7. Can an estate of freehold commence in futuro?—143, 144. No; because it cannot be created at common law without livery of seizin.

8. What estate has a tenant for years ?-144.

He has no estate in, but only a right of entry on, the tenement, which right is called his interest in the term, or interesse termini; but when he has actually so entered, and thereby accepted the grant, the estate is then, and not before, vested in him, and he is possessed, not properly of the land, but of the terms of years, the possession or seizin of the land remaining still in him who hath the freehold.

9. What is the legal difference between the term and the time of a lease for years?-144.

The word term does not merely signify the time specified in the lease, but the estate also and interest that passes by that lease; and, therefore, the term may expire during the continuance of the time; as by surrender, forfeiture and the like.

10. What are incident to an estate for years?—145.

Tenant for term of years hath incident to and inseparable from his estate, unless by special agreement, the same estovers which the tenant for life is entitled to; that is to say, housebote, fire-bote, plow-bote, and hay-bote.

11. What is an estate at will?—145.

An estate at will is where lands and tenements are let by one man to another, to have and to hold, at the will of the lessor; and the tenant by force of this lease obtains possession.

12. In what case is a tenant at will entitled to emblements?-146. When he has sown the land, and the landlord, before the corn is ripe, or before it is reaped, puts him out.

13. What acts amount to a determination of the will?—146.

Any act of ownership by the lessor, as entering upon the premises and cutting timber, taking a distress for rent, and impounding it thereon, or making a feoffment, or lease for years to commence immediately; any act of desertion by the lessee, as

assigning his estate to another, or committing waste, which is an act inconsistent with such tenure, or, which is instar omnium, the death or outlawry of either lessor or lessee; puts an end to, or determines the estate at will.

14. How have courts of law leaned in construing demises, where no certain term is mentioned?-147.

They have leaned, as much as possible, against construing demises, where no certain term is mentioned, to be tenancies at will; but have rather held them to be tenancies from year to year so long as both parties please.

15. What notice is required to determine a tenancy from year to year?-147.

Reasonable notice, which is generally understood to be six

months.

16. In what species of estates at will is the will qualified by the custom of the manor ?—147, 148.

In copyhold estates, or estates held by copy of court roll. This custom, being suffered to grow up by the lord, is looked upon as the interpreter of his will.

17. Why were copyholds not freeholds ?-148, 149.

The reason seems to have arisen from the nature of villenage tenure; in which a grant of any estate of freehold, or even for years absolutely, was an immediate enfranchisement of the villein.

18. What kind of estate have customary freeholders ?-149.

They have a freehold interest, though not of a freehold tenure.

19. What are the comparative advantages of a copyhold, and of an absolute freehold estate?—150.

We may now look upon a copyholder of inheritance, with a fine certain, to be little inferior to an absolute freeholder in point of interest, and in other respects, particularly in the clearness and security of his title, to be frequently in a better situation.

20. What is an estate at sufferance ?—150.

An estate at sufferance is where one comes into possession of land by lawful title, but keeps it afterward without any title at all.

21. Against whom can no man be tenant at sufferance?—150.

The King, to whom no laches, or neglect, in not entering and ousting the tenant, is ever imputed by law.

22. How may an estate at sufferance be destroyed?—150.

The true owner shall first make an actual entry on the land, and oust the tenant; for, before entry, he cannot maintain an action of trespass against the tenant by sufferance; as against a stranger he might.

CHAPTER X.

OF ESTATES UPON CONDITION

1. What is an estate upon condition ?—152.

An estate upon condition is one whose existence depends upon the happening, or not happening, of some uncertain event, whereby the estate may be either originally created, or enlarged, or finally defeated.

2. How are estates upon condition divided?—152.

Into estates upon condition implied, and estates upon condition expressed under the last division are included estates held in vadio, gage, or pledge; estates by statute merchant, or statute staple; and estates held by elegit.

3. What are estates upon condition implied in law ?—152.

Estates upon condition implied in law are where a grant of an estate has a condition annexed to it inseparable from its essence and constitution, although no condition be expressed in words. As if a grant be made to a man of an office, generally,

without adding other words; the law tacitly annexes thereto a secret condition, that the grantee shall duly execute his office.

4. How may an office be forfeited?—153.

By mis-user and non-user, both of which are breaches of the implied condition annexed to the grant of the office.

5. What is an estate on condition expressed?—154.

It is an estate granted, either in fee simple or otherwise, with an express qualification annexed, whereby the estate granted shall either commence, be enlarged, or be defeated, upon performance or breach of such qualification or condition.

6. What is an estate to a man and his heirs, tenants of a certain manor?-154.

It is an estate upon condition that he and his heirs continue tenants of that manor.

7. Of what kinds are conditions expressed?-154.

Precedent or subsequent.

8. What is the distinction between a condition in deed, and a limitation, or condition in law ?—155.

When an estate is so expressly confined and limited by the words of its creation, that it cannot endure for any longer time than till the contingency happens upon which the estate is to fail, this is denominated a limitation. But when an estate is, strictly speaking, upon condition in deed, (as if granted expressly upon condition to be void upon the payment of forty pounds by the grantor, or so that the grantee continues unmarried, or provided he goes to York,) the law permits it to endure beyond the time when such contingency happens, unless the grantor, or his heirs or assigns, take advantage of the breach of the condition, and make either an entry, or a claim, in order to avoid the estate.

9. In instances of limitation or condition subsequent, what estate has the grantee so long as the condition remains unbroken ?-156.

The grantee may have an estate of freehold, provided the estate, upon which such condition is annexed, be in itself of a freehold nature. But where the estate is at the utmost a chat

tel interest, which must determine at a time certain, and may determine sooner (as a grant for ninety-nine years, provided A, B, and C, or the survivor of them, shall so long live), this still continues a mere chattel, and is not, by such its uncertainty, ranked among the estates of freehold.

10. When are express conditions void?-156.

If they be impossible at the time of their creation, or afterward become impossible by the act of God, or the act of the feoffer himself; or if they be contrary to law, or repugnant to the nature of the estate, they are void. In any of which cases, if they be conditions subsequent, that is, to be performed after the estate is vested, the estate shall become absolute in the tenant.

11. Of what kinds are estates held in vadio ?—157.

They are of two kinds, vivum vadium, or living pledge; and mortuum vadium, dead pledge, or mortgage.

12. What is vivum vadium, or living pledge ?-157.

It is when a man borrows a sum (say £200) of another; and grants him an estate, as of £20 per annum, to hold till the rents and profits shall repay the sum so borrowed. This is an estate conditional, to be void as soon as such sum is raised; and the land or pledge is said to be living, as it subsists and survives the debt, and, immediately on the discharge of that, results back to the borrower.

13. What is mortuum vadium, or mortgage?-157, 158.

It is where a man borrows of another a specific sum, (e. g. £200,) and grants him an estate in fee, on condition that if he. the mortgagor, shall pay the mortgagee the said sum of £200 on a certain day mentioned in the deed, that then the mortgagor may re-enter on the estate so granted in the pledge; or, as is now the usual way, that then the mortgagee shall re-convey the estate to the mortgagor. In this case, the land which is so put in pledge is, by law, in case of non-payment at the time limited, forever dead and gone from the mortgagor, and the mortgagee's estate in the lands is no longer conditional, but absolute.