houſes and other buildings, yet in it's original, proper, and legal ſenſe it ſignifies every thing that may be holden, provided it be of a permanent nature; whether it be of a ſubſtantial and ſenſible, or of an unſubſtantial ideal kind. Thus liberum tenementum, franktenement, or freehold, is applicable not only to lands and other ſolid objects, but alſo to offices, rents, commons, and the like[1]: and as lands and houſes are tenements, ſo is an advowſon a tenement; and a franchiſe, an office, a right of common, a peerage, or other property of the like unſubſtantial kind, are, all of them, legally ſpeaking, tenements[2]. But an hereditament, ſays ſir Edward Coke[3], is by much the largeſt and moſt comprehenſive expreſſion; for it includes not only lands and tenements, but whatſoever may be inherited, be it corporeal, or incorporeal, real, perſonal, or mixed. Thus an heir loom, or implement of furniture which by cuſtom deſcends to the heir together with an houſe, is neither land, nor tenement, but a mere moveable; yet, being inheritable, is comprized under the general word, hereditament: and ſo a condition, the benefit of which may deſcend to a man from his anceſtor, is alſo an hereditament[4].
Hereditaments then, to uſe the largeſt expreſſion, are, of two kinds, corporeal, and incorporeal. Corporeal conſiſt of ſuch as affect the ſenſes; ſuch as may be ſeen and handled by the body: incorporeal are not the object of ſenſation, can neither be ſeen nor handled, are creatures of the mind, and exiſt only in contemplation.
Corporeal hereditaments conſiſt wholly of ſubſtantial and permanent objects; all which may be comprehended under the general denomination of land only. For land, ſays ſir Edward Coke[5], comprehendeth in it's legal ſignification any ground, ſoil, or earth whatſoever; as arable, meadows, paſtures, woods, moors, waters, mariſhes, furzes, and heath. It legally includeth
