general customs, or the common law, properly so called; but | also the particular customs of certain parts of the kingdom; and likewise those particular laws, that are by custom observed only in certain courts and jurisdictions. 1 Comm. Introd. g 3. There is another division of our laws more large and particular; as into the prerogative or crown law; the law and custom of parliament; the common law; the statute law; reasonable customs; the law of arms, war, and chivalry; ecclesiastical or canon law; civil law, in certain courts and cases; forest law; the law of marque and reprisal; the law of merchants; the law and privilege of the stannaries, &c. But this large division may be reduced to the common division and all is founded on the law of nature and reason, and the revealed law of God, as all other laws ought to be. 1 Inst. 11. The law of nature is that which God at man's creation infused into him, for his preservation and direction; and this is lex æterna, and may not be changed and no laws shall be made or kept, that are expressly against the law of God, written in his scripture; as to forbid what he commandeth, &c. 2 Shep. Abr. 356. All laws derive their force à lege nature; and those which do not, are accounted as no laws. Fortescue. No law will make a construction to do wrong; and there are some things which the law favours, and some it dislikes; it | favoureth those things that come from the order of nature. 1 Inst. 183, 197. Also our law hath much more respect to life, liberty, freehold inheritance, matters of record, and of substance, than to chattels, things in the personalty, matters not of record, or circumstances. Ibid. 137; 4 Rep. 124. As to the mode of interpreting laws, see 1 Comm. § 2.Of the general foundation of the laws of England, Id. § 3.And of the countries subject to the laws of England, Id. § 4. -See also Ireland, Scotland, Plantations, Statutes, Common Law, Canon Lan, Civil Law, &c. &c. LAW hath also a special signification, wherein it is taken for that which is lawful with us, and not elsewhere; as tenant by the curtesy of England, is called tenant by the law of England. LAW OF ARMS, [Lex armorum.] Is that law which gives precepts how to proclaim war, make and observe leagues and treaties, to assault and encounter an enemy, and | punish offenders in the camp, &c. The law and judgment of arms are necessary between two strange princes of equal power, who have no other method of determining their controversies, because they have no superior or ordinary judge, but are supreme and public persons; and by the law of arms, kings obtain their rights, rebels are reduced to obedience, and peace is established: but when the laws of arms and war do rule, the civil laws are of little or no force. Treat. Laws, 57. It is a kind of law among all nations, that in case of a solemn war, the prince that conquers gains a right of dominion, as well as property, over the things and persons he has subdued; and it is for this reason, because both parties have appealed to the highest tribunal that can be, viz. the trial by arms and war; wherein the great judge and sovereign of the world, in a more especial manner, seems to decide the controversy. Hale's Hist. L. 73, 74. Common things concerning arms and war, are under the cognizance of the constable and marshal of England, 13 R. 2. st. 1. c. 2. See Constable, Court of Chivalry. LAW-BOOKS. All books written in the law are either historical, as the Year-Books; explanatory, such as Standforde's Treatise of the Royal Prerogative; miscellaneous, as the abridgments of the law; monological, being on one certain subject, such as Lambard's Justice of Peace, &c.-Fulbeck's Parallel, c. 3. The books of reports have such great weight with the judges, that many of them are as highly VOL. II. | | | | valued as the Responsa Prudentum among the Romans, which were authoritative. Wood's Inst. 10. The decisions of courts (says Blackstone) are held in the highest regard, and are not only preserved as authentic records in the treasuries of the several courts, but are handed out to public view in the numerous volumes of reports which furnish the lawyer's library. These reports are histories of the several cases, with a short summary of the proceedings, which are preserved at large in the record; the arguments on both sides, and the reasons the court gave for its judgment, taken down in short notes by persons present at the determinations. And these serve as indexes to, and also to explain the records, which always, in matters of consequence and nicety, the judges direct to be searched. These reports are extant in a regular series, from the reign of King Edward II. inclusive; and from this time to that of King Henry VIII. were taken by the prothonotaries or chief scribes of the court at the expense of the crown, and published annually; whence they are known under the denomination of the Year-Books. Blackstone proceeds to express his wish that this beneficial custom had been continued. He laments the deficiency and inaccuracy of the many reports from that time to the period in which he wrote; and the neglect of the appointment which King James I., at the instance of Lord Bacon, made of two reporters, with a stipend for that purpose. 