152 CON 
between a feoffment and a grant; but from this real dif¬ 
ference in their fubjeft matter only, a difference was fup- 
pofed to exift in their operation. A feoffment vifibly 
operated on the poffefiion ; a grant could only operate 
on the right of the party conveying. Now as poffeflion 
and freehold were fynonymous terms, no perfon being con¬ 
fidered to have the poffeffion of the lands but he who had 
at lead: an eftate of freehold in them, a conveyance which 
was confidered as transferring the poffellion, muff neceffa- 
rily be confidered as transferring an eftate of freehold, or 
to fpeak more accurately as transferring the whole fee. 
But this reafoning could not apply to grants ; their ef- 
fential quality being that, of transferring thing's which 
did not lie in poffeffion ; they therefore could only trans¬ 
fer the right; that is, could only transfer that eftate 
which the party had a right to convey. It is in this 
fenfe the expreffrons are to be underftood, that a feoff¬ 
ment is a tortious, and a grant a rightful, conveyance. 
This appears to have been the outline of conveyances 
at common law. The introduction of ufes produced a 
great revolution in this refpeft. Ufes at the common 
law, were in molt refpefts what trufts are now. When 
a feoffment was made to ufes, the legal eftate was in the 
feoffee. He filled the poffeffion, did the feudal duties, 
and was in the eye of the law the tenant of the fee. 
The perfon to whofe ufe he was feized, called the cefuy 
que ufe , had the beneficial property of the lands; had a 
right to the profits; and a right to call upon the feoffee 
to convey the eftate to him, and to defend it againft 
ftrangers. This right at firft depended on the confcience 
of the feoffee : if he with-held the profits from the cefuy 
que ufe, or refufed to convey the eftate as he direfted, 
the feoffee was without remedy. To redrefs this grie¬ 
vance the writ of fubpoena was devifed, or rather 
adopted from the common-law courts, by the court of 
chancery, to oblige the feoffee to attend in court and 
difclofe the truft ; and then the court compelled him to 
execute it. 
Thus ufes were eftablifhed : they were not confidered 
as iffuing out of or annexed to the land, as a rent or 
condition, or aright of common; but as a truft repofed 
in the feoffee, that he fliould difpofe of the lands at the 
diferetion of the cefuy que ufe, permit him to receive the 
rents, and in all other refpefts have the beneficial pro¬ 
perty of the lands. To all other perfons except the cefuy 
que ufe, the feoffee was as much the real owner of the fee 
as -if he did not hold it to the ufe of another: his wife 
was entitled to dower; his infant heir was in wardfhip to 
the lord ; and upon his attainder the eftate was forfeited. 
To remedy thefe inconveniences, the flat. 27 Hen. VIII. 
c. 10. was paffed ; by which the polfeflion was devefted 
out of the perfons feifed to the ufe, and transferred to 
the cefuy que ufe. For by that ftatute it is enafted “that 
when any perfon fhall be feifed of any lands to the ufe, 
confidence, or truft, of any other perfon or perfons, by' 
reafon of any bargain, fale, feoffment, fine, recovery, 
contrail, agreement, will, or otherwife ; in fuch cafe the 
perfons having the ufe, confidence, or truft, fliould from 
thenceforth be deemed and adjudged in lawful feifin, 
eftate, and poffeffion, of and in the lands, in the fame 
quality, manner, and form, as they had before in the 
ufe.” There feems to be little doubt but that the in¬ 
tention of the legiflature in puffing this aft, was utterly 
to annihilate the exiftence of ufes confidered as diftinft 
from the poffeffion. But they have been preferved under 
the appellation of trufts. The courts hefitated much be¬ 
fore they allowed them under this new name. And at 
length fecret modes of transferring the poffeffion itfelf, 
have been difeovered, and have totally fuperfeded that 
notorious and public mode of transferring property, 
which the common law required, and the ftatute intend¬ 
ed to reftore ; and many modifications or limitations of 
real property have been allowed, which the common 
law did not admit. 
