tive advant ure. There are some advantages attending tenants in dower that Compara do not extend to jointresses; and so, vice versa, jointresses are ages of dow in some respects more privileged than tenants in dower. Ten- er and joint ant in dower, by the old common law, is subject to no tolls or taxes; and hers is almost the only estate on which, when derived from the king's debtor, the king can not distrain for his debt, if contracted during the coverture.m But, on the other [139] hand, a widow may enter at once, without any formal process, on her jointure land; as she, also, might have done on dower aa ostium ecclesiæ, which a jointure in many points resembles; and the resemblance was still greater while that species of dower continued in its primitive state: whereas no small trouble, and a very tedious method of proceeding, is necessary to compel a legal assignment of dower. And, what is more, though dower be forfeited by the treason of the husband, yet lands settled in jointure remain unimpeached to the widow." Wherefore Sir Edward Coke very justly gives it the preference, as being more sure and safe to the widow than even dower ad ostium ecclesiæ, the most eligible species of any." 58 m Co. Litt., 31, a. F. N. B., 150. ■ Co. Litt., 36. • Ibid., 37 band's and partly the wife's, though no the Court of Chancery will decree against guardian consented. A jointure, to be the husband a performance of marriage binding in equity upon an infant, must articles, though he alleges and proves be limited to take effect with certainty that his wife lives separate from him immediately upon the husband's death. in adultery. (3 Cox's P. Wms., 277.) (4 Br., C. C., 500; 5 Ves., 189. See 5 [CHRISTIAN.] (2 B. & C., 547.) Russ., 255.) (58) A jointure is not forfeited by the adultery of the wife, as dower is; and But by express stipulation, jointure and the act by becoming a party to the conveyance; and if an infant, by joining with her guardian in the conveyance. So any pecuniary provision made for the benefit of an intended wife, and in lieu of dower, if assented to as above, is a bar to dower. If before coverture, but without the assent of the intended wife, or if after coverture, lands are given for the jointure of the wife, or a pecuniary pro vision be made for her in lieu of dower, she must make her election whether she will take such jointure or provision, or be endowed of the lands of her husband. So, also, she must make her election when lands are devised to her, or other provision made for her by will, in lieu of dower; and she will be deemed to have elected to take such jointure, devise, or pecuniary provision, unless, within one year after the death of her husband, she commence proceedings for the recovery of her dower. Such jointure, devise, or provision is forfeited in the same cases in which the wife forfeits her dower.-(1 R. S., 741, § 9-15.) 157 140 CHAPTER IX. Three sorts. 1. For years. OF ESTATES LESS THAN FREehold. Or estates that are less than freehold, there are three sorts: 1. Estates for years; 2. Estates at will; 3. Estates by suffer ance. I. An estate for years' is a contract for the possession of lands or tenements, for some determinate period; and it takes place where a man letteth them to another for the term of a certain number of years, agreed upon between the lessor and the lessee,a and the lessee enters thereon. If the lease be put for half a year or a quarter, or any less time, this lessee is respected as a tenant for years, and is styled so in some legal proceedings; a year being the shortest term which the law in this case takes notice of. And this may, not improperly, lead us into a short digression concerning the division and calculation of time by the English law.* a We may here remark, once for all, that the terminations of "-or" and "-ee" obtain, in law, the one an active, the other a passive signification; the former usually denoting the doer of any act, the latter him to whom it is done. The feoffor is he that maketh a feoffment; the feoffee is he to whom it (1) On this subject the student is recommended to study the admirable article on "Leases and Terms for Years," printed in Bacon's Abridgment, and attributed to the pen of Chief-baron Gilbert toms, &c. See the statute set forth in Burn, Ecc. L., tit. Calendar. The year consists of three hundred and sixty-five days; there are six hours," within a few minutes, over in each year, which every fourth year make another day, being the 29th of February, and these three hundred and sixty-six days constitute the bissextile or leap-year (Co. Lit., 135; 2 Roll., 521, 1. 