Chapter the eleventh.
Of ESTATES in POSSESSION, REMAINDER,
and REVERSION.
HITHERTO we have conſidered eſtates ſolely with regard to their duration, or the quantity of intereſt which the owners have therein. We are now to conſider them in another view; with regard to the time of their enjoyment, when the actual pernancy of the profits (that is, the taking, perception, or receipt, of the rents and other advantages ariſing therefrom) begins. Eſtates therefore, with reſpect to this conſideration, may either be in poſſeſſion, or in expectancy: and of expectancies there are two ſorts; one created by act of the parties, called a remainder; the other by act of law, and called a reverſion.
I. Of eſtates in poſſeſſion, (which are ſometimes called eſtates executed, whereby a preſent intereſt paſſes to and reſides in the tenant, not depending on any ſubſequent circumſtance or contingency, as in the caſe of eſtates executory) there is little or nothing peculiar to be obſerved. All the eſtates we have hitherto ſpoken of are of this kind; for, in laying down general rules, we uſually apply them to ſuch eſtates as are then actually in the tenant's poſſeſſion. But the doctrine of eſtates in expectancy contains ſome of the niceſt and moſt abſtruſe learning in the Engliſh law. Theſe will therefore require a minute diſcuſſion, and demand ſome degree of attention.
