Page:Prerogatives of the Crown.djvu/319

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Ch.XII. Pt. I. Sec. v.] E:vtents. 299 by, from or after the death of any his or their ancestor or ancestors^ as Jieir^ or by gift of his ancestors whose heir he is, which said ancestor or ancestors was, is or shall be indebted to the King, or to any other person or persons to his use, by Judgment, recognizajice, obligation or other specialty, the debt whereof is or shall not be contented and paid : that then in every such case the same manors, lands, tenements, possessions and hereditaments shall be and stand, by authority of this Act, from henceforth charged and chargeable to and for the payment of the same debt, and of every part thereof." And by the same section, the heir is made liable, though not men- tioned in the specialty (fl). The debts of the ancestor mentioned in the statute are not confined to such as accrued before the conveyance : and conse- quently the heir who claims by the gift of his ancestor, whether in fee simple or in fee tail, shall be bound to pay the King's debt, whether due before or after the gift (b). It will however be remarked that the statute mentions only four species of debts from the ancestor, viz. " by judgment, recognizance, obligation or other specialty," and is confined to debts " to the King or to any other person or persons to his use." Conse- quently other debts than those by judgment, recognizance, obligation or other specialty, remain as at common law: and the statute does not apply where the debt, of whatever nature it be, was not originally due to the King but to a subject, and accrued to the King by reason of an attainder, outlawry, forfeiture, gift of the party, or by any other collateral way or means. In neither of such cases is the land in the possession of the heir in tail, chargeable for the Crown debt(c). And it has been resolved on the statute, that if a tenant in tail become indebted to the King by one of the four ways men- tioned therein and die, and before any process or extent, the issue in tail bo7id Jide alien the land in tail, it shall not be ex- tended by force of the statute, for it only renders liable the land in the possession or seisin of the heir in tail, against the issue in tail, and not the alienee {d Lands in fee simple were extendible at common law, in the hands of any person ; (a) See 1 Inst. 386, a. Wood's Inst. (c) Ibiil.Ol ; 2d and 4th Resolution. 20. d) Ibid. 3nJ Resolution. {J}) 7 Rep. 19 i 6Lh Resolution. aiid