a confirma an estate, and ment to A. with a letter of attorney, and before livery the disseisee tion of a deed. confirm the estate of A. or the deed made to A., this is clearly void, though livery be made after. But if a bishop had made a charter of feoffment with a letter of attorney, and the dean and chapter before livery confirm the deed, this is a good confirmation, and livery made afterwards is good. And so it hath been adjudged. 33 E. 3. Con firm. 22. 31 21 H. 7. 1. Vid. Sect. 393 cap. 10. 1El. cap. 19. 18E1. The like law is of a confirmation of a deed of grant of a reversion before attornment. In the same manner it is if a bishop at the common law had granted lands to the king in fee by deed, and the dean and chapter by their deed confirm the deed of the bishop, and after the deed of the bishop is inrolled, this is good, albeit the confirmation of the dean and chapter be not enrolled; for the assent upon the matter is made to the bishop. But this confirmation that Littleton here speaketh of, must be E. 3. Abb. 10. made in the life, and during the incumbency of the person; and so in the life of the bishop, or of any other sole corporation. But it is to be known, that grants made by persons, prebends, vicars, bishops, masters and fellows of any college, dean and chapter, master or guardian of any hospital, or any having any spiritual or ecclesiastical Vid. living, are restrained by (f) divers acts of parliament, so as they cannot grant any rent-charge, or to make any alienation, or to make 46. Lib. 4.76 any leases other than such as are mentioned in those acts, which you 9. 6. 14. Lib. may read at large, and the exposition upon the same, in my (*) Com• 6. 37. Lib. 7. mentaries. cap. 11. 1Jac. cap. 3. sect. 593 & 648. (*) Lib. 2. fol. & 120. Lib.5. 8. Lib. 11. 67. LITTLETON. [Sect.530. 301 a.] * ALSO, if there be a perpetual chauntry, wherewith the ordinary hath nothing to do or meddle; quære, if the patron of the (527) chauntry, and the chaplain of the same chauntry, may charge the chauntry with a rent-charge in perpetuity. 301 a. (Cro. Jac. 63.) (10 Rep. Lam pet's case.) (Post, 344.) *301 b. * This is meant of a chauntry donative wherewith the ordinary hath Vid. Sect.618. not to deal, and by this grant, when Littleton wrote, the chauntry should have been charged forever, because no other had any interest in this chauntry, save only the patron and chauntry priest, and the grant is made concurrentibus hiis quæ in jure requiruntur. But since Littleton wrote, all, and all manner of free chapels and chauntries perpetual, whereof Littleton here speaks, are by (g) acts of parliament given to the crown, and the bodies politic thereof dissolved. See hereafter section 648. more at large of all this present section. (g) 37 H. 8. cap. 4. 1E. 6. cap. 14. LITTLETON. [Sect.592. 301 a.] ALSO, if a man letteth land for term of life, the which tenant Confirmation for life charge the land with a rent in fee, and he in the revergrant of rent- sion confirm the same grant, the charge is good enough and by donor of a charge made by his tenant for life, is good. 301 a. effectual. Here is a diversity to be observed, where the determination of herein where the rent is expressed in the deed, and when it is implied in law. Diversity nation of the pressed in plied in law. For when tenant for life granteth a rent in fee, this by law is deter- the determimined by his death; and yet a confirmation of the grant by him in rent is exthe reversion makes that grant good for ever, without words of enlargement, or clause of distress, which would amount to a new grant. And yet if the tenant for life had granted a rent to another and his heirs by express words, during the life of the grantor, and the lessor had confirmed that grant, that grant should determine by the death of tenant for life. Tenant for life upon condition grant a rent in fee, the lessor confirm the grant, and after the condition is broken, the lessor re-enter, he shall not avoid the grant. 26 the deed, and when it is imAss. pl. 38. Lib. 1. fol.147. owe's case. 45 Ass. pl. 13. Anne May (1 Rol. Abr. 483.) 14 Ass. pl. 14. LITTLETON. [Sect.519. 296 b.] 4. Confirma tion, how it When to the shall enure. whole estate of the ALSO, if I be disseised, and I confirm the estate of the disseisor, he hath a good and rightful estate in fee-simple, albeit in the deed of confirmation no mention be made of his heirs, because he had a fee-simple at the time of the confirmation. For in such confirmee. (528)* case if the disseisee confirm the state of the disseisor, to have on confirmaand to hold to him and his heirs of his body engendered, or to tion by dis have and to hold to him for term of his life, yet the disseisor seisor of his hath a fee-simple, and is seised in his demesne as of fee, because when his estate was confirmed, he had then a fee-simple, and such deed cannot change his estate, without entry (13) made upon him, &c. Here is the first case wherein the release and confirmation doth agree, viz. a confirmation to a disseisor in tail, or for any particular estate, is of the like force as a release to a disseisor, during such estate, which in both cases is good for ever. IN the same manner it is, if his estate be confirmed for term of a day, or for term of an hour, he hath a good estate in feesimple, for this, that (14) his estate in fee-simple was once confirmed. Quia confirmare idem est, quòd firmum facere, &c. Here is the second case wherein the release and confirmation do agree. The reason of this is, for that the disseisor hath a fee-simple; and therefore if his estate be confirmed but for an hour, it is good for ever, because (saith Littleton) confirmare idem est, quòd firmum facere. In the same manner it is, if the disseisor make a gift in tail, and the disseisee confirm the estate of the donee for the life of the donee, this confirmation enures to the whole estate tail; for a confirmation can make no fraction of any estate, to extend but to part of the estate only, Et sic de cæteris (P). seisee to dis estate, it though with enures in fee, out words of (5 Rep. 31.) inheritance; and although (13) fait, not in L. and M. nor Roh. VOL. II. tail. (14) son, not in L. and M. nor Roh. (P) See n. (9) infra.