In the reign of Elizabeth the Acts of 13 Eliz. c. 5 and 27 Eliz. c. 4 avoided fraudulent conveyances as against all parties and voluntary conveyances as against subsequent purchasers for valu able consideration. Early in the reign of Charles II. the Act of 1661 (12 Car. II. c. 24) turned all the feudal tenures (with the exception of frankalmoign and grand serjeanty) into tenure by free and common socage and abolished the feudal incidents. The Statute of Frauds (29 Car. II. c. 3) contained provisions that certain leases and assignments, and that all agreements and trusts relating to land, should be in writing (see FRAUD). The land registries of Middlesex and Yorkshire date from the reign of Anne (see LAND REGISTRATION). Devises of land for charitable purposes were forbidden by the Mortmain Act (9 Geo. II. c. 36). In the next reign the first general Inclosure Act was passed, 41 Geo. III. c. 109 (see COMMONS). In the reign of William IV. were passed the Prescription, Limitation and Tithe Commutation Acts; fines and recoveries were abolished and simpler modes of conveyance substituted, and the laws of inheritance and dower were amended. Since the commencement of the reign of Victoria there has been a vast mass of legislation dealing with real estate in almost every conceivable aspect. At the immediate beginning of the reign stands the Wills Act. The transfer of real estate was simplified by the Real Property Act 1845 and by the Conveyanc ing Acts 1881 to 1911 (now the Law of Property Act 1925). The Act of 1845 finally established the modern system of trans fer by a single deed by enacting that all corporeal hereditaments should, as regards the immediate freehold be deemed to lie in grant, as well as in livery. By the Acts of 1925 the ancient modes of conveyance, in practice already obsolete, were abolished. Addi tional powers of dealing with settled estates were given by the Settled Estates Act 1856, later by the Settled Estates Act 1877, and the Settled Land Acts 1882-90 (now the Settled Land Act 1925). Succession duty was levied for the first time on freeholds in 1853. The strictness of the Mortmain Act has been relaxed in favour of gifts and sales to public institutions of various kinds, such as schools, parks and museums. The period of limitation was shortened for most purposes from 20 to 12 years by the Real Property Limitation Act 1874. Several Acts were passed facilitat ing the enfranchisement and commutation of copyholds, until these were finally abolished by the Law of Property Act 1922. The Naturalization Act 1870 enabled aliens to hold and transfer land in England. The Felony Act 1870 abolished forfeiture of real estate on conviction for felony. The Agricultural Holdings Acts and other Acts gave the tenant of a tenancy within the Acts a general right to compensation for improvements, substituted a year's notice to quit for the six months' notice previously neces sary, enlarged the tenant's right to fixtures, and limited the amount of distress. Somewhat similar provisions for the benefit of lessees are contained in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 (see LEASE). Among other subjects which have been dealt with by recent legislation may be mentioned land transfer, registration, mortgage, partition, excambion, fixtures, taking of land in execu tion, declaration of title and apportionment.
The Present Law.—The tendency of legislation since the abolition of fines and recoveries in 1833 has been to facilitate 'From the reign of Edward IV. at latest up to the Fines and Recoveries Act of 1833 fines and recoveries were also recognized as a means of conveyance. They are so regarded in the Statute of Uses.
the sale of real estate. But until 1926 on the one hand land purchase was discouraged by the variety of local custom and the liability, in the case of copyholds, to manorial incidents, in some cases a very real burden upon the tenant ; and on the other hand the sale of land was in many cases for practical purposes impossible. For instance, under the old system the legal estate
might be split up into a large number of undivided shares, such shares being vested in different persons, of whom some were un able to convey by reason of infancy or from some other cause, some had a mere term of years for securing a charge, and some had only a life or other limited interest. In such a case the equitable estate in the various undivided shares might also be tied up in a number of different ways. In order to sell the land it was sometimes necessary not only to obtain the concurrence of 20 or more persons but also to institute legal proceedings in order to obtain the sanction of the court; the expense involved might therefore be greater than the value of the land.
All land is now held in free and common socage. By the series of Acts' which came into force on Jan. 1, 1926, and which con solidate and profoundly modify the statutes relating to land from the time of Edward I., all copyholds were enfranchised, cus tomary tenures' and local rules of descent were abolished, the splitting up of legal estates was made impossible, outstanding legal estates were got in, and infants were disabled from holding or acquiring land. At the same time all existing beneficial interests were preserved (though often in a different form), and it was made possible to create similar interests without thereby sub jecting the land to the inconveniences formerly involved.
In brief, this object was attained (I) by abolishing forthwith certain manorial incidents (e.g., customary suits, fealty, escheat and certain forfeitures), and by making provision for the ultimate extinguishment of others (e.g., manorial and customary rents, fines, heriots, etc.), either by agreement as to compensation or by notice to fix compensation or by automatic expiry; (2) by apply ing the general principle of the convertibility of land into money; (3) by enacting in effect that all land not held absolutely and beneficially by one person capable of conveying the same should be subject either to a trust for sale or a power of sale', the per sons capable of exercising such trust' or power being never more than four, and (4) by reducing to two the number of legal estates in land. A few words of explanation must suffice.
The only estates in land capable of subsisting or of being con veyed or created at law are (a) an estate in fee simple absolute in possession and (b) a term of years absolute ; examples of the latter being the estates taken by lessees and legal mortgagees (see LEASE, MORTGAGE). The only interests or charges in or over land are (I) an easement right or privilege for an interest equivalent to one of the two legal estates already mentioned; (2) a rentcharge in possession, either perpetual or for a term of years absolute; (3) a charge by way of legal mortgage; (4) land tax, tithe-rentcharge and similar charges; and (5) rights of entry exercisable over or in respect of a legal term of years absolute or annexed to a legal rentcharge. All other estates, interests and charges in or over land take effect in equity and can be enforced by equitable remedies only. Certain mortgages and similar charges on land must be registered either at the land registry or, if the land is in Yorkshire, in appropriate registry there in order to obtain the protection by the Land Charges Act 1925; 'Law of Property Act 1922, Law of Property Act 1925, Land Registration Act 1925, Settled Land Act 1925, Land Charges Act 1925, Administration of Estates Act 1925, Trustee Act 1925 and Universities and College Estates Act 1925.