the per and cui, or in the post, writ of entry sur intrusion, writ of entry sur alienation, dum fuit non compos mentis, dum fuit infra ætatum, dum fuit in prisona, ad communem legem, in casu proviso, in consimili casu, cui in vita, sur cui invita, cui ante divortium, or sur cui ante divortium, writ of entry sur abatement, writ of entry, quare ejecit infra terminum, or ad terminum qui præteriit, or causa matrimonii prælocuti, writ of aiel, besaiel, tresaiel, cosinage, or nuper obiit, writ of waste, writ of partition, writ of disceit, writ of quod ei deforceat, writ of covenant real, writ of warrantia charta, writ of curia claudenda, or writ per quæ servitia, and no other action, real or mixed (except a writ of right of dower, or writ of dower unde nihil habet, or a quare impedit, or an ejectment), and no plaint in the nature of any such writ or action (except a plaint for freebench or dower), shall be brought after the 31st of December,

1834.

[* xvi] * XXXVII. Provided always, that when, on the said 31st of December, 1834, any person, who shall not have a right of entry to any land, shall be entitled to maintain any such writ or action as aforesaid in respect of such land, such writ or action may be brought at any time before the 1st of June, 1835, in case the same might have been brought if this Act had not been made, notwithstanding the period of twenty years herein before limited shall have expired.

XXXVIII. Provided, also, that when, on the said 1st of June, 1835, any person whose right of entry to any land shall have been taken away by any descent, cast, discontinuance, or warranty, might maintain any such writ or action as aforesaid in respect of such land, such writ or action may be brought after the said 1st of June, 1835, but only within the period during which, by virtue of the provisions of this Act, an entry might have been made upon the same land by the person bringing such writ or action if his right of entry had not been so taken away.

XXXIX. That no descent, cast, discontinuance, or warranty, which may happen or be made after the said 31st of December, 1833, shall toll or defeat any right of entry or action for the recovery of land.

XL. That after the said 31st of December, 1833, no action or suit, or other proceeding shall be brought, to recover any sum of money secured by any mortgage, judgment or lien, or otherwise charged upon or payable out of any land or rent, at law or in equity, or any legacy, but within twenty years next after a present right to receive the same shall have accrued to some person capable of giving a discharge for or release of the same, unless in the mean time some part of the principal money, or some interest thereon, shall have been paid, or some acknowledgment of the right thereto shall have been given in writing, signed by the person by whom the same shall be payable, or his agent, to the person entitled thereto or his agent; and in such case no such action, or suit, or proceeding, shall be brought but within twenty years after such payment or acknowledgment, or the last of such payments or acknowledgments, if more than one was given.

XLI. That after the said 31st of December, 1833, no arrears of dower, nor any damages on account of such arrears, shall be recovered or obtained by any action or suit, for a longer period than six years next before the commencement of action or suit.

XLII. That after the said 31st of December, 1833, no arrears of rent or of interest, in respect of any sum of money charged upon or payable out of any land or rent, or in respect of any legacy, or any damages in respect of such arrears of rent or interest, shall be recovered by any distress, action, or suit but within six years next after the same respectively shall have become due, or next after an acknowledgment of the same in writing shall have been given to the person entitled thereto, or his agent, signed by the person by whom the same was payable, or his agent: Provided, nevertheless, that [*xvii] where any prior mortgagee, or other encumbrancer, shall have been in possession of any land, or in the receipt of the profits thereof, within one year next before an action or suit shall be brought by any person entitled to subsequent mortgage or other encumbrance on the same land, the person entitled to such subsequent mortgage or encumbrance may recover in such action or suit the arrears of interest which shall have become due during the whole time that such prior mortgagee or encumbrancer was in such possession or receipt as aforesaid, although such time may have exceeded the said term of six years.

XLIII. That after the said 31st of December, 1833, no person claiming any tithes, legacy, or other property, for the recovery of which he might bring an action or suit at law or in equity, shall bring a suit or other proceeding in any spiritual court to recover the same, but within the period during which he might bring such action or suit at law or in equity.

XLIV. Provided, always, that this Act shall not extend to Scotland; and shall not, so far as it relates to any right to permit to or bestow any church, vicarage, or other ecclesiastical benefice, extend to Ireland.

