conveyance, namely, lease and release, which took the place of the
deed of bargain and sale, so far as regards freehold. Bargain and sale of
copyhold estates, which operates at common law, is still a mode of
conveyance in England in the case of a sale by executors, where a testator
has directed a sale of his estate to be made, instead of devising it to
trustees upon trust to sell.

See also CONVEYANCING.

[1] From O. Fr. _bargaigne_, a word of doubtful origin, appearing in many
Romance languages, cf. Ital. _bargagno_; it is connected with Late Lat.
_barcaniare_, to traffic, possibly derived from _barca_, a barge.

BARGE (Med. Lat. _barca_, possibly connected with Lat. _baris_, Gr. [Greek:
baris], a boat used on the Nile), formerly a small sailing vessel, but now
generally a flat-bottomed boat used for carrying goods on inland
navigations. On canals barges are usually towed, but are sometimes fitted
with some kind of engine; the men in charge of them are known as bargees.
On tidal rivers barges are often provided with masts and sails ("sailing
barges"), or in default of being towed, they drift with the current, guided
by a long oar or oars ("dumb-barges"). Barges used for unloading, or
loading, the cargo of ships in harbours are sometimes called "lighters"
(from the verb "to light" = to relieve of a load). A state barge was a
heavy, often highly ornamented vessel used for carrying passengers on
occasions of state ceremonials. The college barges at Oxford are house