Interests collateral to, and issuing out of land, (by which are to be intended incorporeal hereditaments, &c.) owe their creation, and it

may

be said their existence, to the time at which they were first granted; and these interests may be and are created every day. They may also be extinguished. The origin of the estates, or times, for which these interests are held, is to be referred to the period at which they were created; that is, the period of their first commencement: and when the interest or subject is extinguished, the estate for which the interest is held is also extinct, as a necessary consequence; for nothing remains in which an estate may subsist. In point of title, however, the rent-charge, &c. depends on the title to the land out of which it is granted.

So that if the title to the land be, as to the person who grants the rent, &c. defective, the title to the rent will be defective in the same degree, since the rent is held under the title to the land. And the title may be in esse as to one person, though the charge be extinguished as against another person.

` Incorporeal hereditaments, with reference to every grant thereof, are to be considered as 1. Interests created de novo,

2. Interests already created.

An interest is said to be created de novo, when it is granted, and the time of the continuance thereof is marked by the same instrument. On the contrary, an interest is said to

be already existing when it is created, and the time of its continuance granted at one time; and the same interest is at a subsequent period granted or transferred for all the time, or some portion of it. The first term refers to the original grant, the second to a transfer.

The interest which any one has in lands, or any other subject of property, is called his estate (f); and to this term some adjunct or expression must be added, when the time for which the estate is to continue; as for years, for life, in tail, or in fee; or the manner in which it is to be held, as on condition, in joint-tenancy, &c. is to be described; thus it is said, a man has an estate in fee, in tail, for life, for years, on condition, &c. &c.

By the estate of any one. is to be understood his situation, and the circumstances of his tenancy, in regard to the property in which he has the interest in question (g).

interrupted, as to the After such interruption, a right, and as to the

Every estate confers the right of enjoyment at present or in future. This right may be possession and estate. the estate is turned to person whose possession or estate is thus affected, cannot be recovered or regained, without an entry or an action (h); and in the mean time, this person has not the estate in the property; he has merely the right to an estate. In some

(f) 2 Bl. Com. 103. (g) 2 Bl. Com. 103; 1 Inst. 345 a. (h) 1 Inst. 345 a. b; Noy, Ten. 33; Goodright v. Forrester, 1 Taunt 578; 2 Abstr. 420; 3 Abstr. 355.

cases the law, of itself, by its own operation, remits the party to his estate; hence the doctrine of disseisin, discontinuance, and remitter. These rights of entry and of action are descendible to the heir, are releasable to the terre-tenants or any person who has any estate of freehold, but they are not, except in the instance afterwards noticed, assignable or transferrable to a stranger; and the better opinion is, and, as far as there is determination on the point, the law is, that they are not devisable. These rights, however, may be transferred from a bankrupt to the assignees under a commission against him, by the bargain and sale of the commissioners (i).

any

The principal quality of an estate, in point of interest, is, that it confers on the owner the immediate right of enjoying the property, either at present or in future, for that period of time during which the estate is to continue.

This enjoyment may be exercised either in person or by those to whom the proprietor delegates his right, by the terms of alienation and modes of conveyance which the law has prescribed for the purpose; or the representatives or successors whom the law has appointed, viz. heirs, heirs of the body, executors, &c.

The time for which the right of enjoyment is to continue, forms the quantity of the estate(k); and in the manner in which the right

(i) Smith v. Coffin, 2 Hen. Blackst. 444.

(k) 2 Bl. Com. 103; 1 Inst. 28 a.

to that enjoyment is to be exercised, as absolutely, solely, in common, in coparcenary, or in joint-tenancy, consists the quality of the

estate.

In some instances there is so near a relation between the quantity and quality of an estate, that the quality of the estate is the measure of its quantity. This observation is particularly applicable to determinable and qualified fees; and, in short, to all estates which have a collateral determination, as to A for ninety-nine years, if he should so long live.

The determinable quality of the estate is marked by the clause, if he should so long live; and this phrase also forms part of the quantity or measure of the estate. The observation will be more fully illustrated by the instance of a grant to a man and his heirs, so long as a tree shall stand. In this instance, the words which relate to the tree form an essential part of the measure of the estate, and at the same time render the estate a determinable fee (being its quality) instead of being an absolute fee.

Estates, with respect to their qualities, so far as the quality of an estate has any relation to the time of enjoyment, and also with respect to the manner of enjoyment during that time, may be arranged,

As to their general qualities--into estates, 1. Of freehold,

2. Not of freehold.

As to their extent-into estates,

1. General,

2. Qualified,

3. Particular.

As to the circumstances under which they are to confer, on the one hand, a present right of present or future enjoyment; and on the other hand, a future right of future enjoymentinto estates,

1. Executed,

2. Executory (1).

As to the certainty of their giving a present or future right of enjoyment-into estates,

1. Vested,

2. Contingent.

As to the time at which they are to confer the right of enjoyment, either at present or in future-into estates,

1. In possession,

2. In remainder,

3. In reversion.

And estates of this description, in regard to the relative situation they bear to each other, are said to be,

(1) See Shep. Touch. 2, for another and different use of the word executed.