CHAP. XIV. after the lease shall have been executed, the contract shall no longer form any part of the evidence at law or in equity to the benefit of the same lease.

Divorce Bills.

Bills for the enclosure of waste lands may also be said to be, in a certain sense, private bills affecting the transfer and conveyance of landed property; but the consideration of this subject, with the requisite details, is not compatible with the plan of these pages (1).

Divorce Bills also, to a certain extent, affect the transmission of property. The preamble usually states the marriage of the parties, their cohabitation, the elopement, adultery,—the action at common law (if any) and damages,—and the sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court. It then enacts the dissolution of the marriage, and that either of the parties may marry again, as if "the "other were actually dead ;" and that if the husband marry again, he shall be entitled to his estate of curtesy in the lady's lands, and she to her thirds, dower, &c. of his estate and then the bill lastly enacts, as between the parties to the divorce, that the lady shall thenceforth be barred and excluded from all dower, free-bench and thirds, at common law, &c., of which the husband then is, or may, at any subsequent period, become entitled to or possessed of; and that, on the other hand, he shall be barred and excluded from all estate, real and personal, and from all powers and authorities, which she is now entitled to and may exercise, or may

(1) See 1 Atk. Conv. p.544, where all the cases are collected, and their substance stated.

at any future time acquire, or be entitled to exercise; CHAP. XIV. and that she, her heirs &c. " shall and may hold and

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enjoy the same, and every of them, and all provisions "made and settled for her on her marriage, for all her " and their estate, and interest therein, for her and their own proper use, benefit and advantage, exclusive of “the said [husband,] his heirs, executors and adminis"trators, and all and every other person and persons "whomsoever claiming, or to claim, by, from, or under " him."

Bills.

There is another class of Private Bills, called Na- Naturalization turalization Bills, principally passed with a view to enable an individual to hold and transmit real estate. Their nature and import will be sufficiently understood, from the following precedent of such a bill ::

HUMBLY SHEWETH your most excellent majesty, the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons in this present parlia ment assembled, [here state the name of the person seeking to be naturalized, of whom he was born, and the country he was born in,] professing the Protestant religion, and having given testimony of his loyalty and fidelity to your majesty and the good of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, That it may be enacted, AND BE IT ENACTED by the king's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal and commons in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the said

shall be, and he is hereby from henceforth naturalized, and shall be adjudged and taken to all intents and purposes to be naturalized, and as a free-born subject of the said United Kingdom, and he is and shall be from henceforth adjudged, reputed and taken to be in every condition, respect and degree free, to all intents, purposes and con

CHAP. XIV. structions, as if he had been born a natural subject within

the said United Kingdom.

AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That the said

shall be, and he is hereby enabled and adjudged able, to all intents, purposes and constructions whatsoever, to inherit and be inheritable and inherited, and to demand, challenge, ask, take, retain, have, keep, and enjoy, all or any manors, lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods, chattels, debts, estates, and all other privileges and immunities, benefits and advantages, in law or in equity, belonging to the liege people and natural-born subjects of the said United Kingdom, and make his resort or pedigree as heir to his ancestors, lineal or collateral, by reason of descent, remainder, reverter, right, title, conveyance, legacy, or bequest whatsoever, which hath, may, or shall, from henceforth descend, remain, revert, accrue or grow due unto him, as also from henceforth to ask, take, have, retain, keep and enjoy all manors, lands, tenements and hereditaments which he may or shall have by way of purchase or gift of any person or persons whomsoever, and to prosecute, pursue, maintain, avow, justify, and defend all and all manner of actions, suits and causes, and all other things to do as lawfully, liberally, freely and surely as if he, the said

had been born of parents being natural-born snbjects of the said United Kingdom, and as any person born or derived from parents being natural-born subjects of the said United Kingdom may lawfully or in anywise do; and he, the said in all things, and to all intents and purposes, shall be taken to be and shall be a natural liege subject of the said United Kingdom, any law, act, statute, provision, custom, ordinance or other matter or thing whatsoever, had, made, done. promulgated, proclaimed or provided to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding.

AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That he, the said

shall not hereby be enabled to be of the privy council or member of either house of parliament, or to take any office or place of trust, either civil or mi

litary, or to have any grant of lands, tenements or hereditaments from the crown to himself, or any other person or persons, in trust for him; any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That he, the said

shall not hereby obtain, or be entitled to claim, within any foreign country, any of the immunities or indulgences in trade which are or may be enjoyed or claimed therein by natural-born subjects of the said United Kingdom, by virtue of any treaty or otherwise, unless he, the said shall have inhabited and resided within the said United Kingdom, or the dominions thereunto belonging, for the space of seven years subsequent to the first day of this present session of parliament, and shall not have been absent out of the same for a longer space than two months at any one time during the said term of seven years; any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

CHAP. XIV.

CHAPTER XV.

OF THE GRANT OF RENT-CHARGES AND ANNUITIES.

Grant of rent

freehold estate.

When a rent-charge is to be secured out of freecharge out of hold lands, the way is, to "give, grant, bargain, sell and "confirm the annuity to the annuitant for and during the "term of his natural life, to be issuing out of such and "such lands, habendum for life, with powers of distress "and entry, And, subject thereto, to the use of a trustee "for a term of 99 years, In trust, in case the annuity "should be in arrear by so many days, to raise the same "out of the rents, or by mortgage, or sale of the premises

Grant of rentcharge out of leasehold.

Grant of rentcharge out of freehold and leasehold.

comprised in the term, And subject thereto the premises "to be To the use of the grantor in fee." If no term were limited to a trustee, and no distress were to be found upon the premises, the annuitant would be unable to recover the annuity, and therefore a term is indispensably necessary. If the annuity is to be secured out of leasehold lands, then, as it would be inconsistent to grant an annuity for life issuing out of a chattel interest, the whole interest must be vested in trustees.

If the annuity is to be secured out of freehold and leasehold property the freehold may be demised for a term of years, and the leasehold assigned to trustees, In trust