GRANT. 791 
GRANT, inlaw, a conveyance in writing of incor¬ 
poreal things, not lying- in livery, and which cannot pafs 
by word only; as of reverlions, advowfons in grofs, 
tithes, rents, fervices, common in grofs, &c. It has 
alfo been taken generally, for every gift and grant of 
any thing whatfoevcr. Co. Lit. 172. Grants are made 
by fucli perfons as cannot give but by deed : he that 
granteth is termed the grantor, he to whom the grant is 
the grantci. 
Grant is tire regular metliod, by the conlmon-lavv, of 
transferring the pioperty of incorporeal hereditaments 
or inch things whereof no livery can be liad. Co. Lit. 9. 
For which reafon all corporeal hereditaments, as lands 
and houfes, are faid to lie in livery, and tlie others as 
advowfons, commons, rents, reverlions, &c. to lie in 
grant. A.nd the reafon is given by Bradlon, Traditio, 
t livery] 7 iihil aliud efc qiidtn rci corporalis, de perjond in per- 
Jonam, de manu in maniiin trarjlatio, aut in pojfejjionem induEiio ; 
Jed'res incorporalcs qua funt ipfum jus rei vel corpori inharens, 
traditionem non patiuntur, Bradt. 1 . 2. c. 18. Incorporeal 
hereditaments therefore pafs merely by delivery of th.e 
•deed. And in feignories or reverfions of lands, ftich 
grant, ■ together with the attornment of the tenant, 
(while attornments were requifite,) were held to be of 
equal notoriety with, and therefore equivalent to, a fe- 
otr'ment and livery of lands in immediate polT'efTion. It 
therefore difl'ers but little from a feoffment, except in 
its fubjecl matter, for the operative words therein com¬ 
monly ufed are Dedi et concejji • Have given a.nA granted. 
2 Comm. 316. c. 20. 
It was formerly held, that by a grant of all a man’s 
goods and chattels, bonds would pal’s ; now it is held the 
contrary, that the words geotA and chattels do not extend 
to bonds, deeds, or fpecialties, being tilings in aflion, un- 
lefs in fpecial cafes. Co. Lit. 152. The ftat. 2 Geo. II. 
cap. 25, was found necelTary to make the ftealing Inch 
bonds. See. felony, as in cafe of other goods and chattels. 
In all grants there mull be a foundation of interell, 
or they wilt not be binding ; If a perlon grants a rent- 
charge out of lands, when he hath nothing in the land, 
the grant vvill be void. Perk. 15. Though it is faid, if 
a man grant an annual rent otit of land, wherein he hath 
no kind of interell, yet it may be good to charge the 
perfon of the grantor. Owen Rep. t,. A man may grant 
an annuity for him, and his heirs, to commence after 
his death, and it fhall charge the heir. Bac. Max. 58. 
And after the grant of an annuity. See. is determined, 
debt lies for the arrears; and the perfon of the terte- 
nant will be charged. 7 Rep. 39. If a common perfon 
grants a rent, or otiter thing that lies in grant> without 
limitation .of any ellate, by the delivery of the deed, a 
freehold palfes: but if the king make fueh a grant of a 
rent, &c. it is void for uncertainty. Danv. Rep ee^ a. A 
grant to a man, with a blank for his chrillian name, is 
void, except to an officer known by iiis office, when it 
mult be averred ; and it is the fame -W'here the grantee’s 
chrillian name is millaken. Cro.Eliz. 328. 
Grants may be voief by incertainty, impoffibility, be¬ 
ing, againll law,, on a wrong title, to defraud creditors, 
&c. Co. Lit. 183. Such things as lie in grant, may not 
be granted or held without deed : and if any thing not 
grantable is granted with other things-, the grant will 
be void for all. 2 Shep. Abr. 269. 273. Trulls and con¬ 
fidences are perfonal filings, and may not be granted 
over to others in moll cafes ; as offices of truft, and the 
like: but all kinds of chattels, real and perfonal, are 
grantable. Plowd. 141,397. 
