§ 63. Of Feudal Estates for Life. The relations, thus existing between the lord of the manor and his freemen, were supposed to continue during the entire life of the tenant. The tenant, although a freeman, became "the lord's man." He was obliged to render the stipulated or customary services, under penalty of forfeiting his estate; and, so long as the services were rendered, the estate remained in him as his own exclusive property. The duration of estate and services being thus commensurate, and the services being, in contemplation of law, for the life of the tenant, the estate was held to be for life also; and hence it soon became a principle of feudal law that no estate, less than an estate for life, was worthy the acceptance of a freeman, or could be a freehold. Read 2 Bl. Comm., pp. 53-56, 104. 1 Cruise Dig., Prelim. Diss. Ch. i, §§ 47–57, 62-66. 4 Kent Comm., Lect. lv, pp. 23, 24. Will. R. P., pp. 22, 111. 1 Wash. R. P., B. i, Ch. ii, § 51; Ch. iii, § 10. § 69. Of Estates of Freehold and Less than Freehold. (Human life, being of uncertain and unascertainable duration, is presumed by law to be permanent and without end. An estate for life possesses the same legal character, and is, therefore, held to be of a higher order than any estate the period of whose existence can be ascertained, no matter of how many years that period may consist. An estate, granted for a thousand years, is thus, in law, a less estate than one granted for life, however certain it may be that the former will outlast the latter; and no estate is greater, in law, than an estate for life except one, which is so created that it will exist during the lifetime of the tenant, and, after his death, descend to his heirs. From these principles arises the first great division of estates in real property, into freehold estates and estates less than freehold: freehold estates including life-estates and inheritable estates; estates less than freehold including all estates for fixed periods of time, and all estates, the period of whose duration may be determined, or can be ascertained, at the time when the estate itself is created. The former are real estates in real property. The latter are personal estates in real property, and are generally known as chattels real. Read 2 Bl. Comm., pp. 104, 143, 386, 387. 1 Cruise Dig., Tit. i, § 14; Tit. viii, Ch. i, §§ 2, 25. 4 Kent Comm., Lect. lv, pp. 23, 24; Lect. Ivi, p. 85. § 70. Of the Seisin of Freehold Estates. The possession of corporeal real property, by one who has a freehold estate therein, is known as seisin. Seisin is not the mere physical occupation of the land, nor does it necessarily include it; and occupation may be exclusively enjoyed by one man while the seisin is vested in another. Seisin is, however, so essential an element of a freehold estate, that such an estate can neither be created nor legally exist without it; and if the seisin and estate chance to be severed, the law cannot recognize the existence of the latter until, in some manner, the former is regained. Read 2 Bl. Comm., pp. 53, 104, 120, 208, 209, 311. 1 Cruise Dig., Prelim. Diss. Ch. i, § 41; Tit. i, § 23. 4 Kent Comm., Lect. lxvii, p. 482. 1 Wash. R. P., B. i, Ch. ii, §§ 11, 65, 73-84. § 71. Of the Seisin during the Existence of Estates Less than Freehold. Disseisin. Seisin is predicable only of a freehold, and occupation becomes seisin only when the freehold tenant is himself the occupant. When the owner of an estate less than freehold is in actual possession of the land, the seisin is in him, out of whose freehold the estate less than freehold was derived. When lands are in the occupation of a person who has no actual freehold interest therein, and who does not claim under, or as tenant of, the owner of the freehold, the freeholder is said to be disseised; and the law then finds both estate and seisin in this adverse occupant, until the freeholder assumes possession of the lands. Read 2 Bl. Comm., pp. 144, 195, 196. 1 Cruise Dig., Tit. i, §§ 33–35; Tit. viii, Ch. i, §§ 12. 