condemn land for right of way, and exercise this right when authorized to do so by the legislature, with whom rests the power to determine the manner in which, and purposes for which, it may be exercised.

§ 172. The proceedings by which property may be taken and appropriated for the purposes named in the preceding section are regulated by statute, and in this matter there is substantial uniformity in the laws of the several states. The corporation desiring to exercise the right may file in the proper court an instrument of appropriation, setting forth the uses to which the property is to be devoted, giving an accurate description of the property intended to be appropriated, and setting out the names of the owners and persons interested in it. The proceedings may be summary, as in some states, where the law does not give the right of trial by jury, or they may be in the form of a civil action, in which the right to a trial by jury is given. Proceedings in the exercise of the right of eminent domain are not "suits at common law," for which "the right of trial by jury shall be preserved," as required by the constitution. In either case the jury or commissioners selected hear evidence, view the premises and report to the court their finding as to the amount of damages to be paid to the land-owners. When the report is confirmed by the court, the party seeking the appropriation may pay the money into court, and enter upon the property. If either party is dissatisfied with the report, an appeal may usually be taken from the award. As the proceedings are purely statutory, the provisions of the statute regulating them must be

strictly followed. Judgments in such cases have the same binding effect as ordinary judgments, and they can not be collaterally impeached.

§ 173. Title by escheat.-Where a person died intestate in England without lawful heirs the title to his real property went back to the original grantor, or lord of the fee, from whom it proceeded. In this country when a man dies intestate and without heirs, the title to his real property reverts or escheats to the people, as forming part of the common stock of the community, it being a fundamental principle that, if the ownership of property becomes vacant, the right must necessarily subside into the whole community in whom it was vested at the origin of society. This rule, which formerly applied to real property only, is extended by the laws of most of the states to personal property.

§ 174. Title by forfeiture.-Title by forfeiture is a title which the state acquires to the property of a felon who, with his heirs, devisees and legatees, are deprived of it on account of, and as a punishment for, high crimes. Conditional estates in chattels and real property may be forfeited by breach of conditions, and the misuse of a chattel by a person having a qualified interest therein will sometimes determine his estate in favor of the absolute owner.

CHAPTER XIII.

PERSONAL PROPERTY.

§ 175. Definition.-Personal property embraces all objects and rights which are capable of ownership, except real estate or some interest therein.

§ 176. Title to-How acquired.-The title to personal property may be acquired in various ways. (1) By occupancy, as where one finds or takes possession of an article which has no owner or which has been abandoned, or where one captures wild animals, or fish, or finds a jewel to which no one claims title. (2) By increase or accession, as where one owns animals who have young. (3) By confusion, as where one has goods or property, like wheat, and some one wrongfully mixes his property of the same kind with it, so that it can not be distinguished and separated. (4) By gift, as where the owner of an article delivers it to one with the intent to pass the title to the donee. (5) By a written transfer describing the property and the person to whom it is transferred. (6) By sale by the owner, with or without delivery of possession. (7) By succession or descent from one who dies intestate. (8) By bequest

contained in a will. (9) By operation of law or judgment, as where one is sued for the conversion of another's property and judgment is rendered against the defendant for its value; in such cases, upon pay

ment or satisfaction of the judgment so rendered the title to the property vests in the defendant. So the title to the personal property of one dying testate or intestate vests in the executor or administrator by mere force of law. So a qualified title to the personal property of a ward vests in the guardian, and the assignee of a bankrupt and a receiver appointed by the court have a title to the goods which come to their possession in the administration of these trusts. (10) Title to personal property may be acquired also by purchase at a sale by an executor, administrator, guardian, assignee in bankruptcy, trustee, sheriff or other officer who, by law or the decree of a court. has authority to make such sale.

§ 177. Burial rights.-The bodies of the dead belong to surviving relatives in the order of inheritance, as property, and they have the right to control the disposition thereof. An action may be maintained against one to whom a dead body is entrusted, for failure to safely keep it. Against one who robs the grave, or desecrates the body, there would be a right of action. Although the dead body be called property, it is evident that it can not be damaged as property, and that the only real injury that can be done is to the feelings of the survivors. The law recognizes such injury as a legitimate basis for recovery of damages.

CHAPTER XIV.

DECEDENTS' ESTATES.

§ 178. Testator and intestate.-A person dying without making a will is called an intestate, and one who makes and leaves a will is called a testator.

§ 179. Statutes of descent and distribution.-The personal property of an intestate descends to his heirs, according to the statutes of the states where the intestate lived at the time of his death, and his real estate descends to his heirs, according to the laws of the place where the real estate was situate.

§ 180. Administrator.-Upon the death of an intestate, an administrator is appointed, whose duty it is to take possession of all the personal property, convert it into money, pay the debts, and to distribute what remains amongst the heirs. The administrator has no right to meddle with the real estate of the decedent, unless the proceeds of the personal estate should prove insufficient to discharge the debts, in which case, upon proper application to the court having probate jurisdiction, he will be authorized to sell under the direction of the court so much of the real estate as will discharge the debts. The right to administer is first in the surviving husband or wife, next in the children, according to age and capacity, next to the largest creditor, and if none of them desire to accept the trust, the court will