the Dukes behalf we now desire is that your Lordship will be pleased to take some further time to consider of it and deliver your Judgment the next Term. Mr. Serj. M. My Lord I did not expect I must confess an Argument at this rate and at this time but your Lordship in great tenderness and favour hath given them leave to do it but after all under favour what they say is a great mistake of the Case If they had observed what was said and truly applied it they would have answered themselves What interpretation in such a Case shall be made or not be made is meerly matter of Equity which upon the circumstances of every Case is governable by the Circumstances I would not go after their Example to argue to support as they have done to overturn the Opinion of the Court that has been delivered But I would offer this to your Lordship there is a great mistake in calling this a Remainder it is no such thing as a Remainder It is indeed a springing Trust upon a Contingency But pray my Lord consider how it stands here in Equity before your Lordship Here is a noble and great Family the Heir of it under the Visitation of the Hand of God which no one could remove but God alone here are a great and numerous Issue to provide for that provision which is made according to the Rules of Nature and Justice and it being necessary to be done no Man could contrive it better than this settlement My Lord they frighten us with the word Perpetuity It is true a Perpetuity cannot be maintained that is an Inheritance not to be aliened or barred or that can never end But here is but the name of a Perpetuity and certainly that must be a strange and monstrous Perpetuity that must determine within the short space of a Life A Perpetuity is an Estate that can never be barred And Littleton hath a Rule that there is no Estate but can be barred if all the Persons concerned in it joyn But it is under favour a contradiction and a great one to call this a Perpetuity a monstrous one I say it is where any Man can see the end of it and whereas to the circumstances of the Case the Family could not otherwise be well provided for And whereas Perpetuities are abhorred it is upon the inconvenience which hinders other provisions in case of necessity and it were indeed an inconvenience that every Family should have the misfortunes that were in this and not be able to provide some sort of remedy for them Some cases my Lord have been put by the other side now which under favour are nothing to the purpose and would need no other answer than they give themselves But truly I think it is not fit for the advantage of the publick that after a Case has been so solemnly argued the Counsel should dispute the Opinion of the Court. My Lord I would desire to say a word in answer to some things that have been urged As to the Case that Mr. H ch s put I think it had been good by way of Executory devise To one and his Heirs Males till such an one returns from Rome or the like had been good especially where the determination Depends but upon the expiring of a short Life But all this is but Petitio principii the same thing over and over As for Child and Baylies Case there are several things that differ it from ours There it hath a semblance of our Case of one dying without Issue but it is there upon a Life and not within a Life as ours doth And in our Case my Lord this Limitation to Henry is a Limitation of a Term attendant upon an Inheritance and then it is plainly as if the Limitation of a Freehold Estate were to one and the Heirs of his Body and if such an accident happens the Estate to cease and be to another for a 100 Years And it is in Henry attendant upon the Inheritance it should not if Henry had died gone to his Exeecutor but to his Heir Then as to Charles here is a condition that determines the whole Trust as to Henry and there it begins to be first a Limitation of a Term in gross He that creates a Term attendant upon an Inheritance may sever it if he will and if he may sever it may he not limit it upon a Contingency that upon such a Contingency it shall be severed All conditions are either precedent or subsequent Precedent to create a springing Trust and Subsequent to destroy the former Estate In Wood and Saunders Case John did not take but upon the precedent Condition but Edward took it upon the subsequent Condition In our Case this condition is both as to the destroying of the Trust to Henry it is a subsequent Condition but as to the creating a new Trust to Charles it is a precedent Condition My Lord I must not undertake to argue this Case but only to say a little to what was said on the other side we hope it being upon so short a Contingency which has now hapned the Limitation of this Term to the Plaintiff is good and we pray your Judgment for him THE Lord Chancellor's SECOND ARGUMENT Lord Chancellor I Am not sorry for the Liberty that was taken at the Bar to argue this over again because I desired it should be so for in truth I am not in love with my own Opinion and I have not taken all this time to consider of it but with very great willingness to change it if it were possibe I have as fair and as justifiable an opportunity to follow my own Inclinations if it be lawful for a Judge to say he has any as I could desire for I cannot concur with the three Chief Judges and make a Decree that would be unexceptionable But it is my Decree I must be saved by my own Faith and must not Decree against my own Conscience and Reason It will be good for the satisfaction of the publick in this Case to take notice how far the Court is agreed in this Case and then see where they differ and upon what grounds they differ and whether any thing that hath been said be a ground for the changing this Opinion The Court agreed thus far That in this Case it is all one the Limitation of the Trust of a Term or the Limitation of the Estate of a Term all depends upon one and the same Reason The Court is likewise agreed which I should have said first to dispatch it out of the Case that it may not trouble the Case at all that the Surrender of Marryot to the Duke of Norfolk and the common Recovery suffered by the Duke are of no use at all in this Case For if this Limitation to Charles be good then is that Surrender and the Recovery a breach of Trust and ought to be set aside in Equity so all the Judges that assisted at the hearing of this Cause
a Life viz. the Honour of A. descend to H. H. which must be to him in his lifetime or not at all To which I answer that though a Contingency be remote in it self and not likely to happen within a Life the time within which it ought to happen or not at all doth not alter the case and therefore in Child and Bayly's Case reported in 2d of Coke and by Jones and Palmer the failure of Issue was limited to be within a Life viz. a Term was devised to one and his Assigns and if he die without Issue of his body living at the time of his death then to another this was adjudged no Remainder unto that other and though 't was objected that the Contingency must happen within the compass of life or not at all yet no regard was given to that This Case seems to me in reason to be the same with ours I do observe that no Case can be found whether limitation either by way of Trust or Devise of a Term hath been allowed to take effect upon a failure of Issue or after death of the party to whom the first Estate was limited without Issue And as in Child and Bayly's Case the Judges say as I have often heard them say in other Cases that if Matthew Maning's Case was now to be adjudged it would not be so adjudged and that case is a Term is demised to one for life and after his death to another which is allowed good and that they would not go a step farther so I say in this Case it must go further than Manning's Case or any other Case that adjudged to make it void William Jones The Case is new and without any express President and Serj. M d' s opinion 20 Nov. 1680. therefore