... c. 39, Attachment of Wages c. 75, Education Act ... ... ... ... 14 53 ... 124 ... 55 25 12 99 ... 97, 126, 129, 168, 170 17 58, 126 17 ... 3 81, 137, 138, 143, 144, 150 c. 93, Married Women's Property Act, 1870... 31 & 35 Vict. c. 79, Lodgers' Goods .7, 147, 148 159, 161, 163 ... ... 56 58, 118 ... ... ... ... ... ... ::: : ... ... 94 155 c. 66, s. 100 " ... ... 37 & 38 Vict. c. 50, Married Women's Property Act, 1874 38 & 39 Vict. c. 50, County Courts ... c. 77, Judicature Act, 1875 c. 92, Agricultural Holdings Act 39 & 40 Vict. c. 59, Appellate Jurisdiction 40 Vict. c. 9, Judicature Amendment Act 40 & 41 Vict. c. 39, Factors 41 & 42 Vict. c. 31, Bills of Sale c. 38, Innkeepers c. 54, Debtors Act, 1878 42 Vict. c. 11, Bankers' Books... ... ... c. 76, Joint Stock Companies Act Amendment Act. 43 & 44 Vict. c. 41, Burials 44 & 45 Vict. c. 44, Solicitors' Remuneration c. 60, Newspaper Libels c. 68, Judicature Amendment 45 & 46 Vict. c. 43, Bills of Sale Amendment c. 75, Married Women's Property Act, 1882.. 46 & 47 Vict. c. 57, Patent Law Amendment Act c. 61, Agricultural Holdings Act c. 52, Bankruptcy Act, 1883 1 CONVEYANCING, AND LAW OF REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY. DIVISIONS OF PROPERTY, &c. Question. What are the two great divisions of property according to English law Point out their distinguishing characteristics (a) in possession, (b) in alienation inter vivos, (c) in devolution on death. Answer.- Property is divided into two kinds-realty and personalty. (a) Real property consists of things substantial and immovable, and of the rights and profits annexed to or issuing out of them; it lasts for ever, and is divided into corporeal and incorporeal hereditaments. Personal property consists of money, goods, and other movables, and such rights in real property as are limited in their duration. It is divided into chattels real and chattels personal. (b) Real property must be conveyed by deed, whereas personalty passes either by deed or delivery where this is possible. (c) Realty on death of the owner descends to the devisee or heir-at-law, whereas personalty goes to the executor, or to the administrator in trust for the next of kin (see Will. R. P. 7 et seq., 13th edit.; Will. P. P. 1, 2, 10th edit.) Q.-What is a chattel real? A.-Any estate in lands and tenements which does not amount to a freehold is a chattel real. It is called a chattel real because it concerns or savours of the realty, also to distinguish it from things which have no concern with realty: (1 St. C. 279, 8th edit.; Will. R. P. 8, 9, 13th edit.; and see 2 Bl. Com. 316.) (a) Q.-What is a chattel personal? A.-Chattels personal consist of mere movables, and the rights connected with them: (1 St. C. 279, 8th edit.; Will. R. P. 8, 9, 13th edit.) (b) Q. What do you understand by the word "hereditament," and what will pass by it in a deed? A.-It is the most comprehensive that is used in deeds; for it includes not only lands and tenements, but also whatever may be inherited, be it corporeal or incorporeal, real, personal, or mixed. By the grant, therefore, of all hereditaments may pass honours, isles, castles, seigniories, manors, messuages, lands, woods, moors, heaths, reversions, commons, rents, (a) Estates for years, at will, at sufferance, the next presentation to a church, and the like, are chattels real: (1 St. C. 278 et seq., 8th edit.) (b) Money, goods, patent and copyright, &c., are chattels personal. annuities, vicarages, advowsons in gross, tithes, offices and the like, which the grantor hath in fee simple, at the time of the grant: (Holth. L. D., 2nd edit.; Co. Litt. 6.) Q. What do corporeal hereditaments consist of? A. They consist of such as affect the senses, such as may be seen and handled by the body, and are, in fact, the same as land: (1 St. C. 169, 8th edit.; Will. R. P. 10, 13th edit.) Q. What is necessary to make a gift of furniture valid? A.-Either the possession of the furniture must be given to the donee, or the gift must be evidenced by deed: (2 Sm. Com. 678, 4th edit.) Q.—If certain lands be conveyed to a purchaser, and no notice be taken in the conveyance of any buildings upon, or mines or minerals under, the land, would such mines and minerals pass to the purchaser? State any legal maxim applicable to that question. A.-They will pass to the purchaser; for the ownership of land carries with it everything above and below the surface, the maxim being Cujus est solum, ejus est usque ad cœlum (et ad inferos): (Will. R. P. 14, 13th edit.; 1 St. C. 167, 8th edit.) (a) Q.