The Sun.
London, England, 1829-06-25 00:00:00

LONDON, t r•-cwi
.RSD IY EVENING, JUNE 25, 18429.

ST OF SIR WALTER SCOTT'S WORKS.

We observed lately, in an Edinburgh periodical, a para-
graph, which has since been copied into other publications,
professing to exhibit a list of the different contributions to
oar literature from the pm of our renowned countryman
Sir Walter Scott. But this list being obviously defective,
even in regard to the Novels of the Great Known, we have
procured something nearer the truth front a friend who is
intimately conversant with bibliographical matters; and,
by his kindness, we are now enabled to lay before our
readers a more correct catalogue of the literary achieve-
ments of our illustrious countryman, whether in the shape
of original works, in compilation, in editing, or in aiding
the efforts of others, than is to be found either in the pata-
graph alluded to, or even under the proper head in Dr.
Watt's wonderful performance, the "Bibliotheca Bri-

tar nica" :
Years.

.799. Goetz of Berlichingen, with the Iron Hand,
a tragedy, tramlited from the German •
.902. .Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vols. I and
2, printed by Billantyne at Kelso
[ SO3. Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. 3

Vols.

PARLIAMENTARY PAPER.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS ON THE
LAW OF REAL PROPERTY.
(Continued from our Paper of yesterday.)
COURTESY.
As it appears unreasonable that the right to
'curtesy should depend on the birth of issue
capable of inheriting, so on the other hand, if
thaw were to be now first introduced, it would
scarcely be thought reasonable or expedient, that
where an estate has descended on a married
woman, having issue by a former marriage,
perhaps otherwise wholly unprovided for, and
to which the estate would otherwise descend, the
stn viving husband, who is under no legal obli-
gation to support such issue, should take for his
life the whole property to which such issue is
inheritable.
We propose, therefore, as some improvement
of this part.of the law, that curtesy should attach
o►►e estates of inheritance, legal and beneficial,
cu. beneficial only, to which the husband was en-
titled in possession in right of the deceased -wife,
although there may have been no issue of the
marriage ; and on the other hand, that it should

be restricted to an undivided moiety of the estate,
whenever and so far as but for the husband's
curtest' it would immediately descend to the
issue of the wife by a former marriage.
We do not propose at present to extend these
alterations of the law to gavelkind lands, or
borough English lands, or to copyhold or
customary lands, for the reason assigned with
respect to dower or free bench in the same species
of property.

FINES AND RECOVERIES.
A fine in its origin was an amicable compo-
sition, by leave of the King or his Justices, of
an actual suit, whereby the lands were acknow-
ledged to be the right of one of the parties, and
at common law all persons were barred by it who
did not claim within a year. and a day. The
safe title acquired by this process led, it is sup-
posed, to the practice of transferring lands by
means of a fictitious suit of the same nature as
the real suit above alluded to. This is the ori-
gin of the fines of the present day, which, sub-
ject to certain modifications made from time to
time by statutes, have been in use for centuries.
The bar by non•claim after a year and a day on
fines at common law was taken away by the
statute 34 Edw. 111. c. 16. The statutes 1
Rich 111. c. 7, and 4 Hen. VII. c. 24, have
declared, that a fine proclaimed in four succes-
sive terms, the first proclamation being made in
the term in which the fine is engrossed, shall
operate as a bar by non-claim at the end of' five
years after the last proclamation, but with a cer-
tain limited extension of time in the cases of in-
fancy, coverture, lunacy, and absence beyond
seas ; and by the latter statute, and the statute
32 Hen. VIII. c. 36, the further effect of bar-
ring estates tail was given to fines levied with
proclamations. The two last statutes gave rise
to a distinction between fines levied with pro-
clamations, and fines levied without proclama-
tions, the latter being fines at common law, and
having those effects only which fines had imme-
diately after the passing of the statute 31 Edw.
111. c. 16.
There are four sorts of fines, viz.:-Ist, a fine
" Sur conuzance de droit come ceo, Sic .;"
2dlv, A fine " Sur conuzance de droit tantum
3dly, A fine, " Sur concessit ;" and, Liddy, a
fine " Sur done grant et render." The first
and third are those in general use ; the second is
sometimes used, but the same purposes can be
attained-either by the first or third. The fourth
is obsolete. The first is always levied with pro-
clamations, and so it seems was the fourth fine.
But the second and third arc usually levied
without proclamations.
The three principal uses to which fines are
applied are, to bar estates tail, and enable the
tenant in tail to acquire or pass a base fee deter-
minable on the failure of the issue in tail, to
gain a title by non-claim, and to pass the estates
and bar the rights of married women. For the
first two objects the first fine is usually, resorted
to. The last object is often accomplished by
the first fine, sometimes by the second, but more
frequently by the third, which is usually resorted
to for conveying the life estates and interests of
married women, and for creating terms of years
to bind, by way of estoppel, their contingent or
executory or other estates and interests.
A fine; according to the sort used, will also
produce the following effects :—lt will operate by
estoppel in other cases besides the one above
noticed ; it will operate as a confirmation of all
prior defeasable estates or charges made by the
party levying it ; it will release or extinguish
rights, interests, and power ; it will destroy. or
extinguish contingent remainders and executory
interests ; it will create a discontinuance when
levied by a tenant in tail in possession ; it will
revoke devises, and, when levied by a tenant for
life or in tail after possibility of issue extinct, or
by a tenant for years, or by a copyholder, it will
produce a forfeiture ; and when levied by a
tenant in tail, with the immediate remainder or
reversion in fee to himself, the base fee acquired
by the fine will merge in the remainder or rever-
sion, which will immediately become an estate in
possession, and all the-estates and charges made
on the remainder or reversion, not only by the
tenant in tail him Self, but also by those who
were previously entitled to the remainder or re-
version, will, in consequence of the merger, be
let into possession, and become immediately
available.
According to the strict rules of the old law,
the over-reaching power of a fine " Sur conic-
zance de droit come ceo, 6-c." in divesting
estates, and in extinguishing rights, powers, &c.
was so inflexibl3, that its operation could not be
controlled even by the declared intention of the
parties. This rigid rule, pregnant with mischief
to titles, has been relaxed of late years, and fines
have been treated by the most eminent convey-
ancers as common assurances, not operating
beyond the particular purposes intended, provided
the intention of the parties should clearly appear.
he question, however, has only been recently
set at rest by a decision of the King's Bench.
The relaxation of the rule does not supersede the
necessity ofgreat caution in confining the opera-
tion of a fine " Sur conuzance de droit come
ceo, Bfc." Thus, when it is intended to pre-