not capable of so certain a determination as would be expected in case advice were to be given whether a Purchaser should deal in the buying of a Lease or not Yet though there be no President in point yet such-like Cases have been determined as guide my Judgement and Opinion to be scilicet that as this Case is circumstantiated Charles hath not nor can have a right to the Trust of the Term the Reasons and ground of my Opinion is as followeth First The Trust of the term for years in gross and separate from an Inheritance cannot be intailed in Possession or Remainder but yet where there is a Term for years in being if the Inheritance of the Land be intailed with Remainders over there the Term may be limited to wait upon the Inheritance according to the several Intails and such limitation is good so long as nothing intervenes to interrupt or disturb it But I conceive is not capable of such Priviledges of Intail as Inheritance is for the Intail is confirmed by the Statute of Westm 2d de bonis but the attendance of the Term upon the Inheritance intailed is not within the Statute de bonis c. but is a Creature of the Chancery and in several Cases may be destroyed and barred though no Fine and Recovery or other bar be made of the Inheritance I conceive such case if the Tenant intail Alien without Fine or Recovery for valuable Consideration the Issue Intail shall avoid the Inheritance the Chancery shall never help him to avoid the Lease In this particular Case it is clear that neither Charles nor any in Remainder can recover this Term at Law but onely by suit in Chancery and in Chancery shall never recover where the limitation of such a Term in being is not supportable in Common Law which in this Case it is not as I conceive for take the Case without the Contingency that Henry was Tenant Intail Remainder to Charles Intail c. the Recovery suffered by H. would have bar'd Charles and the rest of the term as well as of the Inheritance But the sole Objection here is that the trust of the term to Henry is expressed that it shall determine quo ad Henry and his Issue in case Tho. Duke of Norfolk dye without Issue living Charles as in this case he did The strength of this Objection lies in this First That the Cessor of the Trust is to be upon the death of a Stranger without Issue scil on Tho. Duke of Norfolk on whom the Lands were not Intailed And secondly The term is not to cease but upon the death of Tho. Duke of Norfolk without Issue in the life of Henry As to the first it will make no difference in Reason and in the pollity of the Law where the Cessor is limited on the death of a Stranger without Issue or of the Tenant Intail without heir of his body For first In both Cases the possibility is remote and not regarded in Law where a term is so limited and so were the resolutions in Childs and Bayly's Case and divers others This would be a way to set up a perpetuity as strongly as that it was limited upon the death of the Tenant in tail without Issue Put the case there be Father and several Sons A. B. and C. and the Father is seized in Fee of the reversion of Lands after a Lease of 200 years he settles the Inheritance upon his eldest Son in tail with Remainders in tail to his other Sons and this Lease being in Trustees for him at the same time causes the Lease to be setled in Trustees in Trust for the Sons to wait on the Inheritance in Trust accordingly provided that the second Son dye without Issue in the life of the Father or Son the Trust of the eldest Son to cease I conceive this would not be maintained in Equity if the second Son should not alien by Fine and Recovery As to the Second Objection that the Cessor is on the Death Mic. 17. Jac. R. B. of Tho. without Issue in the Life of Henry whereby the Contingency is reduced to happen in the Life of one person viz. Henry and not at large viz. of the death of Tho. without Issue I conceive no difference made thereby and it is in effect the point adjudged in Child and Bayly's Case which was thus French a Termer for 76 years demises to his Wife for Life Remainder of the Term to W. his Son and his Assigns Provisee That if his Son W. dyed without Issue of his body then living That T. his Son should have the Term or Interest Adjudged then in B. R. which was three years after affirmed Mic. 20. Jac. in the Exchequer Chamber by Hobart Winch Denham Hutton and Jones that the Demise to Tho. was void In that Case the Contingency did expect during the life of W. onely as here it is on the life of H. and the Reasons of their Judgments both in the Kings Bench and Exchequer-Chamber in effect of all the Judges of England at that time was because it might tend to make a perpetuity and that this new-invented way of Intailing of Terms in no sort to be favoured in Law. In Child's
of Opinion that these Limitations to the younger Brothers upon this Contingency are absolutely void in the first Creation and are gone without the Surrender and that upon this Recovery Henry Howard now Duke of Norfolk ought to have the trust of the whole Term. The Expositions of Devizes of Terms or the Dispositions of the Trust of Terms have proceeded by many steps to higher degrees than was at first thought of by the makers It would be too long to give a distinct History of it but it is so plain that it is now a resolved and decreed thing and setled therefore it were in vain to tell you the steps taken towards it That the devize of a Term and the limitation of the trust of a Term to one and the Heirs of his body is good though Burgesses Case was onely for Life the Cases are very full in it On the other side where there is a limitation of a Term to one and the Heirs of his body there a positive Limitation of the Estate over after his death without Issue that I think also is as fully declared to be void I shall not cite Cases at large but onely those Points and Expressions in them which are peculiar and pertinent to this purpose there is Jinkins and Kennish's Case I think it was in the Exchequer there it was said it was such a total Disposition of the term to limit it to one and his Heirs Males that it would not admit of a Limitation over but adjudged to be void So in my Lord Rolls Abridgments 1 Part Tit. Devise fol. 611. 11 Car. 1. Leventhorp and Ashby's Case B. R. It is said that the Remainder of a Term to C. after it is limited to B. and the Heirs Males of his body is a void Remainder and fol. 613. he puts down the reason why the Remainder is void because the Limitation to one and the Heirs Males of his body is a full disposition of the Term. And if such Limitations over were permitted it would create perpetuities which the Law doth abhor Sanders and Cornishes Case Croke fol. 230. There it is resolved that the Devise of a Term in such a manner with Limitations after one another to make a perpetuity cannot be good For says the Book to limit a possibility and to limit the Remainder of a term after a dying without Issue stands not with the Rules of Law. Now to bring this Case within these Rules that if there be the Trust of a term to a man and the Heirs of his body no Limitation can be over I say then if this Estate be so limited to my Lord Duke by the name of Henry Howard the other will follow when there is a Limitation Intail though it cannot be properly stiled Intail of a Term yet it is a Disposition of that Term as long as the Tail lasts then there can be no Limitation over And as to that I think as the Deed is penned it may well be stood upon that here is an Estate given to Henry and the Heirs Males of his body For though the Deed says until by the death of Thomas without Issue the Earldom of Arundel shall descend upon him yet the first Limitation I think shall stop at the Heirs Male of his body and the Remainder over shall be then void But I will not stand upon that because I think I shall not need it but admit until by the failure of the Issue of Thomas the Earldom come to him makes it not