Land

[L. Lat. curialitas, curialitas Anglicana; lex Anglios; curtesia: L. Fr. curtesie Dengleterre,] An estate to which a man is by law entitled, on the death of his wife, in the lands or tenements of which she was seised during the marriage in fee simple or fee tail, provided he had issue by her, bom alive during the marriage, and capable of inheriting her estate. 1 Stepk, Com. 246. In this case he shall, on the death of bis wife, hold the lands for his life, as tenant by the curtesy of England, Id. ibid. 2 Bl, Com. 126. Bract, fol. 438. Litt. sect. 85. Co. Litt, 29 b. It is a species of freehold estate, not of inheritance, and equally known to English, Scotch and American law. 4 Kent's Com. 21, 28. Ersk. Inst, b. 2, tit. 9, § 62. 1 ffilliard's Heal Prop. IIO, et seq, U, S. Digest and Supplement, Dower and Curtesy. The early writers on English law agree in considering this kind of estate as peculiar to the law of England, and hence it is frequently called by them, and in old statutes and records, a tenancy per legem Anglics, par la ley Dengleterre, (by the law of England,) or, as expressed by Britton, title de fraunktenement en le heritage sa femme, par reckon d' la ley Dengleterre. Glanv. lib. 7, c. 18. j Broc^ fol. 437 b, 438. Britt. c. 61, fol. 132. /rf.c.66,fol. 167 b. FUta, lib. 6, c. 66. Litt. sect. 35. Stat. Westm. 2, c. 3. 1 Steph. Com. 246, note (o). It has been shown by modem writers that this peculiarity did not, in fact, exist; a similar kind of estate being found to have prevailed in Normandy, as well as among the ancient Germans, and even in the Roman law. Grand Coustum. c. 119. Lindenhrog, LL. Alam. tit. 92. Cod. 6. 60. 1. 2 Bl. Com. 126. Crag, de Jur. Feud. hb. 2, c. 19, sect. 4. Wright on Tenures, 193, 194. Bisset on Estates, 36. 4 Kent's Com. 28. Its actual derivation from these sources, however, not having been made out, the correctness of the ancient opinion as to its local origin in England, seems to be not materially afifected. 2 Wooddes. Lect. 13. As to the meaning of the term curtesy itself, it is by some writers understood in its ordinary sense oi favor {gratia,) the estate being enjoyed rather by favor of law, {ex gratia Ugis,) than as a matter of right. Spelman, voc. Jus curialitatis. 2 Wood* des. Lect. 13. Sir J. Jekyll, 2 P. Wms. 703. Others trace it to curtis or curia, (a court,^ as denoting an attendance by the husband on the lord's court, in capacity of his vassal or tenant, in respect of the wife's land. 2 Bl. Com. 126. Bisset on Estates, 37. Others, adopting the same etymology, give it a different application, considering tenant by curtesy as signifying as much as tenant by the courts of England. Crabb's Hist, Eng, Law, 86. 2 Chitt. Bl. Com. 126, note. But this last seems a strained derivation.