Seisin

A possession of real property founded on title; enjoyment or occupancy assumed in virtue of a right. Seise: to take possession of lands of freehold tenure, by livery. Seised: invested with possession of lands. in virtue of a freehold estate. The words are often, but unadvisably, spelled with ax, — seizin. session of an estate of freehold, in contradistinction to that precarious kinji of possession by which tenants in villenage held their lands, which was considered to be the possession of those in whom the freehold continued. It is opposed to a merely beneficial or equitable title, and to the possession of a mere leasehold or chattel estate. Instances are found in which it has been applied to chattel propei'ty; but, in general, seisin, with respect to freehold estates, corresponds to possession with respect to chattel interests and property; and in modern books possession is more and more used of real property, seeming to be gradually substituted for seisin. The older word might advantageously be retained, and the two might well be continued in use for real and personal property respectively. According to Washburn's very complete and lucid exposition of this and other feudal terms, seisin was, originally, the completion of the feudal investiture by which the tenant was admitted into the feud, and performed the rights of homages and fealty. There could be but one seisin of given lands; but it might be either in fact or in law. Seisin in fact was an actual investiture of possession, generally accomplished by the forms and tokens of livery, such as the lord, or some one empowered by him, going upon the land with the tenant, and there delivering to him a turf or a twig; and there were other modes. Seisin in law occurs in such cases as where an ancestor or devisor dies leaving his lands vacant. The heir in one case, and the devisee in the other, is deemed by the law to have a seisin which may at any time be converted into a seisin in fact. To constitute a seisin in fact, there must be an actual possession of the land; to constitute a seisin in law, there must be a right of immediate possession, according to the nature of the interest, as either corporeal or incorporeal. Seisin in fact necessarily implies possession; there being no legal difference between " seisin " and "possession," if the possession is with intent on the part of him applications of the words; thus, though there may be a concun-ent possession of the same lands by several persons, there cannot be such concurrent seisin. And seisin is applied to estates of which there is no present possession, such as remainders and reversion, meaning that the party has a fixed vested right of future enjoyment. Moreover, lands may be, for a time, vacant, as regards possession; but the seisin cannot be (at common law) in abeyance or suspense: it must always be in some one as freeholder.

1 Washb. R. P. 3 et seq.

A tenant for years is not said to be seised of the lands, the possession not being given to him by the ceremony of livery of seisin; nor does the mere delivery of a lease for years vest any estate in the lessee, but only gives him a right of entry on the land; when he has actually entered, the estate becomes actually vested in him, and he is then possessed, not properly of the land, but of the term for years, the seisin of the freehold still remaining in the lessor. Cruise Dig. tit.

8, ch. 1, § 10.

Seisin means possession under some legal title or right to hold. The possession may be shown by parol; the title must be shown by the proper conveyance.

Ford v. Garner, 49 Ala. 601, 604.

Seisin is of two kinds: seisin in law arises when the grantor of real estate gives the right of present possession to the grantee; seisin in deed is the actual possession of freehold estate.

Hart v. Dean, 2 Mac Arthur, 60.

Seisin ox

A perquisite formerly due to the sheriff in Scotland when he gave possession to an heir holding crown lands. It has now for a long time been converted into a payment in money, proportioned to the value of the estate.

BeU.

Seisina facit stipitem. Seisin makes the stock. Actual seisin makes a person the stock from which inhei'itance must be derived. By the inheritance act, 3 & 4 Wm. IV. ch. 106, this maxim has been discarded in England. By that act, descent must in every case be traced from the purchaser, — the person last entitled who did not inherit. (1 Steph. Com. 367.) In most, if not all, of the United States, also, the rule has been changed in like manner. (4 Kent Com. 388, 389. Seisina habenda quia rex habnit annum, diem et vastum. A writ formerly in use for delivery to the lord of seisin of the lands or tenements of a tenant attainted of felony, after the king, in right