an Estate to Henry and the Heirs of his body directly yet it gives an Estate to him and the Heirs of his body as long as Thomas has any Issue of his body and that I count to be all one as to the Operation of Law for each of the Estates must determine upon the persons dying without Issue which is too remote a Condition to limit the Remainders of a Term upon And this until he die without Issue and as long as he shall have Issue are terms Synonimous in my Opinion and so it being a Limitation to him and his Heirs of his body as long as Thomas liveth and hath Issue of his body it cannot be limited over and the rather upon comparing the former part of the Deed where there is an expression that it was intended the Estate should remain in my now Lord Duke so long as Thomas lived or had any Issue of his body Therefore I say there being in my opinion no difference as to operation of Law between the Limitations to a man and the Heirs of his own body and to a man and the Heirs of his body during the life of another and the Heirs of his body there can be no difference in the resolution It is as possible a disposition of the Term during the continuance of an Intail as the other and therefore no Remainder can be limited over But now the doubt in this Case that is made ariseth upon this point that this Limitation over to the Brothers is upon a meer Contingency and whether that be good I think is the main Question And truly upon the reasons of Child and Baily's Case I cannot think it is a good Limitation that Case has been so often reported that I need not put it at large In short this it was A Devise by A. of a Term to William his eldest Son and his Assigns and if he die without Issue then to Thomas his youngest Son there the Judges of the Kings-Bench did first deliver their Opinion that this was a void Limitation to Thomas And after it came into the Exchequer-Chamber and there by the Opinion of ten Judges it was affirmed and the reasons of the Judgement are not what was alleadged at the bar in this Cause but they went upon the ground because thereby a perpetuity would ensue and that which was observed by one of the Councel that the Term was given to him and his Assigns was onely an Answer to a Case put in the argument upon Child and Baily's Case which was the Case of Rhetorick and Chappell Hill. 9 Jac. R. 889. B. R. which was cited by my Lord Chief Baron Tanfield against the resolution of Child and Baily's Case to difference it from the Case then before them And though it was urged in Child and Baily's Case that it was given upon a Contingency to the younger Son which would soon be determined and end in a short time yet that weighed not with the Judges but that they ruled it to be a void Limitation and I met lately with a Judgement in the Common-pleas which crosseth that Case of Rhetoricks and Chappell's it was Hill. 31 and 32 Car. 2. Reg. 1615 Gibson's and Sanders's Case Matthews possessed of a long Term of years having Issue a Son and three Daughters makes his Will and devises his Chattel-Leases to his Son and if that Son die before Marriage or after Marriage without Issue that then they should go to the Daughters The Son doth Marry and dieth without
Issue the Daughters his Executrixes against whom an Action of Debt is brought upon a Bond they plead no Assets and upon a special Verdict the Question being whether this were Assets in their hands it was adjudged it was In the report of that Case there are many expressions of the Courts unwillingness to extend these Devises and Dispositions of Terms further than the Judges had gone already The authority of this Case doth much strengthen the authority of Baily's Case because it doth thwart and oppose the Judgement in Rhetorick and Chappell's Case There was also started at the Bar in Pell and Browns Case that a Fee upon a Fee arising upon such a proximate Contingency as might happen in so short a time as a Life was a good Limitation It is very true that Case is so adjudged but I think there might be such reason of difference urged between the disposition of a Fee-Simple and of a Term for a Term may be qualified as to a man and his Heirs until a marriage take effect but the qualifying of a disposition of a Term cannot be because when once a Term is given the qualification comes too late I do think that there have been Cases in this Court where a Term has been limited to one and the Heirs Males of his body upon a Contingency to happen first with Limitations over if that Contingency do not happen that has been a good Limitation As thus if it be limited to the Wife for life and then to the eldest Son if he overlive his Mother and the Heirs Males of his body the Remainder over to a younger Son there if the eldest Son die in the life of the Mother the Limitation to the second Son may be good But if there be an instant Estate-tail created upon a Term with Remainders over though there be a Contingency as to the expectations of him in the Remainder yet there is such a total disposition of the Term as after which no Limitations of a Term can be For that Objection out of Pell and Brown's Case there is no such sure Foundation to build upon in the point of a Term because that Case it self has been controverted since that Judgement given in a Case between Jay and Jay in stiles Reports 258 and 274 Trinit 1651 fol. 258. 'T is thus A man seized in Fee devised it to one and his Heirs and if he die during the life of his Mother the Remainder to another and his Heirs There is no Opinion given but Rolls Chief Justice said a Limitation of an Inheritance after an absolute Fee-simple is not a good Limitation because this would be to make a Perpetuity which the Law will not admit but if it be upon a contingent Fee-simple it is otherwise but fol. 274 where it is spoken to again by Latch he argued that it was not a good Limitation and though he doth cite and confess Pell and Brown's Case to be adjudged quite contrary to what he argued yet he tells you that the Judges did find such Inconveniences arising upon it that the Court was divided upon a like Case and says further that within nine years after that Judgement 21 Jac. it was made a flat Query in the Serjeants Case and adds moreover that it hath been ever since disputable and cites a Case and gives you a Roll but not the Parties names Mich. 37 and 38 Eliz. C. B. Rol. 1149 wherein says the Book after solemn Arguments both at Bar and Bench it was adjudged quite contrary to Pell and Brown's Case but admit that Case to be good Law where will you stop if you admit the limitation of a Term after an Estate-tail where shall it end for if after one it may as well be after two and if after two then as well after twenty for it may be said if he die within 20 years without Issue and so if within 100 and there will be no end and so a Perpetuity will follow It was said at the Bar it will be hard to frustrate the intention of the Parties To that I answer Intention of Parties not according to Law are not to be regarded It was the Intention in Child and Baily's Case that the younger Son should have it and so in Burgesses Case it was the Intention the Daughter should have it and so in Gibsons and Sommers's Case it was intended for the Daughters yet all these Intentions were rejected and therefore as to that it is not at all to weigh any thing in the Case It has also been objected but then here is a contingency that has actually hapned upon Thomas's death without Issue and so the Honour is come to Henry I say the hapning of the Contingency is no ground to judge The Limitation good upon it was not good if the other Limitation had stood out and that I conceive is our Case So then for that I think these expositions have gone as far already as they can for my part I cannot extend it any further and therefore I conceive in this Case the Plaintiff has no right to this Term but the Decree ought to be made for the Defendants The Argument of the Lord Chief