XLV. That this Act may be amended, altered, or repealed, during this present session.

Comments upon the above Statute, with Notes and References to Decisions under it, from Brown on Actions at Law.

Section 1. The time within which actions to recover realty, &c., must be brought, is regulated by the 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 27. By the 1st section of the act, the meaning of the words in the Act is defined; it enacts (inter alia), that the word "land" shall extend to manors, messuages, and all other corporeal hereditaments whatsoever, and also to tithes (other than tithes belonging to a spiritual or eleemosynary corporation sole), and also to any share or interest in them, whether the same be a freehold or chattel interest, and whether they be of freehold, copyhold, or any other tenure; and that the word "rent" shall extend to all heriots, services, and suits for which a distress may be made, and to annuities charged upon land (except moduses or compositions belonging to a spiritual or eleemosynary corporation sole), and that the word "person" shall extend to a body politic, corporate, or collegiate, and to a class of creditors or other persons, as well as to an individual; and that the singular number shall embrace the plural, and the masculine gender the feminine.

Section 2, enacts, that after the 31st day of December, 1833, no person shall make an entry or distress, or bring an action to recover any land or [*xviii] *rent,' but within twenty years next after the time at which the right to make such entry or distress, or to bring such action, shall have first

accrued.

Sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, define the period from which the statute begins to run (where a party is not under disability), which may be thus briefly stated, namely, where the claimant was, in respect of the estate or interest claimed, himself once in possession, or claims through a party who was once in possession of the property, or in the receipt of the rents or profits, the statute runs from the time when he was dispossessed, or discontinued such possession or receipts.2

Where the claimant claims on the death of one who died in possession of the land or receipt of the rents or profits thereof, the statute runs from the time of the death, and this even in the case of an administrator,' by section 6, which see post.

Where the claimant derives his right under any instrument (other than a will), the statute runs from the time when under the instrument he was entitled to the possession.❜

In the case of remainders or reversions, the statute runs from the time when the remainder or reversion becomes an estate in possession.

Where the claimant claims by reason of a forfeiture or breach of condition, the statute runs from the time of the forfeiture incurred, or breach of condition broken.3

But section 4 provides, that when any right to make any entry or distress, or to bring any action to recover any land or rent, by reason of any forfeiture or breach of condition, shall have first accrued in respect of any estate or interest in reversion or remainder, and the land or rent shall not have been recovered by virtue of such right, the right to make an entry or distress, or bring an action to recover such land or rent, shall be deemed to have first accrued in respect of such estate or interest at the time when the same shall have become an estate or interest in possession, as if no such forfeiture or breach of condition had happened.

And by section 8, it is provided, that a right to make an entry or distress, or to bring an action to recover any land or rent, shall be deemed to have first accrued in respect of an estate or interest in reversion at the time at which the same shall have become an estate or interest in possession by the determination of any estate or estates in respect of which such land shall have been held, or the profits thereof, or such rent shall have been received, notwithstanding [*xix] the person claiming such land, or some person through *whom he claims,

shall at any time previously to the creation of the estate or estates which shall have determined, have been in possession or receipt of the profits of such land, or in receipt of such rent.

Section 6 enacts, that, for the purpose of this Act, an administrator claiming

1 A rent reserved on a demise is not within this section; Grant v. Ellis, 9 M. & W. 113. 2 Sections 3 and 6.

3 A lessor is within this section when the rent has not been received adversely; 7 M. & W. 131.

the estate or interest of the deceased person of whose chattels he shall be appointed administrator, shall be deemed to claim as if there had been no interval of time between the death of such deceased person and the grant of letters of administration.

In case of a tenancy from year to year (without lease in writing), the statute runs from the end of the first year or the last payment of rent (which shall last happen).1

2

In case of a lease in writing, reserving more than 20s. rent, if the rent be received by a party wrongfully claiming the land, subject to the lease, and no payment of the rent be afterwards made to the party rightfully entitled, the statute runs from the time when the rent was first so received by the party wrongfully claiming; and the party rightfully entitled has no further right on the determination of the lease.'

