50 ' C O N D 
natits for years, for life, or in fee, commit a felony; the 
king or other lord of the fee is entitled to have their te¬ 
nements, becaufe their eftate is determined by the breach 
of the condition, that they fhall net commit felony,” 
which the law.tacitly annexes to every feodal donation. 
An eflate on condition expreffed in the grant itfelf, is, 
where an eftate is granted either in fee-iimple or other- 
wife, with an exprels qualification annexed, whereby the 
eftate granted fhall either commence, be enlarged, or be 
defeated, upon performance or breach of fuch qualifica¬ 
tion or condition. Co. Lit 201. Thefe conditions are 
therefore either precedent, or fubfequent. Precedent 
are fuch as miift happen or be performed before the eftate 
can veil or be enlarged ; fubfequent are fuch, by the fai¬ 
lure or non-performance of which an eftate already vert¬ 
ed, may be defeated. Thus, if an eftate for life be limit¬ 
ed to A. upon his marriage with B. the marriage is a 
precedent condition, and till that happens no ettate is 
vefted in A.—Or if a man grant to his leffee for years, 
that upon payment of an hundred marks within the term, 
he thall have the fee, this alfo is a condition precedent, 
and the fee fimple pafleth not till the hundred marks be 
paid. Co. Lit. 217.—But if a man grant an eftate in fee- 
fimple, referving to himfelf and his heirs a certain rent, 
and that, if fuch rent be not paid at the times limited, it 
fhall be lawful for him or his heirs to re-enter, and avoid 
the eftate : in this cafe the grantee and his heirs have an 
eftate upon condition fubfequent, which is defeafible, if 
the condition be not ftridlly performed. Litt. 325. To 
this clafs may be referred all bale fees and fee-fimples con¬ 
ditional at the common law. Thus an eftate to a man 
and his heirs, tenants of the manor of Dale, is an eftate 
en condition that he and his'heirs continue tenants of 
that manor. And fo, if a perfonal annuity be granted 
at this day to a man and the heirs of his body; as this 
is no tenement within the ftatuie of Weft. z. it remains as 
at common law, a fee-fmiple on condition that the gran¬ 
tee has heirs of his body. Upon the fame principle de¬ 
pend all determinable eftates of freehold, as durante <vidu- 
i'taie, &c. Thefe are eftates upon condition that the gran¬ 
tee do'not marry, and the like. And, on the breach of any 
of thefe fubfequent conditions by the failure of the con¬ 
tingencies, by the grantee not continuing tenant of the 
manor of Dale, by not having heirs of his body, or by 
not continuing foie; the eftates which were refpeciively 
vefted in each grantee, are wholly determined and void. 
A diftinttion is however made between a condition in 
deed and a limitation, which Littleton 380, 1 lnfi. 234, 
denominates alfo a condition in law. For when an eftate 
is fo exprefsly confined and limited by the words of its 
creation, that it cannot endure for any longer time than 
till the contingency happens upon which the.eftate is to 
fail, this is denominated a limitation : as when land is 
granted to a man fo long as he is parfon of Dale, or while 
he -continues unmarried, or until out of the rents and 
profits he have made five hundred pounds, and the like ; 
In fuch cafe the eftate determines as foon as the contin¬ 
gency happens ; (when he ceafes to be parfon, marries a 
wife, or has received the five hundred pounds;) and the 
next fubfequent eftate, which depends upon fuch deter¬ 
mination, becomes immediately vefted, without any a 61 
to be done by him who is next in expectancy, jo Rep. 41. 
But when an eftate is, ftriftly fpeaking, upon condition 
in deed (as if granted exprefsly upon condition to be 
void upon the payment of forty pounds, by the grantor, 
or fo that the grantee continues unmarried, or provided 
he goes to York, &c.) the law permits it to endure be¬ 
yond the time when fuch contingency happens, unlefs the 
grantor, or his heirs or ailigns, take advantage of the 
breach of the condition, and make either an entry or a 
claim, in order to avoid the eftate. Litt. 347.3 Hen. VIII. 
c. 34. Yet, though ft riff words of condition be ufed in 
the creation of the eftate, 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 reprefentatiyes 3 
I T I 0 N. 
