1. The interest which any one has in lands, or in any other subject of property. 1 Prest. Est. 20. And see Van Rensselaer v. Poucher, 5 Denio (N. Y.) 40; Beall v. Holmes, 6 Har. ft J. (Md.) 208; Mul-ford v. Le Franc, 26 Cal. 103; Robertson v. VanCleave,
More... 1. The interest which any one has in lands, or in any other subject of property. 1 Prest. Est. 20. And see Van Rensselaer v. Poucher, 5 Denio (N. Y.) 40; Beall v. Holmes, 6 Har. ft J. (Md.) 208; Mul-ford v. Le Franc, 26 Cal. 103; Robertson v. VanCleave, 129 Ind. 217, 22 N. E. 899, 29 N. EL 781, 15 LL R. A. 68; Ball v. Chadwick, 46 IU. 31; Cutts v. Com., 2 Mass, 289; Jackson v. Parker, 9 Cow. (N. Y.) 81. An estate in lands, tenements, and hereditaments signifies such interest as the tenant has therein. 2 Bl. Comm. 103. The condition or circumstance in which the owner stands with regard to his property. 2 Crabb, Real Prop, p. 2, f 942. In this sense, "estate" is constantly used in conveyances in connection with the words "right" "title," and "interest" and is, in a great degree, synonymous with all of them. See Co. Litt. 345. .
Classification. Estates, in this sense, may be either absolute or conditional. An absolute estate is a full and complete estate (Cooper v. Cooper, 56 N. J. Eq. 48, 38 Atl. 198) or an estate in lands not subject to be defeated upon any condition. In this phrase the word "absolute" Is not used legally to distinguish a fee from a life-estate, but a qualified or conditional fee from a fee simple, Greenawalt v. Green-await, 71 Pa. 483. A conditional estate is one, the existence of which depends upon the happening or not happening of some uncertain event, whereby the estate may be either originally created, or enlarged, or finally defeated. 2 Bl. Comm. 151. Estates are also classed as executed or executory. The former is an estate whereby a present interest passes to and resides in the tenant, not dependent upon any subsequent circumstance or contingency. They are more commonly called "estates in possession." 2 Bl. Comm. 162. An estate where there is vested in the grantee a present and immediate right of present or future enjoyment An executory estate is an estate or interest in lands, the vesting or enjoyment of which depends upon some future contingency. Such estate may be an executory devise, or an executory remainder, which is the same as a contingent remainder, because no present interest passes. Further, estates may be legal or equitable. The former is that kind of estate which is properly cognizable in the courts of common law, though noticed, also, in the courts of equity. 1 Steph. Comm. 217. And see Say re v. Mohney, 30 Or. 238, 47 Pac 197; In re Qualifications of Electors, 19 It 1. 3S7, 35 Atl. 213. An equitable estate is an estate an interest in which can only be enforced in a court of chancery. Avery v. Dufrees, 9 Ohio, 145. That is properly an equitable estate or interest for which a court of equity affords the only remedy: and of this nature, especially, is the benefit of every trust, express or implied, which is not converted into a legal estate by the statute of uses. The rest are equities of redemption, constructive trusts, and all equitable charges. Burt. Comp. c. 8. Brown v. Freed, 43 Ind. 253; In re Qualifications of Electors, 19 R. I. 387, 35 Atl. 213.
Other descriptive and compound terms.
