Livery

In English law. The delivery of possession of lands to those tenants who hold of the king in capita or by knight's service. The name of a writ which lay for the heir of age to obtain possession of the seisin of his lands at the king's bands. Pitzh. Nat. Brev. 155; 2 Bl. Comm. 68. The distinguishing dress worn by the servants of a gentleman or nobleman, or by the members of a particular guild. "Livery or clothing." Sayer, 274. By St. 1 Rich. II. c. 7, and St. 16 Rich. II. c. 4, none but the servants of a lord, and continually dwelling in his house, or those above rank of yeomen, should wear the lord's livery. Privilege of a particular company or guild. Wharton.

In English Law. The delivery of possession of lands to those tenants who hold of the king in capite or by knight’s service. The name of a writ which lay for the heir of age to obtain po.ssession of the seisin of his lands at the king’s hands; abolished by stat. 12 Car. II. c. 24. Fitzh. N. B. 155; 2 Bla. Com. 68. The distinguishing dre.ss worn by the servants of a gentleman or nobleman, or by the memhers of a particular guild. “Livery or clothing.” Say. 274. By stat. 1 Rich. II. c. 7, and 16 Rich. II. c. 4, none but the servants of a lord, and continually dwelling in his house, or those above the rank of yeomen, should wear the lord’s livery. The clothes supplied by a master for his servants’ use belong to the master;' 3 O. & P. 470. See Stubbs, Const. Hist. 470. Privilege of a particular company or guild. The members of such company are called liverymen. Whart Lex.

1.

In English law. Delivery of possession of their lands to the king's tenants in capite or tenants by knight's service.
2. A writ which may be sued out by a ward in chivalry, on reaching his majority, to obtain delivery of the possession of his lands out of the hands of the guardian. 2 Bl. Comm. 68.
3. A particular dress or garb appropriate or peculiar to certain persons, as the members of a guild, or, more particularly, the servants of a nobleman or gentleman.
4. The privilege of a particular guild or company of persons, the members thereof being called "livery-men."
5. 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."

— Livery in chivalry. In feudal law. The delivery of the lands of a ward in chivalry out of the guardian's bands, upon the heir's attaining the requisite age,
—twenty-one for males, sixteen for females. 2 Bl. Comm. 68.

— Liveryman. A member of some company in the city of London ; also called a "freeman."

— Livery of seisin. The appropriate ceremony, at common law, for transferring the corporal possession of lands or tenements by a grantor to his grantee. It was livery in deed where the parties went together upon the land, and there a twig, clod, key, or other symbol was delivered in the name of the whole. Livery in law was where the same ceremony was performed, not upon the land itself, but in sight of it. 2 Bl. Comm. 315, 316; Micheau v. Crawford, 8 N. J. Law, 108; Northern Pac. R. Co. v. Cannon (C. C.) 46 Fed. 232.
—Livery-office, An office appointed for the delivery of lands.

— Livery stable keeper. One whose business it la to keep horses for hire or to let, or to keep, feed, or board horses for others. Kittanning Borough v. Montgomery, 5 Pa. Super. Ct. 198.

In English law. Delivery; a writ which lay for an heir in Icnight-service to obtain possession of lands; the privilege of a particular company. Livery ol seisin: delivery of seisin; delivery of corporeal possession of lands or tenements conveyed; a ceremony in conveyance by feoffment, without which the feoffee had but an estate at will. Livery in deed, or actual livery, was performed by the feoffor, or his attorney, entering with the charter of feoffment, latch of the door, in the name of seisin of all the lands; livery in law, by a performance of the ceremony without entry, but in sight of the land.

1.

In English law. Delivery of possession of their lands to the king's tenants in capite or tenants by knight's service. 2. A writ which may be sued out by a ward in chivalry, on reaching his majority, to obtain delivery of the possession of his lands out of the hands of the guardian. 2 Bl. Com. 68. 3. A particular dress or garb appropriate or peculiar to certain persons, as the members of a guild, or, more particularly, the servants of a nobleman or gentleman. 4. The privilege of a particular guild or company of persons, the members thereof being called "livery-men." 5. 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."

5 Delivery; tradition. The act or the form by which possession of land was formerly given or received. Livery in chivalry. When the heirmale at twenty-one, or an heir-female at sixteen, sued out a delivery of his or her lands from the guardian. 6 livery of seisin. Pure feudal investiture, or delivery of corporal possession of land or of a tenement.' Was absolutely necessarf to complete a donation; the last act by which a feoffment was perfected. It preserved the testimony of the grant in the community. It was necessary to the grant of an estate of freehold in a corporeal hereditament; impossible in the case of an incorporeal hereditament; and not essential to a lease for years or other chattel interest. Hence, a, freehold could not be made to commence in futuro, the actual manual tradition of the land being wanting. Livery in deed. Livery actually made on the land, before witnesses. Livery in law. Livery made In sight of the land. Both were succeeded by delivery inwriting.' Land granted by livery of seisin, without defining the quantity of the estate, was treated as a life-estate." Where there was a delivery of possession, without defining the term, there arose only a tenancy at will.' •See further Delivery, 1.

Delivery. A writ for the heir in his lands; v. Ousterlemain. Livery of delivery of corporeal possession of the grantor to the grantee. The grantor upon the land and there delivered a symbol, in the name of the seisin. they did not enter, but performed the land. Livre,/r. A book; a pound.

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.

Engl. law. 1. The by the borrower, without paying for delivery of possession of lands to it. Jones’s Bailm. 118. According those tenants who hold of the king to the Louisiana Code, art. 2864, it #n capite, or knight’s service.—2. a is an agreement by which a person Livery was also the name of a writ delivers a thing to another, to use it which lay for the heir of age, to ob- according to its natural destination, tain the possession of seisin of his or according to the agreement, unlands at the king’s hands. F.N. B. der an obligation on the part of the 155.—3. It signifies in the third borrower, to return it after he shall place the clothes given by a noble- have done using it. This loan is man or gentleman to his servant. essentially gratuitous. The Code