PARCENERS, or CUPARCENERS, are so called because the lands of which they arc parceners may be partitioned or divided among them. There may he parceners by common law and parceners by custom.
As to parceners by common law, if a man died intestate seised of lands in fee, and leaves only daughters, the lands will descend equally to all the daughters ; or if he has no daughters and no brothers, the lands will descend equally to all his sisters, if he has any; and if there are no nearer heirs, the lands will descend to his aunts. The descent is the same if a man dies seised of lands in tail, except where the estate tail was limited to such man and the heirs of his body, for in that case the lands can only descend to those who are heirs of the body. In all C.1803 where several females take one inheritance by descent, they are called parceners; and all lands or tenements, including a rent charge, may descend in this manner. If there be a title of dignity deseendible to heirs of the body, the lands and tenements belonging to it may descend to parceners; but the dignity itself does not descend, for all the parceners only make one heir, and a title of dignity is not in its nature divisible. The dignity therefore will be in abeyance. [BARON.] The descent of the crown is an exception to this for if there are several daughters, &c., and no male heir, the crown with all its rights descends to the eldest female. In the case of the high con atabheship of England, if there were parceners, the office was executed by the husband of the eldest daughter, and, before her marriage, by deputy.
Panerners rumble joint tenants In having a unity of title and one entire freehold; but the unity of title can only be by descent, and there is no survivorship among larcener; If one of them dies, her heir Is parerner with the survivor or survivors. Pareeners resemble tenants in common, in having each a moiety or several interest in the land which has descended to them. It follows from the nature of this interest, that one parconer may either enfooff another larcener of her share, or release her share to suchlarcener. If a larcener &Ilene her undivided share before partition, the alienee is tenant in common with the other }serener,.
Pareeners may voluntarily make partition of the land among them ; or any one might formerly compel her copareeners to make such division by a writ entitled de partitions faciende, which was also applicable to the ease of joint tenants and tenants In common. The
Court of Chancery in course of time acquired a jurisdiction in these • matters, and a bill may be filed In chancery by a parcener, praying for partition, which payer will be granted on the parcener making out her title. The partition is effected by issuing a eotnmission out of chancery to connuisaioners, who sot out and divide the lands, upon which the parties execute mutual conveyances. When partition is made, the several part-oilers hold their lands rut several and distinct estates. By statute 8 st 9 Viet., c. 106, a deed is made necessary to a .partition. It might previously have been effected by a writing not under scat. The general Inclosure Act, 8 St 9 Viet., a 118, contains a provision by which the inciosure Commissioners are enabled to effect partitions in a more compendious mode than that of a suit in chancery. (2 Blackest,' Comm.,' p. 320, Mr. Kerr's ed.) Coparcenary may exist among males and females. For instance, if a man has two daughters, and one of them dies in his life-time, but leaving a son and daughters, and then the father dies, the son of the deceased daughter will be coparcener with his aunt ; for he must trace his descent through his mother, who, if she had survived her father, would not have been his heir, but together with her sister, who did survive the father, would have made his heir.
By a recent Act ( 3 & 4 Will. IV., C. 27, s. 12) it is declared that when a parcener has been in possession of more than her share of the land, or in the receipt of more than her share of the rent, held in coparcenary, for her own benefit or for the benefit of some other persons than her coparceners, such possession or receipt by her shall not be considered the possession or receipt of her coparceners.
When all the sons take the land equally among them by descent, as in the case of gavelkind lands in Kent, they are parceners by eustom.
Coparcenary is not very common at present, lands being generally so settled as to prevent its occurrence. The chief rules as to copar cenary are stated in Comyn's' Digest," Parcener ; ' and in Littleton, b. iii., Of Parceners."