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Uie eftate (hall continue, or is rather a qualification of a 

 precedent cilate. As wliero one doth give lands to a man 

 to hold to him and his heirs male, and to him and the heirs 

 female, &;c. here the daughters fliall not have any thing in 

 it, fo long as there is a male ; for the ellate to the heirs 

 male is lirli limited. Co. Lilt. 31J. 



A limitation is denominated l)y Littleton [§ 380. I Inft. 

 2^4.) a" condition in law." For where an eft.ite is fo ex- 

 prelbly confnied and limited by the words of its creation, 

 that it cannot endure for any longer time than till the con- 

 tingency happens, upon which tlie eilate is to fail, this is 

 <lenominatcd a " hmitation ;" as when land is granted to 

 a man, fo long as he is parfon of Dale, or wliile he con- 

 tinues unmarried, or until out of the rents and profits he 

 fliall have made 50c/. and the like. (10 R.ep. 41.) In 

 fuch cafe the cH ate determines as foon as the contingency 

 happens, and the next fubfequcnt eilate, which depends 

 upon fuch determination, becomes immediately veiled 

 without any att to be done by liim who is next in ck- 

 pedtancy. But when an ellate is, Ilriaiy fpcaking, upon 

 " condition in deed," (as if granted exprcfsly upon condition 

 lo be void upon the payment of 40/. by the grantor, cr 

 fo that the grantee continues unmarried, or providfd he goes 

 to York, 5cc. Rep. 41.) the law permits it to endure 

 beyond the time when fuch contingency happens, unlefs 

 the grantor, or his heirs or afligns, take advantage of the 

 breach of tlie condition, and make either an entry or a 

 claim, in order to avoid the ellate. (Lirt. § 347. Stat. 

 32 Hen. VIll. c. 34.) Yet though ftrici words of con- 

 dition be ufed in tlie creation of the ellate, if on breach of 

 the condition the eftate be limited over to a third perfon, 

 and does not immediately revert to the grantor or his re- 

 i)refentatives, (as if an ellate be granted by A to B, on 

 condition that within two years B intermarry with C, and 

 on failure thereof tlien to D and his heirs,) this the law 

 conllrucs to be a limitation and not a condition ( i V'entr. 

 202.) ; bccaufe, if it were a condition, then upon the breach 

 thereof, only A or his reprcfcnta'.ives could avoid the 

 ellate by entry, and fo D's remainder might be defeated 

 by their negletting to enter ; but, when it is a hmitation, 

 the eilate of B determines, and that of D commences, and 

 he may enter on the lands the inftant that the failure 

 happens. So alfo, if a man by his will devlfes land to his 

 heir at law, on condition that he pays a fum of money, and 

 for non-payment devifcs it over, this {hall be conlidered as 

 a limitation ; otherwifc, no advantage could be taken of 

 the non-payment, for none but tlie heir hinifelf could have 

 entered for a breach of condition. Cro. Eli/.. 201. 

 I Roll. Abr. 411. Blackll. Com. b. ii. 



LliMITATJON of the Croiun. The ilatutes I W. & M. 

 cap. 8. 12 W. III. cap. 2. and i & 2 Ann. cap. 17. 

 4 Arm. cap. 8. Sec. arc atls for the limitation of the crown, 

 and fettling it on Protcllant heirs in the lioufe of Hanovei-. 

 See Crown. 



Limitation, Statutes of, a fpecies oif plea in bar, in 

 which a perfon may plead the time limited by certain acts 

 of parliament, beyond which no plaintiff can lay iiis caufe of 

 adlion. 'This, by the ilatute of 32 Hen. VHI. c. 2. in 

 a writ of right \i fi.vty years ; in afiifes, writs of entry, or 

 other pofleffory aclions real, of the feilin of one's ancellors, 

 in lands ; and either of their feiiln, or one's own, in rents, 

 fuits, and fervices, fifty years ; and in adions real for lands 

 .gri.unded upon one's own feifin or poffeflion, fuch pofieffion 

 mull have been within thirty years. By Hat. I Mar. il. 2. 

 c. 5. this limitation does not extend to any fuit for ad- 

 vowfons. (See above.) But by the flatute 21 .Tac. L 

 .c. 3. a time of limitation was estended to the cafe of the 



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king, -viz, Jixty yein precedent to 19th February, 1623. 

