TEN 



193 



TEN 



TENANT-RIGHT is the name for a species of custom- 

 ary estates peculiar to the northern parts of England, in 

 which border services against Scotland were antiently 

 performed before the political union of the countries. 

 Tenant-right estates were holden of the lord of the 

 manor by payment of certain customary rents and the 

 render of the services above mentioned, are descendible 

 from ancestor to heir according to a customary mode dif- 

 fering in some respects from the rule of descent at com- 

 mon law, and were not devisable by will either directly or 

 by means of a will and surrender to the use of the same, 

 though they are now made devisable by I Vic., c. 26, s. 3. 

 Although these estates appear to have many incidents 

 which do not properly belong to villenage tenure or copy- 

 hold, not being holden at the will of the lord, or by copy of 

 court roll, and being alienable by deed and admittance 

 thereon, it has been determined that they are not freehold, 

 but that they fall under the same general rules as copy- 

 hold estates. (Doe d. Reay v. Huntington, 4 East, 271.) 



TENANT IN FEE-SIMPLE. A tenancy in fee-simple 

 is the greatest estate which a subject can have in land. 

 [TENURE.] The possession of an estate in fee-simple in- 

 volves a complete power of disposition over the land; 

 and after a grant made in fee-simple the grantor has parted 

 with his whote interest. 



The words necessary for transferring an estate in fee- 

 simple may be reduced to this form : ' I give this land to 

 you and your heirs.' (Litt., 1.) The addition of the word 

 ' heirs 7 is absolutely necessary in a deed, and no other ex- 

 pre^ion will serve ; for any such words as ' I give the laud 

 to you;' or 'to you for ever;' or ' to you in fee-simple,' 

 would carry to the grantee nothing more than an estate 

 for life. But words of limitation, such as ' heirs,' are not 

 now necessary to pass a fee-simple by devise. (1 Vic., 

 c. 26, s. 28.) 



When the tenant, in fee-simple dies intestate, the estate 

 descends to the heirs general of the purchaser (in the sense 

 in which that word is explained in 3 &4 Wm. IV., c. 106), 

 whether male or female, lineal or collateral. [DESCKNT.] 



Lands in fee-simple in possession are subject to the 

 courtesy of the husband and the dower of the wife. fCoua- 

 DOWKR.] 



Lands in fee-simple in the hands of the heir were subject 

 at common law to the debts of the ancestor due to the 

 crown and to specialty debts. By the 11 Geo. IV. and 

 1 Wm. IV., c. 47, a complete remedy was given for all 

 kinds of specialty debts, both against the heir and devisee ; 

 and by the 3 & 4 Wm. IV., c. 104, estates in fee-simple 

 are made liable in the hands of the heir or devisee lor 

 payment of the simple contract debts of the ancestor. 



rotates in fee-simple are forfeited to the crown for high 

 f re;ison. (Co. Lift., 390 b.) In cases of petty treason and 

 felony the forfeiture to the crown is only for a year and 

 a day, called the minus, dies et vastum ; after which 

 time the estate escheats (in cases of petty treason and 

 murder) to the lord. By the 54 Geo. III., c. 145, the for- 

 feiture and escheat consequent upon attainder for felony, 

 except in cases of high treason, petty treason, and murder, 

 are limited to the life-interest of the offender. It would 

 seem that this statute leaves the offenderthe power of dis- 

 posing of the estate alter Ins decease. Trust-estates in 

 nple may be forfeited to the crown, but are not 

 liable to escheat. 



An estate to a man and his heirs may be given upon 

 conditions or limitations, which are capable of abridging or 

 defeating it. The estate cannot then properly be called a 

 fee-simple ; but is, according to the circumstances, a con- 

 dilional, qualified, or base fee. (Co. Litt., 1 b.) 



TENANT IN TAIL. The origin and general nature 

 of estates tail have been already described. [ESTATE ; 

 KF.M.MNDKK; SETTLEMENT.] 



The estate of the tenant-in-tail has some essential cha- 

 racteristics. HP has a right to commit waste of all kinds 

 by felling timber, pulling down houses, opening mines, and 

 _' other like acts ; and this right of the tenant-in-tail 

 my manner be restrained. (11 fop., 50 a; 3 Mod., 

 1'js ; 2 Vcni., 251.) His estate, being an estate of inherit- 

 ance, sailed a tenant by sufferance: he is one who, though 

 he rightfully entered, continues to occupy wrongfully, as 

 is subject, when it is an estate in possession, to the courtesy 

 of t! 1 and the dower of the wife. [COIIKTKSV ; 



DOWER.] The tenant-in-tail is also entitled to the custody 

 of the title-deeds, which the Court of Chancery will order 

 P. C., No. 1512. 



to be delivered up to him. (2 P. W., 471.) The tenant- 

 in-tail is not bound to pay off incumbrances affecting the 

 fee of the estate, as he has only a particular interest, and 

 not the entire property in the land; and it seems that he 

 is not in general even bound to keep down the interest on 

 such incumbrances ; though if he do pay off such incum- 

 brances, it will in general be presumed to have been done 

 in exoneration of the estate. (Cruise, Digest, tit. 2, c. 1, 

 s. 40; and tit. 15, c. 4, s. 74.) 



