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

La Narrativa de Henry Fielding y la Sociedad Inglesa del Siglo XVIII
life estate, and as soon as Tom’s estate terminated at Tom’s death, Blifil could
enter and take possession of Paradise Hall. Although remainders were future
rather than present interests, they could be and were bought and sold. For
example, in 1741 when the Duke of Newcastle needed to sell settled lands in
which his relation Henry Vane had future interests, the Duke agreed to pay
Vane £6o,ooo for those interests preparatory lo having those lands sold to pay
interest on the Duke’s debts and to pay some of the debts themselves.
In our original settlement, in which Blifil had no interest, the
remainders which follow Tom’s are all contingent, in this case contingent on
the birth of a son lo Tom. Contingent remainders are defined as remainders
which to become possessory are subject to some additional condition
precedent other than the termination of the prior particular estate. If Tom
does have a son, called, say, Frederik, at that son’s birth the previously
contingent remainder to Tom’s son in fee tail male will become a vested
remainder in fee tail male, a vested remainder belonging to Frederick. In earlier
times contingent remainders were not recognized. When they were first
recognized in the mid-fifteenth century, the only ones so recognized were
remainders to the heir of a living person, like the remainder in our settlement
to Tom’s son.”
SUSAN STAVES, Married Women’s Separate Property in England, 1660-1833,
Harvard U.P., pp. 60-64.