REMAINDER. An estate in remainder is defined by Coke to be "a remnant of an estate in lands or tenements, expectant on a par ticular estate, created together with the same at one time." According to this definition, it must be an estate in lands or tenements, includiug incorporeal hereditaments, as rents and tithes ; and it is an estate which at the time of its creation is not an estate in possession, but an estate the enjoyment of which is deferred. The estate in remainder may exist in lands or hereditaments held for an estate of inheritance or It must be created at the same time with the preceding estate, and by the same instrument ; hitt a will and is codicil arc for this purpose the same instrument. A remainder may be limited by appointment, which is an execution of a power created by the instru ment that creates the particular estate; for the instrument of appoint ment is legally considered as n part of the original instrument. A remainder may also be created either by deed or by will ; and either according to the rules of the common law, or by the operation of the Statute of Uses, which is now the wore usual means.
If a mnau seised in fee simple grants lands to A for years or for life, and then to B and his heirs, I3 has the remainder in fee, which is a present interest or estate, and he has consequently a present right to the enjoyment of the Lends upon the determination of A's estate; or, in other words, he has n vested estate, which is called a vested remainder. A reversion differs from a remainder in several respects. lie who grants an estate or estates out of his own estate, retains as his reversion whatever he does not grant ; and upon the determination of the estate or estates which he has granted, the land reverts to him. There may be several remainders and n reversion expectant on them. If A, tenant in fee simple, limits his estate to 13 for years, with remainder to C for life, with remainder to Din tail, this limitation does not exhanst the estate in fee simple. By the limitation 11 beconese tenant in possession for years, C has a vested remainder for life, 1) a vested remainder in tail, and A has the reversion in fee. If the
limitation by A exhaust the whole estate, as it would have .lone in the preceding instance if the limitation had been to C and his heirs, A has no estate left. It is a necessary consequence that if a man grants all his estate, he can grant nothing more ; and therefore the grant of any estate after an estate in fee simple is void as a remainder. Indeed the word remainder implies that what is granted as such is either a hart or the whole of something which still remains of the original estate.
The estate which precedes the estate in remainder or in reversion is called the pat-finder estate, being a particula or portion of all tho estate which is limited; and the particular estate may be any estate except an estate st will, and an estate in fee simple. It must therefore be either an estate for years, or for life, or in tail.
Estates for years may be granted to commence at a future time ; but by the rules of the common law, no estate of freehold can be created to commence at a future time. If therefore such nu estate of freehold is granted, there mud, be created at the same time nit estate fur years, which shall continue till the time fixed for the enjoyment of the estate of freehold.
A remainder cannot be granted so as not to take effect immediately out the determination of the particular estate. If there is any interval left between the particular estate and the remainder in their creation, - — the remainder is absolutely void. A grant of an estate to A, and one day after the determination thereof to B, is a void remainder.
Estates in remainder are either vested or contingent. The remainder may vest at the time of the limitation, or it may vest afterwards : in either case the remainder-man acquires an estate in the land, to the enjoyment of which lie is entitled upon the determination of the pre ceding estate. But it may happen that a vested remainder may never become an estate in possession.