Justice North I Shall not trouble your Lordship to repeat the Case again for it has been truly opened by my Lord Chief Baron nor shall I trouble you with any long Argument because I think there is but one point in the case and that a short one The onely point is this Whether this contingent Trust of a Term limited to Charles upon the dying of Thomas without Issue Male whereby the Honour did descend to Henry be good in point of Creation and Limitation for the other two points will not trouble the Case For as to that point of the Recovery in case this being not a good Limitation in point of Creation it will make nothing in the Case for it is gone without the Recovery In case it be good in point of Creation the Recovery will do nothing for that supposeth it to go along with the Inheritance And if this take effect then it will suffer no prejudice by the Recovery Then for the assignment of Marriot to the Duke that signifieth nothing in the Case it doth indeed shew that if your Lordship shall decree this Cause for the Plaintiff then he hath committed a breach of Trust but if for the Defendant then it is of no weight at all If the Law be for the Plaintiff then he must answer for this breach of Trust and so must the Duke for it is a surrender to a person that had notice of the Trust So that the Question is barely upon that single first Point whether it be a good Limitation upon the Contingency to Charles this which they call a springing Trust My Lord I take the Rules of this Court in cases of Trusts of Terms to be the same with Rules of Law in Devises of Terms For I conceive the Rules of Law to prevent Perpetuities are the policy of
am of opinion it fails in point of Limitation and ought to be decreed for the Defendant The Lord Chief Justice Pemberton's Opinion I Need not trouble your Lordship with opening the Case the truth is it is in short no more than thus My Lord Duke of Norfolk's Father the Earl of Arundel having created an Estate for 200 years and setled the Inheritance by one Deed Intail to himself for life and after to his Lady for life and then to his Son and the Heirs Males of his body and for default of such Issue to the other Son Charles and the Heirs Males of his body with several Remainders over Then by another Deed he does declare the Trusts of this term of 200 years which being to Henry and the Heirs Males of his body till my Lord Maltravers die without Issue Male and the Earldom descend to my now Lord Duke and after the determination of that Estate if he shall die without Issue Male then to come to Charles and the Heirs Males of his body whether this be a good Remainder to Charles is the Question For as to any thing of the Recovery or the Assignment I shall put it quite out of the Case and do not think it will have any influence upon the Case as it lies before us And indeed I do first think that the Earl of Arundel did certainly design that if my Lord Maltravers should die without Issue Male whereby the Honour of the Family should come to my Lord Duke that now is Charles should have this Estate and his intentions are manifest by creating this Term which could be of no other use but to carry over this Estate to Charles a younger Son upon the elder Sons dying without Issue And I do think truly that this was but a reasonable Intention of the Father for there being to come with the Earldom a great Estate that would so well support it it was reason and the younger Sons might expect it that their Fortunes might be somewhat advanced by their Father in case it should so happen It was a reasonable expectation in them and truly I think it was the plain intention of the Earl. And there is no great question but it might have been made good and effectual by the limitation of two Terms For if one Term had been limited to determine upon the death of Thomas without Issue and that to be for the now Duke of Norfolk and another Term then to commence and go over to Charles that would certainly have been good and carried the Estate to Charles upon that Contingency but as this Case now is I do think that this way that is now taken is not a good nor a right way for I take this Limitation to Charles to be void in Law. And as to that I know there is a famous difference of limiting Terms that are in Gross and Terms that attend the Inheritance As to Terms that are in Gross I think it will be granted because it hath been setled so often they are not capable of limitation to one after the death of one without Issue for so are all the Cases that have been cited I think further it is as clear that upon Terms attendant upon an Inheritance there may be such a Limitation to wit that a Term that waits upon an Inheritance after the death of one without Issue may go over to another But then it is capable of such a Limitation in that Case with this restriction that is if the Inheritance be so limited for though it be attendant ever so much upon the Inheritance yet that attendance cannot make it capable of another Limitation than that Inheritance is capable of For if I have an Estate in Fee-simple and have the Trust of a term attendant upon that and I will let the Estate of Inheritance descend to my Son I cannot in this case though the Term be attendant limit it that if my Son die without Issue that Term shall go over it is not capable of any Forreign Limitation whatsoever for as to that it is a Term in Gross it hath not the quality of a Term attendant upon the Inheritance at all for first it would fail of an Inheritance and a Free-hold to support it and further than a Term can be supported with a like Estate of Inheritance It will fail to be a Term attendant upon the Inheritance Now here the Estate of Inheritance is limited to Henry and the Heirs Males of his body with Remainders to Charles and the Heirs Males of his body Now thus the Term is capable of a Limitation to Henry and the Heirs Males of his body And for want of such Issue to Charles and the Heirs Males of his body because it hath an Inheritance on which it depends to go along with it and support it But to take this out of its right Course and Channel and put another Limitation upon it That upon the dying of Thomas without Issue whereby the Earldom shall descend this shall go over to Charles alas it cannot be because it hath no Free-hold or Inheritance to support it And then besides it could not have that reason that the Law intends for its permitting such Limitations to Terms attending the Inheritance for I take it the reason why Terms are admitted to be attendant upon the Inheritance and to be capable of Limitations to go along with the Inheritance is their relation they have to the Inheritance and because it is for the benefit of the Inheritance and that I conceive was the onely reason that at first guided these Judgements of the Court of Chancery that these Terms should be admitted to wait upon the Inheritance to protect it when Mortgages were made in former times by Feoffments upon condition of payment of money we hear of none of these Terms But in the latter part of Queen Elizabeth's time and since the way of limiting Terms in Mortgages came up in use and then upon the buying of Inheritances came in the Trust of these terms and they that purchased were advised to keep those Terms on foot to protect their purchased Inheritance I must look upon this indeed as a new Case of Novel invention for in truth I think in truth it is Prima Impressionis and none of the former Cases have been exactly the same For this Term here does partake somewhat of a Term in Gross and somewhat of a Term attendant upon an Inheritance and if there should be such a Limitation admitted such a forreign Limitation as this is I call it Forreign because it is not that which goes along with the Inheritance If that be allowed we know not what inventions may grow upon this for I know mens Brains are fruitful in inventions as we may see in Matthew Manning's Case It was not foreseen nor thought when that Judgement was given what would be the Consequence when once there was an Allowance of the Limitation of a Term after the death of a person presently it was