1 Comm. Introd. § 3. This evil has however been since, in a great measure, remedied, by several periodical publications of reports of the cases determined in the courts of law and equity, soon after the end of the terms in which they are decided. The public encouragement given to these works is perhaps a more adequate mode of reward than royal munificence could devise, even in a reign distinguished for the patronage of learning and genius. Some of the most valuable of the ancient reports are those published by Lord Chief Justice Coke; and these are generally cited, by way of excellence, as The Reports; thus, 1 Rep. ; 2 Rep. &c., while other reports are cited by the name of the reporter, 1 Ventr.; 1 Salk. &c. Besides the reporters, there are also other authorities to whom great veneration and respect are paid by the students of the common law. Such are Glanvil, Bracton, Britton, Fleta, Hengham, Littleton, Statham, Brooke, Fitaherbert, Staundforde, and others of ancient date.-(Hale, Hawkins, Foster, and others of more modern times, among whom the author of the Commentaries holds an honourable rank.) Their treatises are cited as authority, and are evidences that cases have formerly happened in which such and such points were determined, which are now become settled and first principles. One of the last of these methodical writers (according to Blackstone) in point of time, whose works are of any intrinsic authority in the courts of justice, is Sir Edward Coke; commonly called Lord Coke, from his having been, as was already mentioned, lord chief justice. He left four volumes of institutes; the first being a very extensive comment upon a little excellent treatise of Tenures compiled by Judge Littleton, in the reign of Edward IV. This is generally called Coke-Littleton, (meaning. Coke upon Littleton) and is so cited by lawyers, or still more usually as First Institute. This has been since enlarged by the very learned and laborious notes of Mr. Hargrave and Mr. Butler, and, taken altogether, is a book of the greatest value and highest authority in the law. There have also appeared a vast variety of abridgments. of general law; and systems of particular branches of it; the most valuable of which are Sir John Comyns' Digest, and Bacon's Abridgment, the latter founded chiefly on MS. treatises of Chief Baron Gilbert, and lately edited by Sir H. Gwillim and C. E. Dodd, Esq. These with the statutes at large, and other publications, swell lawyers' libraries to a size which they perhaps, as well as their clients, would be glad G to see lessened. But the delay imputed to, rather than suffered in, courts of justice, and the multiplication of cases and determinations, are a price which every free and opulent commercial nation must pay for the innumerable blessings it enjoys, under such a government as that long established in this country. See Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, lib. vi. c. 2. LAW-DAY, [Lagedayum.] Called also View of Frankpledge or court-leet; was any day of open court, and commonly used for the courts of a county or hundred. LAWING OF DOGS. The cutting off several claws of the fore-feet of dogs, in the forest. See Forest. LAWLESS-COURT. A Court held on King's Hill, at Rochford in Essex, on Wednesday morning next after Michaelmas-Day yearly, at cock-crowing; at which court they whisper and have no candle, nor any pen and ink, but a coal; and he that owes suit or service there, and appears not, forfeits double his rent. This court is mentioned by Camden, who says, that this servile attendance was imposed on the tenants, for conspiring at the like unseasonable time to raise a commotion. Camd. Britan. It belongs to the honour of Raleigh, and is called Lawless, because held at an unlawful hour, or quia dicta sine lege. The title of it is in rhyme, and in the court rolls runs thus : Curia sine cura. Jurata de injuria. law, allowed by our laws where it is not against the common law, nor the statutes and customs of the kingdom; and regularly according to such ecclesiastical or spiritual laws, the bishops and other ecclesiastical judges proceed in causes within their cognizance. Co. Lit. 344. It was also called