Ware and his son held their copyhold for their lives, subject to the will of the lord and the custom of the manor.

However, a provision in the Act kept in force, for a term of life, any grants that had been made more than a year before the enactment of the statute.

The Court of Exchequer found that the grant to the Wares was protected by the relevant provision of the Act of Dissolution, but that the lease to Heydon was void.

The ruling was based on an important discussion of the relationship of a statute to the pre-existing common law.

The court concluded that the purpose of the statute was to cure a mischief resulting from a defect in the common law.