A contingent estate is one which depends for its effect upon an event which may or may not happen, as, where an estate is limited to a person not yet born. Conventional estates are those freeholds not of inheritance or estates for life, which are created by the express acts of the parties, in contradistinction to those which are legal and arise from the operation of law. A dominant estate, in the law of easements, is the estate for the benefit of which the easement exists, or the tenement whose owner, as such, enjoys an easement over an adjoining estate. An expectant estate is one which is not yet in possession, but the enjoyment of which is to begin at a future time; a present or vested contingent right of future enjoyment Examples are remainders and reversions. A future estate is an estate which is not now vested in the grantee, but is to commence in possession at some future time. It includes remainders, reversions, and estates limited to commence in futuro without a particular estate to support them, which last are not good at common law, except in the case of chattel interests. See 2 Bl. Comm. 165. An estate limited to commence in possession at a future day, either without the intervention of a precedent estate, or on the determination by lapse of time, or otherwise, of a precedent estate created at the same time. 11 Rev. St. N. Y. (3d Ed.) s 10. See Griffin v. Shepard, 124 N. Y. 70, 26 N. E. 339; Sable-dowsky v. Arbuckle, 50 Minn. 475, 52 N. W. 920; Ford v. Ford, 70 Wis. 19, 33 N. W. 188, 5 Am. St. Rep. 117. A particular estate is a limited estate which is taken out of the fee, 'and which precedes a remainder; as an estate for years to A., remainder to B. for life; or an estate for life to A., remainder to B. in tail. This precedent estate is called the "particular-estate," and the tenant of such estate is called the "particular tenant." 2 Bl. Comm. 165; Bunting v. Speek, 41 Kan. 424, 21 Pac. 288, 3 L. R. A. 690. A servient estate, in the law of easements, isthe estate upon which the easement is imposed or against which it is enjoyed;
an estate subjected to a burden or servitude for the benefit of another estate. Walker Clifford, 128 Ala. 67, 29 South. 588. 86 Am. St. Rep. 74; Stevens v. Dennett, 51 N. H. 330; Dillman v. Hoffman, 88 Wis. 572. A settled estate, in English law, is one created or limited under a settlement; that is, one in which the powers of alienation, devising, and transmission according to the ordinary rules of descent are restrained by the limitations of the settlement. Micklethwait v. Micklethwait 4 C. B. (N. S.) 858. A vested estate is one in which there is an Immediate right of present enjoyment or a present fixed right of future enjoyment; an estate as to which there is a person in being who would have an immediate right to the possession upon the ceasing of some intermediate or precedent estate. Tayloe v. Gould, 10 Barb. (N. .) 388; Flanner v. Fellows, 206 111. 136, 68 N. EL 1057.
-Original and derivative estates. An original is the first of several estates, bearing to each other the relation of a particular estate and a reversion. An original estate is contrasted with a derivative estate; and a derivative estate is a particular interest carved out of another estate of larger extent. Prest Est. 125.
For the names and definitions of the various kinds of estates in land, see the following titles.
2. In another sense, the term denotes the property (real or personal) in which one has a right or interest; the subject-matter of ownership; the corpus of property. Thus, we speak of a "valuable estate," "all my estate," "separate estate," "trust estate," etc, This, also, is its meaning in the classification of property into "real estate" and "personal estate."
The word "estate" Is a word of the greatest extension, and comprehends every species of property, real and personal. It describes both the corpus and the extent of interest. Deering v. Tucker, 55 Me. 284.
"Estate" comprehends everything a man owns, real and personal, and ought not to be limited in its construction, unless connected with some other word which must necessarily have that effect Pulliam v. Pulliam (C. C.) 10 Fed. 40.
It means, ordinarily, the whole of the property owned by any one, the realty as well as the personalty. Hunter v. Husted, 45 N. C. 141.
Compound and descriptive terms.-Fast estate. Real property. A term sometimes used in wills. Lewis v. Smith, 9 N. Y. 502, 61 Am. Dec. 706.-Real estate. Landed property, including all estates and interests in lands which are held for life or for some greater estate, and whether such lands be of freehold or copyhold tenure. Wharton. -Homestead estate. See HOMESTEAD. -Movable estate. See MOVABLE.-Residuary estate. See RESIDUARY.-Separate estate. See SEPARATE. -Trust estate. See TRUST.
3. In a wider sense, the term "estate" denotes a man's whole financial status or condition,-the aggregate of his interests and concerns, so far as regards his situation with reference to wealth or its objects, including debts and obligations, as well as possessions and rights."
Here not only property, but Indebtedness, is part of the idea. The estate does not consist of the assets only. If it did, such expressions as "insolvent estate" would be misnomers. Debts and assets, taken together, constitute the estate. It is only by regarding the demands against the original proprietor as constituting, together with his resources available to defray them, one entirety, that the phraseology of the law governing what is called "settlement of estates" can be justified. Abbott
4. The word is also used to denote the aggregate of a man's financial concerns (as above) personified. Thus, we speak of "debts due the estate," or say that "A.'s estate is a stockholder In the bank." In this sense it is a fictitious or juridical person, the idea being that a man's business status continues his existence, for its special purposes, until its final settlement and dissolution.
5. In its broadest sense, "estate" signifies the social, civic, or political condition or standing of a person; or a class of persons considered as grouped for social, civic, or political purposes; as in the phrases, "the third estate," "the estates of the realm." See 1 Bl. Comm. 153.
"Estate" and "degree," when used in the sense of an individual's personal status, are synonymous, and indicate the individual's rank in life. State v. Bishop, 15 Me. 122.
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