-[Ed.] 297 a. Diversity herein between the confirmation years, and that of an estate of freehold. Lib. 5. fol. 81. Forde's case. (Ant. 274 a.) (Ante, 300 b.) Nota, a diversity between a bare assent without any right or interest, and an assent coupled with a right or interest; and therefore an attornment cannot be made for a time nor upon condition; but of a term for if the parson make a lease for a hundred years, the patron and the ordinary may confirm fifty of the years, for they have an interest, and may charge in time of vacation. And so if a disseisor make a lease for an hundred years, the disseisee may confirm parcel of those years; but then it must be by apt words, for he must not confirm the lease, or demise, or the estate of the lessee, for then the addition for parcel of the term should be repugnant when the whole was confirmed before, but the confirmation must be of the land for part of the term. So may the confirmation be of part of the land; as if it be of forty acres, he may confirm twenty, &c. So if tenant for life make a lease for an hundred years, the lessor may confirm either for part of the term, or for part of the land. But an estate of freehold cannot be confirmed for part of the estate, for that the estate is entire, and not several, as years be (q). (529)* (1 Rol. Abr. 412.) LITTLETON. sons. ALSO, if my disseisor maketh a lease for life, the remainder [Sect.521. over in fee, if I release to the tenant for life, this shall enure to 297 a.] In respect of him in the remainder. But if I confirm the estate of the tenant for term of life, yet after his decease I may well enter, because On confirma- (15) nothing is confirmed but the estate of the tenant for life, so that after his decease I may enter. But when I release all my right to the tenant for life, this shall enure to him in the remainder or in the reversion, because all my right is gone by such der-man, (se- release. tion of the estate of the particular te nant, it does not enure to the remain cus as to a re lease.) 297 a. Here is the third case wherein the release and confirmation differ, for the confirmation to the tenant for life doth not enure to him in the remainder (R). (15) nul, added L. and M. and Roh. (9) A confirmation to a disseisor of his estate for an hour passes the fee without the word "heirs," because the disseisor acquires by the disseisin a tortious fee-simple; and when that estate is assented to, the disseisee can never afterwards destroy it. And according to the old books, if he confirm the estate, lease, demise, or term, of the lessee of the disseisor for some part of the years, he cannot defeat it during the whole term, because the whole interest of the lessee is confirmed; and the clause restricting it in point of time, after confirming it absolutely, must be rejected as repugnant. But if the land be confirmed for part of the term, the assent is but partial, and not to the whole estate, and therefore it cannot, contrary to the express words, be carried any further. Gilb. Ten. 76. However, in modern times, this distinction seems to have been exploded. See Plowden v. Cartwright, 1 Burr. 282. Earl of Derby v. Taylor, 1 East. 502. 2 Prest. Conv. 166. But an estate of freehold cannot be confirmed, though by express words, for part of that estate; for an estate of freehold is considered as integral and indivisible. It does not consist, like a term of years, of an aggregate or number of separate portions of time; but is, of itself, an entire and individual estate. Watk. Gilb. Ten. 76. 392. Shep. Touch. 317.—[Ed.] (R) If a man releases to tenant for life all his right, this enures to him in the remainder, because he parts with his whole; and he that has but an estate for life by the feudal conveyance, cannot have the whole fee, as is said; but if a man confirm the estate for life, it is an approbation and assent to that estate only, and therefore the assent being no farther than to the estate for life, it cannot be carried to strengthen the remainder: but if he had confirmed the remainder, that had confirmed the estate for life by implication, because the *And so it is, when the several estates be in one person; as if the (530)* disseisor make a gift in tail, the remainder to the right heirs of tenant in tail; if the disseisee confirm the estate in tail, it shall not extend to the fee-simple, no more than if the disseisor had made a gift in tail, the remainder for life, the remainder to the right heirs of tenant in tail; this extendeth only to the estate tail, and not *to the remainder for life, nor to the remainder in fee. But if the disseisor make a lease for life to A. and B., and the disseisee confirm the estate of A., B. shall take advantage thereof; for the estate of A. which was confirmed was joint with B., and in that case the disseisee shall not enter into the land, and devest the moiety of B. *297b. tion of the estate of one joint-tenant, tenures to (Ante, 52 a.) On