person did continue in the Seigniory for fear if he should dye quickly they should be compelled to pay a new Fine But nothing in the World can excuse Marryot from being guilty of a most wilful and palpable Breach of Trust if Charles have any Right to this Term so that the whole contention in the Case is to make the Estate limited to Charles void void in the Original Creation if not so void by the common Recovery suffered by the now Duke and the Assignment of Marryot If the Estate be Originally void which is limited to Charles there is no harm done but if it only be avoided by the Assignment of Marryot with the concurrence of the Duke of Norfolk he having notice of the Trusts then most certainly they must make it good to Charles in Equity for a palpable Breach of Trust of which they had notice So that the question is reduced to this main single point Whether all this care that was taken to settle this Estate and Family be void and insignificant and all this provision made for Charles and the Younger Children to have no Effect I am in a very great strait in this Case I am assisted by as good advice as I know how to repose my self upon and I have the fairest opportunity if I concur with them and so should mistake to excuse my self that I did errare cum patribus but I dare not at any time deliver any Opinion in this place without I concur with my self and my Conscience too I desire to be heard in this Case with great benignity and with great excuse for what I say for I take this question to be of so universal a Concernment to all Mens Rites and Properties in point of disposing of their Estates as to most conveyances made and settled in the late times and yet on foot that being afraid I might shake more settlements than I am willing to do I am not disposed to keep so closely and strictly to the Rules of Law as the Judges of the Common-Law do as not to look to the Reasons and Consequences that may follow upon the determination of this Case I cannot say in this Case that this Limitation is void and because this is a point that in Courts of Equity which are not favoured by the Judgments of the Courts of Law is seldom debated with any great Industry at the Bar but where they are possessed once of the Cause they press for a Decree according to the usual and known Rules of Law and think we are not to examine things And because it is probable this Cause be it adjudged one way or other may come into the Parliament I will take a little pains to open the Case the Consequences that depend upon it and the Reasons that lye upon me as thus perswaded to suspend my Opinion Whether this Limitation to Charles be void or no is the Question Now first these things are plain and clear and by taking notice of what is plain and clear we shall come to see what is doubtful 1. That the Term in Question tho' it were attendant upon the Inheritance at first yet upon the hapning of the Contingency it is become a Term in gross to Charles 2. That the Trust of a Term in gross can be limited no otherwise in Equity than the Estate of a Term in gross can be limited in Law for I am not setting up a Rule of Property in Chancery other than that which is the Rule of Property at Law. 3. It is clear That the legal Estate of a Term for Years whether it be a long or a short Term cannot be limited to any Man in Tail with the remainder over to another after his death without Issue That is flat and plain for that is a direct perpetuity 4. If a Term be limited to a Man and his Issue and if that Issue dye without Issue the remainder over the Issue of that Issue takes no Estate and yet because the remainder over cannot take place till the Issue of that Issue fail that remainder is void too which was Reeves Case and the reason is because that looks towards a perpetuity 5. If a Term be limited to a Man for life and after to his first second third c. and other Sons in Tail successively and for default of such Issue the remainder over tho' the contingency never happen yet that Remainder is void tho' there were never a Son then born to him for that looks like a perpetuity and this was Sir William Backhurst his Case in the 16. of Modern Reports 115. this King. 6. Yet one step further than this and that is Burgis's Case A Term is limited to one for life with contingent Remainders Modern Reports 115. to his Sons in Tail with remainder over to his Daughter tho' he had no Son yet because it was foreign and distant to expect a Remainder after the Death of a Son to be born without Issue that having a prospect of a perpetuity also was adjudged to be void These things having been settled and by these Rules has this Court always governed it self But one step more there is in this Case 7. If a Term be devised or the Trust of a Term limited to one for Life with twenty Remainders for Life successively and all the persons in esse and alive at the time of the Limitation of their Estates these tho' they look like a possibility upon a possibility are all good because they produce no inconvenience they were out in a little time with an easie interpretation and so was Alford's Case I will yet go farther 8. In the Case cited by Mr. Holt Cotton and Heath's Case a Roll. abr tit devise 612. Term is devised to one for 18. Years after to C. his eldest Son for Life and then to the eldest Issue Male of C. for Life tho' C. had not any Issue Male at the time of the Devise or death of the Devisor but before the death of C. it was resolved by Mr. Justice Jones Mr. Justice Crook and Mr. Justice Berkley to whom it was referred by the Lord Keeper Coventry that it only being a contingency upon a Life that would be speedily worn out it was very good for that there may be a possibility upon a possibility and that there may be a contingency upon a contingency is neither unnatural nor absurd in it self but the contrary Rule given as a Reason by my Lord Popham in the Rector of Chedington's Case looks like a Reason Co. 1. 156. of Art but in truth has no kind of Reason in it and I have known that Rule often denied in Westminster-Hall In truth every Executory Devise is so and you will find that Rule not to be allowed in Blanford and Blanford's Case 13. Jac. 1. part of my Lord Rolls 318. where he says If that Rule take place it will shake several common Assurances And he cites Paramour's and Yardley's Case in the Commentaries where it was
to that which seems most to choak the Plaintiffs Title to this Term and that is the resolution in Child and Baylie's Case For it is upon that Judgment it seems all Conveyances must stand or be shaken and our Decrees made Now therefore I will take the liberty to see what that Case is and how far the Opinion of it ought to prevail in our Case 1. If Child and Baylie's Case be no more than as it is reported by Rolls part 2. fol. 129. then it is nothing to the purpose A Devise of a Term to Dorothy for life the remainder to William and if he dies without Issue to Thomas without saying in the life of Thomas and so it is within the common Rule of a Limitation of a Term in Tail with Remainder over which cannot be good But if it be as Justice Jones has reported it fol. 15 then it is as far as it can go an Authority For it is there said to be living Thomas But the Case under favour is not altogether as Mr. Justice Jones hath reported it neither for I have seen a Copy of the Record upon this account and by the way no Book of Law is so ill corrected or so ill printed as that The true Case is as it is reported by Mr. Justice Crook and with Mr. Justice Crooks Report of it doth my Lord Rolls agree Cro. Hil. 15. Jac. 459. in his abridgment Title Devise 612. There it is a Term of 76 Years is devised to Dorothy for life then to William and his Assigns all the rest of the Term provided if William die