Estates for
Years.

Act of Charles the Second previously mentioned (s), the greater part of the land in this country became held by Socage, the power of alienation by will became of great value. It did not, however, until recent times, enable a person to dispose of real property other than that which he had at the time of making his will. But by the present Wills Act (t) it is enacted (u) that the power of disposition by will shall extend to all real estate to which the testator may be entitled at the time of his death, notwithstanding that he may become entitled to the same subsequently to the execution of his will. The earlier Wills Act did not, moreover, extend to copyholds; but we shall see, when we come to the chapter specially devoted to estates in land of this tenure, that they also can now be disposed of both during lifetime and by will.

It remains to add a few words on the subject of Estates for Years. The Feudal System, as we have. seen, dealt only with tenure by Military Service: it despised all others. In time, however, there grew up a system of allowing persons of inferior degree to cultivate lands belonging to the lords on condition of accounting for the produce, out of which they received a certain allowance for themselves. They were thus little more than bailiffs, removable at their lords' pleasure. In time, however, the custom of letting lands became general, and such a tendency ceased to imply a necessary superiority on the part of the person who let the land (or "lessor ") over the person to whom it was let (or "lessee "). The lessees consequently arrived at a more independent position, paying a fixed rent for their lands, and, provided they did this, and also complied with any other conditions on which they held, were entitled to undisturbed possession during their term.

(8) 12 Car. II. c. 24.

(t) 7 Wm. IV. & 1 Vict. c. 26.
(u) S. 3.

At first, however, they had this right as against their landlord only. For although a lessee, who had been wrongfully turned out of his holding by his lessor, was, after a time, permitted to bring an action of ejectment against him, and thus recover the land, besides obtaining damages for the wrong done, the case was different if the lessee had been turned out by some other person claiming by a title paramount to that of the lessor. For then the lessee could indeed bring an action against his lessor for not securing him undisturbed possession of the land, but could not recover the land itself. This was made a means of defrauding the tenant, for a lessor who wished to put an end to a lease would get some friendly plaintiff to bring a preconcerted action against him for the land, which he would take care not to defend; judgment would accordingly be given against him, and the plaintiff could then proceed to eject the lessee. An Act, known as the Statute of Gloucester (v), was passed in the reign of Edward the First, with a view to put a stop to this practice, but with little effect; and the lessee still remained liable to be ejected by the process above mentioned, until the passing of the 21 Hen. VIII., c. 15, which enacted that lessees, whether holding by a parol or written lease, or by one by deed, might prove that the action was fictitious, and that in that case the lessees should, notwithstanding such actions, hold their terms according to their leases. But a lease was never recognised by the law as of equal dignity with estates for life or in fee; it is still, therefore, only personal estate, and the feudal seisin remains in the person who has the first estate Estate for for life or in fee, after the term comes to an end; and Years is not who is therefore distinguished as the freeholder, since it is he, and not the lessee, who holds from the lord Always alienparamount. One advantage indeed formerly gained by the low estimation in which terms of years are

(v) 6 Ed. I. c. II.

freehold.

able.

Summary.

held by the law was that they could be, unlike more honourable estates, freely disposed of either during the tenant's lifetime or by his will; but this advantage has now disappeared, being, as we have seen, no longer peculiar to personal estate.

The estates, therefore, in corporeal hereditaments which we have to consider are, besides the minor estates conferred by a tenancy at will or at sufferance (terms to be explained hereafter), Estates for Years, Estates for Life, Estates in Fee Tail, and Estates in Fee Simple. We will go on to examine them separately, taking them in the order in which they have just been named. In so doing, we shall, at first, treat of such estates as being held in land or freehold tenure only, reserving the subjects of copyholds for special consideration in a subsequent chapter.

CHAPTER II.

OF AN ESTATE FOR YEARS.

WE saw in the previous chapter that one great distinction between estates for years and those for life or any greater interest is that the former are personal and the latter real property. There is also another way in which the difference between them is strongly marked. In early times no freeman would condescend to accept an estate in land to endure for a shorter time than his own life; and, on the other hand, no man not a freeman was, at first, allowed to hold land for so long a time. Hence land held for life or for any longer term was said to be "freehold " (that is, held by a freeman), and although in process of time it was thought that a freeman might hold land for a shorter term than his life without loss of dignity, the old distinction still remains in the name; consequently the estates which may be held in land are divided into two great classes, namely, Estates of Estates of Freehold, and Freehold (which include life estates and estates of Estates less inheritance) and Estates less than Freehold. Of the than Freehold. latter kind, estates for years are by far the most important, and the consideration of them will, consequently, occupy the greater part of this chapter; but before coming to them a few remarks are necessary on two minor varieties of estates less than freehold, which are respectively known as Estates by Sufferance and Estates at Will. We shall, therefore, proceed to discuss these, and in doing so will follow the course proposed to be adopted with reference to all estates with which we are about to deal, by inquiring, -Ist, What they are, and how they may be created;

Estate by sufferance.

Estate at will.
How created.

2nd, The incidents attaching to them; and 3rd, How they may be alienated or put an end to.

An estate by sufferance is where one who comes in by right holds over without right (a). If, for instance, a tenant for years after the expiration of his tenancy continues to occupy the land of which he was tenant, without either the assent or dissent of his landlord, he is a tenant by sufferance, the law not considering him a trespasser, because, having been originally rightfully in possession, it will be assumed in his favour that he is so still. It will not be necessary to say any more about this estate, since it is obvious that it has the barest existence, and can only arise by implication of law, inasmuch as any recognition of it by the owner of the land would convert it into an estate at will.

An estate at will has been defined as the case of lands or tenements being let by one man to another, to have and to hold to him at the will of the lessor, by force of which lease the lessee is in possession. In this case the lessee is called a tenant at will, because he has no certain or sure estate, for the lessor may put him out at what time pleaseth him (b). every lease at will must, at law, be at the will of both parties, and therefore upon a lease to hold at the will of the lessor, the law implies it to be at the will of the lessee also (c), and consequently the lessee may leave whenever he pleases.

But

Such a tenancy seldom exists except in the few cases where it is implied by law. Thus, if a trustee of land, who is in the eye of the law the owner of the

(a) Co. Litt. 57.

(b) No notice is necessary-a statement of the lessor's will that the tenancy should terminate at once puts an end to it. Pollen v. Brewer, 7 C. B. (N. S.) 371.

(c) Co. Litt. 55.