Law Christian, and, in opposition to it, the common law was often called Lex Terrena, &c. See Canon Law, Courts Eccle siastical. LAW OF THE STAPLE, [mentioned in 27 Edw. 3. st. 2. c. 22.] Is the same with Law Merchant. See 4 Inst. 237, 238, and tit. Staple. LAWYER [Legista, Legispiritus, Jurisconsultus. By the Saxons called lahman.] A counsellor, or one learned in the law. See Attorney, Barrister. LAY-CORPORATIONS. Are of two sorts, civil and eleemosynary. The civil are such as are erected for a variety of temporal purposes. The eleemosynary sort are such as are constituted for the perpetual distribution of the free alms or bounty of the founder of them to such persons as he hath directed. See Corporation. LAY INVESTITURE of BISHOPS. Election was, in very early times, the usual mode of elevation to the episcopal chair throughout all Christendom; and this was promiscuously performed by the laity as well as the clergy, till at length, it becoming tumultuous, the emperors and other sovereigns of the respective kingdoms of Europe took the appointment in some degree into their own hands; by reserving to themselves the right of confirming these elections, and of granting investiture of the temporalities, which now began almost universally to be annexed to this spiritual dignity; without which confirmation and investiture the elected bishops could neither be consecrated nor receive any secular profits. This right was acknowledged in the Emperor Charlemagne, A. D. 773, by Pope Hadrian I. and the council of Lateran, and universally exercised by other Christian princes: but the policy of the Court of Rome at the same time began by degrees to exclude the laity from any share in these elections, and to confine them wholly to the clergy, which at length was completely effected; the mere form of election appearing to the people to be a thing of little consequence, while the crown was in possession of an absolute negative, which was almost equivalent to a direct right of nomination. Hence the right of appointing to bishoprics is said to have been in the crown of England (as well as other kingdoms in Europe) even in the Saxon times: because the rights of confirmation and investiture were in effect (though not in form) a right of complete Tenta ibidem die Mercurii (ante diem) proximi post festum donation. But when, by length of time, the custom of making Sancti Michaelis, anno regni regis, &c. e. 11. LAWLESS MAN. [Exlex.] An outlaw. Bract. lib. 3. LAW OF MARQUE, [from the Germ. march, i. e. limes.] Is where they that are driven to it do take the shipping and goods of that people of whom they have received wrong, and cannot get ordinary justice in another territory, when they can take them within their own bounds and precincts. 27 Edw. 3. st. 2. c. 17. See Letter of Marque. LAW MARTIAL. See Courts Martial. LAW MERCHANT, [lex mercatoria.] A special law differing from the common law of England, proper to merchants, and part of the law of the realm. And the charta mercatoria, 13 Edw. 1. st. 3. grants this perpetual privilege to merchants coming into this kingdom. See also 27 Edw. 3. st. 2. cc. 2. (repealed) 13. 17. 19. 20.; Co. Lit. 182; and tit. Custom of Merchants. LAW PROCEEDINGS. Of all kinds, as writs, proOf all kinds, as writs, processes, pleadings, &c. are to be in the English language, by 4 Geo. 2. c. 26; 5 Geo. 2. c. 27. Except known abbreviations and technical terms, 6 Geo. 2. c. 14. See Pleadings, I. 3. LAW SPIRITUAL, [lex spiritualis.] The ecclesiastical elections by the clergy only was fully established, the popes began to except to the usual method of granting those investitures, which was per annulum et baculum, by the prince's delivering to the prelate a ring, and pastoral staff or crosier; pretending that this was an encroachment on the church's authority, and an attempt by these symbols to confer a spiritual jurisdiction: and Pope Gregory VII., towards the close of the eleventh century, published a bull of excommunication against all princes who should dare to confer investitures, and all prelates who should venture to receive them. This was a bold step towards effecting the plan then adopted by the Roman see, of rendering the clergy entirely independent of the civil authority; and long and eager were the contests occasioned by this papal claim. But at length, when the Emperor Henry V. agreed to remove all suspicion of encroachment on the spiritual character, by conferring investitures for the future per sceptrum, and not per annulum et baculum; and when the kings of England and France consented also to alter the form in their kingdoms, and receive only homage from the bishops for their temporalities, instead of investing them by the ring and