By the statute De Donis the tenant-in-tail was restrained 

 from alienating his estate in any manner for a longer 

 period than his own life, that is to say, the estate of the 

 alienee, though not ipso facto determined by the death of 

 the tenant in tail, became thereupon defeasible by his 

 issue or the remainder-man or reversioner. (2 Ld. Ray- 

 mond, 779.) 



If the tenant-in-tail conveyed his estate by lease and, 

 release, covenant to stand seised, or bargain and sale and 

 grant, the right of entry of the issue and remainder-men 

 was not affected by the conveyance. But a feoffment or 

 fine made or levied by the tenant-in-tail in possession by 

 virtue of the entail, caused what was called a discon- 

 tinuance of the estate tail, whereby the issue and the per- 

 sons in remainder and reversion lost their rights of entry 

 and were driven to their action. (Litt., 595, 596, 597.) 

 This discontinuance might be either in fee, or for a limited 

 period, according to the duration of the estate created by 

 the conveyance of the tenant-in-tail ; but while it lasted it 

 affected not only the estate tail, but all the remainders and 

 reversions. (Litt., 620, 625.) A discontinuance might 

 also be produced by the obligation of a warranty by the 

 tenant-in-tail descending on the person entitled under the 

 entail. This discontinuance however was but partial, ex- 

 tending only to the heirs general of the person who made 

 the warranty. (Co. Litt., 328, 329 a.) A fine duly levied 

 with proclamations was an absolute bar to the issue, 

 though not to the remainder-men, creating what was 

 called a base fee ; and by means of a common recovery 

 duly suffered, the tenant-m-tail might bar his issue and all 

 the remainders over, and make an absolute conveyance 

 of the estate. [RECOVERY.] 



By the 3 & 4 Wm. IV., c. 74, fines, recoveries, and war- 

 ranties of land were abolished, and by the Statute of Limi- 

 tations (3 & 4 Wm. IV., c. 27) it was enacted ' that no 

 discontinuance or warranty which may happen or be made 

 after that day (31st of December, 1833) shall defeat any 

 right of entry or action for the recovery of land.' It seems 

 therefore that no discontinuance, properly so called, can 

 now be produced by any mode of conveyance, for, what- 

 ever may be the form of discontinuance, the last-mentioned 

 statute takes away its effect. 



The 3 & 4 Wm. IV., c. 74, which abolished fines and 

 recoveries, has substituted for them certain modes of as- 

 surance whereby the tenant in tail may now at once bar 

 his estate tail and all the remainders over. [FINE; RE- 

 COVERY ; SETTLEMENT.] 



In accordance with the principle which prevented a 

 tenant in tail from alienating his estate for more than his 

 own lifetime, leases by tenants in tail might be avoided 

 after their death by the issue in tail. But by the 32 Hen. 

 VIII., c. 28, tenants in tail were enabled to make leases 

 for three lives or twenty-one years, which should bind their 

 issue, though not the persons in remainder or the rever- 

 sioner. 



The estate of the tenant in tail is not subject to any of 

 the debts or incumbrances of his ancestor, except debts 

 due to the crown, by the 32 Hen. VIII., c. 39, s. 75. 



Estates tail are subject to the bankrupt laws. The mode 

 of procedure as to bankrupt tenants in tail is regulated by 

 the :i & 4 Win. IV., c. 74, the 55th section of which ex- 

 pressly repeals the 6 Geo. IV., c. 16, s. 65, and virtually 

 repeals the 1 & 2 Wm. IV., c. 56, s. 26. The powers of 

 the commissioners of bankrupts as to the disposition of 

 such estates are defined (ss. 56-69). 



Estates tail are subject to forfeiture, for high treason by 

 the '_>(; Hen. VIII., c. 13. By attainder for high treason, 

 the estate of the tenant in tail, of his issue, and of all such 

 of his collateral heirs as would have been entitled to take 

 under the estate tail, are forfeited, but not the estates in 

 remainder or the reversion. 



The 26 Hen. VIII. extends only to cases of high treason, 

 and therefore as to felonies the statute De Dnnix is still in 

 force, and the forfeiture by attainder for felony extends 



VOL. XXIV.-2 U 



