OUR LEGAL HERITAGE The first thousand years: 600 - 1600 King AEthelbert - Queen Elizabeth

Part 7 out of 7



he himself would have, hold, and retain the land to himself, and
the profits of during his life, and that after his decease the
said son and daughter should have the land to them and to the
heirs of their two bodies lawfully begotten, and that all persons
then or afterwards seised of the land should stand and be seised
immediately after the marriage solemnized to the use of the said
A. for the term of his life, and after his death to the use of
the said son and daughter in tail as above, and covenanted
further to make an assurance of the land before a certain day
accordingly &c. and then the marriage took effect; and afterwards
A. bargained and sold the land for two hundred marks (of which
not a penny is paid) to a stranger, who had notice of the first
agreements, covenants, and use, and enfeoffed divers persons to
this last use, against whom a common recovery was had to his last
use; and also A. levied a fine to the recoverers before any
execution had, and notwithstanding all these things A. continued
possession in taking the profits during his life; and afterwards
died; and the son and daughter entered, and made a feoffment to
their first use. And all this matter was found in assize by
Assaby and others against Lady Anne Manners and others. And
judgment was given that the entry and feoffment were good and
lawful, and the use changed by the first indenture and agreement.
Yet error was alleged. The judgment in the assize is affirmed.

The famous Shelley's Case stands for the principle that where in
any instrument an estate for life is given to the ancestor, and
afterwards by the same instrument, the inheritance is limited
whether mediately, or immediately, to his heirs, or heirs of his
body, as a class to take in succession as heirs to him, the word
"heirs" is a word of limitation, and the ancestor takes the whole
estate. For example, where property goes to A for life and the
remainder goes to A's heirs, A's life estate and the remainder
merge into a fee in A.

Edward Shelley was a tenant in tail general. He had two sons. The
older son predeceased his father, leaving a daughter and his wife
pregnant with a son. Edward had a common recovery (the premises
being in lease for years) to the use of himself for term of his
life, after his decease to the use of the male heirs of his body,
and of the male heirs of the body of such heirs, remainder over.
After judgment and the awarding of the writ of seisin, but before
its execution, Edward died. After his death, and before the birth
of his older son's son, the writ of seisin was executed. The
younger son entered the land and leased it to a third party.
Afterwards, the son of the older son was born. He entered the
land and ejected the third party. It was held that the younger
son had taken quasi by descent until the birth of the older son's
son. The entry by the older son's son was lawful. The third party
was lawfully ejected. (Shelley's Case, King's Bench, 1581,
English Reports - Full Reprint, Vol. 76, Page 206.)



Chapter 14: Epilogue

William Brewster and William Bradford and other puritans and
pilgrims sailed on ships such as the Mayflower to found a colony
in North America in 1607. England developed a commonwealth of
countries around the world, including Canada, Australia, New
Zealand, and India.

