a person grants a lease of land for a certain term he is said to have an estate in reversion in that land, in the sense that it will revert to him upon the expiration of the term. Upon reversion the estate becomes one in possession. The term reversion is also generally applied to the interest which one may have in property for the time being in the possession of another, but which upon the happening of some con tingency, such as the death of that other person or the expiration of a specified period of time, will become one's own absolute property in possession.
Such a reversionary interest would be had by B. under, for example, a will, by which the testator has devised a house to A. for his life, and after the death of A. to B. Or a testator may create a trust of property, say land and securities, that the income thereof shall be paid to A. during his life, and after his death the property shall be realised and divided between B., C., and D. Here B., C., and D. are the reversioners. Some trusts do not confine themselves to the one contingency of death. Thus, under her husband's will, a widow may have an estate for her life or until she shall marry again ; or under his parent's will an extravagant son may have an estate for his life, or until he attempts to charge or encumber it or he compounds with his creditors or becomes bankrupt. In such cases the reversioners have a chance of coming
into possession before the death of the life tenant of the property, but in valuing their reversionary interest the death would, as a general rule, be the determining factor. The value of the reversion is computed by ascertaining the number of years likely to be lived by the life tenant. This should properly be ascertained by a combination of actuarial calculation and expert investigation into the personal characteristics and probabilities of the life ; it is not sufficient, strictly speaking, to rely solely upon general tables of mortality and expectation of life. Then the value of the property at the ascertained probable time of death should be estimated. The value of the reversion will be the present value of that probable value taken as being realisable at the time at which the death of the life tenant is probable. The calculation of the present value of the reversion on! the expiration of a lease is perhaps less speculative, for the number of years which must elapse before the reversioner obtains possession is definitely ascertained by the lease itself. See CATCHING BARGAINS.