confirma both. (Ante, 310 a. 315 a. 319 a.) (1 Rol. Abr. 302.) If the disseisor infeoffs A. and B. and the heirs of B., if the dis- (Sid. 83.) seisee confirm the estate of B. for his life, this shall not only extend to his companion, as hath been said, but to his whole fee-simple, because to many purposes he had the whole fee-simple in him, and the confirmation shall be taken most strong against him that made it. (18) Tenant in tail discontinueth in fee, and dieth, the discontinuee make a lease for life, and granteth the reversion to the issue, he shall not have a formedon against tenant for life; for by his formedon he must recover the estate of inheritance, and the lessee for life hath not the inheritance, but the issue in tail himself hath it. (Ante, If feoffee upon condition make a lease for life, or a gift in tail, and (Ante, 202 a.) the feoffor release the condition to the feoffee, he shall not enter upon the lessee or donee, because he cannot regain his ancient estate. If the feoffee upon condition make a lease for life, the remainder in fee, if the feoffor release the condition to the lessee for life, it shall enure to him in the remainder; as well as in the case of the right, or of a rent, &c. If a feme disseisoress make a feoffment in fee to the use of A. for life, and after to the use of herself in tail, and the remainder to the use of B. in fee, and then taketh husband the disseisee, and he releaseth to A. all his right, this shall enure to B. and to his own wife also; for by the rule of Littleton it must enure to all in the remainder (1). But if A. letteth to B. for life, and B. maketh a lease to C. for his life, the remainder to A. in fee, A. releaseth to C. all his right, this is good to perfect the estate of C. for his life. But when Č. dieth, A. shall be in of his old estate, for his release could not enure to *(531) remainder cannot be without the particular estate to support it, and the confirmation of the remainder must imply an assent to all means necessary to support it. Gilb. Ten. 76, 77.—[Ed.] she (1) For, though a man cannot contract with his wife, or transfer any interest to her, yet may, by construction of law, take benefit of his release made to a third person, and enuring by way of extinguishment. Hawk. Abr. 394. [Butler, Note 257.] LITTLETON. himself to perfect his defeasible remainder, but his ancient right remaineth. And note, that in these two cases the fee is devested' and vested all at one instant; in the same manner as if tenant in tail make a lease for life, at the same instant the estate tail is devested out of the donee, and the reversion in fee out of the donor, and a new fee vested in tenant in tail. And so if the husband make a lease for life of his wife's land, he devesteth his own estate, that he hath in her right, and the inheritance of his wife, and at the same instant vested a new reversion in fee in himself. BUT in this case, if the disseisee confirm the estate and title [Sect.521. of him in the remainder, without any confirmation made to 297 a.] On confirma- tenant for life, the disseisee cannot enter upon the tenant for tion of the es- term of life, for that the remainder is depending upon the state for life; and if his estate should be defeated, the remainder should be defeated by the entry of the disseisee, and it is no reason that he by his entry should defeat the remainder against his confirmation, &c. tate of the re- versioner, it enures to the nant. (532)* 297 b. Vid. 29 Ass. 17. 38 H. 8 Value. Br.30. 13 E. 3. Entr. Cong. Br.127. Pl. Com. Delamere's case. Vid. sect. 374. Recov. en *298 a. (Mo. 91.) "But in this case, if the disseisee confirm the estate and title of him in the remainder." Here is the third case, wherein the release and confirmation do agree, *for the confirmation * made to him in the remainder shall avail the tenant for life, as much as the release shall. "For that the remainder is depending, &c." By this some have gathered, that if a disseisor make a lease for life, reserving the reversion to himself, and the disseisee confirmeth the state of the disseisor, that he may enter upon the lessee, because the estate of him in the reversion dependeth not upon the state for life as the remainder; but all is one, for by the confirmation made to him in the reversion, all the right of him that confirmeth is gone, as well as when he maketh it to him in remainder; and he cannot by his entry avoid the estate of the lessee for life, but he must avoid the state of Reported by the lessor, which against his own confirmation he cannot do; and it ham, Chie hath been adjudged, that if a disseisor make a lease for life, and after Justice. (Post, levy a fine of the reversion with proclamations, and the five years 40.3 (Sid.360) pass, so as the disseisee is for the reversion barred, he shall not enter 159. Ante, upon the lessee for life. 302 a.) (6 Rep. 224 a.) LITTLETON. On confirma ALSO, if there be two disseisors, and the disseisee releaseth to [Sect.522. one of them, he shall hold his companion out of the land. But 298 a.] if the disseisee confirm the estate of the one, without more (16) tion of the es saying in the deed, some say that he shall not hold his companion two dissei- out, but shall hold jointly with him for that (17) nothing was sors,it enures confirmed but his estate, which was joint, &c. tate of one of to both(though otherwise of a release): This is the fourth case, wherein the release and confirmation 298 a. seem to differ, being made unto one of the disseisors. (16) dire-parlance, L. and M. and Roh. (17) nul, added L. and M. and Roh. |