crosier, the Court of Rome found it prudent to suspend for a while its other pretensions. This concession was obtained from King Henry I. in England, by means of that obstinate and arrogant prelate Arch bishop Anselm: but King John (about a century afterwards) | in order to obtain the protection of the pope against his discontented, barons, was also prevailed upon to give up by a charter, to all the monasteries and cathedrals in the kingdom, the free right of electing their prelates, whether abbots or bishops, reserving only to the crown the custody of the temporalities during the vacancy; the form of granting a licence to elect (which is the original of our congé d'elire,) on refusal whereof the electors might proceed without it; and the right of approbation afterwards, which was not to be denied without a reasonable and lawful cause. This grant was expressly recognized and confirmed in King John's Magna Charta, and was again established by statute 25 Edw. 3. st. 6. § 3. But by 25 Hen. 8. c. 20. the ancient right of nomination was in effect restored to the crown. See 1 Comm. 377; and Bishop. LAY-FEE [feodum laicum.] Lands held in fee of a laylord, by the common services to which military tenure was subject; as distinguished from the ecclesiastical holding in frankalmoign, discharged from those burdens. Kennet's Gloss. See Tenures. LAYMAN. One that is not of the clergy; the Latin word laicus signifying as much as populus, that which is common to the people, or belongs to the laity. Lit. Dict. LAYSTALL [Sax.] A place to lay dung or soil in. LAZARETS. Places where quarantine is to be performed by persons coming from infected countries. Escaping from them felony. See 1 Jac. 1. c. 31; 26 Geo. 2. c. 6; 29 Geo. 2. c. 8; and Plague. LAZZI. The Saxons divided the people of the land into three ranks the first they called Edilingi, which were such as are now nobility; the second were termed Frilingi, from friling, signifying that he was born a freeman, or of parents not subject to any servitude, which are the present gentry: and the third and last were called Lazzi, as born to labour, and being of a more servile state than our servants, because they could not depart from their service without the leave of the lord, but were fixed to the land where born, and in the nature of slaves; hence the word lazzi, or lazy, signifies those of a servile condition. Nithardus de Saxonibus, lib. 24.-It is remarkable that the lower class of people at Naples are called Lazaroni. LEA OF YARN. A quantity of yarn so called; and at Kidderminster it is to contain 200 threads on a reel four yards about. See 22 & 23 Car. 2. c. 8. dimissio, from dimittere, to depart with.] A letting of lands, tenements, or hereditaments, to another for term of life, years, or at will, for a rent reserved. Co. Lit. 43. A LEASE is properly a conveyance of any lands or tenements, usually in consideration of rent, or other annual recompence, made for life, for years, or at will; but always for a less time than the lessor hath in the premises; for if it be for the whole interest it is more properly an assignment than a lease. He that letteth is called the lessor, and he to whom the lands, &c. are let is called the lessee. Shep. Touchst. c. 14; 2 Comm. c. 20. A lease for years is also thus defined: a contract between lessor and lessee for the possession and profit of lands, &c. on the one side, and a recompence for rent or other income on the other. Bac. Abr. Leases. This word is also sometimes, though improperly, applied to the estate, i. e. the title, time, or interest the lessee hath in the thing demised; and then it is rather referred to the thing taken or had, and the interest of the taker therein; but it is more accurately applied rather to the manner or means of attaining or coming to the thing letten. See Shep. Touchst. c. 14. The usual words of operation in a lease are "demise, grant, and to farm let,-dimisi, concessi, & ad firmam tradidi.” Farm or feorme is an old Saxon word signifying provisions. Spelm. Gloss. 