COLLATERAL WARRANTY

contracts, descent. Where the heir’s title to the land neither was, nor could have been, derived from the warranting ancestor; and yet barred the heir from ever claiming the land, and also imposed upon him the same obligation of giving the warrantee other lands, in case of eviction, as if the warranty were lineal, provided the heir had assets. 4 Cruise, Real Prop. 436. 2. The doctrine of collateral warranty, is, according to Justice Story, one of the most unjust, oppressive and indefensible, in the whole range of the common law. 1 Sumn. R. 262. 3. By the statute of 4 & 5 Anne, c. 16, 21, all collateral warranties of any land to be made after a certain day, by any ancestor who has no estate of inheritance in possession in the same, were made void against the heir. This Statute has been reenacted in New. York; 4 Kent, Com. 460, 3d ed.; and in New Jersey. 3 Halst. R. 106. It has been adopted and is in force in Rhode Island; 1 Sumn. R. 235; and in Delaware. Harring. R. 50. In Kentucky and Virginia, it seems that collateral warranty binds the heir to the extent of assets descended. 1 Dana, R. 59. In Pennsylvania, collateral warranty of the ancestor, with sufficient real assets descending to the heirs, bars them from recovering the lands warranted.