6-16 



L A W.' 



of I 



Property in 

 action. 



8UC ' 1 as deer '" a P ark > nares or fatbits in an 

 enclosed warren, doves in a dove-house, pheasants or 

 partridges in a mew, hawks that are fed and command- 

 ed by their owner, and fish in a private pond or in 

 trunks. Bees are also fierce naturae, and are not the 

 property of any person until they are hived, and not 

 then if they are pursued by the person from whose hive 

 they swarmed, for they are his as long as he can pur- 

 sue or keep them in sight. A man, indeed, may have 

 a qualified property in almost evrry thing personal that 

 can be enjoyed, even in air, light, and water ; for if a 

 man obstructs another's ancient windows, corrupts the 

 air of his house or gardens, pollutes his water, or un- 

 pens and lets it out; or if he diverts an ancient water- 

 course that used to run to the other's mill or meadow, 

 the law will animadvert thereon as an injury, and pro- 

 tect the party injured. 



6. Property in action is where a' man has not occu- 

 pation, but merely a bare right to occupy the thing in 

 question, the possession whereof may however be re- 

 covered by suit or action of law : it is then called a 

 chose in action, as money due on bond ; and these cho- 

 ses may either be express, as a contract to pay a certain 

 sum ; or implied, as, where a covenanter fails to per- 

 form an act engaged to be done, he shall pay damages 

 to him who sustains an injury by the breach of cove- 

 nant. 



i. Title by 7. Occupancy gives the first occupant a right to those 

 occupancy. f ew tm - ngs w hj c h have still no legal owner. 1. Such 

 as the goods of an alien enemy, restricted however to 

 captors authorized by the king's proclamation, and to 

 goods brought into the country by an alien enemy af- 

 ter a declaration of war without a safe conduct. 2. Any 

 thing found which does not come under the descrip- 

 tion of waifs, estrays, wreck, or treasure-trove. 3. The 

 benefit of the elements, light, air, and water, as far as 

 they are previously unoccupied, or may be occupied 

 without injury to another; as where I have an an- 

 cient window overlooking my neighbour's ground, he 

 may not erect any blind to obstruct the light, &c. 

 4. AnimsilsJ'erce naturae, under the restrictions of the 

 game laws. 5. Property arising by confusion of goods ; 

 as where one intermixes his money, corn, or hay, with 

 that of another, the law gives the entire property, 

 without any account, to him whose original dominion 

 (or property) is invaded. 6. Literary property, where- 

 in, however, the author has an exclusive right of print- 

 ing and reprinting his works for the term of fourteen 

 years, and at the end of that term, if the author himself 

 be living, the right shall then return to him for an- 

 other term of the same duration ; and a similar privi- 

 lege is extended to the inventors of prints and engrav- 

 ings for the term of eight-and-twenty years, besides an 

 action for damages with double costs. And many sub- 

 sequent statutes have been enacted to guard the rights 

 of literary property. 



8. Succession is where a chattel interest is given to 

 corporations aggregate of many, as dean and chapter, 

 mayor and commonalty ; in which one body of men 

 may, by succeeding another body, acquire a property 

 in all the moveables of the corporations ; for in the 

 judgment of law a corporation never dies. And in 

 sole corporations which represent a number of persons, 

 as the master of an hospital, &c. they have the same 

 power as corporations aggregate, to take personal pro- 

 perty or chattels in succession. But in sole corpora- 

 tions which represent no others than themselves, as 

 bishops, parsons, and the like, no chattel interest can 

 regularly go in succession ; and therefore, if a lease for 



2. By sue- 

 cession. 



years be made to the bishop of Oxford and his succes- Law 

 sors, in such case his executors or administrators, and of England, 

 not his successors, shall have ?t. > ~"Y"-' ' 



9. Custom is the acquiring property by thfr custom 3. By C us- 

 or local usage of some particular place ; as in the case torn. 



of, 1. Heriots, which are a customary tribute of goods 

 and chattels, payable to the lord of the fee on the de- 

 cease of the owner of the land. 2. Mortuaries, which 

 are a sort of ecclesiastical heriots, being a customary 

 gift due to the minister in many parishes on the death 

 of his parishioners, now regulated by statute. 3. Heir- 

 looms, which are personal chattels, that, contrary to 

 the nature of chattels, descend by special custom to the 

 heir, along with the inheritance, and are in general 

 such things as cannot be taken away without dismem- 

 bering the freehold. 



10. By marriage. The chattels of the wife are vest- 4.. By mar. 

 ed in the husband, in the same degree of property, and riage. 

 with the same powers, as the wife (when sole) had over 



them, provided he reduces them to possession, by ex- 

 ercising some act of ownerhip. In real estates, he 

 only gains a title to the rents and profits during cover- 

 ture, (unless he takes them afterwards also by the cur. 

 tesy,) but in the case of a chattel real, as a lease lor 

 years, the husband shall receive the rents and profits of 

 it, and may sell, surrender, or dispose of it during co- 

 verture. If he survive his wife, such chattels are to all 

 intents and purposes his own. Yet if he has made no 

 disposition thereof in his lifetime, and dies before his 

 wife, he cannot dispose of them by will, but they shall 

 remain in her possession. So also in chases in action ; 

 as debt upon bond, contracts, &c. these the husband 

 cannot have, unless he reduce them to possession ; but 

 in case the husband survive the wife, the law is very 

 different with respect to chattels real and chases in ac- 

 tion ; for he shall have the chattels real by survivorship, 

 but not cJioses in action. 



1 1 . Forfeiture. The forfeiture of goods and chat- 5. By for- 

 tels takes place upon conviction of the following crimes : feiture. 

 1. High (reason, or misprision of treason. 2. Petit 

 treason. 3. Felony in general, including felo de se. 

 4. Manslaughter. 5. By conviction of excusable homi- 

 cide. 6. By outlawry for treason or felony. 7. By con- 

 viction of petit larceny. 8. Byjtight in treason or felo- 

 ny, even though the party be afterwards acquitted of 

 the fact. 9. By standing mule when arraigned of felo- 

 ny. 10. By drawing a weapon on a judge, or striking 

 any one in the presence of the king's courts. By prce- 

 munire. 11. By pretended prophecies, upon a second 

 conviction. 13. By oraling, (exporting wool.) 14. By 

 artificers residing abroad. 15. By c/ial/enging to Jig/it 

 on account of money lost or won at gaming. All these 

 forfeitures commence from the time of conviction, and 

 not from the time of committing the fact, as in forfei- 

 tures of real property. Yet a fraudulent conveyance of 

 them to defeat the interest of the crown, is made Void 

 by statute 13 E. c. 5. 



12. Judgment. By judgment consequent on a suit g Byjmlg- 

 at law, a man may not only recover, but may also origi- mem. 

 natty acquire a right to personal property ; as where a 

 man agrees to buy a horse at a stated sum, the vendor, 

 or person selling, has a right to the sum agreed upon 

 as soon as the contract is made ; and the law gives 

 him a remedy by which he rosy recover the possession 

 of that right. In popular actions, commenced to re- 

 cover penalties given by particular statutes to those 

 who will sue for them, no one has an acquired right, 

 but may originally acquire a right to the penal sum in 

 question, on judgment ; and it is not in the power of 