229. And it came to be used instead of rent or render, because anciently the greater part of rents were reserved in provisions; in corn, in poultry, and the like, till the use of money became more frequent; so that a farmer, firmarius, was one who held his lands upon payment of a rent or feorme: though at present, by a gradual departure from the original sense, the word farm is brought to signify the very estate or lands so held upon farm or rent. By this conveyance an estate for life, for years, or at will, may be created either in corporeal or incorporeal hereditaments; though livery of seisin is indeed incident and necessary to one species of leases, viz. leases for life of corporeal hereditaments, but to no other. LEAD. By the 7 & 8 Geo. 4. c. 29. § 44. stealing, rip-tenant in tail, or tenant for life, could make no leases which ping, cutting, or breaking with intent to steal, any lead, iron, brass, or other metal, or any utensil or fixture, fixed in or to any building, or any thing made of metal, fixed in any land, being private property, or for a fence to any dwelling-house, garden, or area, or in any square, street, &c. is felony, and the offender punishable as in the case of simple larceny. LEAGUE. An agreement between princes, &c. Also a measure of way by sea, or an extent of land, containing most usually three miles. Breakers of leagues and truces, how punished for offences done upon the seas. See 4 H. 5. c. 7; 31 H. 6. c. 4. See Conservator of the Truce; Truce. shire LEAK, or LECHE [from Sax. Leccian, to let out water.] In the bishoprick of Durham is used for a gutter; so in Yorkany slough or watery hole upon the road is called by this name; and hence the water-tub to put ashes in to make a lee for washing of clothes, is in some parts of England termed a leche. Cowell. LEAKAGE. An allowance to merchants importing wine out of the customs for the waste and damage it is supposed to receive by being kept. See 3 & 4 W. 4. c. 57. § 19. and tit. Warehousing of Goods. LEASE [from locatio, letting; otherwise called a demise, Whatever restriction, by the severity of the feudal law, might, in times of very high antiquity, he observed with regard to leases (see Tenures), yet by the common law, as it has stood for many centuries, all persons seised of any estate might let leases to endure so long as their own interest lasted, but no longer. Therefore tenant in fee-simple might let leases of any duration, for he hath the whole interest; but should bind the issue in tail or reversioner: nor could a husband, seised jure uxoris, make a firm or valid lease for any longer term than the joint-lives of himself and his wife, for then his interest expired. Yet some tenants for life, where the fee-simple was in abeyance, might (with the concurrence of such as have the guardianship of the fee) make leases of equal duration with those granted by tenants in fee simple; such as parsons and vicars, with consent of the patron and ordinary. Co. Lit. 44. So also bishops and deans, and such other sole ecclesiastical corporations as are seised of the feesimple of land in their corporate right, might, with the concurrence and confirmation of such persons as the law requires, have made leases for years or for life, estates in tail or in fee, without any limitation or control. And corporations aggregate might have made what estates they pleased, without the confirmation of any other person whatsoever. Whereas now by several statutes, this power, where it was unreasonable, and might be made an ill use of, is restrained; and where in the other cases the restraint by the common law seemed too hard, it is in some measure removed. The former statutes are called the restraining, the latter the enabling, statute. 2 Comm. c. 20. See post, II. Further information on this subject may be conveniently classed under the following divisions : 1. How a lease may be made; of the nature of a 2. By whom leases may be granted; and herein II. Of leases under the enabling and restraining statutes. 1. Where it shall 2. Where it shall not } confirm a lease. For other matters relative to leases, see Bac. Abr. "Leases and Terms for Years," recommended by Blackstone to particular notice; Shep. Touchst. c. 14; and Deed, Rent, Surrender, and the other titles above referred to. See also 4 Geo. 2. c. 28: 11 Geo. 2. c. 19. (amended by 4 & 5 W. 4. c. 22.) under tit. Rent. I. Generally, to the making of a good lease several things necessarily concur; there must be a lessor not restrained from making a lease; a lessee not disabled to receive; a thing demised which is demisable, and a sufficient description of the thing demised, &c. If it be for years, it must have a certain commencement and determination; it is to have all the usual ceremonies, as sealing, delivery, &c. and there must be an acceptance of the thing demised. Lit. § 56; 1 Inst. 46; Plowd. 273, 523. Whether any rent be reserved upon a lease for life, years, or at will, or not, is not material, except only in the cases of leases made by tenant in tail, husband and wife, and ecclesiastical persons under 32 Hen. 8. c. 28. (See post, II.) Shep. Touchs. c. 14. A lessor who hath the fee cannot reserve rent to any other but himself, his heirs, &c. And if he reserves a rent to his executors, the rent shall be to the heir, as incident to the reversion of the land. 1 Inst. 47. Neither can a power of re-entry upon breach of covenant in a lease be reserved to a stranger to the estate. 