CHATTEL (Fr. chatel, old Fr. chaptel, from Lat. capitate, corrupted into captale and catallayn, meaning the capital or principal sum in a loan; hence goods in general, espe cially cattle, as distinguished from land), in the law of England, is a term used to desig nate any kind of property which, with reference either to the nature of the subject or the character of the interest possessed in it, is not frcelio/d. Regarded from a positive point of view, C. included not only all movable property, but all property which, though immovable, was not held on a feudal tenure. Any estate, then, or interest in lands and tenements not amounting to freehold, is a chattel. But as between property thus "savoring of reality" and mere personal movables—money, plate, cattle, and the like —there was a manifest distinction, chattels were, consequently, distinguished into chat and chattels personal. Both descriptions of C., in the eye of the ancient law of England, were regarded as inferior to freehold, and formed a subordinate class of prop erty. As distinguished from estates of inheritance, or for life in things immovable, such estate is called personal, the others being real estate. Till the passing of 8 and 9 Viet. c. 106, livery of seizin was required to pass an estate of inheritance, or for life in
corporal hereditaments of feu tenure, but such was no more required for the transfer of a C. real than of a C. personal. A C. real is also transmitted on the owner's death to his executor or administrator, like a C. personal, and does not descend to his heir like a freehold of inheritance. There is an exception to this rule, however, in the case of chattels which, owing to their intimate connection with property of a freehold nature, cannot be separated from it without injury. Such, for instance, are the muniments of title to an estate, growing grass, deer in a park, and actual fixtures, all of which go to the heir, and not the executor. The tenant of a C. real, like the tenant of a C. personal, is, moreover, said not to be seized, like the tenant of a freehold, but to be possessed. Lastly, there can be no estate tail in a C. real more than in a C. personal, except in the case in which either of them can be regarded as an heir-loom. Formerly, C. might be disposed of by will at an earlier age than real estates, but this was altered by 1 Viet. c. 26.