154 MAXIMS OF THE LA\V r . 



and his heirs, reddendo quinque libras annuatim to I. D. 

 and his heirs, this implies a condition to me that am the 

 grantor; yet it were a stronger exposition against me, to 

 say the limitation should be void, and the feoffment ab 

 solute. 



10 Ed. 4. l. So it is a rule, that the law will not intend a wrong, 

 which the civilians utter thus : Ea est accipienda interpre- 

 tatio, qua vitio caret. And therefore if the executors of 

 I. S. grant omnia bona et catalla sua, the goods which they 

 have as executors will not pass, because non constat whe 

 ther it may not be a devastation, and so a wrong ; and yet 

 against the trespasser that taketh them out of their hand, 

 they shall declare quod bona sua cepit. 



So it is a rule, words are to be understood that they work 

 somewhat, and be not idle and frivolous : Verba aliquid 

 operari debent, verba cum ejfectu sunt accipienda. And 

 therefore if I buy and sell you four parts of my manor of 

 Dale, and say not in how many parts to be divided, this 

 shall be construed four parts of five, and not of six nor 

 seven, &c. because that it is the strongest against me ; but 

 on the other side, it shall not be intended four parts of four 

 parts, that is whole of four quarters; and yet that were 

 strongest of all, but then the words were idle and of none 

 effect. 



3 H. 6. 20. So it is a rule, Divinatio non interpretatio est, qua om- 

 nino recedit a litera: and therefore if I have a fee farm- 

 rent issuing out of white acre of ten shillings, and I re 

 citing the same reservation do grant to I. S. the rent of 

 five shillings percipiend de reddit pr&dict* et de omnibus 

 terris et tenementis meis in Dale, with a clause of distress, 

 although there be atturnement, yet nothing passeth out of 

 my former rent ; and yet that were strongest against me to 

 have it a double rent, or grant of part of that rent with an 

 enlargement of a distress in the other land, but for that it 

 is against the words, because copulatio verborum inclinat 

 exceptionem in eodem sensu, and the word de, anglice out of, 

 may be taken in two senses, that is, either as a greater sum 

 out of a less, or as a charge out of land, or other principal 

 interest ; and that the coupling of it with lands and tene 

 ments, viz. I reciting that I am seised of such a rent of ten 

 shillings, do grant five shillings percipiend de eodem reddit , 

 it is good enough without atturnement; because percipiend 

 de, etc. may well be taken for parcella de, etc. without 

 violence to the words ; but if it had been percipiend 1 de, 

 I. S. without saying de reddilibus predict , although I. S. 



