is prefumed to be the most concerned in intereft. For the act was intended for the benefit of the fucceffor only; and no man shall make an advantage of his own wrong". THERE is yet another restriction with regard to college [ 322 ] leafes, by ftatute 18 Eliz. c. 6. which directs, that one third of the old rent, then paid, fhould for the future be referved in wheat or malt, referving a quarter of wheat for each 6s. 8d. or a quarter of malt for every 5s; or that the leffees fhould pay for the fame according to the price that wheat and malt should be fold for, in the market next adjoining to the respective colleges, on the market-day before the rent becomes due. This is faid to have been an invention of lord treasurer Burleigh, and fir Thomas Smith, then principal fecretary of state; who, obferving how greatly the value of money had funk, and the price of all provisions rifen, by the quantity of bullion imported from the newfound Indies, (which effects were likely to increase to a greater degree) devifed this method for upholding the reves nues of colleges. Their forefight and penetration has in this refpect been very apparent : for, though the rent fo reserved in corn was at first but one third of the old rent, or half of what was still referved in money, yet now the proportion is nearly inverted; and the money arifing from corn rents is, communibus annis, almost double to the rents referved in money (4). (4) The price of a quarter of wheat being at prefent near 50s. and the colleges receiving a quarter of wheat, or it's value, for every 135. 4d. which they are paid in money, it follows that the corn reht will be in proportion to the money rent nearly as four to ne. But both thefe rents united are very far from the prefent value. Colleges therefore, in order to obtain the difference, generally take a fine upon the renewal of their leafes. It was a great object to colleges to refrain those in poffeffion from making long leafes, and impoverishing Bb z THE leafes of beneficed clergymen are farther restrained, in cafe of their non-refidence, by ftatutes 13 Eliz. c. 20. 14 Eliz. C. 11. 18 Eliz. C. II. and 43 Eliz. C. 9. which direct, that if any beneficed clergyman be abfent from hi cure above fourscore days in any one year, he shall not only forfeit one year's profit of his benefice, to be distributed among the poor of the parifh; but that all leafes made by him, of the profits of fuch benefice, and all covenants and agreements of like nature, fhall ceafe and be void (5): except in the cafe of licensed pluralifts, who are allowed to demife the living, on which they are non-resident, to their curates only; provided fuch curates do not abfent themselves above [323] forty days in any one year (6). And thus much for leases, with their feveral enlargements and reftrictions. 5. An exchange is a mutual grant of equal interefts, the one in confideration of the other. The word "exchange" is fo individually requifite and appropriated by law to this cafe, that it cannot be fupplied by any other word or ex y For the other learning relating to jeafes, which is very curious and diffuve, I mult refer the ftudent to 3 Bac. abridg. 295. (title, leafes and terms for years) where the fubject is treated in a perfpicuous and masterly manner; being fuppofed to be extracted from a marufcript of fir Geoffrey Gilbert. impoverishing their fucceffors by receiving the whole value of the leafe by a fine at the commencement of the term. The corn rent has made the old rent approach in fome degree nearer to it's prefent value; otherwise it should seem the principal advantage of a corn rent is to fecure the leffor from the effect of a fudden scarcity of corn. (5) In a late cafe it was determined, where an incumbent had leafed his rectory, and had been afterwards absent for more than eighty days in a year, that his tenant could not maintain an ejectment against a stranger who had got into poffeffion without any right or title whatever. 2 T. R. 749. (6) If the curate leafes over, the leafe will become void by his abfences but not by the abfence of the incumbent. Gif. 740. 323 preffed by any circumlocution 2. The eftates exchanged must be equal in quantity; not of value, for that is immaterial, but of intereft; as fee-fimple for fee-fimple, a lease for twenty years for a lease for twenty years, and the like. And the exchange may be of things that lie either in grant or in livery. But no livery of feifin, even in exchanges of freehold, is neceflary to perfect the conveyance: for each party stands in the place of the other and occupies his right, and each of them hath already had corporal poffeffion of his own land. But entry must be made on both fides; for, if either party die before entry, the exchange is void, for want of fufficient notoriety. And so also, if two parfons, by confent of patron and ordinary, exchange their preferments; and the one is prefented, inftituted, and inducted, and the other is prefented, and inftituted, but dies before induction; the former fhall not keep his new benefice, because the exchange was not completed, and therefore he fhall return back to his own. For if, after an exchange of lands or other hereditaments, either party be evicted of thofe which were taken by him in exchange, through defect of the other's title; he shall return back to the poffeffion of his own, by virtue of the implied warranty contained in all exchanges '. 