LEA 
LEA 
of twenty years before, fliall be good again ft the king, 
the prince, and their heirs, &c. and the conditions of 
fucli leafes be as effectual as if the prince had been feifed 
of an abfolute eftate in fee-fnnple in the lands, io Geo. 
II. c. 29. 
Lease and Release, a conveyance of the fee-fim- 
ple, right, or intereft, in lands or tenements, under the 
ftatute of ufes, 27 Hen. VIII. c. 10. giving firft the pof- 
feflion, and afterwards the intereft, in the eftate'conveyed. 
The deed of feoffment was the ufual conveyance at com¬ 
mon-law ; but, (ince the ftatute of ufes, the conveyance by 
leafe and releafe has taken place of it, and is become a 
very common afturance to pals lands and tenements ; for 
it amounts to a feoffment, the ufe drawing after it the 
pofleflion without aftual entry, &c. and fupplying the 
place of livery and feifin required in that deed. In the 
making it, a leafe or bargain and fale for a year, or fuch- 
like term, is firft prepared and executed ; “ to the intent,” 
as is exprefted in the deed, “that by virtue thereof the 
leflee may be in afiual pofl'effion of the land intended to 
be conveyed by the releafe ; and thereby, and by force of 
the ftatute 27 Hen. VIII. c. 10, for transferring of ufes 
into pofl'effion, be enabled to take and accept a grant of 
the reverfion and inheritance of the faid lands, See. to the 
ufe of himfelf and his heirs for ever.” Upon which the 
releafe is according!}' made', reciting the leafe, and de¬ 
claring the ufes; and in thefe cafes a pepper-corn rent in 
the leafe for a year is a fufficient refervation to raife an 
ufe, to make the leflee capable of a releafe. 
Blackftone fays, this fpecies of conveyance was firft in¬ 
vented by ferjeant Moore, foon after the ftatute of ufes. 
It is thus contrived : A leafe, or rather bargain and fale 
upon fome pecuniary confideration, for one year, is made 
by the tenant of the freehold, to the leflee or bargainee. 
Now this, without any enrolment, makes the bargainor 
Hand feifed to the ufe of the bargaineee, and vefts jn the 
bargainee the ufe of the term for a year; and then the fta¬ 
tute immediately annexes the poffejjion. He therefore, 
being thus in pofleflion, is capable of receiving a releafe 
of the freehold and reverfion, which mult be made to a 
tenant in pofleflion ; and accordingly the next day a re¬ 
leafe is granted to him. This is held to fupply the place 
of livery of feifin ; and thus a conveyance by leafe and 
releafe is faid to amount to a feoffment. Co. Lit. 270. Cro. 
Jac. 604. 
The form of this conveyance is originally derived to us 
from the common-law ; and it is neceflary to diftinguifh 
in what refpeft it operates as a common-law conveyance, 
and in what manner it operates under the ftatute of ufes. 
At the common-law, where the ufual mode of convey¬ 
ance was by feoffment with livery of feifin, if there was 
a tenant in pofleflion, fo that livery could not be made, 
the reverfion was granted, and the tenant attorned to the 
reverfioner. As by this mode the reverfion or remainder 
of an eftate might be conveyed without livery, when it 
depended on an eftate previoufly exifting, it was natural 
to proceed one ftep further, and to create a particular ef¬ 
tate for the exprefs and foie purpofe of conveying the re¬ 
verfion ; and then, by a furrender or releafe, either of the 
particular eftate to the reverfioner, or of the reverfion to 
the particular tenant, the whole fee veiled in the furren- 
deree, or releafee. It was afterwards obferved, that there 
was no neceflity to grant the reverfion to a ftranger; and 
that, if a particular eftate was made to the perfon to whom 
it was propofed to convey the fee, the reverfion. might be 
immediately releafed to him, which releafe, operating by 
way of enlargement, would give the releafee (or releflee 
as he is fometimes termed) a fee. In all thefe cafes the 
particular eftate was only an eftate for years; for at the 
common-law the ceremony of livery of feifin is as necef- 
fary to create even an eftate of freehold, as it is to create 
an eftate of inheritance. Still an actual entry would be 
neceflary on the part of the particular tenant; for, with¬ 
out aftual pofleflion, the leflee is not capable of a releafe, 
Vol. XII. No. 841. 
