continued in possession for some years; then the lessor re-entered: the lessee being out of possession, assigned over the term to the plaintiff's lessor, who brought an ejectment. Judgement was given for the plaintiff; and the Court held, That the term not being to begin till Michaelmas, this was till then a future interest; that the lessee's entry before, was a disseisin, not a possession by virtue of the lease.

906.

19. Where the commencement of an estate for Walter v. Champian, years is limited from a time past, and the lessee was Cro. Eliz. in possession prior to that period, it shall be intended that he entered and occupied before, by agreement; therefore it is not a disseisin.

Years may commence

20. An estate for years may be created to com- Estates for mence in futuro, though an estate of freehold cannot. For where an estate for years is created to commence in futuro. in futuro, the freehold is not thereby put in abeyance, but still continues in the lessor; so that he is capable of answering the præcipes of strangers, which may be brought against him. And before the abolition of military tenures, he was liable to perform the services which were due for the feud.

21. Where an estate for years is granted to com- And be asmence in futuro, it cannot of course be executed by signed before Entry. an immediate entry, as that would be a disseisin. It is therefore an interesse termini; but still the lessee ante, § 15. may assign it over : even if a stranger enters by wrong, yet such a grant will transfer the lessee's power of entry, and right of reducing the estate into possession. For till the entry of the lessee, the estate is not executed, but remains in the same plight as it was when the lease was made; so that no intermediate act, either of the lessor, or of a stranger, can devest or disturb it; because whoever comes to the possession, whether by right or by wrong, takes it subject to such future

Wheeler v. Thoroughgood, Cro. Eliz. 127.

1 Leon 118.

charge, which the lessee may execute whenever he thinks fit, as by a title prior and paramount to all such intermediate violations of the possession.

22. A person made a lease for years, to commence at a future period; after the expiration of that time, but before any entry by the lessee, the lessor being still in possession, the lessee granted over his term and interest. Resolved, that the grant was good; because the interesse termini of the lessee was not devested or Saffin's Case, turned to a right, but continued in him in the same manner as when it was first granted; and was so transferred over to another, who by his entry might reduce it into possession whenever he pleased.

Tit.35. c. 10.

Cro. Eliz. 15.

23. If however a person entitled to an estate for 5 Rep. 124 a. years, to commence in futuro, once enters, and is put out of possession, he cannot afterwards grant over his term to a stranger: for by his entry the estate for years was actually executed; and, being after that defeated by the entry of a stranger, the lessee has only a right of entry left in him; which the policy of the law will not suffer him to transfer over to a stranger, no more than a right of action; lest such transfer should encourage maintenance.

May deter

nine by Proviso.

24. Though an estate of freehold cannot be made to cease by the direction of the parties, but must be taken from the person in whom it is vested, by means somewhat similar to those by which it was given to him; yet it is otherwise in the case of an estate for 1 Inst. 214b. years: for that may be made to cease by a proviso in

the conveyance itself, upon the performance of any previous act. The practice in conveyancing has therefore long been, where terms for years are created, to insert a proviso, that when the trusts of the term are satisfied, the term itself shall cease and determine.

Real.

25. Estates for years are considered in law as chat- Are Chattels tels real, being an interest in real property, of which they have one quality, immobility, which denominates them real; but want the other, namely, a sufficient legal indeterminate duration; the utmost period for which they can last being fixed and determined.

Executors.

26. In consequence of this principle estates for And vest in years do not descend to the heir of the person who dies possessed of them, but vest in his executors or administrators, like any other chattel; and although lands are frequently demised for 500 and 1000 years, yet the succession continues the same.

27. If a lease for years be made to a bishop, parson, 1 Inst. 9 a. or other sole corporation, and his successors, yet it 90 a.

will
go to the executors of the lessee; because a term
for years being a chattel, the law allows none but the
personal representatives to succeed thereto; nor can
this mode of succession to a chattel be altered or
controlled by any limitation of the party. The King
however, by his prerogative, may transmit a chattel
to his successors.

1 Inst.351 a.

28. By the statute of frauds a husband may ad- 29 Cha. II. minister to his deceased wife; and is entitled for his c. 3. $25. own benefit to all her chattels real. The husband of n. 1. a woman possessed of a chattel real is also entitled to dispose of it during his life; if he does not execute Anon. this power, and his wife survives him, it will belong 9 Mod. 43. to her, and not to his representatives. But if the Id. 104. husband be an alien, he will not acquire any right to Tit. 5. c. 1. a term of years belonging to his wife.

§ 28.

506.

29. Estates for years pass from executor to execu- 2 Comm. tor, in infinitum; but whenever the course of representation from executor to executor is interrupted by one administration, it then becomes necessary for the ordinary to commit administration afresh, of the

Cases and Opinions, V. 1. 399.

Dyer, 23 b. 1 Ab. Eq. 319.

1 Atk. 460.

Went. Ex.

34.

Idem, 226.

Ewer v.
Corbett,

2 P. Wms.
148.

A Freehold cannot be

executor.

goods of the person who was last possessed of the term, in his own right, not administered by the former A limited, or special administration only, may also be granted, viz. of certain specific effects; and it is a common practice to obtain a special administration of a term for years.

30. Where a person appoints two or more executors, if only one of them proves the will, he alone will become entitled to any terms for years whereof the testator died possessed, and may assign them accordingly.

31. Where there are several executors, who all prove the will, they have a joint and several interest in all the goods and chattels of the testator; therefore a disposition, by one of them only, of a term for years, is good. But one administrator cannot convey an interest, so as to bind the other.

32. An executor may assign a term for years, before he has proved the will: the will must however be afterwards proved in the ecclesiastical court having jurisdiction over the place where the lands otherwise it will have no effect as to the term. 33. Where a term for years is specifically devised, the assent of the executor is necessary; but if the legatee disposes of the term at any future period, the assent of the executor will be presumed.

lie;

34. A purchaser of a term for years, from an executor, is not bound to see to the application of the purchase money; even though the term be charged with the payment of a particular debt, or specifically bequeathed. Because terms for years are subject to the payment of all debts, in the first instance.

35. An estate of freehold cannot be derived from derived from a term for years. Thus, where a rent was granted for life, out of a long term for years; it was resolved to

a Term.

be a good charge, as long as the term lasted; but that it was only a chattel, and not a freehold; for it was repugnant to have a freehold out of a term for years.

36. Estates from year to year will be treated of in the next title.