252. Form of Letter or Power of Attorney Appointing a Person MORTGAGES AND BONDS AND WARRANTS. 256. Sci. Fa. Mortgage and Bond and Warrant (Usual Form) ....96, 104 257. Building and Loan Association Mortgage and Bond and War- 279. Recital of Title by Sheriff's Sale 280. Recital of Title by Sheriff for Property of a Decedent 281. Recital in a Purchase Money Mortgage Given to a Third Party 282. Recital of Executor's or Administrator's Deed for Land Sold at Private Sale for Payment of Decedent's Debts Under the 1. Definition of Terms. Conveyancing, Land, Title. Conveyancing has been defined as the science of transferring Land is defined by Blackstone as comprehending all things movable are from the very nature of their distinction so essentially different that it is not difficult to see why different methods of transferring ownership in them should have arisen in the law. Ownership of a horse can be transferred by a physical delivery of the animal, but land cannot be delivered in the same way. Hence a totally different method was evolved to transfer land. The other word of our definition to be explained is title. What is title? Title is best defined as the evidence of ownership of land. Conveyancing, therefore, means the science or method of transferring the evidence of ownership of a permanent, fixed, immovable thing. As intimated this method is so totally different from the method of transferring ownership of personal property that it has been well termed a science. We will, therefore, later consider title, what it is, how acquired and how transferred. SECTION II. ESTATES IN LAND. 2. Definition of Kinds of Estates. Before proceeding to consider the evidence of the ownership in land we must first understand the quantity of a person's ownership in land, i. e., estates in land. The term estate is doubtless familiar to the reader and the question is often heard, "What estate does such and such a person have in a certain piece of land," meaning of course what is the quantity of his interest. Does he own it absolutely, does he merely lease it or does he hold it for life? Estate means a quantity of ownership in land and is to be distinguished from title which is the evidence of ownership of that quantity, be the quantity great as a fee, or small as an estate for years. Blackstone (2 Blackstone 104) divides estates into two general divisions, each of which are subdivided as follows: From the table it will be seen that an Estate of Freehold is any estate of uncertain duration other than an Estate of Will. The only freehold estates at the present time which still persist in the law are these above set forth. At common law there were many others such as Estates Tail; but in order not to confuse the mind with terms that are obsolete, we will confine ourselves to those that are still in use. Those interested in the historical side of the development of estates in land we refer to the second book of Blackstone's Commentaries. 3. Freehold Estates. A Fee Simple Estate is the largest estate that a man can have in lands. It is the pure simple unconditional and absolute estate (Mitchell on Real Estate and Conveyancing 91). It is commonly called an estate in fee. It is the estate with which we are most usually brought in contact and represents absolute ownership of land. A Life Estate as the name indicates is an estate for life. It may be granted for the grantee's own life or for the life of another; in any event to be a life estate it must cease with the life of the person for the length of whose life it was granted. Estates of Dower and Curtesy are in reality life estates and could be treated as subdivision thereof. However, as they arise differently from the ordinary Life Estate we have set them apart. An Estate of Dower is an estate created by mere operation of the law. It is the one-third interest which a married woman has in all land owned in fee which the husband had at the time of and after his marriage. Should the wife survive her husband she becomes entitled to said one-third of all his real estate for and during the term of her natural life (See page 184). An Estate of Curtesy is also an estate which arises by operation of law. It is the right which vests in the husband upon marriage to enjoy upon his wife's death for and during the term of his natural life all of the real estate which she owned in fee. At common law an estate by curtesy never vested until the birth of a child, but now it vests upon the marriage even though there be no issue (See page 182). 4. Estates Less Than Freehold. An Estate of Years is an estate which is let unto another to enjoy for a stipulated time. It is an estate granted for a limited definite period of time. Whether given for one month or for one year or for two years it is nevertheless an estate for years. The distinguishing feature about it is that it comes to an end at a known certain definite time. Estate at Will is where lands are let by one man to another to hold at the will of the owner who is known as the lessor* or it may be created to continue at the will of the lessee, that is the party receiving the estate. An Estate at Sufferance is where one comes into possession of the land by lawful means, but keeps it afterwards without any title at all. E. g., a tenant in possession after the lease has expired, is a tenant at sufferance so long as the owner suffers, or permits him to remain. 5. Joint Estates. By joint estates are meant such estates as are vested in more than one person at the same time, in the same land. At common law there were four kinds: Estates in Joint Tenancies, Coparcenary Estates; Tenancy in Common and Estates by Entireties. The first two are obsolete and no longer require much consideration; the other two survive to the present day, the last one especially being frequently met with in modern conveyancing. 5-A. An Estate in Joint Tenancy. At common law a joint tenancy in land existed whenever two or more persons acquired land by one and the same instrument (Mitchell on Real Estate and Conveyancing in Pa. 245). Each party to such an estate was considered in law as having vested in him the undivided share of the whole estate. Thus it followed that if one of two joint tenants died his right survived to the other. This effect could not be avoided nor could either compel a division of the estate. In Pennsylvania this estate has been rendered obsolete by the Act of March 31, 1812 (5 Smith Laws 395), which took away from joint tenancy the incident of survivorship and converted it into a tenancy in common. Trust Estates alone are excepted and between joint trustees the right of survivorship still exists. 5-B. Estate in Coparcenary. This is an estate defined by Blackstone (2 Bl. Com. 187) to be one where lands of inherit *The reader is probably familiar with the significance of the terminations or and ee in legal terminology, viz: that or denotes the doer of the act, ee the one to whom the act is done. A grantor, he who grants, grantee, he who receives. Vendor, he who sells; vendee, he who buys. |