MUNICIPAL LAW. 119 



obligations. Executors, and administrators, are persons appointed 

 or chosen to settle the estates of persons deceased. 



2. The Laws of Property, are included by Blackstone under 

 the title, Rights of Things ; a term borrowed from the Roman law. 

 Property, is any thing deemed valuable, which can be exclusively 

 owned by one person ; whether in actual possession, or in expect- 

 ancy, as when secured by contracts, or expected by inheritance. 

 Personal property, or personalty, includes moveable articles, called 

 goods and chattels ; but Real property, or realty, includes things 

 fixed and immoveable, and hence said to be tangible ; as lands, tene- 

 ments, and hereditaments. The word tenement, comprehends not 

 only land itself, but the fixtures upon it, and privileges connected with 

 it. Lands are termed corporeal hereditaments; while easements, or 

 privileges, which may be held distinct from the land itself, as right 

 of way, right of rivers, commons, and the like, are termed incorpo- 

 real hereditaments. The right of real property, in our own country, 

 rests originally on first possession, or purchase from the aborigines ; 

 and it is generally held allodially, that is, by independent right ; and 

 not, as it is often held in Europe, by feudal tenure. 



An Estate, is an interest in any real property. An estate in pos- 

 session, is one actually held : but an estate in reversion, is one which 

 by law will revert to the person claiming it, after the temporary right of 

 some other person to it has expired. An estate in remainder, is one 

 expressly granted to the expectant, after the termination of some 

 previous grant or particular estate in the same. A freehold estate, 

 is one held in fee simple, subject to no conditions or contingencies; 

 and an estate in fee, is one which, at the death of its owner, if not 

 otherwise disposed of by him, descends to his heirs. An estate for 

 life, is one terminating with the life of the tenant, or of some other 

 person ; the tenant holding it either for life, or for, that is, during 

 another's life. An estate for years, is one secured to the tenant, by 

 lease, for a certain period. An estate tail or entailed, is one which 

 must revert to the grantor, in case the grantee should not, at his 

 decease, leave heirs as prescribed : and an estate in trust, is one con- 

 veyed to a trustee or trustees, for the benefit or use of a third party, 

 called the beneficiary, or cestui que trust. An estate in severally, 

 is one entirely owned by a single person ; but an estate in joint 

 tenancy, in coparcenary, or in common, has two or more owners ; 

 with certain differences implied by these several terms. 



A title, which is the evidence of right to an estate, may be acquired 

 by occupancy for a sufficient time ; by marriage ; by descent or in- 

 heritance ; by devise or bequest, that is, by the will of another ; and 

 by deed of purchase, or by mortgage, with failure of redemption. 

 A mortgage is the grant or conveyance of an estate in fee, as 

 security for the payment of money ; with the condition that if the 

 money be duly paid, the grant shall thereby become void. A con- 

 tract, is an agreement between two or more legal persons, respec- 

 tively to do, or not to do a certain thing or things, for a consideration 

 therein specified. Such are indentures, deeds, bonds, mortgages, 

 policies of insurance, and promissory notes. A promise, differs from 

 a contract, in having no specified consideration or inducement. A witt, 