4 Taunt. 23. The lessor may take a distress on the tenements let for the rent; or may have action of debt for the arrears, &c. Also land leased shall be subject to those lawful remedies which the lessor provides for the recovery of his rent, possession, &c. into whose hands soever the land comes. Cro. Jac. 300. Leases for lives or at will, or for years, may be made of any thing corporeal or incorporeal that lieth in livery or grant. Shep. Touch. 268. Consequently land, advowsons, tithes, commons, franchises, estovers, annuities, rent charges, or corodies, may be leased for years. Some incorporeal hereditaments, however, form an exception to the above rule. Dignities which are only grantable by the crown cannot be granted for years. Co. Lit. 16 b.; 9 Rep. 97 b. Neither can offices of public trust, particularly those relating to the administration of justice. 9 Rep. 97 b.; Cro. Car. 587. S. P. But as the inconvenience and danger of their passing to unskilful executors, &c. are avoided by leasing them for years during the life of the grantee, such form of demise has been held good. 6 Mod. 57. S. C. Ld. Ray. 1005. But offices requiring mere common diligence, and which may be executed by deputy without affecting the public, may be leased for years, as the offices of postmaster-general; Hard. 352; king's printer, ibid. 352; warden of ports and havens, ib. 354; and such as are ministerial in courts of justice, as surveyor of the green-wax, sealer of writs and subpoenas, &c. Bro. Abr. Leases, 40. Goods and chattels may also be leased for years. Thus, cattle and other live and dead stock may be demised by themselves, and the lessee shall have the use and profit of them during the term; and if they die, they become his absolute property. Bro. Abr. Leases (A.) So their young shall belong to the lessee, wherein they differ from dead stock; for the lessor shall, at the end of the lease, have any addition made to it as part of the original thing demised. Ibid. No tenant shall take leases of above two farms, in any town, village, &c. nor hold two unless he dwell in the parish, under penalties and forfeitures, by 25 Hen. 8. c. 13. § 14. See also 21 Hen. 8. c. 13. to which statutes there is not any regard now paid. 1. A lease may be made either in writing or by word of mouth it is sometimes made and done by record, as fine, recovery (now abolished,) &c. and sometimes and most frequently by writing, called a lease by indenture; albeit, it may be also made by deed-poll; and sometimes also it is (as it may be of land or any such like thing grantable without deed for life, or never so many years,) by word of mouth, without any writing; and then it is called a lease-parol. Sheph. Touchst. c. 14.-But by the statute of frauds, 29 Geo. 2. c. 3. leases of lands must be in writing, and signed by the parties themselves, or their agents duly authorized, otherwise they will operate only as leases at will; except leases not exceeding three years. A parol agreement to lease lands for four years creates only a tenancy at will. 4 Term Rep. 680.-But see 8 Term Rep. 3. that a lease by parol enures as a tenancy from year to year; the meaning of the statute of frauds being that such an agreement should not operate as a term. A lease may be made by all the ways above mentioned, either for life, for years, or at will.-For life; as for life of the lessee, or another, or both.-For years, i. e. for a certain number of years, as 10, 100, 1000, or 10,000 years, months, weeks, or days, as the lessor and lessee do agree. And then the estate is properly called a term for years; for this word term doth not only signify the limits and limitation of time, but also the estate and interest that doth pass for that time. These leases for years do some of them commence in præsenti, and some in futuro at a day to come; and the lease that is to begin in futuro is called an interesse termini, or future interest. At will; i. e. when a lease is made of land to be held at the will and pleasure of the lessor and lessee together; and such a lease may be made by word of mouth, as well as the former. Sheph. Touchst. c. 14. If the lease be but for half a year, or a quarter, or any less time, this lessee is respected as a tenant for years, and is stiled so in some legal proceedings; a year being the shortest term which the law in this case takes notice of. Lit. § 58. These estates for years were originally granted to mere farmers or husbandmen, who every year rendered some equivalent in money, provisions, or other rent, to the lessors or landlords; but in order to encourage them to manure and cultivate the ground, they had a permanent interest granted