2. Pure and proper feuds were parcels of land allotted by a chief to his followers; to be held on the condition of personally rendering due military service to their lord ..... ......... Page 45 3. These were granted by investiture; were held under the bond of fealty; were inheritable only by descendants, and could not be transferred without the mutual consent of the lord and vassal ............ .....53-57 4. Improper feuds were derived from the other, but differed from them in their original, their services and renders, their descent, and other circumstances.... 5. The lands of England were converted into feuds, of the improper kind, soon after the Norman conquest: which gave rise to the grand maxim of tenure; viz. that all lands in the kingdom are holden, mediately or immediately, of the king...48-53

CHAPTER V.

58

OF THE ANCIENT ENGLISH TENURES....... 61 to 77 1. The distinction of tenures consisted in the nature of their services: as, I. Chivalry, or knight-service; where the serIvice was free, but uncertain. II. Free socage; where the service was free, and certain. III. Pure villenage; where the service was base, and uncertain. IV. Privileged villenage, or villein socage; where the service was base, but certain 61-78 2. The most universal ancient tenure was that in chivalry, or by knight-service; in which the tenant of every knight's fee was bound, if called upon, to attend his lord to the wars. This was granted by livery, and perfected by homage and fealty; which usually drew after them suit of court.......

of court; subject to relief, to wardship, and to escheat, but not to marriage; subject also formerly to aids, primer seisin, and fines for alienation...... .... Page 86-89 4. Pure villenage was a precarious and slavish tenure, at the absolute will of the lord, upon uncertain services of the basest

5. From hence, by tacit consent or encroachment, have arisen the modern copyholds, or tenure by copy of courtroll; in which lands may be still held at the (nominal) will of the lord, (but regulated) according to the custom of the

93

.... 95

97

6. These are subject, like socage lands, to services, relief, and escheat; and also to heriots, wardship, and fines upon descent and alienation ....................................................................................................... 7. Privileged villenage, or villein socage, is an exalted species of copyhold tenure, upon base but certain services; subsisting only in the ancient demesnes of the crown; whence the tenure is denominated the tenure in ancient demesne....... ...... 99 8. These copyholds of ancient demesne have divers immunities annexed to their tenure; but are still held by copy of court-roll, according to the custom of the manor, though not at the will of the lord...

9. Frankalmoign is a tenure by spiritual services at large; whereby many ecclesiastical and eleemosynary corporations now hold their lands and tenements: being of a nature distinct from tenure by divine service in certain......

CHAPTER VII.

100

101

3. The other fruits and consequences of the tenure by knight-service were, I. Aid. II. Relief. III. Primer seisin. IV. Ward

1. Estates in lands, tenements, and hereditaments are such interest as the tenant hath therein; to ascertain which, may be considered, I. The quantity of interest. II. The time of enjoyment. III. The number and connections of the te..............103 to 119 2. Estates, with respect to their quantity of interest, or duration, are either freehold or less than freehold...... 104 3. A freehold estate, in lands, is such as is created by livery of seisin at common law; or, in tenements of an incorporeal nature, by what is equivalent thereto..... 104 4. Freehold estates are either estates of inheritance, or not of inheritance, viz. for life only: and inheritances are, I. Absolute, or fee-simple. II. Limited fees...

104

8. Free-socage lands partake strongly of the feodal nature, as well as those in chivalry; being holden subject to some service, at the least, to fealty and suit

8. Conditional fees, at the common law, were such as were granted to the donee, and the heirs of his body, in exclusion of collateral heirs......... ......... Page 110 9. These were held to be fees, granted on condition that the donee had issue of his body; which condition being once performed by the birth of issue, the donee might immediately aliene the land; but, the statute de donis being made to prevent such alienation, thereupon, from the division of the fee (by construction of this statute) into a particular estate and reversion, the conditional fees began to be called fees-tail....... ........111, 112 10. All tenements real, or savouring of the realty, are subject to entails... 11. Estates-tail may be, I. general, or special; II. male, or female; III. given in frank-marriage............. ..113-115

12. Incident to estates-tail are, I. Waste. II. Dower. III. Curtesy. IV. Bar,-by fine, recovery, or lineal warranty with assets.........

