306 REAL ESTATE and legislation, the latter sometimes interpreted by the courts in a manner very different from the intention of parliament. The most important influence of equity has been exercised in MORTGAGE (q.v.) and trusts (see TRUST), in the doctrine of specific performance of contracts con- cerning real estate, and in relief from forfeiture for breach of covenant. As to legislation, it is impossible in this place to do more than direct attention to the main provisions of the principal statutes among the mass of those which from Magna Charta downwards have dealt with real estate. History of Real Estate Legislation. The reign of Edward I. is notable for three leading statutes which are still law, all passed in the interests of the superior lords. The Statute of Mortmain (7 Edw. I. st. 2, c. 13) is the first of a long series directed against the acquisition of land by religious and charitable corporations (see CHARITIES). The statute De Donis Conditionalibm (13 Edw. I. c. 1) forbade the alienation of estates granted to a man and the heirs of his body, which before the statute became on the birth of an heir at once alienable (except in the case of gifts in frankmarriage), and so the lord lost his escheat. For the mode in which the statute was practically defeated and estates tail in their modern form created see ENTAIL. The statute Quia Emptores (18 Edw. I. c. 1) preserved those rights of the lords which were up to that time sub- ject to be defeated by subinfeudation, by enacting that in any alienation of lands the alienee should hold them of the same lord of the fee as the alienor. 1 Since 1290 it has been impossible to create an estate in fee-simple to be held of a inesne lord, or to reserve a rent upon a grant of an estate in fee (unless in the form of a rent-charge), or to create a new manor. The statute, however, does not bind the crown. The practical effect of the statute was to make the transfer of land thenceforward more of a commercial and less of a feudal transaction. The writ of elegit was introduced by the Statute of Westminster II. in 1285 as a creditor's remedy over real estate. It has, however, been considerably modified by subsequent legislation. From 1290 to the reign of Henry VIII. there is no statute of the first importance dealing with real estate. The reign of Henry VIII., like the reign of Edward I., is signalized by three Acts, the effects of which continue to this day. The one which has had the most lasting influence in law is the Statute of Uses, 27 Hen. VIII. c. 10 (see CONVEY- ANCING, TRUST). The Statute of Uses was intended to provide against secrecy of sales of land, and as a necessary sequel to it an Act of the same year (27 Hen. VIII. c. 16) enacted that all bargains and sales of land should be duly enrolled (see SALE). Bargain and sale was a form of equi- table transfer which had for some purposes superseded the common law feoffment. It applied only to estates of inheritance and not to terms of years. The unforeseen effect of 27 Hen. VIII. c. 16 was to establish as the ordinary form of conveyance until 1841 the conveyance by lease and release. 2 Uses having become legal estate by the Statute of Uses, and therefore no longer devis- able, 32 Hen. VIII. c. 1 (explained by 34 and 35 Hen. VIII. c. 5) was passed to remedy this inconvenience. It is still law as to wills made before 1838 (see WILL). In the reign of Elizabeth the Acts of 13 Eliz. c. 5 and 27 Eliz. c. 4 avoided fraudulent conveyances as against all parties and voluntary conveyances as against subse- quent purchasers for valuable consideration. Early in the reign of Charles II. the Act of 1661 (12 Car. II. c. 24) turned all the feudal tenures (with the exception
- Tenants in chief of the crown were liable to a fine on alienation
until 12 Car. II. c. 24. 2 From the reign of Edward IV. at latest up to the Fines and Re- coveries Act of 1833 fines and recoveries were also recognized as a means of conveyance. They are so regarded in the Statute of Uses. of frankalmoign and grand serjeanty) into tenure by free and common socage and abolished the feudal incidents. The Statute of Frauds (29 Car. II. c. 3) contained pro- visions that certain leases and assignments, and that all agreements and trusts relating to land, should be in writing (see FRAUD). The land registries of Middlesex and York- shire date from the reign of Anne (see REGISTRATION). Devises of land for charitable purposes were forbidden by the Mortmain Act (9 Geo. II. c. 36). In the next reign the first general Inclosure Act was passed, 41 Geo. III. c. 109 (see COMMONS). In the reign of William IV. were passed the Prescription, Limitation, and Tithe Commuta- tion Acts (see PRESCRIPTION, LIMITATION, TITHES) ; fines and recoveries were abolished and simpler modes of con- veyance substituted by 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 74 ; and the laws of inheritance and dower were amended by 3 and 4 Will. IV. cc. 105, 106 (see INHERITANCE, HUSBAND AND WIFE). In the reign of Victoria there has been a vast mass of legislation dealing with real estate in almost every conceivable aspect. At the immediate beginning of the reign stands the Wills Act (see WILL). The transfer of real estate has been simplified by 8 and 9 Viet. c. 106 and by the Conveyancing Acts of 1881 and 1882 (see below). Additional powers of dealing with settled estates were given by the Settled Estates Act, 1856, later by the Settled Estates Act, 1877, and the Settled Land Act, 1882 (see SETTLEMENT). Succession duty was levied for the first time on freeholds in 1853. The strictness of the Mortmain Act has been relaxed in favour of gifts and sales to public institutions of various kinds, such as schools, parks, and museums. The period of limitation has been shortened for most purposes from twenty to twelve years by the Real Property Limitation Act, 1874 (see LIMITATION). Several Acts have been passed dealing with the enfranchisement and commutation of copyholds and the preservation of commons and open spaces (see COM- MONS, COPYHOLD). The Naturalization Act, 1870 (33 and 34 Viet. c. 14), enables aliens to hold and transfer land in England. The Felony Act, 1870 (33 and 34 Viet. c. 23), abolished forfeiture of real estate on conviction for felony. The Agricultural Holdings Act, 1883 (46 and 47 Viet. c. 61), gives the tenant of a tenancy within the Act a general right to compensation for improvements, substitutes a year's notice to quit for the six months' notice previously necessary, enlarges the tenant's right to fixtures, and limits distress to a year's rent. By 47 and 48 Viet. c. 71 the law of escheat is extended to incorporeal hereditaments and equitable estates. Among other subjects which have been dealt with by recent legislation may be mentioned RE- GISTRATION, MORTGAGE, PARTITION, EXCAMBION, FIXTURES (qq.vv.), taking of land in execution, declaration of title, and apportionment. Not a year passes in which the land law is not altered to a greater or less degree. Bills have been introduced within recent years, but hitherto unsuccess- fully, for amending the law by the assimilation of the suc- cession to real and personal estate, and for the compulsory enfranchisement of leaseholds. Real estate at the present day is either legal or equitable, a differ- ence resting mainly upon historical grounds (see EQUITY, TRUST). The following observations apply in general to both kinds of estate. The usual classification of interests in real estate regards either the extent, the time, or the mode of enjoyment. The division accord- ing to the extent is in the first instance into corporeal and incorporeal hereditaments, a division based upon the Roman law division of res into corporales and incorporates, and open to the same objection, that it is unscientific as co-ordinating subjects of rights with the rights themselves. 3 Corporeal hereditaments, says Blackstone, "consist of such as affect the senses, such as may be seen and handled by the body ; incorporeal are not the objects of sensation, can neither be seen nor handled, are creatures of the mind, and 8 In spite of this objection the division is adopted by the legislature ; see, for instance, 47 and 48 Viet. c. 71.
