This series consists mainly of the particulars and drafts for leases issued under the seals of the Duchy of Lancaster and the County Palatine of Lancaster.

Some particulars relate to the possessions of chantries and colleges which lay within the Duchy, which after the Dissolution were leased out by the Duchy administrators.

Some of the draft leases relate to leases in reversion, or the lease of a future right in a property, usually at the end of the current lease. These were often used to reward royal servants who would sell the right to the reversion, usually to the current lessee.

There is also a bundle of counterpart leases of the Commonwealth (1649-1660) period.