Landed estate

“ The cottages erected by farmers or by landlords are now, one and all, fit and proper habitations for human beings; and I verily believe it would be impossible throughout the length and breadth of Wiltshire to find a single bad cottage on any large estate, so well and so thoroughly have the landed proprietors done their work. ”

“ In the case of “timber estates” upon which trees of various kinds are cultivated solely for their produce and the profit gained from their periodical felling and cutting, the timber is not considered as part of the inheritance but as the annual fruits of the estate, and an exception arises in favour of the tenant for life (see Dashwood v. Magniac, 1891, 3 Ch. 306) . Under the Settled Land Act 1882 a tenant for life may grant building, mining and other leases for the prescribed terms “for any purpose whatever, whether involving waste or not.” ”

“ The last and most important of these, the Settled Estates Act, passed in 1882, gives the tenant for life power to sell any portion of the estate except the family mansion, and thus thoroughly undermines the principle upon which primogeniture and entails are founded. Much land which has hitherto been so tied up that the limited owners were either unable or unwilling to develop it can now be sold and improved. ”

“ If the lands were still to belong to the lessee of the estate under Government, and the trees only to the planter and his heirs, he to whom the land belonged might very soon render the property in the trees of no value to the planter or his heirs. ”

“ Recoveries were methods of disentailing an estate by means of a complicated series of fictions. They arose in this way:—Before 1285, when land was given to a man and the heirs of his body, the judges ruled that, the moment a son was born, the father [Pg 28] held the estate as a simple freehold, which he could sell or make away with very much as he chose. The great landowners were ill-content at this; they meant their tenants to enjoy their estates only as long as they rendered useful service in return, and if issue failed a man, they thought the land should revert to his lord on his death. ”

“ When I journied down to take possession, and planted foot on my own ground, the stately habits of the donor descended upon me, and I strode (shall I confess the vanity?) with larger paces over my allotment of three quarters of an acre, with its commodious mansion in the midst with the feeling of an English freeholder, that all betwixt sky and centre was my own. The estate has passed into more prudent hands, and nothing but an agrarian can restore it. ”

“ Nothing is left for construction, as the subsequent act provides that the term 'lands' shall be construed as coextensive in meaning with lands, tenements, and hereditaments, and that the terms 'estate and interest in lands' shall be construed to embrace every estate and interest, freehold and chattel, legal and equitable, present and future, vested and contingent. ”

“ This preference for investment in real estate will doubtless be objected to by the young and dashing business man. But lands, or a fund secured by real estate, is unquestionably not only the highest security, but in the hands of heirs it is the only one likely to survive a single generation. Hence the wisdom of the common law, which neither permits the guardian to sell the lands of his ward, nor even the court, in its discretion, to grant authority for their sale, except upon sufficient grounds shown,—as a necessity for raising a fund for the support and education of the ward. ”

“ This rule is explained by the conception of a freehold estate as an interest in lands held by the freeholder from some lord, the king being lord paramount. (See Estate.) The granter retains an interest in the land similar to that of the donor of an estate for life, to whom the land reverts after the life estate is ended. As there are now few freehold estates traceable to any mesne or intermediate lord, escheats, when they do occur, fall to the king as lord paramount. ”

“ These laws and customs are held to lead to unduly large estates—estates so vast as to be unwieldy in management, interposing factors and stewards too often between landlord and tenant; these vast estates yield incomes culpably great and so enormous that their recipients are often indifferent to improvements in farming in comparison with proprietors of small farms, and much land is wasted by being held for mere sport. When the holder of an entailed estate quarrels with his heir, the land suffers, that the personal property which may be freely bequeathed may be increased. ”

“ That act provides that an owner of a large estate may sell to his tenants the holdings they occupy, and his untenanted land to any one who desires to buy it, in such tracts and at such prices as may be agreed upon, corresponding to the income now derived from that particular property. No landlord can sell a few acres here and there of good land under this act, although, of course, he is at liberty to dispose of any part of his estate at any time at any price that he may consider proper. ”

“ Estates not of freehold or less than freehold are subdivided into (i.) estates for years (often called estates for a term of years, the instrument creating it being termed a lease or demise, and the estate itself a leasehold interest) ; (ii.) estates at will, that is, where lands or tenements are let by one man to another to have and to hold at the will of the lessor; (iii.) estates at sufferance, where one comes into possession of land under a lawful title, and continues in possession after his title has determined. ”

“ That one who wrongfully dispossessed another of his land, succeeded to the estate or interest in the land, was one of the most deeply rooted doctrines of the common law from the time when the idea of an estate in lands was first conceived. ”

“ In a devise of real and personal property, the law makes a distinction as to the two estates, in the construction of devisees; and, when technical language is used, the devisee takes an absolute estate in the personal, and a limited estate, or an estate tail, in the real property. ”

“ When the Crown, originally elective, became hereditary, the barons sought to have their possessions governed by the same rule, to remove them from the class of TERRAREGIS (FOLC-LAND) , and to convert them into chartered land. Being gifts from the monarch, he had the right to direct the descent, and all charters which gave land to a man and his heirs, made each of them only a tenant for life; the possessor was bound to hand over the estate undivided to the heir, and he could neither give, sell, nor bequeath it. ”

“ It further provides: 'The term 'real property' as used in this compact includes lands, * * * and interests in land, * * * and any and all things and rights usually included within the said term, and includes not only fees simple and absolute, but also any and all lesser interests, such as easements, rights of way, uses, leases, licenses, and all other incorporeal hereditaments and every estate, interest or right, legal or equitable, including terms of years and liens thereon by way of judgments, mortgages, or otherwise, and also claims for damage to real estate.' N.J.S.A. 32:8-4. ”

