ſo that there is no neceſſary unity of intereſt: one may hold by deſcent, the other by purchaſe; or the one by purchaſe from A, the other by purchaſe from B; ſo that there is no unity of title: one's eſtate may have been veſted fifty years, the other's but yeſterday; ſo there is no unity of time. The only unity there is, is that of poſſeſſion; and for this Littleton gives the true reaſon, becauſe no man can certainly tell which part is his own: otherwiſe even this would ſoon be deſtroyed.
Tenancy in common may be created, either by the deſtruction of the two other eſtates, in joint-tenancy and coparcenary, or by ſpecial limitation in a deed. By the deſtruction of the two other eſtates, I mean ſuch deſtruction as does not fever the unity of poſſeſſion, but only the unity of title or intereſt. As, if one of two joint-tenants in fee alienes his eſtate for the life of the alienee, the alienee and the other joint-tenant are tenants in common: for they now have ſeveral titles, the other joint-tenant by the original grant, the alienee by the new alienation[1]; and they alſo have ſeveral intereſts, the former joint-tenant in fee-ſimple, the alienee for his own life only. So, if one joint-tenant give his part to A in tail, and the other gives his to B in tail, the donees are tenants in common, as holding by different titles and conveyances[2]. If one of two parceners alienes, the alienee and the remaining parcener are tenants in common[3]; becauſe they hold by different titles, the parcener by deſcent, the alienee by purchaſe. So likewiſe, if there be a grant to two men, or two women, and the heirs of their bodies, here the grantees ſhall be joint-tenants of the life-eſtate, but they ſhall have ſeveral inheritances; becauſe they cannot poſſibly have one heir of their two bodies, as might have been the caſe had the limitation been to a man and woman, and the heirs of their bodies begotten[4]: and in this, and the like caſes, their iſſues ſhall be tenants in common; becauſe they muſt claim by different titles, one as heir of A, and the other as heir of B; and thoſe too not titles by