without Issue then living then to Thomas and this is in effect our present Case I agree it But that which I have to say to this Case is First It must be observed that the Resolution there did go upon several Reasons which are not to be found in this Case 1. One Reason was touched upon by my Lord Chief Baron That William having the Term to him and his Assigns there could be no Remainder over to Thomas of which Words there is no notice taken by Mr. Justice Jones 2. Dorothy the Devisee for life was Executrix and did assent and grant the Lease to William both which Reasons my Lord Rolls doth lay hold upon as material to govern the Case 3. William might have assigned his Interest and then no Remainder could take place for the Term was gone 4. He might have had Issue and that Issue might have assigned and then it had put all out of doubt 5. But the main Reason of all which makes me oppose it ariseth out of the Record and is not taken notice of in either of the Reports of Rolls or Jones or in Rolls Abridgment The Record of that Case goes farther for the Record sayes There was a farther Limitation upon the death of Thomas without Issue to go to the Daughter which was a plain affectation of a perpetuity to multiply Contingencies It farther appears by the Record that the Fathers Will was made the 10 of Eliz. Dorothy the Devisee for life held it to the 24 and then she granted and assigned the Term to William he under that Grant held it till the 31 of Eliz. and then regranted it to his Mother and dyed the Mother held it till the 1 of K. James and then she dyed the Assignees of the Mother held it till 14 Jac. and then and not till then did Thomas the younger Son set up a Title to that Estate and before that time it appears by the Record there had been six several Alienations of the Term to Purchasers for a valuable Consideration and the Term renewed for a valuable Fine paid to the Lord. And do we wonder now that after so long an acquiescence as from 10 Eliz. to 14 Jacob and after such successive Assignments and Transactions that the Judges began to lye hard upon Thomas as to his Interest in Law in the Term especially when the Reasons given in the Reports of the Case were legal Inducements to guide their Judgments of which there are none in our Case But then Secondly At last allowing this Case to be as full and direct an Authority as is possible and as they would wish that rely upon it then I say 1. The Resolution in Child and Balie's Case is a Resolution that never had any Resolution like it before nor since 2. It is a Resolution contradicted by some Resolutions and to shew that that Resolution has been contradicted there is 1. The Case of Cotton and Heath which looks very like a contrary Resolution there is a Term limited to A. for eighteen years the Remainder to B. for life the Remainder to the first Issue of B. for life this Contingent upon a Contingent was allowed to be good because it would wear out in a short time But 2. To come up more fully and closely to it and to shew you that I am bound up by the Resolutions of this Court there was a fuller and flatter Case 21 Car. 2. in July 1669 between Wood and Saunders The Trust of a long Lease is limited and declared thus To the Father for sixty years if he lived so long then to the Mother for sixty years if she lived so long then to John and his Executors if he survived his Father and Mother and if he died in their life-time having Issue then to his Issue but if he dye without Issue living the Father or Mother then the Remainder to Edward in Tail. John did die without Issue in the life-time of the Father and Mother and the question was whether Edward should take this Remainder after their death and it was Resolved by my Lord Keeper Bridgeman being assisted by Judge Twisden and Judge Rainsford that the Remainder to Edward was good for the whole Term had vested in John if he had survived Yet the Contingency never hapning and so wearing out in the compass of two Lives in being the Remainder over to Edward might well be limited upon it Thus we see that the same Opinion which Sir Orlando Bridgeman held when he was a Practizer and drew these Conveyances upon which the question now ariseth remained with him when he was the Judge in this Court and kept the Seals and by the way I think it is due to the Memory of so great a Man whenever we speak of him to mention him with great Reverence and Veneration for his Learning and Integrity Object They will perhaps say Where will you stop if not at Child and Balie's Case Ans Where why every where where there is any Inconvenience any danger of a perpetuity and where-ever you stop at the limitation of a Fee upon a Fee there we will stop in the limitation of a Term of years No man ever yet said a Devise to a man and his Heirs and if he die without Issue living B. then to B. is a naughty Remainder that is Pells and Browns Case Now the Ultimum quod sit or the utmost limitation of
a Fee upon a Fee is not yet plainly determined but it will be soon found out if men shall set their Wits on work to contrive by Contingencies to do that which the Law has so long laboured against the thing will make it self Evident where it is Inconvenient and God forbid but that Mischief should be obviated and prevented I have done with the legal Reasons of the Case it is fit for us here a little to observe the Equitable Reasons of it and I think this Deed is good both in Law and Equity And the Equity in this Case is much stronger and ought to sway a man very much to incline to the making good this Settlement if he can For 1. It was prudence in the Earl to take care that when the Honour descended upon Henry a little better support should be given to Charles who was the next Man and trode upon the heels of the Inheritance 2. Though it was always uncertain whether Thomas would die without Issue living Henry yet it was morally certain that he would die without Issue and so the Estate and Honour come to the younger Son for it was with a careful circumspection always provided that he should not Marry till he should recover himself into such estate of body and mind as might suit with the honour and dignity of the Family 3. It is a very hard thing for a Son to tell his Father that the provision he has made for his younger Brothers is void in Law but it is much harder for him to tell him so in Chancery And if such a provision be void it had need be void with a vengance it had need be so clearly void that it ought to be a prodigie if it be not submitted to Now where there is no perpetuity introduced no cloud hanging over the Estate but during a Life which is a common possibility where there is no inconvenience in the Earth and where the Authorities of this Court concur to make it good to say all is void and to say it here I declare it I know not how to do it To run so Counter to the Judgment of that great man my Lord Keeper Bridgman who both advised this settlement and when he was upon his Oath in this place decreed it good I confess his Authority is too hard for me to resist though I am assisted by such learned and able Judges and will pay as great a Deference to their Opinions as any man in the World shall If then this shall not be void there is no need for the Merger by the Assignment or the Recovery to be considered in the Case For if so be this be a good limitation of the Trust and they who had notice of it will palpably break it they are bound by the Rules of Equity to make it good by making some Reparation Nay which is more if the Heir enter upon the Estate to defeat the Trust that very Estate doth remain in Equity infected with the Trust which was the Case of my Lord of Thomond so also was the Resolution in Jackson and Jackson's Case So that to me the Right appears clear and the Remedy seems not to be difficult Therefore my present thoughts are that the Trust of this Term was well limited to Charles who ought to have the Trust of the whole Term Decreed