Abeyajjtoe

^ In expectation, remembrance, and contemplation of law; in sus- \ pense.3 Subsisting in contemplation of law.* In abeyance: undetermined. Said of a fee or a freehold when there is no person in esse in whom it can vest and abide: though the law considers it as always potentially existing, and ready to vest when a proper owner appears.' Thus, in a grant to A for life and then to the heirs of B, the fee is not in A or B, nor can it vest in the '* heirs " of B till after his death: it therefore remains in waiting or abeyance, during the life of B.^ It is a maxim of the common law that a fee cannot be in abeyance. The maxim rests upon reasons that have now no existence, and it is not now of universal application. Even where it still applies, being a common-law maxim, it must yield to a statutory provision inconsistent with it — as, the Confiscation Act of 1862. ^ The franchise of a corporation may be in abeyance; ' so may a grant of land to a charity.^ In this category, also, are all property rights pf a bankrupt until final adjudication; ? and, a capture unti} a prize court has passed upon it.'"