be wreſted from him during his life, but by his own act, of voluntary transfer or of forfeiture; or elſe by the happening of ſome future contingency, as in eſtates pur auter vie, and the determinable freeholds mentioned in a former chapter[1]. And even theſe, being of an uncertain duration, may by poſſibility laſt for the owner’s life; for the law will not preſuppoſe the contingency to happen before it actually does, and till then the eſtate is to all intents and purpoſes a life eſtate, and therefore a freehold intereſt. On the other hand, a chattel intereſt in lands, which the Normans put in oppoſition to fief, and we to freehold, is conveyed by no ſeiſin or corporal inveſtiture, but the poſſeſſion is gained by the mere entry of the tenant himſelf; and it is ſure to expire at a time prefixed and determined, if not ſooner. Thus a leaſe for years muſt neceſſarily fail at the end and completion of the term; the next preſentation to a church is ſatisfied and gone the inſtant it comes into poſſeſſion, that is, by the firſt avoidance and preſentation to the living; the conditional eſtates by ſtatutes and elegit are determined as ſoon as the debt is paid; and ſo guardianſhips in chivalry were ſure to expire the moment that the heir came of age. And if there be any other chattel real, it will be found to correſpond with the reſt in this eſſential quality, that it’s duration is limited to a time certain, beyond which it cannot ſubſiſt.
2. Chattels perſonal are, properly and ſtrictly ſpeaking, things moveable; which may be annexed to or attendant on the perſon of the owner, and carried about with him from one part of the world to another. Such are animals, houſehold-ſtuff, money, jewels, corn, garments, and every thing elſe that can properly be put in motion, and transferred from place to place. And of this kind of chattels it is, that we are principally to ſpeak in the remainder of this book; having been unavoidably led to conſider the nature of chattels real, and their incidents, in the former chapters which were employed upon real eſtates: that
- ↑ pag. 121.