to him and an account of the mean profits for the time by past and a recompence made to him from the Duke and Marryot for the time to come But I do not pay so little Reverence to the Company I am in as to run down their solemn Arguments and Opinions upon my present Sentiments and therefore I do suspend the Inrolment of any Decree in this Case as yet but I will give my self some time to consider before I take any final Resolution seeing the Lords the Judges do differ from me in their Opinions De Termino Pasch anno 34. Car. II. Ro. In Cancell Sabbati 13 die Maij. Howard Versus Le Duc de Norfolk THis Day was appointed for final Judgment in this cause and it being called Mr. Serjeant M. moved My Lord we depend upon your Lordship in that cause for your Opinion Mr. S. G. My Lord in the Case of Howard against the Duke of Norfolk I do not know whether I may have the Liberty to move this that I am going to offer It stands now in the Paper now for your Lordships Judgment and therefore I speak this that I now offer with great submission if your Lordship will please to hear it If you will please to allow my Lord of Arundel's Counsel the liberty of offering any thing further in the Cause Possibly it will not become them to offer any thing that hath been said but if they may be permitted to argue some new matter if they can find any Therefore we that are for my Lord of Arundel desire the liberty of having some little time till Mr. Keck who is of my Lords Counsel but at present indisposed and has not yet been heard can come which we hope will not be long We hope it will be no prejudice to this Cause which has had so long an agitation to stay a few days longer A Weeks time sure will break no squares Lord Chancellor I did appoint the first Tuesday in the Term to deliver my Opinion in this Case for I desire to rid my hands of it But Mr. Keck who was then at the Bar did pray that he might argue it once more for the Defendant and my Lord Duke of Norfolk having never been heard by Mr. Keck I was willing to hear him For it was a Cause of moment and difference of Opinions and there are so many short-hand Writers that nothing can pass from us here but it is presently made publick and tho' a Man doth not speak in Print yet what he says shall be immediately put in Print therefore because Mr. Keck desired it and to justify my own Opinion tho' I had appointed the first Tuesday in the Term yet I gave till this day It is but reason Mr. Keck should be heard who has not yet argued it and if any Man can convince me I am in an error or make it appear to me that I am mistaken in the Law in the Opinion I have given which as yet I see no cause in the World to change God forbid but I should hear them but on the other side this cause must not everlastingly be put off because my Lord Dukes Counsel are not here Therefore I will give you a Weeks time further but upon this Day sevennight come or not come I will give my Judgment in the Cause Mr. Serj. M. If your Lordship pleases to put it upon the other side unless they shew cause then the Opinion your Lordship has given to stand Lord Chancellor If my Opinion which is under the prejudice of being contrary to that of the three Chief Judges can be refuted I am not ashamed to retract any error I
is the Ground that is drawn up in the Decretal Order of the Cause because this was a Contingent Limitation to John and that never hapning it is all one as if it had never been limited and amounts putting the Contingent Limitation which never hapned out of the Case to no more than a Limitation to the Father and Mother for Life the remainder over which is well enough This is that I have to offer and I humbly submit it to your Lordship Mr. Serj. M. And so we do and pray your Judgment Mr. R. I see they are pressing for your Lordships Judgment and I know not whether it will become me to interpose with any thing Lord Chancellor Say say for this is a Cause that deserves patience Mr. R. No Man my Lord can have any great encouragement to add any thing after all the Arguments that have been made in this Cause or can hope to offer that which will be very material and new but I desire to have leave to say this in short My Lord there be two Deeds by which this settlement is made as a provision for the second Son of this Family and the younger Children and therein it doth perhaps appear that if the Bulk of the Estate and the Honour should come to the second Son then the settlement of this part that is made upon the second Son was intended to come to the now Plaintiff and the younger Children This is the Intention of the two Deeds By the first Deed the Estate of Freehold and Inheritance is limited in Tail. By the second Deed the Trust is declared of the Term for 200 Years that is limited to Henry and so over And therein it differs from the Case of Wood and Saunders For the Trust of the Term doth vest in Henry till the Contingency happen but in Wood and Saunders Case there it is limited to the Father and Mother for 60 Years if they lived so long then to John and his Heirs Males in Case he survive his Father and Mother and the Trust to be assigned to him accordingly and if he die without Issue in the Life of the Father and Mother then to Edward his Brother No Man can say that ever any thing here did vest in John For it was but limited to him after his Father and Mother's life in case he survived them but it never vested in him and so it differs from this Case For here the Trust of the Term did vest in the Duke of Norfolk till the Contingency did happen And as that is the difference between the two Cases and I do apprehend it is a difference with great reason from Wood and Saunders Case so that which I infer from it is this That where the Trust of a Term is limited to a Man and his Issue and his Heirs Males and that vested in him if he die without Issue or which is much a stronger Case tho' the Contingency be restrained within the compass of a life or of a certain time that is to wear out in a reasonable distance yet coming after a Limitation in Tail cannot carry the remainder over For if you once admit it during one life you must admit it during twenty lives for the reason is the same as to twenty as it is to one if they be all in Being and perhaps the reason will be the same as to twenty lives all in Being and for the life of one person more Then if the Trust of a Term where it is once vested in Tail can never be well limited over tho' restrained within the Contingent distance of a reasonable time This Limitation to the Plaintiff can never be good My Lord I crave leave to offer your Lordship one Case or two suppose that a Term for Years or the Limitation of the Trust of a Term for Years for I think there is the same construction made of both be limited to J. S. and the Issue of his Body and if J. S. die without Issue within 100 Years for the purpose or within twenty Years then to go over to J. N. that cannot be apprehended to be good but void for there is no difference between 1000 or 100 or 20 Years yet 20 Years is but a reasonable time and not more in prospect than one or ten lives If a Man limit the Trust of a Term or a Term it self to J. S. and the Issue of his Body and if he die without Issue before 21. then to go over to J. N. This a reasonable distance of time and yet I believe this will not be allowed to be good and well limited over And the reason is where once a Term is limited to a Man and his Issue this in a reasonable construction of Law carries the whole Term for it was a good while before they gained the point of remainders after lives and if after it be said if he die without Issue within a 100 Years or before 21. that restriction will not help it as we think Then where is the reason or sense that it should be otherwise if he die without Issue in the life of another person Truly my Lord it is very hard to find out a true difference between the Cases where the Restriction is for the life of