 (3 Inft. 183.); but this becoming incHeftual by efflux of 

 time, the fame date of limitation was fixed by ilatutc 9 Geo. 

 IIL c. 16. to commence, and be reckoned backwards, 

 from the time of beginning any fuit, or other procefs, to 

 recover the thing in qucltion ; fo that a pofleffion for Jixty 

 years is now a bar even againll the prerogative, in deroga- 

 tion of the ancient maxim " nullum tempus occnrrit regi." 

 By another (laiute, 2 1 Jac. L c. 1 6, tivcitly years are the time 

 of limitation in any writ of formedon ; and by coiifequence, 

 twenty years are alfo the limitation in everyadlion of ejectment; 

 for no ejectment can be brought, unleis where the lefTor of 

 the plaintiff is entitled to enter on the lands ; and by the 

 ftatute 21 Jac. L c. 16. no entry can be made by any man, 

 unlefs within t<wenty years iifter his right iliall accrue. Alfo, 

 all aftioiis of trefpafs {quarc claufum fregil, or otherwife) 

 detinue, trover, replevin, account, and cale, (except upon 

 accounts between merchants), debt on limple contradt, or for 

 arrears of rent, are limited by the llatute lail -mentioned to 

 fix years, after the caufe of action commenced ; and anions of 

 alfault, menace, battery, mayhem, and imprifonment, mull be 

 brought withiii_/iHr years, and aftions for words wdtliin twa 

 years after the injury committed. And by the llatute 

 3 1 Eli/., c. 5. all fuits, indiiSlments, and informations, upon 

 any penal Ilatutes, where any forfeiture is to the crown alone, 

 fliall be fued within tiuo years, and where the forfeiture is 

 to a fubject, or to the crown and a fubjecl, within one year 

 after the offence committed ; unlefs where any other time is 

 fpecially limited by the llatute. Lallly, by llatute 10 W. IIL 

 c. 14, no writ of error, fire facias, or other fuit, fhall be 

 brought to reverfcany iudgmcnt, fine, or recovery for en'or, 

 unlefs it be profecuted witliin tiver.ty years. The ufe of thefc 

 ilat'.ites of hmitation is to preferve the peace of the kingdom, 

 and to prevent thofe innumerable perjuries which might enfue, 

 if a man were allowed to bring an attion for any injury com- 

 mitted at any diflance of time. Upon both lliefe accounts 

 the law therefore holds, that "interfl rcipubtici: ut fit finis 

 litittm," and upon the fame principle the Athenian laws in 

 general prohibited all actions, wliere the injury was com- 

 mitted^yfiif years before the complaint was made. If, there- 

 fore, in any fuit, the injury or caufe of action happened 

 earlier than the period exurefsly limited by law, the de- 

 fendant mav plead the Ilatutes of limitations in bar ; as 

 upon an ajiunpfit, or promife to pay money to the plaintiff, 

 the defendant may plead non affumpfit infra fex annos ; he 

 made no fuch promife within fix years ; which is an effeftual 

 bar to the complaint. Blackll. Com. b iii. 



LIMITED Fek.s, denote fuch ellales of inheritance 

 an are clogged or confined with conditions, or qualifications 

 of any fort. Thefe are of two forts, viz. qualified or bafefees, 

 and fees-conditional, or fees-tail. See Bafe-l'EKx, and Fees- 

 lail. 



I..lMiTi;r) Prohkm, is that which admits but of one fo- 

 lution. or which can only be folved one way: as to make 

 a circle pafs through three j)oints given, not lying in a right 

 line, to defcribe an equilateral triangle on a line given, &c. 

 See PiiOBLKM, and Detei'.mixati;. 



LIMITROPHOUS Column. Sec Column. 



LIMITS, in Mathemalics, a term fometimes ufed, in ge- 

 neral, for quantities, one of which is greater, and the other 

 lefj than another quantity. '^Ihus, in the quantities, a, X) b,\i 

 a be Ids than x, and b be greater than x, a arid b are faid 

 to be limits of x. The wurd occurs in this fenfe, when we 

 fpeak of the limits of the roots of equations. 



Sometimes a quantity is faid to be a limit between two 



others, when it is greater than the one and lefs than the 



other. So a ratio is faid to be a limit between two other 



C - ratios. 



