were expreſſly declared not to be by the ſtatute de donis) the ſtatute 32 Hen. VIII. c. 36. was thereupon made; which removes all difficulties, by declaring that a fine levied by any perſon of full age, to whom or to whoſe anceſtors lands have been entailed, ſhall be a perpetual bar to them and their heirs claiming by force of ſuch entail: unleſs the fine be levied by a woman after the death of her huſband, of lands which were, by the gift of him or his anceſtor, aſſigned to her in tail for her jointure[1]; or unleſs it be of lands entailed by act of parliament or letters patent, and whereof the reverſion belongs to the crown.
From this view of the common law, regulated by theſe ſtatutes, it appears, that a fine is a ſolemn conveyance on record from the cognizor to the cognizee, and that the perſons bound by a fine are parties, privies, and ſtrangers.
The parties are either the cognizors, or cognizees; and theſe are immediately concluded by the fine, and barred of any latent right they might have, even though under the legal impediment of coverture. And indeed, as this is almoſt the only act that a feme-covert, or married woman, is permitted by law to do, (and that becauſe ſhe is privately examined as to her voluntary conſent, which removes the general ſuſpicion of compulſion by her huſband) it is therefore the uſual and almoſt the only ſafe method, whereby ſhe can join in the ſale, ſettlement, or incumbrance, of any eſtate.
Privies to a fine are ſuch as are any way related to the parties who levy the fine, and claim under them by any right of blood, or other right of repreſentation. Such as are the heirs general of the cognizor, the iſſue in tail ſince the ſtatute of Henry the eighth, the vendee, the deviſee, and all others who muſt make title by the perſons who levied the fine. For the act of the anceſtor ſhall bind the heir, and the act of the principal his ſub-
- ↑ See ſtatute 11 Hen. VII. c. 20.
