Tenant by the curtesy of England is where a man survives a wife who was seised in fee simple or fee-tail of lands or tenements, and has had issue male or female by her born alive and capable of inheriting the wife's estate as heir to her; in which case he will, on the decease of his wife, hold the estate during his life as tenant by the curtesy of England. 2 Crabb, Real Prop, f … [Read more...]

This word occurs frequently in the constitution of the United States, and it is there used in different meanings: (1) To settle firmly, to fix unalterably ; as to establish justice, which is the avowed object of the constitution. (2) To make or form; as to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies, which evidently does not mean … [Read more...]

A freehold estate out of inheritance but which is held by the tenant for his own life or the life or lives of one or more other persons or for an indefinite period which may endure for the life or lives of persons in being and not beyond the period of a life. … [Read more...]

An ordinance or statute. Especially used of those ordinances or statutes passed in the reign of Edw. I. 2 Inst 156; Britt c. 21. … [Read more...]

A species of estate less than freehold where a man has an interest in lands and tenements and a possession thereof by virtue of such interest for some fixed and determinate period of time; as in the case where lands are let for the term of a certain number of years agreed upon between the lessor and the lessee and the lessee enters thereon. Blackstone calls this estate a Vide … [Read more...]