E S T 
afcertain this with precifion and accuracy, eflates may be 
confidered in a threefold view: firfl, with regard to the 
quantity of filtered which the tenant has in the tenement; 
fecondly, with regard to the time at which that quantity 
of interefl is to be enjoyed ; and thirdly, with regard to 
the number and connections of the tenants. Firft with 
regard to the quantity of interefl which the tenant has in 
the tenement, this is meafured by its duration and extent. 
Thus, either his right of pofTeflion is to fubfifl for an un¬ 
certain period, during his own life, or the life of another 
man ; to determine at his own deceafe, or to remain to his 
defcendants after him ; or it is circumfcribed within a cer¬ 
tain number of years, months, or days ; or, laflly, it is 
infinite and unlimited, being veiled in him and his repre¬ 
sentatives for ever. And this occafions the primary divi¬ 
sion of eflates, into fuch as are freehold, and fuch as are 
ief's than freehold. 
An eftate of freehold, liberum tenementum, or frank-tene- 
ment, is defined by Britton c. 32, to be “ the pofTeflion of 
the foil by a freeman.” And St. Germyn tells us, “ that 
the pofTeflion of the land is called in the law of England 
the frank-tenement, or freehold.” Such eftate, therefore, 
as requires aftual pofTeflion of the land, is legally Speak¬ 
ing freehold : which aCtual pofTeflion can, by the courfe 
of the common-law, be only given by the ceremony called 
livery of feitin, which is the fame as the feodal invefti- 
ture. And from thefe principles we may extraft this de¬ 
scription of a freehold : that it is fuch an eftate in lands 
as is conveyed by livery of feifin ; or, in tenements of 
an incorporeal nature, by what is equivalent thereto. 
Mr. Chriflian, in his notes on the learned commentator 
Blackfione, fays ; A freehold eftate feerns to beany eftate 
of inheritance, or for life, in either a corporeal or incor¬ 
poreal hereditament, exifling in or arifing from real pro¬ 
perty of free tenure ,; that is, now, of all which is not 
copyhold. Blackfione himfelf has informed us, that 
“ tithes and Spiritual dues are freehold eflates, whether 
the land out of which they iffue are bond or free ; being 
a Separate and diftincl inheritance from the lands them- 
felves.” And, in this view, they mud be diftinguifhed 
and excepted from other incorporeal hereditaments, if- 
fuing out of lands, as rents, &c. which in general will 
follow the nature of their principal, and cannot be free¬ 
hold, unlefs the flock from which they Spring be freehold 
alfo. 1 Blackjl. Trails, 116 filiates of freehold, may then 
be confidered, either as eflates of inheritance, or eflates 
not of inheritance. The former are again divided into 
inheritances abfolute, otherwise called fee-timple, and in¬ 
heritances ’limited ; one Species of which is'ufually called 
fee-tail. See the articles Fee and Fee-simple. 
Limited fees, or fuch eflates of inheritance as are clog¬ 
ged and confined with conditions or qualifications of any 
fort may be divided into two kinds. 1. Qualified or bale 
fees. 2. Fees conditional, fo called at the common-law ; 
and afterwards fees-tail in confeqnence of the ftatute de 
donis. See the articles Tail and Fee-tail. A bafe or 
qualified fee is fuch a one as ha.-. 1 qualification Subjoined 
thereto, and w*hich mu ft be determined whenever the 
qualification annexed to it is at an end. As in the cafe of 
a grant to A. and his heirs tenafits of the manor of Dale ; 
in this inftance whenever the heirs of A. ceafe to be te¬ 
nants of that manor, the grant is entirely defeated. This 
eftate is a fee, becaufe by poftibility it may endure for 
ever in a man and his heirs ; yet as that donation depends 
upon the concurrence of collateral circumftances which 
qualify and debafe the purity of the donation, it is there¬ 
fore a qualified or bafe fee. See i hjl. 27. 
Of eflates of freehold, not of inheritance, but for life 
only, fome may be called conventional, as being exprefsly 
created by the aft of the parties ; others are merely legal, 
or created by con'ftruftion and operation of law. As to 
eflates for life exprefsly created by deeu or grant, fee Life 
Estate. For eftate of tenant in tail after poftibility of 
iffue extinct, lee Tail and Fee-tail. For tenant by the 
Curtesy, and tenant in Dower, fee thole articles. Of 
Vol. VII. No, 405. 