a certain person and where it is upon a certain number of Years My Lord I would put this Case upon Wood and Saunders Case which is the authority that is so much pressed upon us Suppose that Case had been thus to the Father for 60 Years if he so long live to the Mother for 60 Years if she so long live and then instead of that Limitation to John in Case he survived his Father and Mother suppose it had been to the first Son of the Father and Mother and the Heirs of his Body and if such first Son die without Issue in the life-time of his Father and Mother then it should go over to another person Had it then been good surely no. What is the difference Why this it being to John in case he survived his Father and Mother nothing vested But if it had been to the first Son and the Heirs of his Body and they have a Son there it differs for it is actually vested in him And there the Limitation over to a stranger would not be good even admitting the Case of Wood and Saunders to be uncontroulable Another Objection your Lordship made was about the necessary Limitations of the Trusts of Terms by Termers upon Marriage Settlements to a Mans self till the Marriage take effect and then to such and such uses and the Objection is why should it not be as good a Limitation of the Trust of a Term or of a Term it self as well as of an Inheritance That will not reach our Case therefore I need not say any thing to it whether it would be so or no. But suppose this Case there be two Brothers the Eldest hath no Children the younger Brother hath a Son and is a going to Marry
Lord of Arundel's intention might have taken effect for the younger Son. This is such a subtilty as would pose the Reason of all Mankind For I would have any Man living open my understanding so far as to give me a tolerable Reason why there may not be as well a new springing Trust upon the same Term to go to Charles upon that Contingency as a new springing Lease upon the same Trust For the latter doth much more tend to a Perpetuity than the former doth I am bold to say it But I expect to hear it said from the Bar and it has been said often the Case of Child and Balie is a great Authority so it is But this I have to say to it first the point resolved in Child and Balie's Case was never so resolved before nor ever was there such a Resolution since Pells and Browns Case was otherwise resolved and has often been adjudged so since In the next place I will not take much pains to distinguish Child and Balie's Case from this tho' the word Assigns and the grant of the Remainder by the Mother who was Executrix are things that Rolls lay hold on as Reasons for the Judgment But I know not why I may not with Reverence to the Authority of that Case and the Learning of those that Adjudged it take the same liberty as the Judges in Westminster-hall sometimes do to deny a Case that stands single and alone of it self And I am of Opinion the Resolution in that Case is not Law tho' there it came to be resolved upon very strange circumstances to support such a Resolution for the Remainder of a Term of seventy six years is called in question when but fifteen years of it remained and after the possession had shifted hands several times and therefore I do not wonder that the Consideration of Equity swayed that Case But I put it upon this point pray consider there is nothing in Child and Balie's Case that doth tend to a Perpetuity nor any thing in the Settlement of the Estate there that could be called an Inconvenience nor any Rule of Law broken by the Conveyance but it is absolutely a Resolution quia volumus For it disagrees with all the other Cases before and since all which have been otherwise resolved but it is a Resolution I say meerly because it is a Resolution And it is expresly contrary to Wood and Saunder's Case which no Art or Reason can distinguish from our Case or That For here was that Case which was clipt and minced at the Bar but never answered Wood and Saunder's Case is this To the Husband for sixty years if he lived so long to the Wife for sixty years if she lived so long then if John be living at the time of the death of the Father and Mother then to John but if he die without Issue living Father or Mother then to Edward Suppose these words living Father or Mother had been out of the Case and it had been to John and if he die without Issue to Edward will any Man doubt but then the Remainder over had been void because it is a limitation after an Express Entail How came it then to be adjudged good because it was a Remainder upon a Contingency that was to happen during two lives which was but a short Contingency and the Law might very well expect the hapning of it Now that is This Case nay ours is much stronger for here it is only during one life there were two The Case of Cotton and Heath in Rolls comes up to this A Term is devised to A. for eighteen years the Remainder to Roll. abr tit Devise 612. B. for life the Remainder of the first Issue Male of B. which is a Contingent Estate after a Contingency and yet adjudged good because the happening of the Contingency was to be expected in so short a time Now that Case was adjudged by my Lord Keeper Coventry Mr. Justice Jones Mr. Justice Crooke and Mr. Justice Berkley as Wood and Saunder's Case was by my Lord Keeper Bridgman Mr. Justice Twisden and Mr. Justice Reinsford so that however I may seem to be single in my Opinion having the misfortune to differ from the three Learned Judges who assisted me yet I take my self to be supported by seven Opinions in these two Cases I have cited If then this be so that here is a Conveyance made which breaks no Rules of Law introduceth no visible Inconvenience savours not of a Perpetuity tends to no ill Example why this should be void only because it is a Lease for years there is no sence in that Now if Charles Howards Estate be good in Law it is ten times better in Equity For it is worth the considering that this Limitation upon this Contingency happening as it hath God be thanked was the considerate Desire of the Family the Circumstances whereof required Consideration and this Settlement was the result of it made with the best Advice they could procure and is as prudent a provision as could be made For the Son now to tell his Father that the provision that he had made for his younger Brother is void is hard in any Case at Law but it is much harder in Chancery for there no Conveyance is ever to be set aside where it can be supported by a reasonable Construction and here must be an unreasonable one to overthrow it I take it then to be good both in Law and Equity and if I could alter my Opinion I would not be ashamed to retract it for I am as other Men are and have my partialities as other Men have When all this is done I am at the Bar desired to consider further of this Case I would do so if I could justifie it but Expedition is as much the right of the Subject as Justice is and I am bound by Magna Charta Nulli negari nulli differre Justitiam I have taken as much pains and time as I could be informed I cannot help it if wiser Men than I be of another Opinion but every Man must be saved by his own Faith and I must discharge my own Conscience I have made several Derees since I have had the Honour to sit in this place which have been reversed in another place and yet I was not ashamed to make them nor sorry when they were reversed by others And I assure you I shall not be sorry if this Decree which I do make in this Case be reversed too yet I am obliged to pronounce it by my Oath and by my Conscience For I cannot adjourn a Case for difficulty out of an English Court of Equity into the Parliament there never was an Ajournment Propter Difficultatem but out of a Court of Law where the proceedings are in Latin. The proceedings here upon Record are in English and can no way now come into Parliament but by way of appeal to redress the Error in the Decree I know I am very likely to err