(2) Livery of Seisin.

It is doubtful whether the doctrines relating to livery of seisin are mere applications of the rules of the civil law, or whether they are derived from primitive customs, of which the analogous rules of Roman law may themselves be a development. Whatever may be the origin of the notion of livery of seisin, the following passage shows that the rules of Roman law were applied to define and regulate the doctrine. Bracton here imports certain principles from the civilians, especially from Azo1, bearing on the theory of possession, and applies them to the doctrine of livery of seisin, which was the appropriate mode of transferring a freehold interest in lands from one person to another.

In order to acquire possessio two elements are necessary: (1) the consciousness of actual or possible physical control of the thing which is the subject of acquisition; (2) the animus sibi habendi. The requisites for the acquisition of possessio were to this extent common with the requisites for acquiring property by traditio or delivery; and the application of these rules gave rise to the feudal notion of investiture 2,-the clothing the donee with the actual possession of the land the subject of the grant.

Since, as has been seen, freehold interests in land were formerly the only interests known to the law, a grant of land is synonymous with a grant of a freehold interest in land, and the doctrines of Roman law as to conveying things moveable by traditio, and things immoveable by allowing the donee to enter on the vacant possession, gave rise to the principle that for passing a freehold interest in lands a ceremony was necessary by which the possession of the land itself should be given to the

1 See Güterbock, H. de Bracton und sein Verhältniss zum Römischen Rechte, pp. 59–70, and compare with the whole of the following extract the title in the Digest De Acquirenda vel Amittenda Possessione, lib. xli. tit. ii. 2 See Spelman, sub voce.

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donee. This was livery or delivery of the seisin or possession of the land, and was effected either by the donor himself or his deputy. What did and what did not amount to 'livery of seisin' now becomes a curious question. Speaking generally, it must be the delivery of something, such as a clod of earth or a twig, on the land in the name of the whole, or it was sufficient if the two parties were actually present on the land and the one by word or act gave possession to the other. It was even effectual for the donor to bring the donee within sight of the land and to give him authority to enter, provided this were followed by the entry of the donee during the lifetime of the donor 1.

Great importance was attached to the notoriety of the transaction. That all the neighbours might know that A was tenant to B from the fact that open livery of seisin had been made to him, was of the utmost importance to B in order to protect and to enable him to assert his rights as lord. For in case of dispute as to the title to the lands, or the right to services, aids or reliefs, the fact of this open and notorious livery of seisin enabled the lord to appeal to the tribunal before which, since the reforms of Henry II, suits relating to land were commonly decided, -the verdict of twelve legales homines de vicineto, who would know themselves or have heard from their fathers the truth of the matter.

BRACTON, lib. ii. c. 18. fol. 39. Item non valet donatio nisi subsequatur traditio, quia non transfertur per homagium res data, nec per chartarum vel instrumentorum confectionem, quamvis in publico fuerint recitata. Item neque per imaginariam traditionem, ubi corpore recedit et animo retinet possessionem, et vult

1 See Coke upon Littleton, 48 b; where with characteristic refinement he distinguishes between livery in deed, or actual delivery of possession, and livery in law, where the transaction does not take place upon, but in sight of, the land, and is followed by the entry of the feoffee. In the case of livery not upon the lands, if the feoffee was prevented by violence or threats from entering, his estate might become completely vested by making in proper form every year 'continual claim.' See Littleton, lib. iii. c. 7.

potius quod res data cum eo remaneat, quam transeat ad donatorium, et unum agit et alterum agere simulat, sed tunc demum cum donator plenam fecerit seisinam donatorio per se si praesens fuerit, vel per procuratorem1 et litteras si absens fuerit, ita quod charta donationis et litterae procuratoriae coram vicinis ad hoc specialiter convocatis legantur in publico, et etiam cum donator corpore et animo recesserit a possessione, si absens fuerit in ipsa traditione, sine aliqua spe et animo revertendi, ut dominus, et cum donatorius in possessione vacua extiterit corpore et animo 2, et cum voluntate retinendi possessionem, et quod unus desinat et alius incipiat possidere, quia donator nunquam desinit possidere, donec donatorius plenarie fuerit in seisina, nec jacebit seisina aliquo tempore medio vacua 3. Videndum est primo quid sit traditio; et est traditio de re corporali propria vel aliena de persona in personam de manu propria vel aliena sicut procuratoria dum tamen de voluntate domini, in alterius manum gratuita translatio. Et nihil aliud est traditio in uno sensu nisi in possessionem inductio de re corporali, ideo dicitur quod res incorporalis non patitur traditionem; sicut ipsum jus quod rei sive corpori inhaeret, et quia non possunt res incorporales possideri sed quasi, ideo traditionem non patiuntur sed quasi, nec adquiruntur nec retinentur nisi per patientiam et usum De re propria vel aliena ideo dicit, quod refert quis traditionem facere possit, et sciendum quod omnes qui donationem etc. sive sit dominus sive non dominus. Si autem fiat traditio

2 Compare Dig. lib. xli. tit. ii. 1. § 20.

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Compare the texts of Roman law: Adipiscimur possessionem corpore et animo neque per se animo aut per se corpore;' Dig. lib. xli. tit. ii. 3. § 1: 'Nulla possessio adquiri nisi animo et corpore potest;' Ib. 8.

3 For the bearing of this principle that the freehold can never be in abeyance upon the rules of law relating to the conveyance of rights of future enjoyment, see below, Chap. V. § 3.

