D I S 
Following life in creatures we difeft, 
We lofe it in the moment we detefl. Pope. 
To divide and examine minutely.—This paragraph, that 
has not one ingenuous word throughout, I have dijfedled 
for afample. Atterbury. 
DISSECTION,/. \_diJfeBio, Lat.] The act of fepa* 
rating the parts of animal bodies; anatomy.—I lhall enter 
upon the diJfeBion of a coquet’s heart, and communicate 
that curious piece of anatomy. Addifon. —Nice examina¬ 
tion.-—Such llrifl enquiries into nature, fo true and fo 
perfefl a dijfedion of human kind, is the work of extra¬ 
ordinary diligence. Granville. 
Le Gendre affirms, that the diffeflion of a human body, 
even dead, was held a facrilege in France, till the time 
of Francis I. And the fame author allures us, he has 
feen a confultation held by the divines of Salamanca, at 
the requeft: of Charles V. to fettle the queftion whether 
or no it were lawful in point of confcience to diffedt a 
human body in order to learn the ftrudlure of its parts. 
7 VDISSETSE, v. a. \diffeifer, Fr.] To difpolfefs ; to 
deprive. It is commonly uled of a legal aft.—If a prince 
fltould give a man, befides his ancient patrimony which 
his family has been dijfeijed of, an additional eflate, never 
before in the poffeflion of his anceftors, he could not be 
faid to re-eftablifii lineal fucceffion. Loc/ce. 
DISSEI'SIN,/ \dij[ai[in, Fr.] Inlaw, a fpecies of 
injury by oulter to the freehold eftate of another. A 
wrongful putting out of him that is feifed of the free¬ 
hold : as where a perfon enters into lands or tenements, 
and his entry is not lawful, and keeps him that hath the 
eftate from the poffeffion thereof. And diffeifin is of two 
forts: either (ingle 1 dilfeifin, committed without force of 
arms, or dilfeifin by force; but this latter is more pro¬ 
perly deforcement. Seifin is a technical term to denote the 
completion of that inveftiture, by which the tenant was 
admitted into the tenure, and without which no freehold 
could be conftituted, or pafs. Dilfeifin mull therefore 
mean the turning the tenant out of his tenure, and ufurp¬ 
ing his place and feudal relation. Lord Mansfield in the 
cafe of Taylor ex dan. Atkyns v. Horde, i Burr. 60. Now 
however, from the feveral ftatutes, firlt reftraining and 
at length abolilhing all military tenures, little more is 
left than the names of feoffment, feifin, tenure, and free¬ 
holder, without any precife knowledge of the things 
originally fignified by thofe terms. 
In the fame cafe lord Mansfield faid, Dilfeifin is a 
complicated fa£t, and differs from difpolfefling. The 
freeholder by diffeifin differs from a poffelfor by wrong. 
Though the term dilfeifin happens to be the fame, the 
thing fignified by that word as applied to the two cafes 
of aftual diffeifin, or dilfeifin by eleflion, is very diffe¬ 
rent.” In this cafe it was attempted to fupport a com¬ 
mon recovery, by fuppofing the tenant to the praecipe, 
to have gained a freehold by dilfeifin. The nature of 
a diffeifin was therefore elaborately inveftigated by the 
( counfel; and the idea of a freehold being gained there¬ 
by, learnedly repelled by lord Mansfield. Diffeifin there¬ 
fore feems to imply the turning the tenant out of his fee, 
and ufurping his place and relation. To conllitute an 
a£tual dilfeifin it was neceffary that the diffeifor had not 
a right of entry ; (or to ufe the old law expreffion that 
his entry was not congeable;) thatf the perfon dilfeifed 
was, at'the time of the diffeifin, in the aftual poffeflion of 
the lands; that the diffeifor expelled him from them by 
fome degree of conftraint or force; and that he fubllitu- 
ted himfelf to be tenant to the lord. But how this fub- 
jffitution was effeCled, it is difficult, perhaps impoffible, 
now to difcover. i Injl. 266. 