If one grant any thing that lies in livery, or grant, and 
that is in eje at the time of the grant, in fee, or for life, 
and the ellate ts to begin at a day to come ; this for the 
molt part will be void : but a leafe or grant for years, 
may be good in future ; and may be to one for term of 
years,'or-years determinable on lives, and after to an- 
other, to begin at the end of that ellate. 5 Rep. 1. Dyer, 
58. Where a man hath a reverfion after an ellate for 
life of land, and he grants a rent out of it ; the grant i® 
good, and. vvfll fallen upon the land after the ellate 0^ 
the tenant for life is ended : and if a perfon grant rents, 
&c. and a llranger take them at that time ; in this cafe 
tne^ grant will be good, for one may not be out of pof- 
feffion of thefe things but at his pleafure. Ftr/l. 92, 98. 
It a man grants that to one, that he hath grant¬ 
ed before to another, tor the like term. See. the lecond 
grant will be made void. Dyer, 23. Perk. ^ 102. Grants 
are ufually made by thefe words, viz. Have given, granted, 
and cotifirned, S 2 c. And words in grants lhall be con- 
Itrued according to a reafonable fenfe, and not be Itrain- 
ed to what is unlikely. Hob. 304. Alfo it hath been ad- 
judged, that grants ffiall be expounded according to the 
fubllance of the deed, not the flriit grammatical lenfe ; 
and agreeable to the intention of the parties, Co. Lit. 
146, 313- 
Wiiere the principal thing is granted, the incident 
ffiall pals; but the principal will not pals by the grant 
of the incident. Co. Lit. 152. A lord of a manor cannot 
grant the fame, and referve the court baron, il being 
infeparably incident. Co. Lit. 313. A grant of a manor, 
without the tvord cum pertinentiis, will pafs all things be¬ 
longing to the manor : the grant of a larm will alfo pafs 
all lands belonging to it ; but a grant of a melTuage 
palfes only the houle, out-houles, and gardens. Owen’s 
Rep. 51. When lands are granted by deed ; the houfes 
which Hand thereon will pals; houfes and mills pafs 
by the grant of all lands, becaufe that is the moll dura¬ 
ble thing on which they are built. 2 And. 123. By- 
grant of ail tlie lands, the woods will pafs : and if a 
man grant all his trees in a certain place, this palTeth 
the foil; though an exception of wood extends to the 
trees only, not the loil. i Rol. Rep, 33. Dyer, 19. 
TJie grants of perfons under durefs are void ; that is, 
if they were made .under an apprehenfion of fome bodily 
hurt, or if the grantor were imprifoned without caufe, 
and the grantee refilled to releale or difeharge him, un- 
lels he made fuch grant. 2 7 ??/?. 483. But menacing t® 
burn houfes, pr fpoil or carry away the party’s goods, 
are not lufficient to avoid the grant ; for if he Ihould 
fufter what he is threatened, he may fiie and recover 
damages in proportion to the injury done him. Perk. i8.- 
There are but few (if any) perfons excluded from be- 
ing grantees .- therefore a man attainted of felony, mur¬ 
der, or treafon, may be a grantee ; fo the king’s vil¬ 
lein, an alien, one outlawed in a perfonal adlion, or a 
ballard, may be grantees, A ballard who is known to 
be the fonof fncli a one, may purchafe, or be a grantee, 
by fuch reputed name ; for all furnames were originally 
acquired by reputation. Co. Lit. 3. 
Grants of the King. — i he king’s grants are 
matters of public record : for the king’s excellency is 
fo liigh in tlie law, that no freehold may be given to, 
nor derived from, him, but by matter of record. DoS. 
and Stud. b.i. d. 8.—To this end a variety of offices are 
ere 61 ed, communicating in a regular fubordination one 
with another, through v. hich all tlie king’s grants mufl 
pafs, and be tranferibed and enrolled ; that the lame 
may be narrowly infpedled by his officers, who vvill in¬ 
form him if any thing contained therein is improper, or 
unlawful to be granted. Thefe grants, whether of 
lands, honors, liberties, franchifes, or aught befides, are 
contained in charters or letters patent; that is open let¬ 
ters, liter a patentee, fo called becaule they are not fealed 
up, but expofed to open view, with the great feal pen¬ 
dant at the bottom : and are ufually directed or ad- 
drelfed by the king to all his fubjedfs at large. Thefe 
grants or letters-patent mufl firfl pafs by bill; which is 
prepared by the attorney and folicitor-general, in confe- 
quence of a warrant from the crown : and is there lign- 
ed, that is fublcribed at top, with the king’s own fign- 
manual, and fealed with his privy frgnet, which is al¬ 
ways in the cullody of the principal fecretary of Hate : 
and then fometimes it immediately palfes under thf 
