chase. * And now it is provided† that when land (after 1833) shall be devised to the person who shall be heir to such testator, such heir shall be considered to have acquired the land as a devisee, and not by descent. And where any land shall be limited (after 1833) to the person, or to the heirs of the person, who shall thereby have conveyed the same land, such person shall be considered to have acquired the same as a purchaser, by virtue of such assurance, and shall not be considered to be entitled thereto as his former estate, or part thereof.

With regard to occupancy, common occupancy, as to real property, does not now exist.

Formerly, however, where a man was tenant pour autre vie, or had an estate granted to himself only (without mentioning his heirs) for the life of another man, and died during the life of cestui que vie, i. e., he for whose life the estate was held, then he that could first enter might lawfully retain the pos

* Emerson v. Inchbird, 1. Lord Raymond, 728. + 3 and 4 W. IV., c. 103, s. 3.

session so long as cestui que vie lived, by right of occupancy.*

But now this is otherwise, and by statutes 29, C. II., c. 3, s. 13; and 14 Geo. II., c. 20, s. 9, that mode of gaining a title is put an end to.

Special occupancy, however, still remains, and is, where land is granted to A for life of B, and A dies, the heir of A, as special occupant, may enter and hold possession during the life of B, the cestui que vie,† or person for whose life the estate was granted.

* 2 Bl. Com., 258.

† 2 Bl. Com., 259.

CHAPTER IV.

HOW INTEREST IN PROPERTY MAY COMMENCE OR TERMINATE.

The interest of any person in Property may commence or terminate in divers ways-1. By act of God, as by death of owner, or cestui que vie, by inundation. 2. By act of the Law, as in cases of Intestacy, Bankruptcy, Insolvency, Reversions, Estates in Dower, Curtesy, Tenant in Tail after possibility of issue extinct.

PROPERTY may cease to belong to its owner by various means; e. g., by act of God; as by the death of the owner, or of the party for whose life he held or was entitled to property; as where the tenant for another man's life by his deed grants a rentcharge for one-and-twenty years and cestui que vie; i. e., he for whose life the grantor of the annuity held the estate, dieth, the rentcharge thereby becomes extinguished;* by

*Co. Lit., 148, a.

inundations, by encroachments of the sea;* or by other modes which emanate not from the volition of the party, or act or operation of the law.

And where tenant for life soweth the ground and dieth, his executors shall have the corn, for that his estate was uncertain and determined by the act of God.t

And the same law is of lessee for years of tenant for life. So if a man be seized of land in right of his wife, and soweth the ground and dieth, his executors shall have the corn.

2. By act of the law; as in cases of the intestacy, insolvency, bankruptcy, or felony of its owner, in cases also of reversions, in each of which instances the property, without any act on the part of the owner so dying intestate, becoming insolvent or bankrupt, or committing felony, passes away from him to other persons.

Intestacy, as we shall see more fully hereafter, is where a party dies without making a will or testament; i.e., without any legal

*Thomas i., 469, n. G., i. Co. Lit., 53, b.

declaration of his intentions which he wills or wishes to be performed after his decease in respect of his property.

A will or testament is a solemn act or instrument, whereby a person declares his mind and intention as to the disposal of his lands, goods, or effects, and what he would have done after his death.*

He who makes the testament is called the testator, and when a man dies without a will, he is said to die intestate.

3. By bankruptcy.

A bankrupt is defined as "a trader who secretes himself, or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors." +

The first statutory enactment upon the subject made concerning English bankrupts, is 3 and 4 Henry VIII. c. 4, when trade began first to be properly cultivated in England, and from that time to the present, various and extensive alterations have been made in this very important department of the law.

By virtue of which a bankrupt loses all his real estates, which are at once transferred † 2 Bl. Com., 285.

* Co. Lit., 111, a.