35; Com. Dig., Ann. (A.); 24 Geo. II., c. 23, s. 2.) (2) The new or Roman style was in general use in every part of the Continent (except Russia and Greece) long before its adoption in England, where, previously to the year 1752, the year Half a year consists of one hundred commenced on the 25th of March, and and eighty-two days, for there shall be the Julian calendar was used. The new no regard to a part or a fraction of a day style was introduced here by the statute (Co. Litt., 135, b; Cro. Jac., 166.) The 24 Geo. II., c. 23, which enacts that the time to collate within six months shall 1st of January shall be reckoned to be be reckoned half a year, or one hundred the first day of the year, and throws out and eighty-two days, and not lunar eleven days in that year, from the 2d of months. (Cro. Jac., 166; 6 Co., 61.) September to the 14th, and in other re- So a quarter of a year consists but of spects regulates the future computation ninety-one days, for the law does not of time, with a saving of ancient cus- regard the six hours afterward. (Co. The space of a year is a determinate and well-known pericd, Division and consisting commonly of 365 days; for though in bissextile or of time in Litt., 135, b; 2 Roll., 521, 1. 40; Com. Dig., Ann. (A.).) But both half years and quarters are usually divided according to certain feasts or holydays, rather than a precise division of days, as Lady Day, Midsummer Day, Michaelmas Day, and Christmas; or Old Lady Day (6th of April), or Old Michaelmas Day (the 11th of October). In these cases, such division of the year by the parties is regarded by the law, and therefore, though half a year's notice to quit is necessary to determine a tenancy from year to year, yet a notice served on the 29th of September to quit on the 35th of March, being half a year's notice according to the above division, is good, though there be less than one hundred and eighty-two, viz., one hundred and seventy-eight days. (4 Esp., 5, 198; 6 Esp., 53; 4 Moo. & P., 391.) A day is natural, which consists of twenty-four hours; or artificial, which contains the time from the rising of the sun to the setting. (Co. Litt., 135, a.) A day is usually intended of a natural day, as, in an indictment for burglary, we say, in the night of the same day. (Co. Litt., 135, a; 2 Inst., 318.) Sometimes days are calculated exclusively, as where an act required ten clear days' notice of the intention to appeal, it was held that the ten days are to be taken exclusively both of the day of serving the notice and the day of holding the sessions. (3 B. & Al., 581.) A legal act, done at any part of the day, will in general relate to the first period of that day. (11 East, 498.) An hour consists of sixty minutes. (Com. Dig., Ann. (C.).) By a misprint in 2 Inst., 318, it is stated to be forty minutes. There is a distinction in law as to the certainty of stating a month or day, and an hour. When a fact took place, "circa horam" is sufficient; but not so as to a day, which must be stated with precision, though it may be varied from in proof. (2 Inst., 318.)-[CHITTY.]* In the computation of time, "the law doth reject all fractions and divisions of a day, for the uncertainty, which is always the mother of confusion and contention." (5 Rep., 2; Co. Litt., 135; 15 Ves., 257; 11 East, 496; 5 Mad., 61.) In computing the years of the reign of Edw. I., who was proclaimed king on the 20th of November, 1272, however, this maxim was disregarded. Thus, the surrender of the Scottish crown by Baliol in the early part of the 20th of November, 1292, was said to have taken place at the end of the 20 Edw. I. while proceedings, later in the same day, were said to have happened" anno regni ipsius domini nostri Edwardi vicesimo finiente et vicesimo primo incipiente." (Sir H. Nicolas, Chronology of History, p. 312.) When it is necessary to ascertain which of two events first happened, the courts will regard fractions of a day (3 Burr., 1434; 2 B. & Al., 586; 1 Ves. Sen., 83; 8 Dowl., P. C., 337; 2 Mont. & Ayr., 13); and in questions of seizin, &c., even a moment may be divided into two parts, but not into three. (6 Rep., 33.) It was formerly held that, where an act was agreed to be done within a certain number of days "from the date" of the instrument, the day of the date was to be included in the computation; but not when the words were "from the day of the date;" but since the case of Pugh v. the Duke of Leeds, Cowp., 714, these formal distinctions have been done away. (2 Camp., 294; 1 Per. & D., 647.) And when the computation is to be made from an act done, it was formerly said that the day in which the act is done is included in the reckoning (3 T. R., 623; 3 East, 407); but, however, this doctrine has been overruled. The presentment of a bill of exchange is an act done; yet it is now settled that the day of presentment is to be excluded. (9 B. & Cr., 603.) The execution of a deed is an act done; yet the twenty days from the execution of an annuity deed were counted, under the old annuity act, exclusively of the day of execution. (5 T. R., 283.) "It is not neces * In New York, the Gregorian or Roman style is adopted in the computation of time: the first day of January is reckoned the first day of the year; and it is enacted, that whenever the term "year" shall occur in any statute, deed, contract, or instrument, the year shall be taken to consist of 365 days; a half year, of 182 days; and a quarter of a year, of 91 days: the added day of a leap-year, and the day immediately preceding, to be reckoned together as one day; and that the term "month" shall be construed to mean a calendar, and not a lunar month.