In the case of a tenancy at will, the statute runs from the determination of such tenancy, or at the expiration of one year next after the commencement of such a tenancy, at which time the tenancy at will shall be deemed to have determined. But the clause provides that no mortgagor or cestui que trust shall be deemed a tenant at will, within the meaning of the Act, to his mortgagee or

trustee.

Section 10 enacts, that no person shall be deemed to have been in possession of any land within the meaning of this Act merely by reason of having made an entry thereon.

Section 11 enacts, that no continual or other claim upon or near any land shall preserve any right of making an entry or distress, or of bringing an action.

*

Section 12 enacts, that when any one or more of several persons entitled to any land or rent as coparceners, joint-tenants, or tenants in common, shall have been in possession or receipt of the entirety, or more than his or their undivided share or shares of such land, or of the profits thereof, or of such rent, for his or their own benefit, or for the benefit of any person or other than the person or persons entitled to the other share or shares of the same land or rent, such possession or receipt shall not be deemed to have been the possession or receipt of or by such last-mentioned person or persons, or any of them."

persons [xx]

Section 13 enacts, that when a younger brother, or other relation of the person entitled as heir to the possession or receipt of the profits of any land or to the receipt of any rent, shall enter into the possession or receipt thereof, such

1 Section 8.

2 Section 9.

3 A lessor is a reversioner within the 3d section, where he merely discontinues the receipt of the rent; he has, therefore, twenty years from the determination of the lease, within which to claim; Doe d. Davey v. Oxenham, 7 M. & W. 131. And the discontinuing to receive rent for more than twenty years, where there is a lease, does not affect the right to recover the arrears of rent, as the 2d section does not apply to rent under a demise; Grant v. Ellis, 9 M. & W. 113.

4 Section 7.

5 This section is retrospective in its operation; Culley v. Doe d. Taylerson, 3 P. & D. 539.

B

possession or receipt shall not be deemed to be the possession or receipt of, or by, the person entitled as heir.

Section 14 provides, and enacts, that when any acknowledgment of the title of the person entitled to any land or rent shall have been given to him or his agent in writing, signed by the person in possession or in receipt of the profits of such land, or in respect of such rent, then such possession or receipt of or by the person by whom such acknowledgment shall have been given, shall be deemed, according to the meaning of this Act, to have been the possession or receipt of, or by the person to whom or to whose agent such acknowledgment shall have been given at the time of giving the same, and the right of such last-mentioned person, or any person claiming through him, to make an entry or distress, or to bring an action to recover such land or rent shall be deemed to have first accrued at, and not before, the time at which such acknowledgment, or the last of such acknowledgments, if more than one, was given.

Section 15 gives a party claiming land or rent, of which he had been out of possession more than twenty years, five years from the time of passing the Act within which to enforce his claim, where the possession was not adverse to his right or title at the time of passing the Act.

By section 16, persons under disability of infancy, lunacy, coverture, or beyond seas, and their representatives, are to be allowed ten years from the termination of their disability or death to enforce their rights.

But by section 17, even though a person be under disability when his claim first accrues, he must enforce it within forty years, even though the disability continue during the whole of the forty years.

And by section 18, no further time is to be allowed for a succession of disabilities.

By section 19, no part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, nor the islands of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Sark, nor any adjacent island (being part of the dominions of his majesty) are to be deemed beyond seas.

By section 20, when the right of any person to recover any land or [*xxi] rent * to which he may have been entitled, or an estate or interest in possession shall have been barred by time, any right in reversion, or otherwise, which such person may during that time have had to the same land or rent, shall also be barred, unless in the mean time the land or rent shall have been recovered by some person entitled to an estate which shall have taken effect after or in defeasance of such estate or interest in possession.

Section 21 enacts, that when the right of a tenant in tail of any land or rent shall have been barred, the right of any person claiming any estate or interest which such tenant in tail might have barred, shall also be barred.1

Section 22 enacts, that when any tenant in tail shall have died before the bar as against him is complete, no person claiming an estate or interest, &c., which

1 A fine with proclamations by a tenant in tail in possession creates a discontinuance, and the legal fee descends to his heirs at law, the remainder-men therefore cannot maintain ejectment, but are driven to their formedon, which they may bring under the 38th section within the time thereby given; 7 M. & W. 102.