In the time period after 1600, there developed free trade,
democracy, political parties, secret ballots, policemen, Francis
Bacon's advocating of induction in science, Periodic Chart of
chemical elements, calculus and differential equations, college
degrees in biology, chemistry, and physics, Isaac Newton's theory
of gravity, Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, the
experimental method, computers, decoding of the DNA sequence,
Charles Darwin's evolution, Louis Pasteur's germ theory of
disease, Galileo's telescope, Hubble telescope, Big Bang Theory,
antibiotics to cure and surgery to replace body parts, quantum
theory, cold water in pipes to homes, central heating, apartment
high rises, business skyscrapers, electricity, electric lights,
electric sewing machines, industrial revolution factories, labor
strikes, cars, tractors, ice boxes and refrigerators, telephones,
central heating with radiators, heated water in taps, hot water
heaters by gas, gas ovens, humidifiers, upholstered couches and
chairs, canned food, zippers, velcro, trains, ships by steam and
then motors, wall-to-wall carpeting, microscope, microwave
ovens, umbrellas, contraceptive pill, popular elections,
airplanes, photography, record players, potatoes, corn,
chocolate, frozen food, radio, television, plastics, ready to
wear clothes, political parties, submarines, statistics,
economics, multinational corporations, weather forecasting,
braille, airplanes, space ship to moon, banks, annuities, factory
assembly lines, washing machines, dishwashers, sewing machine,
microwave ovens, copier machines, DNA evidence, daily newspapers,
nuclear bomb and nuclear energy, guided missiles, stock market,
quartz watches, museums, bicycles, popular election, frozen sperm
for artificial insemination, investment advice, retirement
planning, pensions, amusement parks, catelogue buying, labor
contracts, dictionaries, childrens' summer camps, stocks and
bonds, teenage culture, concrete, synthetic materials,
typewriters, cardboard boxes, advertising, invitro fertilization,
factory assembly line, gene-mapping, animal cloning, internet,
hiking and camping trips, world travel vacations, telegraph, word
processing, gas, oil, couches, research, television, radio,
credit cards, toothbrushes, dental floss, buses, subways,
chinaware, telephones, camcorders, mass production, nursing
homes, cameras, copy machines, wheelchairs, hospital operations,
artificial limbs, organ transplants, pharmacies, public
libraries, children's playgrounds, cosmetic surgery, wrist
watches, physical exercising equipment, vitamin pills, sports
clubs, condominiums, anesthetics, physical exams, microscopes,
observatories, radar, sonar, opera, nutrition, psychiatry,
supermarkets, disability and life insurance, magazines, daily
newspapers, liability insurance, chemical fertilizers, DDT, trash
pick-up, electronic mail, record players, video tape recorders,
retirement homes, movies;, planned obsolence, boxspring
mattresses, brain scans, xrays, innoculations, vaccines,
penicillin, organized professional sports, dry cleaners,
railroads, foreign embassies, veterinarians, drug abuse, wage
garnishment, fire engines, tractors, lawnmowers, breeding zoos,
museums, world wars, nuclear deterrence, fingerprinting, forensic
evidence, toxic waste, acid rain, archeology, zippers,

In this time period the development of law includes abolition of
feudal wardships, married women's property act, mandamus, statute
of frauds, rule against perpetuities, mandatory secondary
education, the tort of negligence, the concept of duty of due
care, kidnapping, false impersonation, liens, obscenity,
partnership, pensions, trademarks and unfair competition,
privacy, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of the
press, copyrights and patents, bankruptcy, civil rights, union
organizing laws, laws on discrimination due to race, sex, ethnic
or national origin, disability, age, and sexual preference,
sexual harassment and staulking laws, product liability,
international law, no-fault divorce, best interest of child in
custody disputes, child labor laws, environmental laws protecting
air and water quality, workers compensation, unemployment
compensation, controlled substances, intellectual property law,
Coke's treatise on law, and Blackstone's treatise on law.

Judicial procedure includes grand juries, which hear evidence,
court transcript by court stenographers, discovery, and
depositions.


Appendix

Sovereigns of England

- Name - - Accession -
Egbert 802
AEthelwulf 839
AEthelbald 858
AEthelbert 860
AEthelred 865
Alfred the Great 871
Edward the Elder 899
AEthelstan 924
Edmund 939
Eadred 946
Eadwig 955
Edgar 959
Edward the Martyr 975
AEthelred the Unready 978
Edmund Ironside 1016
Canute 1016
Harold I Harefoot 1035
Hardicanute 1040
Edward the Confessor 1042
Harold II 1066
William I of Normandy 1066
William II 1087
Henry I (and Matilda) 1100
Stephen 1135
Henry II (and Eleanor) 1154
Richard I 1189
John 1199
Henry III 1216
Edward I (and Eleanor) 1272
Edward II 1307
Edward III 1327
Richard II 1377
Henry IV 1399
Henry V 1413
Henry VI 1422
Edward IV 1461
Edward V 1483
Richard III 1483
Henry VII (and Elizabeth) 1485
Henry VIII 1509
Mary 1553
Elizabeth I 1558
James I 1603


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