6. A PARTITION, is when two or more joint-tenants, coparceners, or tenants in common, agree to divide the lands fo held among them in severalty, each taking a distinct [324] part. Here, as in fome instances, there is a unity of intereft, and in all a unity of poffeflion, it is neceflary that they all mutually convey and affure to each other the feveral estates, which they are to take and enjoy feparately. By the common law coparceners, being compellable to make partition, might have made it by parol only; but joint-tenants and tenants in common must have done it by deed: and in both cafes the conveyance must have been perfected by livery of feifin. And the ftatutes of 31 Hen. VIII. c. 1. and z Co. Litt. 50, 51. a Litt. § 64, 65. b Co. Litt. 51. e Litt. § 62. Bb3 d Co. Litt. 50. • Perk. § 288. pag. 300. Litt. § 250. Co. Litt. 169. 32 Hen. VIII. c. 32. made no alteration in this point. But the ftatute of frauds 29 Car, II. c. 3. hath now abolished this diftinction, and made a deed in all cafes neceffary. THESE are the feveral fpecies of primary, or original conveyances. Those which remain are of the fecondary, or derivative fort; which prefuppofe fome other conveyance precedent, and only ferve to enlarge, confirm, alter, restrain, reftore, or transfer the intereft granted by fuch original conveyance, As, 7. RELEASES; which are a difcharge or conveyance of a man's right in lands or tenements, to another that hath some former eftate in poffeffion. The words generally used therein are “remised, releafed, and for ever quit-claimed." And thefe releases may enure either, 1. By way of enlarging an elate, or enlarger l'eflate: as, if there be tenant for life or years, remainder to another in fee, and he in remainder releafes all his right to the particular tenant and his heirs, this gives him the eftate in fee. But in this cafe the releffee must be in poffeffion of fome estate, for the release to work upon; for if there be leffee for years, and before he enters and is in poffeffion, the leffor releases to him all his right in the reverfion, fuch releafe is void for want of poffeffion in the releffee *. 2. By way of paffing an estate, or mitter Pefiate as when one of two coparceners releaseth all her [325 right to the other, this paffeth the fee-fimple of the whole '. And in both these cases there must be a privity of estate between the relessor and releffee"; that is, one of their estates must be so related to the other, as to make but one and the fame eftate in law. 3. By way of paffing a right, or mitter le droit as if a man be diffeifed, and releafeth to his diffeifor all his right; hereby the diffeifor acquires a new right, which changes the quality of his eftate, and renders that lawful which before was tortious or wrongful". 4. By way of extinguishment as if my tenant for life makes a leafe to A for life, re b Litt. § 445. * Ibid. § 459. 1. Co. Litt. 273. mainder mainder to B and his heirs, and I release to A; this extinguishes my right to the reverfion, and shall enure to the advantage of B's remainder as well as of A's particular eftate". 5. By way of entry and feoffment: as if there be two joint diffeifors, and the diffeifee releases to one of them, he fhall be fole feifed, and fhall keep out his former companion; which is the fame in effect as if the diffeifee had entered, and thereby put an end to the diffeifin, and afterwards had enfeoffed one of the diffeifors in fee P. And hereupon we may observe, that when a man has in himself the possession of lands, he must at the common law convey the freehold by feoffment and livery; which makes a notoriety in the country: but if a man has only a right or a future intereft, he may convey that right or intereft by a mere release to him that is in poffeffion of the land: for the occupancy of the releffee is a matter of fufficient notoriety already. 8. A CONFIRMATION is of a nature nearly allied to a releafe. Sir Edward Coke defines it to be a conveyance of an eftate or right in effe, whereby a voidable eftate is made. fure and unavoidable, or whereby a particular estate is increased and the words of making it are thefe," have given, "granted, ratified, approved, and confirmed." An inftance of the first branch of the definition is, if tenant for life leafeth for forty years, and dieth during that term; here the leafe for years is voidable by him in reverfion: yet, if he hath confirmed the eftate of the leffee for years, before the [326 1 death of tenant for life, it is no longer voidable but fure'. The latter branch, or that which tends to the increase of a particular eftate, is the fame in all refpects with that fpecies of release, which operates by way of enlargement. 9. A SURRENDER, furfumredditio, or rendering up, is of a nature directly oppofite to a releafe; for, as that operates by the greater eftate's defcending upon the lefs, a furrender is the falling of a lefs eftate into a greater. It is defined', a yielding up of an eftate for life or years to him that hath the im • Ibid. § 470. Co. Litt. 278. 91 Inft. 295. Bb 4 Litt. § 515. 531. s Litt. § 516. t Co. Litt. 337. mediate |