“ It is defined to be a rent reserved to himself and his heirs by the grantor of land, out of the land itself. It is not granted like an annuity or rent charge, but is reserved out of a conveyance of the land in fee. It is a separate estate from the ownership of the ground, and is held to be real estate, with the usual characteristics of an estate in fee simple, descendible, devisable, alienable. ”

“ It is alleged in the bill, that this estate was limited to interest, as synonymous with income, rents, and profits, eo nomine, and did not extend to the fee of the real estate, nor to the principal of the stock settled to the uses of the marriage. By every sound rule of construction, an instrument should be interpreted by the context, so as if possible to give a sensible meaning and effect to all its provisions ”

“ But if a man grant an estate in fee-simple, reserving to himself and his heirs a certain rent; and that, if such rent be not paid at the times limited, it shall be lawful for him and his heirs to re-enter, and avoid the estate ”

“ Concerning my worldly estate, my will must be anomalous and out of the common form, on account of the state of my affairs. I have two large real estates. By marriage settlement, Mrs. Webster is entitled to a life estate in each, and after her death they belong to my heirs. On the Franklin estate, so far as I know, there is no encumbrance except Mrs. Webster’s life-estate. On Marshfield, Mr. Samuel Frothingham has an unpaid balance of a mortgage, now amounting to twenty five hundred dollars. My great and leading wish is, to preserve Marshfield, if I can, in the blood and name of my own family. ”

“ As long as Lord A and his son lived—probably for a whole generation—the land lay at the mercy of men who, already long kept out of their money, would grudge every penny spent on improvements. It was to the interest of the creditors to repay themselves before the son of Lord B should come of age and make a new settlement. We may be sure that the creditors would not spend a farthing more than they could help on improving the estate for Lord B's son. ”

“ The lord, having the legal fee simple in the copyhold lands comprised in his manor, possesses all the rights incident to such an estate, controlled only by the custom of the manor, which is now the tenant’s safeguard. Thus he possesses a right to all the mines and minerals under the land, and also to all timber growing on the surface, and this even though the timber may have been planted by the tenant. ”

“ On the other hand, the lord may not enter the land to cut his own timber or open his mines. The limitations of estates usual in respect of other lands, as found in copyhold, become subject of course to the operations of its peculiar conditions as to the relation of lord and tenant. An estate for life, or pour autre vie (i.e. for another’s life) , an estate entail, or in fee-simple, may be carved out of copyhold. ”

“ His estate can be neither divided nor alienated—it is not even liable for the personal debts of the deceased owner. On attaining the age of twenty-one he can, if he and his father, or the present owner, agree, make a settlement, "cutting off the entail," and restoring to the owner the power of sale or bequest. But it is very seldom that either party desires this while there is every inducement for the heir to wish to tie up the land to his own heir. It is very easy to see how this has favoured the accumulation of land in a few hands. ”

“ The essential feature of the system they devised was the power of settling land on an unborn eldest son, who, as soon as he came of age, could make a fresh settlement with his father in favour of his own unborn eldest son. In failure of a son the land goes to the next male legal representative of the family, in strict line of primogeniture, which thus works with entail to keep an estate intact. Only on the entire failure of heirs male did an estate go to a female. Under entail, the rights of the heir, born or unborn, are everything. ”

“ Long terms in some states have annexed to them the properties of freehold estates. In some states estates pur autre vie descend like real property; in others an estate pur autre vie is deemed freehold only during the life of the grantee ”

“ Such a lease is a mere chattel interest, being reckoned as part of the personal estate of the lessee, and in case of the death of the lessee goes to his executors, and not to the heirs-at-law, as appears by all the authorities. ”

“ I will willingly settle upon you the castle and manor of Ellieslaw, to shew my parental affection and disinterested zeal for promoting your settlement in life. The annual interest of debts charged on the estate somewhat exceeds the income, even after a reasonable rent has been put upon the mansion and mains. But as all the debts are in the person of Mr Ratcliffe, as your kinsman's trustee, he will not be a troublesome creditor. ”

“ But, in general, the law looks upon this estate as equivalent to an estate for life only; and, as such, will permit this tenant to exchange his estate with a tenant for life; which exchange can only be made, as we shall see hereafter, of estates that are equal in their nature.
III. Tenant by the curtesy of England, is where a man marries a woman seised of lands or tenements in fee-simple or fee-tail; that is, of any estate of inheritance; and has by her issue, born alive, which was capable of inheriting her estate. ”

“ The principle deducible from these authorities seems to be, that, whatever may be the form or nature of the conveyance used to pass real property, if the grantor sets forth on the face of the instrument, by way of recital or averment, that he is seized or possessed of a particular estate in the premises, and which estate the deed purports to convey ”

“ The right to the possession, or the contract for possession of land for a definite period of time is called an estate for years. Originally in England, only freemen could hold freehold estates. Freehold estates are those of inheritance and those less than inheritance. ”

“ Fearne to the effect that a trust or use created by deed will often be held to create an estate in the heirs named which cannot be cut off by the act of the tenant for life, when the same offect would not be given to an estate created by like language in a devise. ”

“ When the eldest son comes of age or is about to marry, a Settlement is made by which he becomes entitled after his father's death only to a life-interest in the estate, and it is settled in remainder upon his unborn eldest son. A power is given to him to charge the estate with annuities or capital sums for his younger children, and for his widow, if he leaves one; and thus the usual condition of an estate is, that the person in possession is only a tenant for life ”