4o. The Tenure is a species of Copyhold, and Lands are conveyed, as in that, by Surrender.

4. Tenure in Frankalmoign, or Free Alms.

A spiritual tenure, in case of ancient religious corporations, to pray for the repose of the soul of the donor, and of his heirs! (2 Bl. Com. 101.)

4. The Tenure of Lands in Virginia; W. C.

1o. Tenure of Lands in Virginia prior to May, 1779.

They were universally held (by the terms of the royal grants) in "free and common socage, as of the King's manor of East Greenwich."

2o. Tenure of Lands in Virginia, since May, 1779.

The Tenure has been Allodial, and discharged of all quitrents, &c., which may have been reserved by the crown grants. (10 Hen. Stats. 64.)

3. Estates in Things Real.

Estate (status) signifies the condition or circumstance in which the owner stands with regard to his property. And to ascertain this with precision, estates may be considered, first, with regard to the quantity of interest the tenant has in the tenement; secondly, with regard to the qualifications of interest which may exist in reference thereto, by condition or otherwise; thirdly, with regard to the time of enjoyment, whether in presenti or in futuro; and fourthly, with regard to the number and connexions of the tenants. (2 Bl. Com. 103);

W. C.

1. The Quantity of Interest which may be had in Things Real; The quantity of interest which may be had in things real, consists of (1), Estates of freehold; and (2), Estates less than freehold;

W. C.

1. Estates of Freehold.

An estate of Freehold, (liberum terementum), or Frank-tenement, is an estate of indeterminate duration, other than an estate at will, or by sufferance; e. g. an estate in fee-simple, an estate for life, an estate until W returns from Europe, an estate durante viduitate, an estate during coverture, &c. (Bract. Fol. 27; 1 Th. Co. Lit. 621 & n (C).)

It derives its name from the fact that it was esteemed the only estate worthy of a freeman's and a soldier's acceptance. Freeholds at common law could be created, or conveyed, only by actual corporal delivery of the possession by the grantor to the grantee, which solemnity was known as "Livery of Seisin." Hence lands, as to the immediate freehold thereof, were said to lie in livery;

Estates of freehold are either (1), Of inheritance, or (2), Not of inheritance;

W. C.

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1.0.8962

CHAPTER VII.

OF FREEHOLD ESTATE OF INHERITANCE.

14. Freehold Estates of Inheritance.

These are such freehold estates as, upon the death of the tenant, will or may go to his nearest kindred, whom the law appoints to be his heirs;

They are of four kinds, namely, (1), Estates in fee-simple absolute; (2), Estates in fee-qualified; (3), Estates in fee-conditional; and (4), Estates in fee-tail;

W. C.

1. Estates in Fee-simple Absolute.

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The discussion of estates in fee-simple absolute leads us to observe, (1), The extent of interest possessed by the owner of such estates; (2), The technical words needful to create an estate in fee-simple; and (3), The incidents . belonging to such an estate;

W. C.

1. Extent of interest possessed by the owner of the Feesimple Absolute.

An estate in fee-simple is the entire and absolute property of the subject, and therefore, when one grants such an estate, he can make no further disposition of the property, (save by way of substitution), for he has already granted the whole and entire interest that is possible for him to have, and consequently nothing remains in him. The substitution of another estate for a fee-simple is at common law practicable only where the fee-simple is a future and contingent estate, and never vests; in which case another estate, a fee-simple for example, may be substituted in its room. This is known as the doctrine of concurrent fees, or of remainders limited upon a contingency in a double aspect, or of remainders upon a double contingency. Thus, if a conveyance be made to A for life, remainder, if A should die in B's life-time, to B and his heirs, and in case B should die in A's life-time, to A and his heirs, B and A would each have fee-simple estates, but contingent ones by way if remainder, so that A's fee-simple is to take effect only in case B's fails to vest. (Loddington v. Kime, 1 Ld. Raym. 203; Doe v. Burnsall, 6 T. R. 30; Hawk. Abr. 36 n (76) ) By conveyances operating under the Statutes of Wills, (V. C. 1873, c. 118, § 2), or of Uses or of Grants (V C. 1873, c. 112, § 14, 4), such substitutions of one fee-simple for another may be made even after the first is vested. It may be divested upon a subsequent contingency, and the property be transferred to another person in fee-simple,

the rationale of which will be explained in a subsequent connexion. (2 Th. Co. Lit. 87 n (L. 27, 768, Butler's note, II; Fearne's Rem. 399 & seq, & n (d); Post. c. x. xi.)

But a fee simple may be variable as to place, and also as to person; of which Sir Edward Coke gives three instances, namely: (1), Where a meadow of eighty acres has been used time out of mind, to be divided between certain persons, so as yearly to assign and lot out to each. their respective portions, sometimes in one part of the meadow, and sometimes in another; (2), Where a partition is made between two co-parceners (or joint heirs) of one and the self-same land, that the one shall have the land from Easter until Lammas to her and to her heirs, and the other shall have it from Lammas till Easter to her and her heirs; or the one shall have it the first year, and the other the second year, alternis vicibus, &c.; and (3), Where two co-parceners have two several manors by descent, and they make partition, that the one shall have the one manor for a year, and the other the other manor for the same year, and after that year, then she that had the one manor shall have the other, et sic alternis vicibus, forever. (1 Th. Co. Lit. 505, &c., & n (X).) And Mr. Preston reconciles this seeming incongruity by observing that the estate is permanent, as to the duration of the in'terest, though it shifts as to the possession. Each party in each of the instances has an estate, which has continuance at all times. His right to the possession is indeed constantly fluctuating, but his estate is always the same; and he has, at all times, a present fixed right of present or future enjoyment. (1 Prest. Est. 257-'8.)

