son soon after went to sea, and was supposed to have died abroad, within age. It was held that the daughter was not entitled to twenty years, to make her entry after the death of her brother, but only to ten years: more than twenty years having elapsed in the whole since the death of the person last seised. 46. All natural persons, and all estates in land, whether freehold or leasehold, are within the statutes of limitation; as also customary rents, of which seisin is the proper proof; and suit and service to a court baron. To what Per sons and Statutes ex Estates these tend. Eldridge 47. It is said by Lord C. B. Gilbert, that the statutes of limitation extend to copyhold estates; being made for the preservation of public quiet; and no ways tending to the prejudice of the lord or tenant: that actions concerning copyholds are as fully and plainly within the words of these acts, as any other actions; so there is no reason to exclude them from the meaning. And Lord Kenyon held, that in the 3 Term R. case of a copyhold, there could be no entry for a forfeiture after twenty years. 132. 48. Offices with fees and profits are within the intent and meaning of the statutes of limitation. Thus Tit. 25. $70. in the contest which took place in the House of Lords in 1781, for the office of Great Chamberlain of England, the Judges being asked whether the right of Lord Percy to that office was barred by the statute Lords Journ. of limitation, they answered, that there having been an adverse possession of more than sixty years against him, without any actual seisin in him or his ancestors, his right would be barred in any real action by the statute of limitation. vol. 36. 295. within them. 49. There are several persons and estates that are What are not not comprehended within the statutes of limitation; Ecclesiastical Corporations. which are therefore not affected by a nonclaim for any indefinite period. 50. Ecclesiastical corporations, and generally all ecclesiastical persons, seised in right of their churches, being restrained from alienation by several positive. laws, are not within any of the statutes of limitation; and therefore cannot bar their successors by neglectColl. Case, ing to bring actions for recovery of their possessions within the time prescribed by these statutes: but an Plowd. 358. ecclesiastical person, who is guilty of this neglect, will himself be barred. Magdalen Tit. 35. Advowsons.. 51. There is no limitation as to the time within which any action touching advowsons is to be brought; at least none later than the time of Rich. I. For by the statute 1 Mary, § 4. it is enacted, that the statute 32 Hen. VIII. shall not extend to a writ of right of advowson, quare impedit, darrein presentment, &c. And by the statute 7 Ann. c. 18. it is enacted, that no usurpation shall displace the estate of the patron; and that he may present on the next avoidance, 1 Inst. 115 a. as though there had not been any usurpation; which provision in effect takes away all limitations of suits about the right of patronage. n. Tithes. Mussendine, 52. Tithes belonging to the church are not within Quilter v. the statutes of limitation, because the nonclaim of the Gilb. R. 228. former rectors of a parish cannot prejudice their Tit. 22. § 95. successors. Nor can a prescription de non decimandò be set up against a lay impropriator; though long possession of a portion of tithes will create a title. Dignities. $51. Tit. 26. c. 2. Rentscreated by Deed. 53. Dignities or titles of honour are not within any of the statutes of limitation, as has been already shown. 54. It has been shown that customary and prescriptive rents are comprised within these statutes : 1 Inst. 115 a. but where a rent is created by deed or grant, of which the commencement can be shown, it is not within 10 Ves. 467. them. 2 Vern. 235. 55. A. by deed indented made a feoffment in fee Foster's Case, 8 Rep. 64. to B. and his heirs, rendering 10s. a year rent to A. and his heirs; of which rent the heirs of A. had not been seised for 40 years. It was determined that they might notwithstanding distrain for it for the statute 32 Hen. VIII. was intended to operate only where the avowant was driven to allege a seisin by force of some old statute of limitation; and that was when the seisin was material, and of such force that it should not be avoided in avowry, although it were by encroachment, as between the lord and tenant. But in the case of reservation or grant of a rent, there the deed is the title, and the beginning thereof appears no encroachment in that case shall hurt, nor is any seisin material. And this construction stands with the words of the act-" No man shall make avowry and allege seisin, &c."; by which it appears that that branch extends only where the avowant ought to allege seisin. But where no seisin is requisite, it is out of the words and intent of the act; for it intends to limit a time for the seisin, which şeisin is required by law to be alleged; and not to compel any one to allege seisin, where seisin was not necessary before. n. 56. The exemption of rent out of the statute 1 Inst. 115 a. 32 Hen. VIII. should be understood with this qualification; that the certainty of the rent should appear in the deed; because otherwise the quantum of the rent is no more ascertained by the deed, than if there was not one existing. If therefore the rent is created by reference to something out of the deed, as by reserving such rent as the person reserving pays Collins v. 2 Vern. 235. 1 Inst. 115 a. 2 - 95. over, without expressing what that is; and the latter not having commenced by deed, is one of which seisin is the proper proof. In such a case seisin is equally necessary to both rents; consequently both ought to be equally deemed within this statute. 57. Fealty is within the letter of the stat. 32 Hen. VIII. yet Lord Coke says that fealty and all 4 Rep. 10 b. other incidental services, such as heriot service, or to cover the lord's hall, and the like; for that they might not happen within the times limited by that act; were, by construction, out of the meaning of it. Bennet v. King, 3 Lev. 21. Bond Debts, &c. 1 Burr. 434. Oswald v. Legh, 1 Term R. 270. 58. Bond debts and other specialties, are not within the statutes of limitation. But where an action is brought on a bond, and the money does not appear to have been demanded, or the interest, within 20 years, this amounts to a presumption that it has been paid. 59. We have seen that at common law no prescription could be maintained against the King; nor was he bound by the stat. 32 Hen. VIII.: and this privilege extended to his lessee. 60. Thus where A. having a lease from the Crown for 99 years, and being out of possession for more than 20 years, he notwithstanding recovered in ejectment; for A.'s possession was that of the King, against whom the want of possession could not be legally objected. 61. By the statute 21 Ja. I. c. 2. it was enacted, that a quiet and uninterrupted enjoyment, for 60 years before the passing of that act, of any estate originally derived from the Crown, should bar the Crown from any right or suit to recover such estate, under pretence of any flaw in the grant, or other defect of title. This act, at the time it was made, secured the rights of such as could then prove a pos session of 60 years; but, from its nature, was continually diminishing in its effect, and departing from its principle; so that some new law became every day more necessary, to secure the possessions of the subject from the claims of the Crown. 62. It was therefore enacted by the statute 9 Geo. III. c. 16." That the King's Majesty, his heirs or successors, shall not at any time hereafter sue, impeach, question, or implead any person or persons, bodies politic or corporate, for or in anywise concerning any manors, lands, tenements, rents, tithes, or hereditaments whatsoever, (other than liberties or franchises) or for or in anywise concerning the revenues, issues, or profits thereof, or make any title, claim, challenge, or demand for or into the same, by reason of any right or title which hath not first accrued or grown, or which shall not hereafter first accrue and grow, within the space of 60 years next before the filing, issuing, or commencing of every such action, bill, plaint, information, commission, or other suit or proceeding, as shall at any time or times hereafter be filed, issued, or commenced for recovering the same, or in respect thereof; unless his Majesty, or some of his progenitors, predecessors or ancestors, heirs or successors, or some other person or persons, bodies politic or corporate, under whom his Majesty, his heirs or successors, any thing hath or lawfully claimeth, or shall have or lawfully claim, have or shall have been answered by force and virtue of any such right or title to the same rents, issues, and profits of any honour, manor, or other hereditaments whereof the premises in question shall be part or parcel, within the space of 60 years; or that the same have or shall. have been duly in charge to his Majesty, or some of his progenitors, predecessors or ancestors, heirs |