Livery

1.

The act or form whereby possession of lands was, in former English law, given or assumed.

— Livery, in respect to realty, corresponds to delivei-y, spoken of chattels; not that livery and delivery are synonymous: the latter word imports a corporal transfer of a kind of which land is not susceptible in the same degree as chattels; but the two. terms signify the two modes of vesting possession appropriate to the two kin(i of property, respectively. 2. A contract of hiring of work-beasts, particularly horses, to the use of the hirer. It is seldom used alone in this sense, but appears in the compound, livery stable. 3. A suit of clothes, cloak, gown, hat, &c., which a nobleman or gentleman gave to his senrants or followers, with not of their family, to engage them in their quarrels for that year; afterwards, it was ordained by Stat. 1 Rich. II., and several other acts, that no man of any condition whatsoever should give any livery but to his domestics, his ofllcers, or counsel learned in the law. But most of these statutes are repealed by 3 Car. I. ch. 4. Jacoh. 4. A delivery of possession to those tenants who held of the king in capite, or knights service; as the king, by his prerogative, had primer seisin of all lands and tenements so holden of him. Jacob. 5. An old English writ, which lay on behalf of the ward in chivalry, on coming of age, to obtain possession of his lands. During the existence of the feudal tenures and customs, the male heir, when he arrived at the age of twentyone years, or the heir female, at the age of sixteen, might sue out this writ of livery or ouster le main; that is, of delivery of their lands out of their guardian's hand;

— for in the feudal times the lord was entitled to the wardship of the heir, and was the guardian in chivalry. This wardship gave the guardian the custody of the body and lands of such heir till he or she attained the age of twenty-one if a male, ov sixteen if a female. 2 Inst. 203. This guardianship was not subject to accounting, but might be terminated by the writ of livery. By Stat. 12 Car. II, ch. 24, such wardships are abrogated, and the writ of livery abolished. 6. The members of a company of the city of London, chosen out of the freemen. 7. We have noticed livery and imlivery used, in decisions on maritime law, for the act of lading and unlading a vessel. Livery of seisin, is the expression appropriate when the purpose of transferring the possession — that is, of livery — is to consummate a conveyance of the title. In the common-law modes of conveyancing, this ceremony was of essential importance to the vesting of the land in the transferee. In American conveyancing practice it has become obsolete; delivery and registration of the deed completes the transfer of title. of lands, tenements, and hereditaments, unto one that hath a right to the same, being a ceremony in the common law used in the conveyance of lands, &c., where an estate of fee-simple, fee-tail, or other freehold passeth. And it is a testimonial of the willing departing of him who makes the livery, from the thing whereof the livery is made; and of willing acceptance of the other party receiving the livery; first invented that the common people might have knowledge of the passing or alteration of estates from man to man. Conveyance by feoffment is by no means perfected by the mere words of the deed; the ceremony of livery of seisin is very material to be performed, for without this the feoffee has but a mere estate at will. This livery of seisin is no other than the pure feodal investiture, or delivery of corporeal possession of the land or tenement, which was held absolutely necessary to complete the donation. This investiture was, probably, at first intended to demonstrate, in conquered countries, the actual possession of the lord; and that he did not grant a bare litigious right, which the soldder was ill^ualified to prosecute, but a peaceable and firm possession. And at a time when writing was seldom practised, a mere oral gift, at a distance from the spot that was given, was not likely to be either long or accurately retained in the memory of the by-standers, who were very little interested in the grant. Afterwards they were retained as a public and notorious act, that the country might take notice of and testify the transfer of the estate, and that such as claim title by other means might know against whom to bring their actions. In all well-governed nations some notoriety of this kind has ever been held requisite in order to acquire and ascertain the property of lands. But the corporal tradition of lands being sometimes inconvenient, a symbolical delivery of possession was in many cases anciently allowed, by transferring something near at hand, in the presence of credible witnesses, which by agreement should serve to represent the very thing designed to be conveyed; and an occupancy of this sign or symbol was permitted as equivalent to occupancy of the land itself. With our Saxon ancestors the delivery of a turf was a necessary solemnity to establish the conveyance of lands. And to this day the conveyance of our copyhold estates is usually made from the seller to the lord or his steward, by delivery of a rod or verge, and then from the lord to the purchaser, by delivery of the same, in the presence of a jury of tenants. Conveyances in writing were the last and most refined improvement; the mere delivery of possession, either actual or symbolical, depending on the ocular testimony and remembrance of the witnesses, being liable to be forgotten and misrepresented, and found frequently incapable of proof. Written deeds were introduced in order to a very long series of years these were never made use of but in company with the more ancient and notorious method of transfer by delivery of corporeal possession. Livery of seisin, by the common law, is necessary to be made upon every grant of an estate of freehold, in hereditaments corporeal, whether of inheritance or for life only. In hereditaments incorporeal it is impossible to be made, for they are not objects of the senses; and in leases for years, or other chattel interests, it is not necessary, the solemnity being appropriated to the conveyance of a freehold. ( Bract, lib. 2, ch. 18; Liu. § 66; 2 Bl Com. 313.) Jacob. The expression livery of seisin simply means delivery of the land, traditio. It is of two kinds, being either in deed or in law. Livery in deed, i.e. in fact or act, was performed by delivery of part of the actual thing in lieu and as a symbol of the whole, — e.g., by delivery of the ring of a door, or of a branch of a tree, or a turf of the ground, — accompanied with these or the like words spoken by the feoffor: " Here I deliver you seisin of this house (or land), in the name of the tenements contained in this deed, and according to the form and effect thereof." And thereupon the feoffee entered upon or took possession of the house or land. A separate livery was wanted for lands in several counties. Livery in deed could only be made to the feoffee personally. Livery in law, i.e. constructive or implied delivery, was performed off the land, but in sight of it, the feoffor saying these or the like words: " I give you yonder land, enter and take possession;" and if the feoffee thereupon, or at any time thereafter during the life of the feoffor, entered upon the land, the livery was good, but otherwise it was void. One such livery sufficed for various counties. Livery in law might be made either to the feoffee personally, or to his lawfully constituted attorney. Brown.

Iiivery-stable keeper

One whose business it is to keep horses for hire, or to let, or to keep, feed, or board, horses for others.

Act of July 13, 1868, § 9, 14 Stat, at L. 116.