(as if an eftate be granted by A. to'B. on condition that 
within two years B. intermarry with C. and on failure 
thereof, then to D. and his heirs;) this the law conitrues 
to be a limitation, and not a condition. 1 Vent, zoz ; be- 
caufe if it were a condition, then, upon the breach there¬ 
of, only A. or his reprefentatives, could avoid the eftate 
by entry, and fo D’s remainder might be defeated by 
their neglecting to enter; but, when it is a limitation, 
the eftate of B. determines, and that of D. commences, 
and he may enter on the lands, the inftant that the fai¬ 
lure happens. So alfo, if a man by his will devifes land,; 
to his heir at law, on condition that he pays a fum of 
money, and for non-payment devifes it over, this fhall 
be confidered as a limitation ; otherwife no' advantage 
could be taken of the non-payment, for none but the heir 
himfelf could have entered for a breach of condition. 
Cro. Eliz. 205. 
In all thefe inftances, of limitations or conditions fub¬ 
fequent, it is to be obferved, that fo long as the condition 
either exprefs or implied, either in deed or in law, re¬ 
mains unbroken, the grantee, may have an eftate of free¬ 
hold ; provided the eftate upon w’hich fuch condition is 
annexed, be in itfelf of a freehold nature; as if the ori¬ 
ginal grant exprefs either an eftate of inheritance, or for 
life, or no eftate at all, which is conftruftively an eftate 
for life. For the breach of thefe conditions being con¬ 
tingent and uncertain, this uncertainty preferves the 
fieehold. Co. Lit. 42 ; becaufe the eftate is capable_to laic 
for ever, or at leait for the life of the tenant, fuppofing 
the condition to remain unbroken. But where the 
eftate is, at the utmoft, a chattel-intereft, which mult 
determine at a time certain, and may detennine (boner*, 
(as a grant for ninety-nine years, provided A. B. and C. 
or the lurvivor of them, fhall fo long live,) this ftili con¬ 
tinues a mere chattel, and is not, by fuch its uncertainty, 
ranked among eftates of freehold. 
Thefe exprefs conditions, if they be impoflible at the 
time of their creation, or afterwards become impoflible 
by the act of God or the add of the feoffer himfelf, or 
it they be contrary to law, or repugnant to the nature" of 
the eftate, are void. In any of which cafes, if they be 
conditions fubfequent, that is, to be performed after the 
eftate is vefted, the eftate thall become abfolute in the 
tenant. As if a feoffment be made to a man in fee- 
fnnple, 011 condition, that unlefs he goes to Rome in 
twenty-four hours; or unlefs he marries with A. B. by 
fuch a day, (within which time the woman dies, c-r the 
feoffer marries her himfelf;) or unlefs he kills another; 
or in cafe he aliens in fee; that then and in any of fuch 
cafes the eftate (hall be vacated and determine : here 
the condition is void, and the eltate made abfolute in the 
feoffee. For he hath by the grant the eftate vefted in 
him, which (hall not be defeated afterwards, by a condi¬ 
tion either impoflible, illegal, or repugnant. Co. Lit. 206. 
But if the condition be precedent, or to be performed be¬ 
fore the eftate vefts, as a grant to a man that, if he kills 
another or goes to Rome in a day, he fliall have an eftate 
in fee ; here, the void condition being precedent, the 
eftate which depends thereon is alfo void, and the grantee 
fliall take nothing by the grant: for he hath no eftate 
until the condition be performed. 2 Cotnm. 152. 
2. Conditions may be annexed to any eftate, whether 
in fee-fimple, fee-tail, for life, or years: they run with 
the eftate, and bind in the hands of whomsoever they 
come. Lit. Rep. 12S. But a condition may not be made 
but on the part of the lefl'or, donor, &c. for no man may 7 
annex a condition to an eftate, but he that dotly create 
the eftate itfelf. Conditions are good to enlarge or limit 
eftates. There are four incidents, .which conditions to 
create and incre'afe'an eftate ought to have. 1. They 
fliould have a particular eftate, as a foundation where¬ 
upon the increafe of the greater eftate (hail be built. 2, 
Such particular eftate (hall continue in the ieifee or gran¬ 
tee, until the increafe happens. 3. It r.mft >.vft at the 
time the contingency happens, or it (hail never veft. 4.. 
4 The 