* Compare fol. 13: Item gratuita debet esse donatio et non coacta nec per metum vel vi extorta.'

5 Compare Dig. lib. xli. tit. ii. 33: 'Fundi venditor etiamsi mandaverit alicui, ut emptorem in vacuam possessionem induceret, priusquam id fieret, non recte emptor per se in possessionem veniet.'

As to the modes of acquiring incorporeal hereditaments, see below, § 18 (1). On the doctrine of the Roman lawyers as to quasi possessio or possession in an analogous sense of incorporeal things, or rights over the property of another, see Savigny's Treatise on Possession, translated by Sir E. Perry, pp. 130-134.

a vero domino, statim et sine mora incipit donatorius habere liberum tenementum, propter conjunctionem juris et seisinae1 et mutuum utriusque partis consensum; et sufficit semel voluisse in ipsa traditione vel post traditionem, et quia res quae traditione nostrae fuerint, jure gentium nobis adquiruntur. Nihil enim tam conveniens est naturali aequitati quam desiderium domini volentis in alium rem suam transferre ratum habere 2. Et nihil interest an ipse dominus per se tradat alicui rem suam datam, an alius voluntate ipsius sicut per procuratorem, si ipse praesens non fuerit, vel per nuntium, cum literis tamen procuratoriis patentibus, ut supradictum est in parte, continentibus voluntatem ipsius donatoris. Et in quo casu ostendantur litterae et charta, ut dici poterit, talis habuit et breve et charta, secundum quod Anglice dicitur, hee had bothe writ and charter. Et sive fiat traditio per ipsum dominum vel per procuratorem, et si cui fieri debeat traditio de aliqua domo per se, vel messuagio ratione alicujus fundi, eo animo ut donatorius totum fundum possideat usque ad certos terminos, cum omnibus juribus et pertinentiis suis, et ubi non est necesse omnes glebas circumire, nec ubique nec undique pedem ponere, fieri debet traditio per ostium et per haspam vel anulum, et sic erit in possessione de toto ex voluntate et aspectu et possidendi affectu3. Si autem nullum sit ibi aedificium, fiat ei seisina, secundum quod vulgariter dicitur, per fustim et per baculum, et sufficit sola pedis positio cum possidendi affectu ex voluntate donatoris, quamvis statim expletia non ceperit, poterit enim habere quis liberum tenementum ex traditione, quamvis statim non utatur, nec expletia capiantur, quia usus et expletia non multum operantur ad donationem. Valent tamen multotiens ad possessionis declarationem, et dici poterunt vestimenta donationum sicut traditio.

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Item sufficit pro traditione corporali nuda voluntas domini ad

1 For as observed above, p. 96, a person may be seised' by wrong, as when a wrongdoer turns out the rightful tenant he becomes seised' in his stead.

2 Taken from the Institutes of Justinian, ii. 1. § 40.

3 'Quod autem diximus et corpore et animo adquirere nos debere possessionem, non utique ita accipiendum est, ut qui fundum possidere velit omnes glebas circumambulet; sed sufficit quamlibet partem ejus fundi introire, dum mente et cogitatione hac sit, uti totum fundum usque ad terminum velit possidere.' Dig. xli. ii. 3. § 1.

alium, quasi mutata causa possessionis, dum tamen fiat cum solemnitate quod probatio non deficiat; ut si quis rem alicui locaverit vel concesserit ad terminum vitae vel annorum, et postea eidem vendiderit vel donaverit, licet eam ex tali causa primo non habuerit, eo tamen quod ipse dominus patitur eam ex tali causa vel alia quacunque apud eum esse, sua efficitur1. Eodem modo si ex nulla justa causa praecedente, sed si per intrusionem vel disseisinam sit aliquis in possessione rei alterius, et velit dominus proprietatis quod sua sit, sua erit, quamvis possessio apud verum dominum non fuerit: fingitur enim per voluntatem domini, quod res quasi ex eo et per manum suam ad detentorem pervenerit, possessio et dominium 2.

§ 13. Villenagium. Non-free Tenure.

In early times, as has before been said, only freemen held property in land. Every person having an interest recognised and protected by law is of necessity a freeholder. The practice however of allowing villeins to continue to occupy their lands without interruption, and even to alienate and transmit their interests to their descendants, has given a new sense to the word villenagium, which has now come to mean (1) the nature of a villein's interest in land, (2) the kind of interest which a villein has, though the land may be held by a freeman. Though there is

1 "The mere will of the owner is sometimes sufficient to effect the transfer of the corporeal tenement to another. The ground upon which the right to the possession rests is as it were changed. This however must be accompanied by some form sufficient to afford evidence of the intention of the transferor, &c.' Compare Dig. xli. ii. 3. § 19: Illud quoque a veteribus praeceptum est neminem sibi ipsum causam possessionis mutare posse. Sed si is, qui apud me deposuit vel commodavit, eam rem vendiderit mihi vel donaverit, non videbor causam possessionis mihi mutare, qui ne possidebam quidem.' Compare too the mode of conveyance by lease and release, i.e. where the lessee was in possession of land under a lease for years and then the lessor released the reversion to him by deed. See below, Chap. V. § I.

2 That is, a disseisor who was in by wrong might, since he had actually the seisin, accept a release of the rights of the disseisee (the rightful owner), and so acquire an indefeasible estate (see Blackstone, ii. p. 324, and above, p. 96.)