holding to be according to the custom of the manor; but it is not said to be at the will of the lord (s). The customs of these manors are subject to great variety. But in general the incidents of customary freehold are similar to those of common copyhold (t). [Mention has been hitherto made of lay tenures only; because there is still behind one other species of tenure, reserved by the statute of Charles II., which is of a spiritual nature, and called the tenure in frank-almoign. IV. Tenure in frankalmoign, in libera eleemosyna, or free alms, is that, whereby a religious corporation, aggregate or sole, holdeth lands of the donor to them and their successors for ever (u). The service which they were bound to render for these lands was not certainly defined: but only in general, to pray for the souls of the donor and his heirs, dead or alive; and therefore they did no fealty, (which is incident to all other services but this) (x), because this divine service was of a higher and more exalted nature (y). This is the tenure by which almost all the ancient monasteries and religious houses held their lands; ($) Co. Cop s. 32; vide Third Real Property Rep. p. 20. There is also a kind of customary estate called tenant right, said to be peculiar to the north of England, and which falls, like other customary estates, under the general class of copyhold, though distinguished from the common kind by many of its incidents. Vide Doe v. Huntington, 4 East, 288; Burrell v. Dodd, 3 Bos. & Pul. 378. (t) As to the state of the law with respect to the devise of customary freeholds before the late stat. 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 26, vide Third Real Property Rep. p. 22; Doe v. Llewellyn, 5 Tyrw. 899; Hodgson v. Merest, 9 Price, 556. But by the 3rd section of that stat. the power of devising extends to all customary freehold. There has been much controversy upon the question whether the freehold, in this description of tenure, is vested in the tenant, or (as in the case of common copyhold) in the lord; see Blackst. Law Tracts, Cons. on Copyhold; 2 Scriven, 679, 3rd edit. and the cases there cited; Third Real Property Rep. 20. As to ancient demesne, it is clear that the freehold is in the tenant; 2 Inst. 325; 2 Scriven, 678, (n). The right of voting at elections for counties, in respect of copyhold of any description, is now regulated by positive enactment; 31 Geo. 2, c. 14; 2 Will. 4, c. 45, s. 19. (u) Litt. s. 133. [and by which the parochial clergy, and very many ecclesiastical and eleemosynary foundations, hold them at this day (2); the nature of the service being upon the Reformation altered, and made conformable to the purer doctrines of the Church of England. It was an old Saxon tenure, and continued under the Norman revolution, through the great respect that was shown to religion and religious men in ancient times. Which is also the reason that tenants in frankalmoign were discharged of all other services, except the trinoda necessitas, of repairing the highways, building castles, and repelling invasions (a): just as the Druids, among the ancient Britons, had omnium rerum immunitatem (b). And, even at present, this is a tenure of a nature very distinct from all others, being not in the least feudal, but merely spiritual. For if the service be neglected, the law gives no remedy by distress or otherwise to the lord of whom the lands are holden, but merely a complaint to the ordinary or visitor to correct it (c). Wherein it materially differs from what was called tenure by divine service: in which the tenants were obliged to do some special divine services in certain; as to sing so many masses, to distribute such a sum in alms, and the like; which, being expressly defined and prescribed, could with no kind of propriety be called free alms; espe (z) Vide Third Real Property Rep. p. 7. That Blackstone is correct in stating this as the tenure of the parochial clergy, is confirmed by the language of the assisa utrum, the ancient remedy of the parson for recovering of his glebe, &c. in which the point of inquiry always was "utrum tantum terræ sit libera eleemosyna pertinens ad ecclesiam ipsius, an laicum feodum." -Bract. 1. 4, tr. 5, c. 1. It is true indeed, that in the case of a parson the inheritance is said to be in abeyance, and the parson entitled for his life only (vide post, 223), and this at first sight appears inconsistent with the nature of frankalmoign, which always implies a gift in perpetuity : but the difficulty is removed by the remark of Bracton (ibid. c. 2), nihil clamare poterit nisi nomine ecclesiæ suæ, quia in ecclesiis parochialibus non fit donatio persona sed ecclesiæ." The inheritance, according to this view, resides not in himself, but in his church. Et vide Litt. s. 646. (a) Seld. Jan. 1, 42. (b) Cæsar de Bell. Gal. 1. 