them, not determinable at the will of the lord; and yet their possession was esteemed of so little consequence, that they were rather considered as the bailiffs or servants of the lord, who were to receive and account for the profits at a settled price, than as having any property of their own; and, therefore, they were not allowed to have a freehold estate; but their interest (such as it was) vested after their deaths in their executors, who were to make up the accounts of their testator with the lord and his other creditors, and were entitled to the stock upon the farm. The lessee's estate might also, by the ancient law, be at any time defeated by a common recovery, suffered by the tenant of the freehold, which annihilated all leases for years then subsisting, unless afterwards renewed by the recoverer, whose title was supposed superior to his by whom those leases were granted. Co. Lit. 46. While estates for years were thus precarious, it is no wonder that they were usually very short, like the modern leases upon rack-rent; and, indeed, we are told, that by the ancient law no leases for more than forty years were allowable; because any longer possession (especially when given without any livery, declaring the nature and duration of the estate,) might tend to defeat the inheritance. Mirr. c. 2. § 27; Co. Lit. 45, 46. Yet this law, if ever it existed, was soon antiquated; for we may observe, in Madox's collection of ancient instruments, some leases for years of a pretty early date, which considerably exceed that period; and long terms for three hundred or one thousand years were certainly in use in the time of Edward III. and probably of Edward I. But certainly when by 21 Hen. VIII. c. 5. the termor (that is, he who is entitled to the term of years) was protected against these fictitious recoveries, and his interest rendered secure and permanent, long terms began to be more frequent than before, and were afterwards extensively introduced, being found extremely convenient for family settlements and mortgages; continuing subject, however, to the same rules of succession, and with the same inferiority to freeholds, as when they were little better than tenancies at the will of the landlord. 2 Comm. c. 9. Every estate which must expire at a period certain and prefixed, by whatever words created, is an estate for years, and therefore this estate is frequently called a term, terminus, because its duration or continuance is bounded, limited, and determined; for every such estate must have a certain beginning and certain end Co. Lit. 45. A demise having no certain commencement is void; for every contract sufficient to make a lease ought to have certainty in commencement, in the continuance, and in the end. Vaugh. 85; 6 Rep. 53. But id certum est, quod certum reddi potest: therefore if a man make a lease to another, for so many years as J. S. shall name, it is a good lease for years; for though it is at present uncertain, yet when J. S. hath named the years, it is then reduced to a certainty. 6 Rep. 35. If no day of commencement is named in the creation of this estate, it begins from the making or delivery of the lease. Co. Lit. 46. A lease for so many years as J. S. shall live is void from the beginning; for it is neither certain, nor can ever be reduced to a certainty, during the continuance of the lease. Co. Lit. 45. And the same doctrine holds if a parson make a lease of his glebe for so many years as he shall continue parson of Dale, for this is still more uncertain. But a lease for twenty or more years, if J. S. shall so long live, or if he should so long continue parson, is good; for there is a certain period fixed beyond which it cannot last, though it may determine sooner on the death of J. S. or his ceasing to be parson there. Co. Lit. 45. The law reckons an estate for years inferior in interest, as compared to an estate for life, or an inheritance; an estate for life, even if it be pur auter vie, is a freehold; but an estate for a thousand years is only a chattel, and reckoned part of the personal estate. Co. Lit. 45. Hence it follows, that a lease for years may be made to commence in futuro, though a lease for life cannot. As if one grants lands to another to hold from Michaelmas next for twenty years, this is good; but to hold from Michaelmas next for the term of his natural life, is void. For no estate of freehold can commence in futuro, because it cannot be created at common law without livery of seisin, or corporal possession of the land; and corporal possession cannot be given of an estate now, which is not to commence now, but hereafter. 