Seisin

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Seisin (or seizin) denotes the legal possession of a

allodial right and all his subjects were merely his tenants under various contracts of feudal tenure
.

Etymology

Seisin comes from

Low Latin sacīre, generally referred to the same source as Gothic
𐍃𐌰𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 satjan, Old English settan, to put in place, set.

Tenures subject to seisin

Seisin is believed to have been applicable only to

Tenure
, and the variety thereof, was the very essence of feudal society and the stratification thereof, and the possession of a tenure (i.e., holding, from Latin teneo "to hold") was legally established by the act of seisin.

Varieties of seisin

Seisin used in the normal course of events is of two kinds, "in law" and "in deed". Each carries with it a differing strength of tenure. It came to be said later that in the conveyance of a fee by deed of feoffment there must be livery of seisin.[3]

Seisin in law

"Livery" (or delivery) by "seisin in law" occurred when the parties to the transaction went within sight of the land to be conveyed and the transferor declared to the recipient that possession had been granted. This constituted however only an incomplete conveyance.

Seisin in deed

By physically entering onto the land the transferee converts or "delivers" his seisin in law into seisin in deed. Instead of a physical entry on to the land, sometimes a token of the land (e.g., a turf, or similar) would be handed over ceremoniously, (see "turf and twig"; cf. the handover of "earth and water" by political entities subjecting themselves to the Persian Empire, which thereafter considered their rulers its vassals). A tenant seised in deed as well as in law thus had obtained the best legal title to his tenure available.

Primer seisin

Primer seisin is defined as "the right which the king had, when any of his tenants died seised of a knight's fee, to receive of the heir, provided he were of full age, one whole year's profits of the lands, if they were in immediate possession; and half a year's profits, if the lands were in reversion, expectant on an estate for life"[4][5][6] On the death of a tenant-in-chief, for example a feudal baron, his holding was heritable by his son or other right heir. The conveyancing procedure, or procedure of "re-enfeoffment", i.e., re-establishment of tenure in a fief, was as follows. The heir would pay homage to the king, which once received established him irreversibly as the true heir, for the ceremony of homage was in the form of a sacred vow. Only then could the heir pay his feudal relief to the treasury, which final step would enable him to obtain seisin, i.e., actual possession. Between the death of the previous tenant and the new seisin, there was an empty tenure of the fief, which was legally inconvenient, but tolerated as generally of short duration. It is important to understand that such a tenure did not escheat, even temporarily, to the crown pending the re-enfeoffment of the heir. Yet in the case of a barony, which was an extensive tenure of frequently several dozen manors, the king needed to make certain that the heir who presented himself to pay homage was the true heir, for should his homage be accepted, his status was irreversibly confirmed, and the new baron would be entitled to attend parliament. Time was needed for the sheriff of the shire concerned to make enquiries, sometimes by use of local juries. In order to provide the king with time to make such investigations, the king took temporary seisin of the barony and all its lands, which needed management during the interval, which was termed "primer seisin". It was not a form of escheat, which was an extinguishment of a tenure. Primer seisin can thus be seen as a variety of

feudal burden, or feudal incident, that is to say a right exercisable by an overlord over his vassal's holding.[7]

The Wardships, etc. Act 1267 passed by King Henry III (

52 Hen. 3. c. 16) stated as follows:[8]

In European feudalism

In European feudal states, "ownership" of land, that is to say

allodial possession, was generally restricted to monarchs and was thus rarely an operative principle. Instead seisin was used as a term signifying feudal possession. The modern writer Marc Bloch considers seisin to signify "possession made venerable by the lapse of time" and that "paper documentary evidence was not required to establish seisin, rather human memory of the use of land or administration of justice there was invoked, especially these by the ancestors".[9]

Scotland

The equivalent Scottish term is sasine, which term has developed a further signification in Scots law.

Ireland

Following the

Norman invasion of Ireland, feudalism was introduced in those areas under Norman control. The most important legal concept in the feudal period in relation to land was seisin.[10]

Current legal status

Seisin is now confined to possession of the

curtesy depended upon the doctrine of seisin. The Dower Act (1833–1834), however, rendered the fact of the seisin of the husband of no importance, and the Married Women's Property Act 1882
practically abolished the old law of curtesy.

Modern legal interpretation

Modern courts have interpreted seisin as approximating to modern "freehold" ownership of land (Deshong v. Deshong, 186 Pa. 227, 40 A.402.) or the right to immediate possession (Williams v. Swango, 365 Ill. 549, 7 N.E.2d 306, 309.).

Seisin is the important understanding that property owned in fee simple consists of two different parts; namely, 1) the naked legal title, and 2) the equitable (i.e., beneficial) title and that these two properties may not be forever separated. Hence in Landlord and Tenant law the owner of the fee is well seised because he owns both the naked legal title and the equitable title. When the landlord rents his property the Lessee is vested with equitable title and the peaceable enjoyment of the property during his or her tenure. When the Lessee moves out, the equitable title is joined with the naked legal title and the gap in seisin is closed and the owner regains fee simple title. Commonly when trusts are created the trustee owns (takes) legal title; the trustee administers the property for the benefit of the beneficiaries who are said to have equitable (beneficial) title. Upon trust termination, the trustee conveys (distributes) legal title to the beneficiary, and again gap in seisin ends. The Merrill Lynch Ready Asset Trust, the first of the money market accounts when established in the 1970s, named a newly born son of one of the Merrill Lynch executives by whom to measure the duration as 21 years beyond the demise of that child. At the end of the period the assets of the trust then are to be distributed to the beneficiaries and the trust extinguished. Common English practice was to create a trust whose term ended upon the demise of the last living heir of her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria whose descendants are well known but even that practice is discouraged. But the Southland Royalty Trust was created to endure until the demise of the last living descendant of signors of the Declaration of Independence, who are unknown thereby creating an entity that likely violates the rule against perpetuities because it can never end hence the gap in seisin never can close.

See also

Sources

  • Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th. ed., vol. 21, p. 626, Seisin

References

  1. ^ "Seisin | Feudalism, Tenure, Possession | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-07-30.
  2. ^ Williams, On Seisin, p. 2.
  3. ^ http://chestofbooks.com/business/law/American-Commercial-Law-Series/Chapter-2-History-Of-The-Law-Of-Property.html Archived 2010-07-19 at the Wayback Machine (chapter 2, law of property)
  4. ^ Bouvier, John; Rawle, Francis (1897). Bouvier's Law Dictionary. Boston: Boston Book Company.. (2 Bl. Com. 66.)
  5. ^ Alternative definition: "primer seisin: a Branch of the King's Prerogative, whereby he had the first Seisin or Possession of all Lands and Tenements throughout the realm till the Heir do his Homage, or come to Age" (Bailey, Nathan. An universal etymological English dictionary;: comprehending the derivations ...(1770)
  6. ^ Alternative definition: "primer seisin was a feudal burden at one time incident to the king's tenants in capite, whether by knight service or in socage. It was the right of the crown to receive of the heir, after the death of a tenant in capite, one year's profits of lands in possession and half a year's profits of lands in reversion. The right was abandoned by the Act abolishing feudal tenures (12 Car. II. c. 24)".Encyc. Brit, 9th. ed. vol. 21, p. 626, seisin
  7. ^ Source re primer seisin: The Dialogue ofn[clarification needed] the Exchequer, printed in Douglas, D.C. et al. (eds.) English Historical Documents 1042–1189, London, 1959, pp. 490–569
  8. ^ Wikisource:Wardships, etc. Act 1267
  9. ^ Marc Bloch, Feudal Societychap. VIII.2 – characteristics of customary law.

Real property law

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