executed, all and every such further and other lawful and reasonable act and acts, matters and things, deeds, conveyances and assurances in the law whatsoever, be the same by fine or fines, recovery or recoveries, or other matter of record, or otherwise, for the further, better, and more perfectly and absolutely granting, conveying, and assuring the said annuity or yearly rent-charge, mentioned to be hereby granted, unto and to the use of the said (purchaser,) his heirs and assigns, as aforesaid; as by the said purchaser, his heirs or assigns, or his or their counsel learned in the law, shall be reasonably devised or advised and required.* IN WITNESS, &c.

* The above deed was settled by the late Mr. RIVett.

CHAP. IV.

OF A GIFT.

A DEED of gift is a voluntary conveyance, not founded on the consideration of money or blood, and is said to be that deed whereby lands or goods are passed from one man to another by way of gift, wherein the word give is commonly used. Shep. Pr. 38. Touch. 227.

This conveyance by GIFT (donatio) is properly applied to the creation of an estate tail, as feoffment is to that of an estate in fee, and lease, to that of an estate for life or years. It differs in nothing from a feoffment, but in the nature of the estate passing by it; for the operative words of conveyance in this case are do or dedi, and GIFTS IN TAIL are equally imperfect to pass an estate in possession, without LIVERY OF SEISIN. 2 Bl. Com. 316.

For as it has no consideration either of blood or money, no use arises on it, and consequently livery is still necessary. Watk. Pr. 173.

The person thus creating an estate tail by GIFT is called the DONOR, and the person taking it the DON EE; hence the issue of a tenant in tail, is said to take per formam doni, and the writ given to him to recover his estate is called the formedon. Watk. Pr. 174.

It is at this day a suspicious species of conveyance, as being without, what the law denominates either a good or valuable consideration; and it is, therefore, void as to those who were creditors of the donor, at the time of its being made, but valid as to subsequent creditors. Watk. Pr. 173.

cr

Where lands are thus given or granted to another in tail, the testatum part of the deed runs thus :-" Witnesseth that "the said A B hath given and granted, and by these pre"sents doth give and grant unto the said C D all that, &c. "to have and to hold to the said C D, and the heirs male "of his body on the body of E D his wife begotten." Pr. 38. Touch. 227.

Shep.

There is also another deed of gift; that is to say, a deed made for the passing of goods from one man to another in cases where there is no bargain or sale, in this manner*: "Know ye that I, A B, have given and granted, and do here"by give and grant all my goods and chattels, &c. to have "and to hold to the said C D, his executors, administrators, " and assigns, to his and their own proper use and uses for "ever." And in this last case the main thing to be taken heed of is, that there be no fraud in the case; for if any such deed of gift, be made with any intent and of purpose to deceive and defeat creditors of their just debts and duties, or lords of their wardships, the law doth adjudge this deed void, as to and against such creditors and lords; but as to the party that makes it, and all others, it is good enough. Shep. Pr. 38. Touch. 227.

* By the civil law a gift of goods is not good without delivery; but in our law it is otherwise where there is a deed. Per. Co. Ch. Jus. 1 Rol. Rep. 61.

CHAP. V.

OF A LEASE AND RELEASE.

A CONVEYANCE by lease and release, is where he who is to convey any lands or tenements, first makes a lease or bargain and sale of the premises, to the person to whom they are to be conveyed, for a certain term, now usually for one whole year, to the intent that by virtue thereof the lessor may be in the actual possession of the premises granted by the lease or bargain and sale, and intended to be released to him; and then the lessee or bargainee, by virtue of the Statute of 27 Hen. 8. c. 10. for transferring uses into possession, is enabled to take a grant or release of the reversion and inheritance of the said lands, to the use of himself and his heirs for ever: and then a release dated the day next after the date of the lease*, reciting, or referring thereto † is accordingly made; which, in this case, is a conveyance of all the right and interest that one person has in a thing, to another who has the possession thereof. 1 Wood's Con. 714.

If an estate for a year be granted, at common law, of lands being in the possession of the grantor, by the words DEMISED, LEASED, AND TO FARM LETTEN, the lessee should make an actual entry into the lands before the release

* See p. 69. supra.

+ See p. 94. supra.

For a release can only be made to a person in the possession or seisin of lands; and in general acceptation is understood to be the relinquishment of a right or interest in lands, to another who has an estate in possession in the same lands or tenements. 2 Bl. Com. 324, 339. Gill. Ten. 53. Shep. Touch. 320.

be made to him: and this should always be done when a corporation convey by lease and release, as a corporation cannot be seised to an use.* 2 Mod. 252. Watk. Pr. 206.

But in other cases, to avoid the trouble of an actual entry by the grantee, the usual practice now is, to make a bargain and sale by the words BARGAINED AND SOLD. 2 Mod. 252.

In the first case a rent should be reserved, though it be a nominal one only, as a pepper-corn, if demanded. In the latter case the reservation is not material, as the nominal money-consideration is sufficient to raise the use. Watk. Pr. 207.

A lease and release are but one conveyance and in the nature of one deed, and is a mode of conveyance first invented by Serjeant Moore soon after the Statute of Uses, and it is now become the most common conveyance of lands, and therefore not to be shaken; though very great lawyers (particularly Noy) have formerly doubted its validity. 2 Bl. Com. 339.

It amounts, in effect, to a feoffment; for as the Statute of Uses, 27 Hen. 8. c. 10. has ordained that "where lands are

put in trust or use, then the possession and estate shall be " presently carried out of the friends in trust, and settled and "invested in him that had the uses, for such term or time as " he had the use;" and thereby the place of livery of seisin is supplied.

Those who framed the Statute of Uses evidently foresaw that it would render livery unnecessary to the passing of a freehold; and it was, therefore, to prevent secret conveyances, enacted in the same session of parliament by Stat. 27 Hen. 8. c. 16.+"that an estate of freehold should not pass by bargain and sale only, unless it was by indenture enrolled;" thus substituting the most effectual notoriety of enrolment for the more ancient one of livery: but as this statute does not extend to bargains and sales for years, this occasioned