5 Rep. 94. And because no livery of seisin is necessary to a lease for years, such lessee is not said to be seised, or to have true legal seisin of the lands. Nor indeed does the bare lease vest any estate in the lessee; but only gives him a right of entry on the tenement, which right is called, as has been already remarked, his interest in the term, or interesse termini; but when he has actually so entered, and thereby accepted the grant, the estate is then and not before vested in him, and he is possessed, not properly of the land, but of the term of years; the possession or seisin of the land remaining still in him who hath the freehold. Co. Lit. 46. Thus the word term does not merely signify the time specified in the lease, but the estate also and interest that passes by that lease; and therefore the term may expire, during the continuance of the time, as by surrender, forfeiture, and the like. For which reason if one grant a lease to A. for the term of three years, and after the expiration of the said term, to B. for six years, and A. surrenders or forfeits his lease at the end of one year, B.'s interest shall immediately take effect; but if the remainder had been to B. from and after the expiration of the said three years, or from or after the expiration of the said time, in this case B.'s interest will not commence till the time is fully elapsed, whatever may become of A.'s term. Co. Lit. 45. A freehold lease for three lives differs from a chattel lease only in this, viz. that the habendum is to the lessee, his heirs and assigns, for and during the natural lives of him the said C. D., E. his wife, and T. D. his son, and during the natural life of every and either of them longest living. And in every covenant, the lessee covenants for himself, his heirs and assigns; and the covenants are the same as in a chattel lease, with the addition of a letter of attorney at the end, to deliver possession and seisin, as in a deed of feoffment, Dict. Though a lease for life cannot be made to commence in futuro, by the common law, because livery cannot be made to a future estate, yet where a lease is made for life, habendum at a day to come, and after the day the lessor makes livery, there it shall be good; and a lease in reversion may be made for life, which commences at a day that is future. 5 Rep. 94; Hob. 314; 1 Inst. 5. A lease for years may begin from a day past, or to come, at Michaelmas last, Christmas next, three or four years after, or after the death of the lessor, &c. though a term cannot commence upon a contingency which depends on another contingency. 1 Inst. 5; 1 Rep. 156. If one make a lease for years, after the death of A. B. if he die within ten years, this is a good lease, in case he dies within that time, otherwise not. Plowd. 70. And where a man has a lease of lands for eighty years, and he grants it to another to hold for thirty years, to begin after his death, it will be good for the whole thirty years, provided there be so many of the eighty to come at the time of the death of the lessor. Bro. Grant. 54; 1 Rep. 155. A lease made from the lessor's death, until a certain year, (i. e. A. D. 1800,) is good; and if a lease be during the minority of J. S. or until he shall come to the age of twenty-one years, these are good leases; and if he dies before his full age, the lease is ended. Hob. 155. A person grants a rent of 20l. a year till one hundred pounds be paid, it is a lease of the rent for five years. Co. Lit. 42. If a man makes a lease of land to another, until he shall levy out of the profits one hundred pounds, or he is paid that sum, &c. this will be a lease for life, determinable on the payment of the hundred pounds, if livery and seisin be made; but if there is no livery, it will not be good for years, but void for incertainty. 21 Assis. 18; Plowd. 27; 6 Rep. 35. See Livery of Seisin. Á lease for years to such person as A. B. shall name, is not good; though it may be for so many years as he shall name, not as shall be named by his executors, &c. for it must be in the lifetime of the parties. Hob. 173; Moor, 911. If one makes a lease for a year, and so from year to year, it is a lease for two years; and afterwards it is but an estate at will. 1 Mod. 4; 1 Lutw. 213. And if from three years to three years, it is a good lease for six years; also if a man make a lease for years without saying for how many, it be good for two years, to answer the plural number. Wood's Instit. 265. may If a parson makes a lease of his glebe for three years, and so from three years to three years, so long as he shall be parson, it is a good lease for six years, if he continue parson so long. 6 Rep. 35; 3 Cro. 511. Lease for one year, and so for two or three years, or any further term of years, as lessor and lessee shall think fit and |