The Sun.
London, England, 1829-06-29 00:00:00

in the latter, the person in possession is per-
mitted through the medium of the same forms,
to commit an absolute fraud. Every law oto,ht
to be a fixed potaive rule to be relaxed only on
principles of equity. It is einarary to' all prin-
ciple, that a party interested_Mould have it in
his power to relax the law in his, own favour. It
would be idle to defend the principle upon which
the obtaining. cf a title by fine and non-claim is
supported in our books, namely, the publicity
given to the transaction by the fine being matte:
of record, and proclaimed in open Court. The
supposed publicity is a mere fiction of law, The
object of the patty levying the:fine, is to keep
the lawful owner in ignorance, and the pro-
ceeding is effectual only when this
.01)10 is
attained.- The fief itiotrs-rceovery in a -lcoittrsive'
suit cannot now be the just foundation of any
term of prescription.
Besides, we are persuaded that the loss of
the advantage of this proceeding' by fine and
non-claim ‘vill not be often felt. It call scicloin

be relied upon for making a marketable tide. It
is ma applicable to copyhold land_:, nor to laaes
held in ancient demesne, nor t.) many cases of
cquitaMc estates ; and it does tint afford pro.
tection
,against tights of entry subsequently ac-
cruing. Like other laws, at variance with the
general feelings of mankind, it has given rise
to strained decisions by Courts of Justice ; and
at present it is sometimes difficult to anticipate
whether the parties would or would not be held
to Inti.e had a sullicieut estate in the premises to
ff:ve effect to the file with proclasnathms.
Those who are conversant with transactions

in regard to property, must feel that there is no
object, however complicated, that could not be
effected by a single iustrwnent, expressing in
clear and intelligible language the intentio►s of
the parties. We can discover no peculiar quality
in estates tail, or remainders, or rcversion4
expectant upon them, which should make it
expedient to operate upon them only by a flex
or recover•.

Several ce»turies have passed since fines and
recoveries were first-wsed as coannon assurances

With some exception P, they seem to have beei
since looked upon with a sort of veneration by
successive generations of lawyers, who, from
their having formed part of their legal studies,
and from the working of the machinery having
grown familiar to theni, have become insensible
to the consideration, that their utility arises solely
from the circumstance, that the law has provided
no simple and direct means of effecting the im-
portant objects in regard to real property, tc
which these processes have been, as it may be
said, forcibly applied. So powerful is habit,
that men are satisfied with the elect produced,
and disregard the intricacy and expense of the
process, and the dangers to which it leads.
. We conceive we have shown that fines and
common recoveries, together with the whole
mass of technical law relating to them, are mere
excrescences front the main body of our laws;
and with confidence we express our opinion, that
the abolition of them would be highly beneficial
to the owners of real property, while it would
relieve both counsel and solicuors front much
useless learning and responsibility ; our opinion is
supported by man v learned authorities, and by most
of the eminent practitioners of the present day.
As warranty, though applicable in some cases
to the barring of entails, is ill adapted to the
purpose, and out of use, we recommend that it
should be abolished, so far as it applies to estates
tail ; and that in future there should be only one
mode of barring them.
As it is our intention hereafter to recommend
that contingent and executory interests shall be
transferable at law ; there are only two objects
effected by fines and common recoveries, for
which it \vill'be necessary to provide in our pre-
sent Report, natheiv; the barring of entails : and
the passing and .extinguishing of the estates
rights and interests of married women in lands
not held by copy of Court roll. To effect these
objects it will be advisable that some substitute
for fines and common recoveries should be
adopted which should operate and take effect
without reference to those fictitiOus processes, or
--the laws relating to them, so that the whole of
that branch of our laws may in course of time
die away, as the substitute shall be gradually in-
troduced into titles.
We propose as the substitute, in every case