while the ſeiſin of the land remained in the nominal feoffee: who was held by the courts of equity (then under the direction of the clergy) to be bound in conſcience to account to his ceſtuy que uſe for the rents and emoluments of the eſtate. And it is to theſe inventions that our practiſers are indebted for the introduction of uſes and truſts, the foundation of modern conveyancing. But, unfortunately for the inventors themſelves, they did not long enjoy the advantage of their new device, for the ſtatute 15 Ric. II. c. 5. enacts, that the lands which had been ſo purchaſed to uſes ſhould be amortiſed by licence from the crown, or elſe be ſold to private perſons; and that, for the future, uſes ſhall be ſubject to the ſtatutes of mortmain, and forfeitable like the lands themſelves. And whereas the ſtatutes had been eluded by purchaſing large tracts of land, adjoining to churches, and conſecrating them by the name of church-yards, ſuch ſubtle imagination is alſo declared to be within the compaſs of the ſtatutes of mortmain. And civil or lay corporations, as well as eccleſiaſtical, are alſo declared to be within the miſchief, and of courſe within the remedy provided by thoſe ſalutary laws. And, laſtly, as during the times of popery lands were frequently given to ſuperſtitious uſes, though not to any corporate bodies; or were made liable in the hands of heirs and deviſees to the charge of obits, chaunteries, and the like, which were equally pernicious in a well-governed ſtate as actual alienations in mortmain; therefore, at the dawn of the reformation, the ſtatute 23 Hen. VIII. c. 10. declares, that all future grants of lands for any of the purpoſes aforeſaid, if granted for any longer term than twenty years, ſhall be void.
But, during all this time, it was in the power of the crown, by granting a licence of mortmain, to remit the forfeiture, ſo far as related to it's own rights; and to enable any ſpiritual or other corporation to purchaſe and hold any lands or tenements in perpetuity: which prerogative is declared and confirmed by the ſtatute 18 Edw. III. ſt. 3. c. 3. But, as doubts were conceived at the time of the revolution how far ſuch licence was valid[1], ſince
- ↑ 2 Hawk. P. C. 391.