421 
operating by way of enlargement. But this neceflity of 
entry for the purpofe of obtaining the pofleflion, was fu- 
perfeded or made unneceflary by the ftatute of ufes above 
alluded to; for by that ftatute the pofleflion was immedi¬ 
ately transferred to the cejiui que uje ; fo that a bargainee 
under that ftatute is as much in pofielfion, and as capable 
of a releafe, before or without entry, as a leflee is at the 
common-law after entry. All, therefore, that remained 
to be done, to avoid on the one hand the neceflity of iivery 
or feifin from the grantor, and to avoid on the other the 
neceflity of an afiual entry on the part of the grantee, 
was, that the particular eftate (which, for the reasons 
above-mentioned, Ihould be an eftate for years) ftiouid be 
fo framed as to be a bargain and fale within the ftatute. 
Originally it was made in fuch a manner as to be both a 
leafe at the common-law, and a bargain and fale under 
the ftatute ; but as it is held, that, where conveyances 
may operate both by the common-law and ftatute, they 
fliall be confidered to operate by the common-law, unleis 
the intention of the parties appears to the contrary, it be¬ 
came the praftice to infect, among the operative words, 
the words bargain and fell ; (in faff, it is more accurate to 
infect no other operative words ;) and to exprefs that the 
bargain and fale, or leafe, is made to the intent and pur- 
pole that thereby, and by the ftatute for transferring ufes 
into pofleflion, the leflee may be capable of a releafe. 
The bargain and fale therefore, or leafe for a year, as it 
is generally called, operates, and the bargainee is in the 
polfeflion, by the flatute. The releafe operates by en¬ 
larging the eftate or pofleflion of the bargainee to a fee. 
This is at the common-law ; but, if the ufe be declared, 
to the releafee in fee-fnnple, it continues an eftate at the 
common-law; but, if the ufe is declared to a third per¬ 
fon, the ftatute again intervenes, and annexes or transfers 
the polfelfion of the releafee to the ufe of the perfon to 
whom the ufe is declared. It has been faid, that the pof- 
feflion of the bargainee under the leafe is not fo properly 
merged in, as enlarged by, the releafe ; but at all events 
it does not, after the releafe, exift diftinft from the eftate 
palled by the releafe. 1 Injl. 271. b. 
As the operation of a leafe and releafe depends upon 
the leafe, or bargain and fale ; if the grantor is a body cor¬ 
porate , the leafe will not operate under the ftatute of ufes; 
for a body corporate cannot be feifed to an ufe ; and there¬ 
fore the leafe of pofleflion, confidered as a bargain and 
fale under the ftatute, is void; and the releafe then muft 
be of no effeft for want of a previous pojftffion in the re¬ 
leafee. In cafes of this nature, therefore, it is proper to 
make the conveyance by feoffment, or by a leafe and re¬ 
leafe with an aBual entry by the leflee previous to the re¬ 
leafe ; after which the releafe will pafs the reverfion. It 
may alfo be obferved, that in exchanges, if one of the 
parties die before the exchange is executed by entry, the 
exchange is void. But, if the exchange be made by leafe 
and releafe, this inconvenience is prevented, as the fta¬ 
tute executes the pofleflion wfithout entry ; and all inci¬ 
dents annexed to an exchange at common-law will be 
preferved. 1 Injl. 271. b. in n. 
A leafe and releafe make but one conveyance, being in 
the nature of one deed. 1 Mod. 252. For further infor¬ 
mation as to the principles in which this form of con vey- 
ance originates, and under which it operates, fee Con¬ 
veyance, Deed, Feoffment, Release, Uses, See. 
To LEASE, v.a. To let by leale.—Where the vicar 
leafes his glebe, the tenant nuift pay the great tithes to 
the reftor or impropriator, and the fmall tithes to the vi¬ 
car. Aytijfe. 
To LEASE, pronounced leeze, v. n. [ lefen , Dut.] To 
glean ; to gather what the harveft-men leave ; 
She in harveft us’d to leafe ; 
But, harveft done, to chare-work did afpire : 
Meat, drink, and two-pence, was her daily hire. Dryclen. 
LE'ASER, f. Gleaner; gatherer after the reaper.— 
5 P There 
