ERRATA. Page 18, First side-note, for rent read real. 27, for this read the. 37, note (a), for 7 Geo. 5 read 7 Geo. 4. line 25, for confined read conferred. 49, second side-note, for 3 read 4. 50, second side-note, for 4 read 5. 96, the side-note should be stated as a question. 165, note (b), for roll read moll. 192 & 193, for 5 & 6 Edw. 6, c. 17, read c. 16. 212, line 4, for effected read affected. 259, second side-note, dele now. 313, line 6, dele (a), and place it at the end of line 11. THE LAW OF ANNUITIES AND RENT CHARGES. CHAPTER I. of the DEFINITIONS, NATURE AND PROPERTIES OF ANNUITIES. CHAP. I. THE DEFINITIONS. fined. AN Annuity is the grant of a certain sum of money, to be Annuity depaid by the grantor or his representative, at the expiration of fixed consecutive periods, for a definite term, or for life, or in fee. Formerly the term Annuity referred to the nature of the Distinction besecurity on which the grantee relied, and expressed a charge Rent Charge, tween Annuity, upon the person or personal estate of the grantor only; while and Rent Seck. a charge upon the real estate of the grantor was signified by the term of a Rent. At the present day an Annuity is applied indiscriminately to every species of security, but a Rent Charge still retains its ancient limited signification. When the Rent was granted to issue out of certain land, and a power of distress on the land charged was also given to the grantee, it was termed a Rent Charge. But when power was not given it was termed a Rent Seck. The proper remedy for this latter was an assize, but as this was too tedious a remedy, and had therefore almost become obsolete, the statute 4 Geo. II. c. 28, s. 5, enacted, that for all rents seck which had been paid for three years within that B CHAP. I. THE DEFINITIONS. Pensions. Names of the parties. An annuity is not necessarily annual. the twenty years prior to that act (1731), or should be created thereafter, there should be the like remedies by distress, as were then allowed by law for rents reserved on leases. So that now there have almost ceased to be any rents seck. Where an Annuity or Rent issues out of ecclesiastical property, or has been granted to spiritual persons, it is sometimes called a Pension; such seems to have been the earliest signification of the word, although now it is more generally understood as applicable to public grants to individuals for services rendered to the state. The person who grants the Annuity is termed the grantor or seller of the Annuity, he to whom it is granted is the grantee or purchaser, and, in the case of Life Annuities, the person on whose life it depends is the Annuitant, though this last distinction is not always attended to with strictness, in consequence of the grantee being very frequently also the Annuitant. The above definition of an Annuity requires examination, for in some respects it differs from that which is to be found in the Digests. Lord Coke, (a) in a definition which he has given, states it to be "the yearly payment of a certain sum of money." C. B. Comyn, (b) adopting this same definition, declares it to be the grant of an annual sum of money. But although doubtless, when an annuity is considered, the period of a year is generally referred to, and its etymological derivation implies something annual, yet the definition will not be sufficiently accurate if it be confined to an annual payment. In the Termes de la Ley (c) the annuity is defined in general words, for it is there stated to be "a certain sum of money granted in fee, &c." And in an anonymous case in Dyer, (d) the Court thought that a rent granted to be paid every second or third year would be an annuity. Still farther, in Rolle's Abr. (e) an instance is cited from 8 Hen. VI. 6. b, of the grant of a rent of 201., payable at the end of every twenty years, for which an (e) Annuitie. The reference, however, seems to be inaccurate. annuity will lie, though, as it is said, it is not annual. In ordinary practice, at the present time, the payments are generally made at half-yearly or quarterly periods, though certainly the calculations are usually made to refer to that of a year. It seems, therefore, to be more prudent to omit the word annual in the definition, in order to avoid any erroneous impression. CHAP. I. THE DEFINITIONS. be at certain The payments must be made at certain recurring in- Payments must tervals, because occasional payments, however numerous, intervals. will not constitute an annuity. As in an example in Dyer, (a) where an abbot covenanted with a man and his heirs to find a monk to serve a chapel every holiday, under penalty of forfeiting for each default 57. to him and his heirs. This was determined to be not an annuity, because it was not annual, that is, because it was occasional only. Payment of in terest on a sum of money lent is not an annuity. An annuity must not be confounded with the payment of interest on a sum of money lent; for in the latter case the principal is not lost, but is to be repaid; whereas in the former, there is no principal, or it is only to be returned by the annual payments. Hence where a bond was given conditioned to pay the interest on 10000. to the obligee during his life, and the principal to his executors or administrators within twelve months after his death, the Court of King's Bench held this not to be an annuity. (b) The only distinction which the law makes is that, which There can only has already been pointed out, between the charge on the be a rent or an real property which is a rent, and that on the personalty which is an annuity. It is wholly immaterial that the grantor has attempted to fix the personal fund on which alone the grant shall be secured; if that security be not land, the grant must be an annuity. Thus if one grant 201. a year out of his coffers, it is an annuity, and all his personalty is liable. So where there was a grant of 400. per annum to be paid out of the clear gains of the alum works, it was held that the grantor could not refuse to pay because there were no gains; for the grant charged the annuity. |