-(1 R 8., 605, § 1–4.) computation general. Month. [141] leap years it consists properly of 366, yet, by the statute 21 Hen. III., the increasing day in the leap-year, together with the preceding day, shall be accounted for one day only. That of a month is more ambiguous; there being, in common use, two ways of calculating months; either as lunar, consisting of twenty-eight days, the supposed revolution of the moon, thirteen of which make a year; or, as calendar months of unequal lengths, according to the Julian division in our common almanacs, commencing at the calends of each month, whereof in a year there are only twelve. A month in law is a lunar month, or twenty-eight days, unless otherwise expressed; not only because it is always one uniform period, but because it falls naturally into a quarterly division by weeks.' Therefore a lease for "twelve sary to lay down any general rule upon month, except in quare impedit; in all temporal cases the word month standing unexplained means a lunar month, in ecclesiastical cases a calendar month. (1 W. Bl., 450; 1 Bingh., 310.) "I confess I wish it had been decided that months should be understood to mean calendar, and not lunar months; but the contrary has been determined so long and so frequently, that it ought not again to be brought in question. In the instance, indeed, of a quare impedit, the computation of time is by calendar months, but that depends on the words of an act of Parliament (13 Edw. I., st. 1, c. 5), tempus semestre. (See Cro. Jac., 167.) But for all other purposes, and in all acts of Parliament where months are spoken of without the word 'calendar,' and nothing is added from which a clear inference can be drawn that the legislature intended calendar months, it is understood to mean lunar months." Per Lord Kenyon (6 T. R., 226.) This rule is applied in the construction of deeds and contracts, in which the word month standing unexplained is held to mean four weeks. (See, however, 1 You. & C., 419.) But the court may gather evidence of a different intention from the context, as where, on a sale, it was agreed that certain acts were to be done at the expiration of two, three, and four months from the date of the contract, which was the 24th of January, and the sale was to be com pleted on the 24th of June following, which day being exactly five calendar months from the date of contract, was held to show that the parties contemplated calendar months in the prior limitations of two, three, and four months. (1 Mau. & S., 111; see 3 Br. & B., 186; 1 Q. B. Rep., 247; 1 You. & C., 401.) And by the custom of merchants, the word "month" in a bill of exchange, or (3) A month in law is always a lunar a policy of insurance, is always under Where property was directed to be transferred to a party on her attaining her twenty-fifth year, it was held that the time had arrived when she became twenty-four years old. (4 You. & C., 256.) months" is only for forty-eight weeks; but if it be for "a twelvenonth" in the singular number, it is good for the whole year.d For herein the law recedes from its usual calculation, because the ambiguity between the two methods of computation ceases: it being generally understood that by the space of time called hus, in the singular number, a twelvemonth, is meant the whole year, consisting of one solar revolution. In the space of a day all the twenty-four hours are usually reckoned, the law generally rejecting all fractions of a day, in order to avoid disputes.e Therefore, if I am bound to pay money on any certain day, I discharge the obligation if I pay it before twelve o'clock at night; after which the following day commences.' But to return to estates for years. terms for years. These estates were originally granted to mere farmers or Origin o 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 [142 | 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 ;f which annihilated all leases for years then subsisting, unless afterward renewed by the recoveror, whose title was supposed superior to his by whom those leases were granted. Terms were While estates for years were thus precarious, it is no won- e Co. Litt., 135. 6 Rep., 61. stood to be a calendar month (3 Br. & B., 187); and generally, in mercantile contracts, it seems that the word will have that construction. (1 Q. B. Rep., 250.)* (4) See 4 T. R., 170; where there was a difference of opinion in the court upon the question whether a bill of exchange could be protested for non-payment on the same day that it was due, or the acceptor had the whole of the day to discharge it in. It is now settled that refusal to pay on demand, made within VOL. II.-L f Co. Litt., 46. business hours, is a prima facie dishonor * See ante, p. 140, n. 161 usually |