La Narrativa de Henry Fielding y la Sociedad Inglesa del Siglo XVIII

La Narrativa de Henry Fielding y la Sociedad Inglesa del Siglo XVIII
Thus, from the conveyancer’s point of view we might crudely represent
the carving up of the rights to Paradise Hall as Squire Allworthy proposes to
settle it on Tom and Sophia as in Figure I (leaving out, for the moment, the
remainder lo trustees to preserve contingent remainders). The “largest” estate,
we see in the diagram, is the fee simple in Allworthy; the fee simple contains
the totality of interests, including right of possession and the right to use
without impeachment of waste. Allworthy owns the estate in fee simple, he
can cut down the trees or even tear down Paradise Hall if he likes, whereas if
he were only a tenant for a term of years such as would be “waste” for which
the landlord could proceed against him. The fee simple is also an “estate of
inheritance,” that is, an estate which will descend lo the owner’s heirs, and
descend infinitely so long as heirs can be found, unless he exercises another
right of fee simple ownership, the right of alienation. In this example
Allworthy has exercised the right of alienation by settling the estate on Tom at
Tom's marriage.
The life estate which Tom acquires at the time of the settlement is
thought of as "smaller" than a fee simple because its does not include some of
the fee simple rights, which are held back in Allworthy as the “reversioner.”
The life estate is not an estate of inheritance. Tom is entitled to use the land
but nor to waste it or to alienate it in fee simple; if he attempts either of these,
Allworthy has remedies against him and may be able to reenter. At Tom’s
death, according to this settlement, Tom’s son will get a ·greater” estate than
Tom has had. The son will have a fee tail male, which, unlike Tom's life estate,
is an estate of inheritance and an estate that can be alienated in fee simple. As
time passes, should Tom's son die before Tom's son's wife dies, then, Tom’s
son’s wife will acquire a life estate in entail in Paradise Hall as her dower
(unless we have Prevented this by settling a jointure on her or by some other
means). So long as there is no failure of male heirs in the line of Tom’s sons,
then they will continue in possession with their fee tail male.
When Tom wakes up on a morning after his marriage and after the
settlements deeds have all been signed he has a present interest in the land his
life estate. Other persons, yet not born, have remainders which are future
interests in the land. Remainders are of two kinds: vested and contingent. A
remainder is said lo be vested lf it will become possessory at the termination of
the prior particular estate and is subject to no condition precedent other than
the termination of the prior particular estate. Thus, to vary our example a little
for the purposes of illustration, if Allworthy had settled Paradise Hall “to Tom
for life, remainder to Blifil in fee tall male,” then Blifil would have had a vested
remainder. The estate preceding his, the “precedent estate,” would be Tom’s