during the life of the firſt deviſee; for then all the candles are lighted and are confuming together, and the ultimate remainder is in reality only to that remainder-man who happens to ſurvive the reſt: or, that ſuch remainder may be limited to take effect upon ſuch contingency only, as muſt happen (if at all) during the life of the firſt deviſee[1].
Thus much for ſuch eſtates in expectancy, as are created by the expreſs words of the parties themſelves; the moſt intricate title in the law. There is yet another ſpecies, which is created by the act and operation of the law itſelf, and this is called a reverſion.
III. An eſtate in reverſion is the reſidue of an eſtate left in the grantor, to commence in poſſeſſion after the determination of ſome particular eſtate granted out by him[2]. Sir Edward Coke[3] deſcribes a reverſion to be the returning of land to the grantor or his heirs after the grant is over. As, if there be a gift in tail, the reverſion of the fee is, without any ſpecial reſervation, veſted in the donor by act of law: and ſo alſo the reverſion, after an eſtate for life, years, or at will continues in the leſſor. For the fee-ſimple of all lands muſt abide ſomewhere; and if he, who was before poſſeſſed of the whole, carves out of it any ſmaller eſtate, and grants it away, whatever is not ſo granted remains in him. A reverſion is never therefore created by deed or writing, but ariſes from conſtruction of law; a remainder can never be limited, unleſs by either deed or deviſe. But both are equally transferable, when actually veſted, being both eſtates in praeſenti, though taking effect in futuro.
The doctrine of reverſions is plainly derived from the feodal conſtitution. For, when a feud was granted to a man for life, or to him and his iſſue male, rendering either rent, or other ſervices; then, on his death or the failure of iſſue male, the feud was de-