A fon did give and grant lands to his mother, and her 
C O N 
heirs; though this was a defective conveyance at common 
law,-yet it was adjudged good by way of ufe, to fupport 
the intention of the donor, and therefore, by thefe words, 
an ufe did arife to the mother by way of covenant to 
ftand feifed. 2 Lev. 225. A feoffment without livery 
and feifin, will'not enure as a grant; but where made in 
confideration of a marriage, &c. it has been adjudged, 
that it did enure as a covenant to ftand feifed to ufes. 
2 Lev. 213. Tenant in fee, in confideration of marriage, 
covenanted, granted,' and agreed, all that meffuage to the 
ufe of himfelf for life, then to his wife for life, for her 
jointure, then to then; firft fon in tail male, &c. Now by 
thefe words it appeared, that the hufband intended fome 
benefit for his wife, wherefore the court fuppiied other 
words to make the conveyance fenfible. 1 Lutio. 782. " 
A conveyance cannot be fraudulent in part, and good 
as to the reft : for if it be fraudulent and void in part, it 
is void in all, and it cannot be divided. 1 Lit. Abr. 311. 
Fraudulent conveyances to deceive creditors, defraud 
purchafers, &c. are void, by 13 Eliz. c. 5. 27 Eliz. c. 4. 
CONVEY'ANCER,yi A lawyer who draws writings 
by which property is transferred. 
CON VEY'ER, f. One who carries or tranfnvits any 
thing from one place or perfon to another. A juggler : 
Conveyers are ye all 
That rife thus nimbly by a true king’s fall. Shakfpeare. 
ToCONVI'CT, v.a. [convince, Lat. ] To prove guilty; 
to deteft in guilt.— And they which heard it, being con. 
viEled by their own confcience, went out one by one. John , 
viii. 9.— To confute ; to difeover to be falfe.—Although 
not only the reafon of any head, but experience of every 
hand, may well c.onviEl it, yet will it not by divers be re- 
jefted. Brown. — To fliew by proof or evidence. 
CONVI'CT, adj. [rather the participle of the verb.] 
Convifted ; detefted in guilt: 
Before I be corwiil by courfe of law, 
To threaten me with death is mod unlawful. Shakfpeare. 
CON'VICT, f in the criminal law, a perfon found 
guilty of an offence by the verdiftof a jury. Crompton 
faith, that conviftion is either when a man is out-lawed, 
or appeareth and confeffeth, or is found guilty by the in- 
queft : and when a ftatute excludes from clergy perfons 
found guilty of felony, &c. it extends to thole who are 
convifted by confeffion. The law implies that there 
mull be a conviftion before punifhment, though it is 
not fo mentioned in a ftatute : and where any ftatute 
makes a fecond offence felony, or fubjeft to a heavier 
punifhment than the firft, it is always implied that luch 
fecond offence ought to be committed after a conviftion 
for the firft. 1 Hawk. P. C. c. 10. Judgment amounts to 
conviftion ; though it doth not follow that every one 
who is convict, is adjudged. A conviftion at the king’s 
fuit may be pleaded to a fun by an informer, on a penal 
ftatute ; becaufe while in force it makes the party liable 
to the forfeiture, and no one ought to be p uni fired twice 
for the fame offence ; but conviftion may not be pleaded 
to a new fuit by the king. A perfon convifted or at¬ 
tainted of one felony, may be profecuted for another, to 
bring acceffaries to punifhment, & c. Fitz. Coron. 379. 
Perfons convifted of felony by verdift, are not to be ad¬ 
mitted to bail, unlefs there be fome fpecial motive for 
granting it ; as where a man is not the fame perfon, See,. 
for bail ought to be before trial, when it Hands indiffe¬ 
rent whether the party be guilty or not. 2 Hawk. P. C. 
c. 15. Conviftion of felony, and other crimes, difables 
a man to be a juror, witnefs, &c. In our books, con¬ 
viftion and attainder are often confounded. See the- 
article Attainder. 
Summary proceedings are direfted by feveral afts of 
parliament for the conviftion of offenders, and the in- 
flifting of certain penalties impofed by thole aft--. In 
thefe there is no intervention of a jury, but the party 
accufed is acquitted or condemned by the fuff rage of 
fuch 
