ite-merchant, statute-staple, elegit, or which we have already spoken. And I real chattels, as being interests issuing ed to real estates: of which they have immobility, which denominates them the other, viz. a sufficient, legal, indetern: and this want it is, that constitutes The utmost period for which they can 1 determinate, either for such a space of till such a particular sum of money be ch a particular income; so that they are e eye of the law to the lowest estate of se for another's life: their tenants were on feodal principles, as merely bailiffs nd the tenant of the freehold might at destroyed their interest, till the reign 1. A freehold, which alone is a real ms (as has been said) to answer to the ndy, is conveyed by corporal investiture y of seisin;t which gives the tenant so of the land, that it never after can be him during his life, but by his own act, transfer or of forfeiture; or else by the some future contingency, as in estates ', and the determinable freeholds menrmer chapter. And even these, being of duration, may by possibility last for the for the law will not presuppose the conhappen before it actually does, and till ate is to all intents and purposes a life erefore a freehold, interest. On the other tel interest in lands, which the Normans sition to fief, and we to freehold, is conDag. 141, 142. 7 Wend. 676. 47 Md. 300. k. 292, 293. *7 Wend. 676, h pag. 121. Cited, 95 U. S. 251; 20 Wend. 420; 13 N. Y. sense was applied to all movables in general.b* *In the grand coustumier of Normandy a chattel is described as a mere movable, but at the same time it is 8 set in opposition to a fief or feud: so that not only goods, but whatever was not a feud, were accounted chattels. And fit is in this latter, more 8 [386] extended, negative sense, that our law adopts it; the idea of goods, or movables only, being not sufficiently comprehensive to take in everything that the law considers as a chattel interest.† For since, as the commentator on the coustumier observes, there are two requisites to make a fief or heritage, duration as to time, and immobility with regard to place; whatever wants either of these qualities is not, according to the Normans, an heritage or fief; or, according to us, is not a real estate: the consequence of which in both laws is, that it must be a personal estate, or chattel.? Chattels therefore are distributed by law into two kinds; chattels real, and chattels personal.e 1. Chattels real, saith sir Edward Coke,' are such as concern, or savour of, the realty; as terms for years of land, wardships in chivalry (while the military tenures subsisted) the next presentation to a church, b Dufresne. II. 409. C c. 87. d Il conviendroit quil sust non mouuable, et de duree a tousiours. fol. 107. a. e So too, in the Norman law, Cateux sont meubles et immeubles: sicomme vrais meubles sont qui transporter se peuvent, et ensuivir le corps; immeubles sont choses qui ne peuvent ensuivir le corps, niestre transportees, et tout ce qui n'est point en heritage. LL. Will. Nothi, c. 4. apud. Dufresne. II. 409. f 1 Inst. 118. 8 Previously, "And this is true, if understood of the Norman dialect; for in the grand coustumier, we find the word chattels used and." 8 Previously, "I apprehend, in the same large." -*Quoted, 19 Ill. 584. t-t Quoted, 19 Conn. 246. Cited, 2 Watts, 64; 42 N. H. 451; 40 N. H. - Quoted, 14 Ill. 258; 95 U. S. 251. estates by statute-merchant, statute-staple, elegit, or the like; of all which we have already spoken. And *these are called real chattels, as being interests issuing out of, or annexed to real estates: of which they have one quality, viz. immobility, which denominates them real; but want the other, viz. a sufficient, legal, indeterminate duration: and this want it is, that constitutes them chattels.* The utmost period for which they can last is fixed and determinate, either for such a space of time certain, or till such a particular sum of money be raised out of such a particular income; so that they are not equal in the eye of the law to the lowest estate of freehold, a lease for another's life: their tenants were considered upon feodal principles, as merely bailiffs or farmers; and the tenant of the freehold might at any time have destroyed their interest, till the reign of Henry VIII. †A freehold, which alone is a real estate, and seems (as has been said) to answer to the fief in Normandy, is conveyed by corporal investiture and [387] livery of seisin; † which gives the tenant so strong a hold of the land, that it never after can be wrested from him during his life, but by his own act, of voluntary transfer or of forfeiture; or else by the happening of some future contingency, as in estates per auter vie, and the determinable freeholds mentioned in a former chapter. And even these, being of an uncertain duration, may by possibility last for the owner's life; for the law will not presuppose the contingency to happen before it actually does, and till then the estate is to all intents and purposes a life estate, and therefore a freehold, interest. On the other hand, a chattel interest in lands, which the Normans put in opposition to fief, and we to freehold, is conh pag. 121. g See pag. 141, 142. **Quoted, 17 Wend. 676. 159; 2 Conn. 574; 47 Md. 300. ment land, 4 Ark. 292, 293. tt Quoted, 17 Wend. 676, Cited, 95 U. S. 251; 20 Wend. 420; 13 N. Y. veyed by no seisin or corporal investiture, but the possession is gained by the mere entry of the tenant himself; and it will certainly expire at a time prefixed and determined, if not sooner. Thus a lease for years must necessarily fail at the end and completion of the term; the next presentation to a church is satisfied and gone the instant it comes into possession, that is, by the first avoidance and presentation to the living; the conditional estates by statutes and elegit are determined as soon as the debt is paid; and so guardianships in chivalry expired of course the moment that the heir came of age. And if there be any other chattel real, it will be found to correspond with the rest in this essential quality, that it's duration is limited to a time certain, beyond which it cannot subsist. 8 8 2. *Chattels personal are, properly and strictly speaking, things movable; which may be annexed to or attendant on the person of the owner, and carried about with him from one part of the world to another.† Such are. animals, household-stuff, money, jewels, corn, garments, and everything else that can properly be put in motion, and transferred from place to place.‡ And of this kind of chattels it is, that we are principally to speak in the remainder of this book; having been unavoidably led to consider the nature of chattels real, and their incidents, in the former chapters which were [388] employed upon real estates: that kind of property being of a mongrel amphibious nature, originally endowed with one only of the characteristics of each species of things; the immobility of things real, and the precarious duration of things personal. 8 Previously, "is sure to." 8 Previously, were sure to expire." + Quoted, 2 Conn. 574. Cited, 5 Marsh. J. J. 480; 22 Am. Dec. 60; 5 Mason, 362. + Quoted, 19 Ill. 585; 55 Me. 211. Cited as to judgment, 19 Conn. 246. |