13. Estates-tail are now, by many statutes and resolutions of the courts, almost brought back to the state of conditional fees at the common law......

113

115

117

120

OF FREEHOLDS NOT OF INHERITANCE...120 to 136 1 Freeholds not of inheritance, or for life only, are, I. Conventional, or created by the act of the parties. II. Legal, or created by operation of law....... 2 Conventional estates for life are created by an express grant for term of one's own life, or pur auter vie; or by a general grant, without expressing any term at all

3. Incident to this, and all other estates for life, are estovers, and emblements; and to estates pur auter vie general occupancy was also incident; as special occupancy still is, if cestuy que vie survives the tenant.......

4. Legal estates for life are, I. Tenancy in tail, after possibility of issue extinct. II. Tenancy by the curtesy of England. III. Tenancy in dower......

120

122

...124-128

E. Tenancy in tail after possibility of issue extinct is where an estate is given in special tail, and, before issue had, a person dies from whose body the issue was to spring; whereupon the tenant (if surviving) becomes tenant in tail after ....... 124 possibility of issue extinct.......... 6. This estate partakes both of the incidents to an estate-tail, and those of an estate for life

125

7. Tenancy by the curtesy of England is where a man's wife is seised of an estate of inheritance, and he by her has issue, born alive, which was capable of inheriting her estate in which case, he shall, upon her death, hold the tenements for his own life, as tenant by the curtesy..... 126 8. Tenancy in dower is where a woman's husband is seised of an estate of inheritance, of which her issue might by any VOL. L-C

OF ESTATES LESS THAN FREEHOLD...140 to 150 1. Estates less than freehold are, I. Estates

for years. II. Estates at will. III. Estates at sufferance..

...140-150 2. An estate for years is where a man, seised of lands and tenements, letteth them to another for a certain period of time, which transfers the interest of the term; and the lessee enters thereon, which gives him possession of the term, but not legal seisin of the land............. 140 3. Incident to this estate are estovers; and also emblements, if it determines before the full end of the term.................... 144-45 4. An estate at will is where lands are let by one man to another, to hold at the will of both parties, and the lessee enters thereon

145

4. Estates on condition expressed are where an express qualification or provision is annexed to the grant of an estate.......... 154 5. On the performance of these conditions, either expressed or implied, (if precedent,) the estate may be vested or enlarged, or, on the breach of them, (if subsequent,) an estate already vested may be defeated.. '54-55 6. Estates in gage, in vadio. or in pledge, are estates granted as a security for money lent; being, I. In vivo vadio, or living gage; where the profits of land are granted till a debt be paid, upon which payment the grantor's estate will

...... Page 157

revive. II. In mortuo vadio, in dead or mort gage; where an estate is granted on condition to be void at a day certain if the grantor then repays the money borrowed; on failure of which, the estate becomes absolutely dead to the grantor 7. Estates by statute merchant or statute staple are also estates conveyed to creditors, in pursuance of certain statutes, till their profits shall discharge the debt 160 Estates by elegit are where, in consequence of a judicial writ so called, lands are delivered by the sheriff to a plaintiff till their profits shall satisfy a debt adjudged to be due by law.......

CHAPTER XI.

.......

161

OF ESTATES IN POSSESSION, REMAINDER, AND REVERSION.... 163 to 177 1. Estates, with respect to their time of enjoyment, are either in immediate possession, or in expectancy: which estates in expectancy are created at the same time, and are parcel of the same estates, as those upon which they are expectant. These are, I. Remainders. II. Reversions.........

163

164

.165-68

4. Remainders are, I. Vested-where the estate is fixed to remain to a certain person after the particular estate is spent. II. Contingent-where the estate is limited to take effect, either to an uncertain person, or upon an uncertain event ............... ........................... ...............168-69 5. An executory devise is such a disposition of lands, by will, that an estate shall not vest thereby at the death of the devisor, but only upon some future contingency; and without any precedent particular estate to support it..

