The Sun.
London, England, 1829-06-18 00:00:00

land which Parliament meant to dlstroy, agre
to allow parties at pleasure to evade the Statute
by the introduction of a few words into a con-
veyance ; and as the secondary use was held not
to be a subject of legal cognizance, the chief
controul over Real Property was permanently
transferred to the jurisdiction of Courts of
Equity. A system of infinite subtlety, but
answering, it must be acknowledged, most im-
iw ant purposes, has been framed upon this
Statute, while most of the evils which it was
meant to remedy remain.
Although what could in former times be only
done indirectly by way of fiction is now ac-
knowledged law, the fiction is still preserved.
Thus, a married woman conveys her interest by
means of an imaginary suit called levying a fine,
and an estate tail is now barred by a fictitious
recompence in value awarded to the issue in tail
through the medium of a common recovery.
Much perplexity and confusion have likewise
been occasioned by the entire want of system in
the various periods of limitation, and the in-
congruous variety of remedies allowed for the re-
covery of real property.
But there is no evil in the present system of
conveyancing so great as the want of a substitute
for the notice supposed by the Common Law to
be given by the open delivery of possession upon
the creation of an estate of freehold. At pre-
sent there is constant danger from secret transfers
and secret charges. To guard against this,
outstanding terms and other legal estates (that
is, mere fictitious estates as far as regards pos-
session, enjoyment, and dominion), are carefully
kept alive in the hope that an older legal estate
may fortify the title of a purchaser against an in.
tervening fraud.
Hence abstracts of title are loaded with tracing
not only the transmission of the equitable or
beneficial estate for a reasonable time, but also of
numerous legal estates for a still longer period ;
and the purchaser either insists on having these
brought down and conveyed to his own nomi-
nee ; or, if he consents to waive this on account
of the great difficulty and expense which may at-
tend it, he submits, as his legal advisers well
know, to a considerable risk. When all is done,
there is no absolute certainty on the one haed7
that a Court of Law may not consider the legal
estate he relies on to have determined by a pre-
sumed surrender, or, on the other, that some
older and therefore (if subsisting) preferable
not be outstanding for the protection
of some unknown and still more vigilant o; !bore
rtunate purchaser or ineumbraneer.
The controlling power exercised by the Court
of Chancery has certainly done much in pre-
venting hardship in individual cases from the
inapt maxims that are considered as still binding
in Courts of Law, and in settling conflicting
claims according to the true principles of justice ;
but this has been found a dilatory and expensive
mode of oktaining relief ; and new evils have
arisen from the rules of property applicable to
the same subject matter, under the same circum-
stances, in two competent tribunals, in the same
country, being essentially different. A formid-
able inconvenience has likewise been produced
by the vast load of business thus brought into
Courts of Equity. From the legislative abroga-
tion of such legal maxims the relief of these
Courts from a considerable portion of that busi-
ness may be anticipated. We fully concur in
the opinion expressed by the Commissioners ap•
pointed by your Majesty to inquire into the
practice of the Court of Chancery, .c That no
person can have had much experience in Courts
of Equity without feeling that many suits owe
their origin to, and many others are greatly pro-
tracted by, questions arising from the niceties
and practice of conveyancing."
But examination has satisfied us that those
niceties and that practice are for the most part
successful. though often cumbrous, contrivances 1
of ingenious •and learned men to effect useful
objects, which the law in its present state affords
no direct or simple means of accomplishing.
They may, in truth, be considered as indications
of the points on which the law requires to
he altered, and as partial anticipators of improve,.
meat.

We are conscious how much easier it is plait.
aibly to expose the imperfection of the law as it
now stands than to show how it may be safely
amended. We know bv experience, that a regu-
lation which on a slight view appears inexpe-
dient, may be found on further examination to
be judiciously framed to meet mischiefs which
not perceived, because it represses them.
Even a rule of.law, on principle essentially
wrong, often eavinot safely be altered without
much caution .; for useful expedients have pro-
bably been resorted to by Courts of Justice to
evade or to soften it, and these may be the,
foundation of a train of judicial decisions which
it would be dangerous to disturb. We dread
the shock that would be occasioned by any pre-
cipitate attempt at emendation, and we recollect
that it is as impossible suddenly to change the
laws as the language of any country.
The remote consequences of every proposed
amendment must be sedulously traced, and the
consideration constantly kept in view, whether it
may not raise new doubts and questions, and
cause more mischief than it is calculated to cure.

We shall study to interfere as little as possible
with established rules, and in all new enactments
to preserve the spirit and the analogies of
the existing institutions. The very language
as trio law ought, in our opinion, to be scrupu-
lously adopted in any statutes that may be made
for amending it, for we apprehend that disastrous
effects would be produced by an experiment to
construct a code by the use of terms of no de-
fined legal import, or of known terms in a new
sense. •

After all the amelioration of which the law of
real property in this country is susceptible, the
public must not expect that it can be rendered
iite from complexity and obscurity. "They
would indeed be too sanguine in hoping for a
system so simple and yet so explicit, that every
individual of common capacity might understand
his rights on each practical occasion. _The mo-
di!ications of this property are too various, the
transactions respecting it too numerous, and the
language in which these are couched often too
doubtful, to admit of such expectations being
realized. The distinctions and refinements aris-
ing from these must unavoidably render them
the subject of peculiar and constant study
and practice." Such is the opinion of an emi-
nent legal writer, from whose recent publication,
on the law of real property we have derived very
valuable assistance.

In this our First Report, we beg leave humbly
to state to your Majesty the conclusions we have
_thrilled upon the several detached.subjeCis- of in-
he ri tance, dower, curtesy, fines, intlreetiveiies, and
rescription and the statutoS'iif limitation. We
shall explain the leading: considerations that in-
fluenced us in our deliberations, and the final re-
sult of them we subjoin in the form of distinct
propositions, which may assistin the framing of
bilts to be introduced into either House of Par-