-Suppose A. grants a piece or pool of water to B., what is the extent of B.'s estate therein? What words should be used to assure the freehold of it to a purchaser ? A. On the grant of a certain piece of water the right of fishing passes, but not the soil. To assure the freehold of it to the purchaser it should be conveyed as so many acres of land covered with water: (1 St. C. 167, 8th edit.) But it seems the word "pool" includes not only the water but the land on which it stands: (Co. Litt. 5, b.) Q.-If real estate be purchased out of partnership funds, is it treated as real or personal estate in any and what respects ? A. If bought and held for the purpose of the partnership, it will be considered in equity, as personal estate, subject to all the equitable rights and liabilities of the partners and their creditors; and will pass to the personal representatives on the death of a partner, except, perhaps, where there is a clear expression of the deceased partner that it should go to his heir-at-law beneficially (see St. Eq. § 674.) Q.-A., B., and C. are the joint registered owners of a ship and 10007. Consols. Upon the death of B. and C., in whom do the shares in the ship vest, and in whom the Consols? What is the maxim? A.-The shares of B. and C. in the ship will vest in their respective personal representatives, the law, in order to the encouragement of commerce, vesting in the executors or administrators of a deceased partner the share of the deceased in all personal chattels in possession, such as merchandise, or ships which were the joint property of the partnership. The maxim is Jus accrescendi inter mercatores locum non habet. With respect (a) In applications to obtain registration of a title as indefeasible, mines and minerals were not included in a description of the land unless expressly mentioned (25 & 26 Vict. c. 53, s. 9), nor will they pass in conveyances under the Lands Clauses Act, unless expressly included, and in copyholds they belong to the lord. to the Consols primâ facie, the maxim would not apply, and A., as survivor, would be entitled to the 1000l.: (Wms. P. P. 357, 12th edit.) Q.-If A. lend to B. and Co. a sum of money upon a contract in writing that A. will receive a rate of interest varying with the profits of the trade carried on by B. and Co., or a stated share in such profits, will such loan constitute A. a partner with B. and Co. ? A.-No; the 28 & 29 Vict. c. 86, providing against this: (see this statute set out ante, p. 25.) Q. When is real estate considered as personal and personal as real? A.-Real estate, articled, conveyed, or devised to be sold and turned into money, is reputed as money; and money articled or bequeathed to be invested in real estate is considered as real estate, and descendible and devisable as such; for equity looks upon that as done which ought to be done (St. Eq. § 790.) : Q.-Should the direction to sell an estate be absolute or discretionary in order to constitute an equitable conversion of freehold into personalty? A. The direction to sell must be absolute in order to constitute an equitable conversion of freehold into personalty: (6 Jur. 658, 775; Greenway v. Greenway, 1 L. T. Rep. N. S. 463.) Q.-Define the term "heirlooms." Give an instance. A.-Heirlooms are such personal chattels as go, by force of a special custom, to the heir and not to the executor or administrator of the last owner, who, if he leaves the land to descend to his heir, cannot by his will bequeath the heirloom. The ancient jewels of the Crown are heirlooms (Wms. P. P. 13, 10th edit.) Q.-State the principal distinctions in the mode of the devolution of real and personal estate on the death of the owner intestate. A.-Real estate, on the death of the owner intestate, devolves on his heir-at-law, but personal estate is distributed among the next of kin, according to the Statute of Distributions. A.-Explain the meaning of the following phrases: (1.) No feoffment can have a tortious operation. (2.) Id certum est, quod certum reddi potest. (3.) Verba fortius accipiuntur contra proferentem. (4.) Jus accrescendi præfertur oneribus. (5.) Jus accrescendi præfertur ultimæ voluntati. A.-(1.) This means that a feoffment cannot create an estate by the wrong, as it could previously to the Act 8 & 9 Vict. c. 106. (2.) "That is sufficiently certain which can be made certain; as, for instance, if a lease be granted for twenty-one years after three lives in being, though it is uncertain when that term will commence because these lives are in being, yet when they die it is reduced to certainty: (Broom's Legal Maxims, p. 623 et seq., 5th edit.) (3.) "The words of an instrument shall be taken most strongly against the party employing them :" (Ibid. p. 594.) (4.) "The right of survivorship is preferred to the burdens," or charges on the property. (5.) "The right of survivorship is preferred to the last will," which means that the survivor of two joint tenants will take the whole, in preference to any portion of it going to the devisee of a deceased joint tenant. |