4 Kent Comm., Lect. lxv, p. 386; Lect. lxvii, pp. 482-484. 1 Wash. R. P., B. i, Ch. ii, §§ 52, 53, 80; Ch. x, Sec. 1, §7. 2 Wash. R. P., B. ii, Ch. iv, Sec. 1, §§ 1-5. § 72. Of the Seisin of Concurrent Freehold Estates. Several different estates of freehold may concurrently exist in the same land; as an estate for life in one man and an inheritable estate in another. In such cases there is, however, but one actual seisin, and that is in the freehold tenant who, by himself or by some person holding under him, actually occupies the land. The seisin of the other estates exists, however, in contemplation of law, and is said to rest temporarily upon, and to be represented by, the seisin of the actual possessor. Read 2 Bl. Comm., pp. 107, 164–167. 4 Kent Comm., Lect. lix, pp. 198, 234, 258-260; Lect. lxv, pp. 386, 387. Will. R. P., pp. 231-234. 1 Wash. R. P., B. i, Ch. ii, §§ 70, 85–97; Ch. iii, § 16. 2 Wash. R. P., B. ii, Ch. iv, Sec. 1, §§ 1-5. § 73. Of Legal Presumptions as to Seisin and Freehold. The law presumes, as to every parcel of land, that a freehold estate therein, and its accompanying seisin, always exists in some person. Thus on the failure or the termination of any estate of freehold, the law finds the freehold and seisin of the land in him, out of whose estate such failing or determined freehold has been carved; and, on the failure of the ultimate inheritable estate, regards both ownership and seisin as vested in the state. Read 2 Bl. Comm., pp. 107, 168 note 9. 1 Cruise Dig., Tit. i, § 36. 2 Cruise Dig., Tit. xvii, §§ 2, 3. 4 Kent Comm., Lect. lxiii, pp. 353, 354; Lect. lxv1, pp. 423-428. Will. R. P., pp. 248, 249. 1 Wash. R. P., B. i, Ch. ii, § 97. 2 Wash. R. P., B. ii, Ch. iv, Sec. 1, §§ 1-5. § 74. Of Seisin in Fact and Seisin in Law. Seisin is of two kinds : Seisin in Fact and Seisin in Law. Seisin in fact is the actual occupation of the land, either by the freeholder himself or by some other person claiming under him. Seisin in law occurs where no one is in actual occupation of the land; as where an ancestor has died leaving lands vacant. The seisin, in such cases, is presumed by law to be in him who has the freehold interest, and may, at any time, be converted by him into seisin in fact. Read 1 Cruise Dig., Tit. i, §§ 24-30. 1 Wash. R. P., B. i, Ch. ii, §§ 73-82. 3 Wash. R. P., B. iii, Ch. ii, Sec. 7, § 9. § 75. Of Livery of Seisin. The creation of a freehold estate necessitates the transfer of the seisin to him, in whose favor the estate is created. Hence no person can create a freehold unless he has the seisin in himself; and one, who has the seisin, can create a freehold only by some act which is, in law, sufficient to divest himself of the seisin, and to confer it upon his grantee. This act was formerly called livery of seisin, and consisted in the delivery by the grantor to the grantee, on the land and in presence of the other freeholders of the same manor, of a turf, or twig, or other substance taken from the land. Read 2 Bl. Comm., pp. 314–316. 1 Cruise Dig., Prelim. Diss. Ch. i, §§ 41-44. 1 Wash. R. P., B. i, Ch. ii, §§ 64-69. § 76. Of Freeholds in Futuro. The act called livery of seisin was a present act, taking immediate effect, at once transferring the possession and creating the estate. Hence it was held to be impossible to create a freehold to commence in futuro; and equally impossible to create a freehold which should come into enjoyment in futuro, unless, at the same time, an intermediate estate were created, to whose owner livery of seisin might be made, both on his own behalf and on behalf of the future freehold tenant. And therefore if, in any manner, the intermediate estate should fail before the actual seisin could vest in the future freehold tenant, the seisin would revert to him, out of whose freehold both estates had been created, and the estate, as well as seisin, of the future tenant would be forever gone. Read 2 Bl. Comm., pp. 144, 165–168, 314–316. 1 Cruise Dig., Tit. i, § 37. 4 Kent Comm., Lect. lix, p. 234. Will. R. P., p. 249. 2 Wash. R. P., B. ii, Ch. iv, Sec. 1, §§ 1-5. |