OF

CONVEYANCING;

DESIGNED FOR

THE USE OF STUDENTS:

WITH

AN INTRODUCTION

ON THE STUDY OF THAT BRANCH OF LAW.

BY CHARLES WATKINS,

OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, ESQ., BARRISTER AT LAW.

PART II.

WITH ANNOTATIONS BY

THOMAS COVENTRY, Esq.

BARRISTER AT LAW.

Eighth Edition,

REVISED AND CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED BY

HENRY HOPLEY WHITE, Esq.,

BARRISTER AT LAW, OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE.

LONDON:

SAUNDERS AND BENNING, LAW BOOKSELLERS, (SUCCESSORS TO J. BUTTERWORTh and son,)

43, FLEET STREET.

PRINCIPLES

OF

CONVEYANCING,

&c. &c.

CHAP. IX.

OF AN ESTATE IN FEE SIMPLE.

AN estate in fee simple is either absolute, or 2 Bl. Comm. qualified, or base.* An estate in fee absolute

For all practical purposes the student may consider estates in fee as divided into-1. Estates, in fee simple.2. Estates in base fee.

104.
Litt. b. c. 1.
Wright, Ten.
146.

Prest. Est.

ch. 2.

The first estate includes every other, and confers on the owner the entire and absolute dominion over the property. He can create every other estate out of it, and every other [estate except an estate tail] will merge in it. The attributes Wiscot's case,

of this estate are,—

1. An unlimited power of alienation by deed or will.
2. An uncontrollable power in the commission of waste.
3. Liability to dower and curtesy.

4. Liability to [debts by specialty and simple contract.]

2 Rep. 60.

1 Will. 4. c. 47. and 3 & 4 Ib.

c. 104.

is an estate limited to a person and his heirs, general or indefinite. It is not confined to any

Infra, ch. Inheritance.

2 Bl. Com 72.
244.

54 Geo. 3. c.
146. Co. Litt.
499 b. 41 a.
3 Pres. Abs.
392. 2 Watk.
Cop. 364.
4th ed.

10 Co. 95.

Co. Litt. 332 a. 2 Ld. Raym. 778. Gilb. Ten.

121.

5. Descent to heirs general, according to the [old] canons of inheritance, [in case of deaths happening before the 1st Jan. 1834, and in case of descents taking place on the death of persons dying upon or after that day, according to the law of inheritance, as now altered by statute 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 106.]

6. Escheat to the lord of the manor for want of heirs. And, 7. Forfeiture for treason, murder, and felony. Treason

to the king absolutely. Murder-to the king for a year, day, and waste, and afterwards to the lord of the manor absolutely. Other felonies-to the king for a year, day, and waste, and afterwards the rents and profits belong to the lord of the manor as bond felonum for the residue of the felon's life, the legal estate being still in him. On his death the estate descends to his heir.

The second estate arose where a tenant in tail with remainder to a stranger aliened in fee, either by fine [before the statutes 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 74., and 4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 92.,] feoffment, or any other species of assurance, [not being a common recovery,] the alienee had a base fee, that is, a fee simple determinable on the [death of the tenant in tail, and] Supra, p. 110. failure of the issue under the entail. [A base fee may still be created by feoffment or any other assurance of the tenant in tail, not being such a disposition under the above act, as would bar not only the issue, but all estates in remainder dependent on the estate of the tenant in tail: such, for instance, would be a conveyance by tenant in tail (not having the immediate remainder or reversion in fee), without the

* [In reference to the escheat and forfeiture of real and personal estate vested in persons as trustees or mortgagees, see stat. 4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 23.]