ſeſſion, when once gained, was alſo neceſſarily to be continued; or elſe, upon one man's dereliction of the thing he had ſeiſed, it would again become common, and all thoſe miſchiefs and contentions would enſue, which property was introduced to prevent. For this purpoſe therefore, of continuing the poſſeſſion, the municipal law has eſtabliſhed deſcents and alienations: the former to continue the poſſeſſion in the heirs of the proprietor, after his involuntary dereliction of it by his death; the latter to continue it in thoſe perſons, to whom the proprietor, by his own voluntary act, ſhall chooſe to relinquiſh it in his life-time. A tranſlation, or transfer, of property being thus admitted by law, it became neceſſary that this transfer ſhould be properly evidenced: in order to prevent diſputes, either about the fact, as whether there was any transfer at all; or concerning the perſons, by whom and to whom it was transferred; or with regard to the ſubjectmatter, as what the thing transferred conſiſted of; or, laſtly, with relation to the mode and quality of the transfer, as for what period of time (or, in other words, for what eſtate and intereſt) the conveyance was made. The legal evidences of this tranſlation of property are called the common aſſurances of the kingdom; whereby every man's eſtate is aſſured to him, and all controverſies, doubts, and difficulties are either prevented or removed.
These common aſſurances are of four kinds: 1. By matter in pais, or deed; which is an aſſurance tranſacted between two or more private perſons in pais, in the country; that is (according to the old common law) upon the very ſpot to be transferred. 2. By matter of record, or an aſſurance tranſacted only in the king's public courts of record. 3. By ſpecial cuſtom, obtaining in ſome particular places, and relating only to ſome particular ſpecies of property. Which three are ſuch as take effect during the life of the party conveying or aſſuring. 4. The fourth takes no effect, till after his death; and that is by deviſe, contained in his laſt will and teſtament. We ſhall treat of each in it's order.