The injuriesof abatement and intrufion, are by a wrong¬ 
ful entry where the poffeffion is vacant; but this of dif- 
feifin is an attack upon him who is in aflual poffeflion, 
and turning him out of it. The former were an oufter 
from a freehold in law ; this is an oufter from a freehold 
in deed. Dilfeifin may be effected either in corporeal in¬ 
heritances, or in incorporeal. Dilfeifin of things corpo- 
D I S 837 
real, as of houfes, lands, &c. mud be by entry and aclual 
difpolfefTion of the freehold, Co. Lilt. 181 ; as if a man 
enter either by force or fraud into the houfe of another, 
and turns, or at lead keeps, him or his fervants out of 
polfefiion. Diffeifin of incorporeal hereditaments cannot 
be an aCtual difpofleflion, for the ftibjeCl itfelf is neither 
capable of aCtual bodily poffeflion, nor difpolfeflion : but 
it depends on their refpeClive natures and various kinds; 
being in general nothing more than a difturbance of the 
owner in the means of coming at or enjoying them. But 
all diffeifins of hereditaments incorporeal; are only fo at 
the eleClion and choice of the party injured ; if, for the 
fake of more eafily trying the right, he is pleafed to fup- 
pofe himfelf dilfeifed. Litt. 588, 9. Otherwife, as there 
can be no aClual difpolfeflion, he cannot be compullively 
dilfeifed of any incorporeal hereditaments. And fo too, 
even in corporeal hereditaments, a man may frequently 
fuppofe himfelf to be dilfeifed, when he is not fo in faCl, 
for the fake of entitling himfelf to the more eafy and 
commodious remedy, of anaflifeof novel diffeifin, inftead 
of being driven to the more tedious procefs of a writ of 
entry. 4 Burr. 110. 
The true injury of an aClual or compulfive diffeifin, 
feems to be that of difpolfefling the tenant, and fublti- 
tuting onefelf to be the tenant of the lord in his (lead ; 
in order to which, in the times of pure feudal tenure, 
the confent or connivance of the lord, who upon every 
defcent or alienation perfonally gave, and who therefore 
alone could change, the feifin or inveftiture, feems to 
have been confidered as neceffary. But when in procefs 
of time the feodal form of alienations wore off, and the 
lord was no longer the inftrument of giving aCtual feifin, 
it is probable that the lord’s acceptance of rent or fervice, 
from him who had difpofleffed another, might conllitute a 
complete dilfeifin. Afterwards no regard was had to the 
lord’s concurrence, but the difpolfelfor himfelf was con¬ 
fidered the foie diffeifor : and this wrong was then al¬ 
lowed to be remedied by entry only, without any form 
of law, as againft the diffeifor himfelf; but required a 
legal procefs againft his heir or alienee. And when the 
remedy by allile was introduced under Henry II. to re- 
drefs fuch diffeifins, as had been committed within a few 
years next preceding, the facility of that remedy induced 
others, who were wrongfully kept out of the freehold, 
to feign or allow themfelves to be feifed, merely for the 
fake of the remedy. 3 Comm. 169. 
By magna charta, 9 Henry III. c. 29, no man is to be 
dilfeifed or put out of his freehold, but by lawful judg¬ 
ment of his peers, or by the law of the land : and by 
32 Henry VIII. c. 33, the' dying feifed of any diffeifor of 
or in any lands, &c. having no right therein, lhall not 
be a defcent in law, to take away an entry of a perfon 
having lawful title of entry; except the diffeifor hath 
had peaceable poffeffion five years, without entry or claim 
by the perfon having lawful title. But if a diffeifor hav¬ 
ing expelled the right owner hath fuch peaceable pof¬ 
feffion of the lands five years without claim, and conti¬ 
nues in poffeffion fo as to die feifed, and the land defcends 
to his heirs, they have a right to the poffeffion thereof 
till the perfon that is owner recovers at law ; and the 
owner (hall lofe his eftate for ever, if lie do not profe- 
cute his fuit within the time limited by the llatute of li¬ 
mitations. And if a diffeifee levy a fine of the land^ 
whereof he is dilfeifed, unto a ftranger, the diffeifor lhall 
keep the land for ever; for the difleifee againlt his own- 
fine cannot claim, and the conufee cannot enter, and the 
right which the difleifee had, being extinct by the fine, 
the diffeifor lhall take advantage of it. 2 Rep. 56. But 
this is to be underftood, where no ufe is declared of the 
fine by the diffeifee ; when it lhall enure to the ufe of 
the diffeifor, &c. by Bridgman, C. J. 1 Lev. 128. 
If a feme foie be feifed of lands in fee, and is dilfeifed, 
and then taketh hulband; in this cafe, the luifband and 
wife, as in right of the wife, have right to enter, and yet 
the dying feiled of the dilfeifor, lhall take away the entry 
of 