W. C.

1. Legal import of the words "in Fee," and "Seised in his Demesne, as of Fee;" W. C.

The words "in fee," according to their original signification, are the same as in fide, or in feudo, and import an estate held feudally, of some superior, in whom, according to the fundamental idea of feuds, resides the ultimate property of the land, the dominium directum, the tenant having only the usufruct, or dominium utile. Hence the strongest and highest estate in lands, which at common law any subject could have, was expressed by the words, "he is seised thereof in his demesne, as of fee." It is his demesne, dominicum, or property, since it belongs to him and to his heirs forever; yet this dominicum, property, or demesne, is strictly not absolute or allodial, but qualified or feudal; it is his demense, but as of fee. (2 Bl. Com. 105.)

But whilst the primary use of the word fee was in contradistinction to allodium, or absolute property, the English lawyers for more than a century have not employed it generally in this sense, having nothing to do with allodium, and, therefore, no occasion to contrast the two modes of ownership; but they use it particularly to express the continuance or quantity of estate. A fee, therefore, in general, signifies an estate of inheritance; being the highest and most extensive interest that a man can have in a feud; and when the term occurs simply, without any other adjunct, or has the adjunct of simple annexed to it, (as a fee, or a fee-simple), it is used in contradistinction to a fe-conditional, a fee-tail, &c.; importing an absolute inheritance, clear of any condition, limitation or restriction to particular heirs, but descendible to the heirs general. And in no other sense than this is the King said to be seised in fee, he being the feudatory of no man. (2 Bl. Com. 106.)

In Virginia the same nomenclature prevails for the opposite reason. Our lawyers have no occasion to employ the word fee in its primary sense of contrast with allodium, since our lands are all allodial, and we have nothing to do with feudality; and so we use it, as in modern times it is used in England, merely to express, when standing alone, or with the adjunct simple, an absolute and unqualified estate of inheritance, the largest which it is possible for any one to have. (1 Th. Co. Lit. 488, 491; 1 Lom. Dig. 14, &c)

In this sense, unless otherwise expressed, the word fee will be hereafter used; but it should be observed that it it not usual to say of an incorporeal subject, that the owner is seised of it in his demesne as of fee, but only that he is seised as of fee, for the owner hath no dominicum, demesne, or property in the thing itself, but only a right derived out of it. (2 Bl. Com. 106.)

25. The Fee, or Inheritance, being in Abeyance.

That is, (as the word signifies), in expectation, remembrance, and contemplation in law; there being no person in esse in whom it can vest; though the law considers it as always potentially existing, and ready to vest whenever a proper owner appears. Thus, in a grant to John for life, and afterwards to the heirs of Richard, the inheritance is plainly granted neither to John, nor to Richard, nor can it vest in the heirs of Richard till his death, nam nemo est hæres viventis; it remains, therefore, according to Littleton and the earlier writers, including Blackstone, in waiting or abeyance, during the life of Richard. (2 Bl Com. 107; 3 Th. Co. Lit. 102-23.)

Mr. Fearne, however, considers that the inheritance can in no case be properly said to be in abeyance, but that it remains in the gruntor, or in the case of a will, in the devisor's heirs, until the contingency occurs on which it is to vest. (2 Bl. Com. 107, n (8); Fearne's Rem. 351, 360, 363; Post. 398-'9, c. xi.)

38. The Freehold being in Abeyance.

This is never admitted, at least by the act of the party, for two reasons, 1st, That if it were allowed, there would be none to render the military services; 2ndly, That there would be none to sue or to be sued for the title during such abeyance. (2 Bl. Com. 107, n (7); 3 Th.Co. Lit.n (G).) 2. The technical words necessary to create an Estate in Fee-simple; W. C.

18. The technical words necessary at Common law, to create a Fee-simple; W. C.

1. The technical words necessary in Conveyances inter vivos; W. C. Not so river ccics 11^51. Conveyances to Natural Persons.

The word "heirs" is indispensable in order to create any estate of inheritance, which is a relic of that feudal strictness which required that the form of the donation should be punctually pursued, lest the lord be construed to give more than he designed.

Com. 107-'8.)

21. Conveyances to Corporations.

(2 Bl.

If the corporation be sole, the word successors is proper, and perhaps required; whilst if aggregate, that word is frequently unimportant; for although without it the conveyance is only for life, yet corporations are, or may be, of perpetual duration. (2 Bl. Com. 109.)

2h. Technical words necessary in conveyance of Fee-simple, by Devise.

No technical words are required. The intent only is regarded. The testator being generally inops consilii in making his will, it was necessary to choose in this, as in many other particulars, between frustrating most devises, for want of the proper technical words, and dispensing with technical expressions and the certainty thereby engendered. The law chose the latter alternative, whether wisely or not, as a general rule, in view of the uncertainty and litigation which has ensued in the interpretation of wills, may admit of question. (2 Bl. Com. 108, & n (11).)

25. Technical words required in Virginia, to create a Feesimple.

Words of inheritance were first dispensed with in Vir