......

6. A reversion is the residue of an estate left in the grantor, to commence in possession after the determination of some particular estate granted; to which are incident fealty, and rent...

Where two estates, the one less, the other greater, the one in possession, the other in expectancy, meet together in one and the same person and in one and the same right, the less is merged in the greater.......

CHAPTER XII.

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176

177

OF ESTATES IN SEVERALTY, JOINT-TENANCY, COPARCENARY, AND COMMON........... 179 to 195 1 Estates, with respect to the number and connections of their tenants, may be held, I. In severalty. II. In joint-tenancy. III In coparcenary. IV. In common.... 179

2. An estate in severalty is where one tenant holds it in his own sole right, without any other person being joined with him... Page 179 3. An estate in joint-tenancy is where an estate is granted to two or more persons, in which case the law construes them to be joint-tenants, unless the words of the grant expressly exclude such construction 180 4. Joint-tenants have a unity of interest, of title, of time, and of possession: they are seised per my et per tout: and therefore, upon the decease of one jointtenant, the whole interest remains to the survivor.....

182

8. To understand the doctrine of descents, we must form a clear notion of consanguinity; which is the connection or relation of persons descended from the same stock or common ancestor; and it is, I. Lineal, where one of the kinsmen is lineally descended from the other. II. Collateral, where they are lineally descended, not one from the other, but both from the same common ancestor. Page 203-204 1. The rules of descent, or canons of inheritance, observed by the laws of England, are these:

Inheritances shall lineally descend, to the issue of the person last actually seised, in infinitum; but shall never lineally ascend..

The male issue shall be admitted before the

208

212

214

216

Where there are two or more males of equal degree, the eldest only shall inherit; but the females all together....... The lineal descendants, in infinitum, of any person deceased, shall represent their ancestor; that is, shall stand in the same place as the person himself would have done had he been living............. On failure of lineal descendants, or issue, of the person last seised, the inheritance shall descend to the blood of the first purchasor; subject to the three preceding rules. To evidence which blood, the two following rules are established........ 220 The collateral heir of the person last seised must be his next collateral kinsman of the whole blood

In collateral inheritances, the male stock shall be preferred to the female; that is, kindred derived from the blood of the male ancestors shall be admitted before those from the blood of the female; unless where the lands have in fact descended from a female.........

CHAPTER XV.

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234

..241 to 257

OF TITLE BY PURCHASE; AND, FIRST, BY ESCHEAT 1. Purchase, or perquisition, is the possession of an estate which a man hath by his own act or agreement, and not by the mere act of law, or descent from any of his ancestors. This includes, I. Escheat. 11. Occupancy. III. Prescription. IV. Forfeiture. V. Alienation...............241-244 2. Escheat is where, upon deficiency of the tenant's inheritable blood, the estate falls to the lord of the fee........ 8. Inheritable blood is wanting to, I. Such as are not related to the person last seised. II. His maternal relations in paternal inheritances, and vice versa. III. His kindred of the half-blood. IV. Monsters. V. Bastards. VI. Aliens, and their issue. VII. Persons attainted of treason or felony. VIII. Papists, in respect of themselves only, by the statute law...246-257

CHAPTER XVI.

244

OF TITLE BY OCCUPANCY.....................258-261 1. Occupancy is th taking possession of

5. Lapse is a forfeiture of the right of presentation to a vacant church, by neglect of the patron to present within six calendar months

276 6. Simony is the corrupt presentation of any one to an ecclesiastical benefice, whereby that turn becomes forfeited to the crown......

.........................................

278 7. For forfeiture by non-performance of conditions, see Ch. X.

8. Waste is a spoil, or destruction, in any corporeal hereditaments, to the prejudice of him that hath the inheritance............ 281 9. Copyhold estates may have also other peculiar causes of forfeiture, according to the custom of the manor

................