ATE. 25 
eflates lefs than freehold there are three forts. 1. Eflates 
for years. 2. Eflates at will for both which fee title 
Lease. 3. Eflates by fufferance:- for which fee title 
Sufferance. Befides thefe feveral divifions of eflates, 
in point of'interefl, another fpecies may be mentioned, 
viz. eflates upon condition ; as to which fee the article. 
Condition; and alfo Mortgage; Statute Mer¬ 
chant; Statute Staple ; Elegit. 
According to the above divifion, eflates are confidered 
folely with regard to their duration, or the quantity of 
interefl which the owners have therein. With regard to 
the time of their enjoyment, when the aftual receipt of 
the rents and profits begins, eflates may be confidered ass 
either in polfeftion, orexpeftancy. Of expectancies, there 
are two forts ; one created by the aft of the parties, called 
a remainder; the other by aft of law, called a reverftort. 
Of eflates in pofTeflion, little or nothing is to be pecu¬ 
liarly obferved ; all the eftatqs already fpoken of under 
the titles referred to, are of this kind. But the doCtrine 
of eflates in expeftancy, contains fome of the nicefl and 
mod abftrufe learning in the Englifh law. For what re¬ 
lates to Remainders and Reversions, fee under thole 
titles, and alfo the articles Executory Devise; and 
Limitation. 
Eflates, with regard to the certainty and the time of the 
enjoyment of them, are diftinguifhed by Fearne in the in¬ 
troduction to his EfTay on Contingent Remainders and 
Executory Devifes, into—1. Eflates vetted in pofTeflion. 
2. Eflates'vefted in filtered ; asreverfions ; vetted remain¬ 
ders ; fuch executory devifes, future ufes, conditional 
limitations, and other future interefts, as are not referred 
to, or made to depend on, a period or event that is uncer¬ 
tain. 3. Eflates contingent; as contingent remainders; 
and fuch executory devifes, future ufes, conditional li¬ 
mitations and other future interefts as are referred to, or 
made to depend on, an event that is uncertain. An eftate 
is vefted, when there is an immediate fixed right of pre- 
fent or future enjoyment. An eftate is vefted in pofTeflion, 
when there exifts a right df prefent enjoyment. An eftate 
is vefted in interefl, when there is a prefent fixed right 
of future enj'byment. An eftate is contingent when it 
right of enjoyment is to accrue, on an event which is 
dubious and uncertain. 
With refpeCt to the number and conneftions of their 
owners, the tenants who occupy and hold them, eflates 
of any quantity or length of duration, whether in aftual 
pofTeflion or expeftancy, may be held in four different 
ways ; in feveralty ; in joint-tenancy ; in coparcenary ; 
in common. Fie that holds lands in feveralty, or is foie 
tenant thereof, is he that holds them in his own right 
only, without any other being joined or connected with 
him in point of interefl during his eftate therein. This 
is the mod common and ufual way of bolding an eftate ; 
and all eflates are luppofed to be of this fort, unlefs 
where they are exprefsly declared to be othervvife.; and 
in laying down general rules and doftrines, they are 
ufually applied to fuch. eflates as are held in feveralty. 
As to eflates in joint-tenancy, in coparcenary, and in 
common, fee titles Joint-Tenants, and Parceners. 
As to the title to eflates, fee the article Tithe ; and as to 
the different nature of eflates according to their feveral 
tenures, fee Tenure. 
Eflates are acquired divers ways, viz. by defeent from a 
father to the fqn, &c. Conveyance, or grant from one 
man to another ; by gift or purchafe ; deedorwili. And 
a fee-fimple is the largeft eftate that can be in law. 1 Lil. 
541. Eflates are real, of lands, &c. or perfonal, of goods 
or chattels ; otherwise diftinguifhed into freeholds, that 
defeend to the heir, and chattels which go to the execu¬ 
tors. Some eflates are made by the words of deeds, ant} 
others made by law ; as an eftate in frank-marriage given 
to a coufin, makes a gift in tail. Alfo there is an eftate 
that is implied, where tenant in tail bargains and fells bis 
lands to a man and his heirs ; by this he hath an eftate 
defcendible, and determinable upon the death of the te¬ 
ll Rant 