6, c 13. (c) Litt, s. 136. [cially as for this, if unperformed, the lord might distrain, without any complaint to the visitor (d). All such donations are indeed now out of use; for, since the statute of Quia emptores, 18 Edward I., none but the king can give lands to be holden by this tenure (e). So they are only mentioned because frankalmoign is excepted by name in the statute of Charles II., and therefore subsists in many instances at this day.] Having made these observations with respect to tenures in general, it may be now proper to add, that in proceeding further to investigate the nature and properties of corporeal hereditaments, we shall for the present suppose them held by the ordinary tenure of free socage, or freehold; and the reader may dismiss the subject of copyhold from his consideration, till we arrive at a later part of the treatise, when we shall have occasion to devote a separate chapter to the more particular examination of property holden by that tenure. (d) Litt. s. 137. (e) Litt. s. 140. By this statute no subject may grant lands in perpetuity to hold of himself; ibid. From which it follows, that none can grant in frankalmoign; for (as Littleton afterwards remarks) none may hold in frankalmoign, but of the grantor and his heirs, s. 141, and the estate in frankalmoign is always in perpetuity. Co. Litt. 94 b. CHAPTER III. OF FREEHOLD ESTATES OF INHERITANCE. THE next point to be considered with regard to corporeal hereditaments is the nature of the estates which may be had in them (a). [An estate in lands signifies such interest as the tenant hath therein; so that if a man grants all his estate in Dale to A. and his heirs, everything that he can possibly grant shall pass thereby (b). It is called in Latin status; it signifying the condition or circumstance in which the owner stands with regard to his property.] And here it is material, in the first place, to remark that some kind of actual interest or ownership is implied in the term; for a bare possibility (such, for example, as the expectation of the eldest son of succeeding, upon his father's decease, to the inheritance of his lands) will not satisfy the legal idea of an estate (c). Nor will a mere power amount to an estate: as if a man by will orders his land to be sold by his executors; for they will in such case take neither right nor title in the land, but only a bare authority (d). But, on the other hand, there are various descriptions of actual interest to which the term applies. The leading distinction to which estates are subject (a) Vide sup. p. 160. (b) Co. Litt. 345 a. (c) Jones v. Roe, 3 T. R. 93; Doe v. Tomkinson, 2 Mau. and Sel. 170. There are two kinds of possibility in law-one a bare possibility, such as referred to in the text; the other a possibility coupled with an interest. Ibid. The latter may without impropriety be considered as an estate; though it is an estate in contingency. (d) Co. Litt. 265 b. is that of legal and equitable estates; the first being properly cognizable in the courts of common law, though noticed also in the courts of equity; and the second being properly cognizable in the latter courts, and not even noticed, generally speaking, in the former (e). It is of legal estate alone (which is the original and primary idea) that we shall have occasion at present to speak; and we purpose to consider it [in a threefold view: first, with regard to the quantity of interest which the tenant has in the tenement; secondly, with regard to the time at which that quantity of interest is to be enjoyed; and, thirdly, with regard to the number and connection of the tenants. First, with regard to the quantity of interest which the tenant has in the tenement, this is measured by its duration and extent. Thus, either his right of possession is to subsist for an uncertain period, during his own life, or the life of another man; to determine at his own decease, or to remain to his descendants after him; or it is circumscribed within a certain number of years, months, or days; or, lastly, it is infinite and unlimited, being vested in him and his representatives for ever. And this occasions the primary division of estates into such as are freehold, and such as are less than freehold.] A freehold estate, liberum tenementum (or frank-tenement, as it was formerly called), is an estate either of inheritance, or for life, in lands or tenements of free tenure (ƒ); and it is material to our proper conception of it (e) Sanders on Uses, 8; Alpass v. Watkins, 8 T. R. 516; Hardr. 469; 2 Fonb. 257; Bac. Uses, 77; Murley v. Sherren, 8 Ad. & El. 754. (f) The tenure itself, we may recollect, is expressed by the same term of freehold; vide sup. p. 197. As to the definition here given of freehold estate, it is according to Co. Litt. 43 b, where it is laid down that "tenant |