Chapter the ninth.
Of ESTATES, LESS than FREEHOLD.
OF eſtates, that are leſs than freehold, there are three ſorts; 1. Eſtates for years: 2. Eſtates at will: 3. Eſtates by ſufferance.
I. An eſtate for years is a contract for the poſſeſſion of lands or tenements, for ſome determinate period: and it happens where a man letteth them to another for the term of a certain number of years, agreed upon between the leſſor and the leſſee[1], and the leſſee enters thereon[2]. If the leaſe be but for half a year, or a quarter, or any leſs time, this leſſee is reſpected as a tenant for years, and is ſtiled ſo in ſome legal proceedings; a year being the ſhorteſt term which the law in this caſe takes notice of[3]. And this may, not improperly, lead us into a ſhort explanation of the diviſion and calculation of time by the Engliſh law.
The ſpace of a year is a determinate and well-known period, conſiſting commonly of 365 days: for, though in biſſextile or
- ↑ 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 is made: the donor is one that giveth lands in tail; the donee is he who receiveth it: he that granteth a leaſe is denominated the leſſor; and he to whom it is granted the leſſee. (Litt. §. 57.)
- ↑ Ibid. 58.
- ↑ Ibid. 67.
