JOINT TENANCY (ante) is It term of the common law signifying the ownership— either in fee-simple, fee-tail, for life, for years, or at will, by two or more persons, with unity of interest, time, title, and possession—of an estate in real property. They must all hold upon one and the same conditions in every respect, each of them being regarded as having possession of every parcel and of the whole estate, not indeed for every pur pose, but in respect of tenure and survivorship. For the purpose of alienation each joint tenant has a right only to his undivided relative share of the property, and the pur chaser of such right simply succeeds to the position of the seller, but is not a joint. tenant. If there are two tenants, each may dispose of an undivided half; if four, an undivided quarter, and so on; but the purchaser cannot enter upon the exclusive posses sion of his share, for the estate must remain undivided, subject to an entirety of interest on the part of each joint tenant, and to what is called the principle of survivorship, by which is meant the right of the last survivor to the whole. property. In other words, when one of several joint tenants dies his share passes to the survivors, and so on until the last survivor takes the whole interest, whatever it may be, and upon his death it will pass to his heirs. An estate in joint tenancy can be created only by the specific act of the parties thereto. In this country such tenancy is very rare, the law presuming nothing in its favor, but rather toward tenancy in common, which excludes.
the principle of survivorship andimplies that the estate may be divided and each tenant take his proportionate share. Joint tenancy, in fact, is a relic of feudal times; when it. was the policy-of the law to keep large estates intact; whereas in this country the law favors the largest increase in the number of landholders, it being assumed that an interest in the soil enhances the dignity and loyalty of the citizen. As long ago as 178Tr estates devised to two or more persons in the state of New York, without express pro vision that they were to be held in joint tenancy, were declared to be tenancies in com mon, and similar legislation exists in some other states. Joint tenancy is not favored in courts of equity, except when granted to co-trustees. Joint tenants are regarded in law as a single owner as respects third parties, and they must therefore all be joined in any suits that concern their joint estate. Possession by one tenant is deemed the possession of all, and a conveyance to one a conveyance to all. The possessor is liable, however, to his co-tenants for their share of the rents and profits, and liable, also, to an action for refusal to join them' in making necessary repairs.. Corporations cannot be joint tenants, either with each other or with- individuals.