284

10. Bankruptcy is the act of becoming a bankrupt; that is, a trader who secretes himself, or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors. (See Ch. XXII.) 285

11. By bankruptcy, all the estates of the bankrupt are transferred to the assignees of his commissioners, to be sold for the benefit of his creditors ............... Page 286

CHAPTER XIX.

OF TITLE BY ALIENATION ................. 287 to 294 1. Alienation, conveyance, or purchase, in its more limited sense, is a means of transferring real estates, wherein they are voluntarily resigned by one man and accepted by another.

2. This formerly could not be done by a tenant, without license from his lord; nor

287

by a lord, without attornment of his tenant 287 8. All persons are capable of purchasing; and all that are in possession of any estates are capable of conveying them; -unless under peculiar disabilities by law as being attainted, non compotes, infants, under duress, feme-coverts, aliens, or papists..... ..........288-293 4. Alienations are made by common assurances; which are, I. By deed, or matter in pais. II. By matter of record. III. By special custom. IV. By devise.........293-294

CHAPTER XX.

OF ALIENATION BY DEED ................... ..295 to 342 1. In assurances by deed may be considered, I. Its general nature. II. Its several species..

295

2. A deed, in general, is the solemn act of the parties: being, usually, a writing sealed and delivered; and it may be, I. A deed indented, or indenture. II. A deed-poll..... ..295-296 3. The requisites of a deed are, I. Sufficient parties, and proper subject-matter. II. A good and sufficient consideration. III. Writing on paper, or parchment, duly stamped. IV. Legal and orderly parts; which are usually, 1st, the premises; 2dly, the habendum; 3dly, the tenendum; 4thly, the reddendum; 5thly, the conditions; 6thly, the warranty, (which is either lineal or collateral); 7thly, the covenants; 8thly, the conclusion, (which includes the date.) V. Reading it, if desired. VI. Sealing, and, in many cases, signing it also. VII. Delivery. VIII.

308

4. A deed may be avoided, I. By the want of any of the requisites before mentioned. II. By subsequent matter: as, 1st, rasure, or alteration; 2dly, defacing its seal; 3dly, cancelling it; 4thly, disagreement of those whose consent is necessary; 5thly, judgment of a court of justice... 5 Of the several species of deeds, some serve to convey real property, some only to charge and discharge it.. Deeds which serve to convey real property, or conveyances, are either by common law, or by statute. And, of conveyances by common law, some are original or primary, others derivative or secondary 309 Original conveyances are, I. Feoffments. II. Gifts. III. Grants. IV. Leases. V.

309

323

323

324

13. A partition is the division of an estate held in joint-tenancy, in coparcenary, or in common, between the respective tenants; so that each may hold his distinct part in severalty.... 14. A release is the discharge or conveyance of a man's right in lands and tenements to another that hath some former estate in possession therein.............. 15. A confirmation is the conveyance of an estate or right in esse, whereby a voidable estate is made sure, or a particular estate is increased......... ...... 325 16. A surrender is the yielding up of an estate for life, or years, to him that hath the immediate remainder or reversion; wherein the particular estate may merge 326 17. An assignment is the transfer, or making

over to another, of the whole right one has in any estate; but usually in a lease, for life or years.......

326

18. A defeazance is a collateral deed, made at the same time with the original conveyance; containing some condition upon which the estate may be defeated.. .... 327 19. Conveyances by statute depend much on the doctrine of uses and trusts; which are a confidence reposed in the terre-tenant, or tenant of the land, that he shall permit the profits to be enjoyed, according to the directions of cestuy que use, or cestuy que trust.

327

20. The statute of uses, having transferred all uses into actual possession, (or, rather, having drawn the possession to the use,) has given birth to divers other species of conveyance: I. A covenant to stand seised to uses. II. A bargain and sale, enrolled. III. A lease and release. IV. A deed to lead or declare the use of other more direct conveyances. V. A revocation of uses; being the execution of a power, reserved at the creation of the use, of recalling at a future time the use or estate so creating. All which owe their present operation principally to the sta.....337-339