Chapter the nineteenth.
Of TITLE by ALIENATION.
THE moſt uſual and univerſal method of acquiring a title to real eſtates is that of alienation, conveyance, or purchaſe in it's limited ſenſe: under which may be comprized any method wherein eſtates are voluntarily reſigned by one man, and accepted by another; whether that be effected by ſale, gift, marriage ſettlement, deviſe, or other tranſmiſſion of property by the mutual conſent of the parties.
This means of taking eſtates, by alienation, is not of equal antiquity in the law of England with that of taking them by deſcent. For we may remember that, by the feodal law[1], a pure and genuine feud could not be transferred from one feudatory to another without the conſent of the lord; left thereby a feeble or ſuſpicious tenant might have been ſubſtituted and impoſed upon him, to perform the feodal ſervices, inſtead of one on whoſe abilities and fidelity he could depend. Neither could the feudatory then ſubject the land to his debts; for, if he might, the feodal reſtraint of alienation would have been eaſily fruſtrated and evaded[2]. And, as he could not aliene it in his lifetime, ſo neither could he by will defeat the ſucceſſion, by deviſing his feud to another family; nor even alter the courſe of it, by impoſing particular limitations, or preſcribing an unuſual path of deſcent. Nor, in ſhort, could he aliene the eſtate, even with the conſent of the lord, unleſs he had alſo obtained the conſent of his own next apparent, or preſumptive, heir[3]. And therefore it was very uſual in antient feoffments to expreſs, that the alienation was made by con-
