LEASE AND RELEASE. An old form of con veyance of land. It had its origin in the practice of leasing laud to a tenant for a term. as one year. and then. after his entry upon the land and during his term. releasing the reversion. or es tate of the landlord. to him by a decd. The two transactions together had the effect of transfer the entire freehold estate of the grantor. which otherwise could be effected only by the notorious process of feoffment (q.v.). or livery of seisin (q.v.). It had the advantage over the latter of a secret conveyance. but was sub ject to the disadvantage of requiring the actual 4entry of the tenant upon the laud before he be came capable of taking the reversion by the deed of release. This difficulty was obviated by the construction put by the courts upon the famous Statute of Uses (27 Ben. c. 10), which per mitted the creation of a couplets leasehold es tate without the necessity of an entry by the tenant. by the device of conveying the land to his
'use' for a year. The statute in question, by exe cuting the use. i.e. by transferring to the tenant a legal title coextensive with his use, or equi table title, vested the possession in him and thus rendered him instantly capable of taking the landlord's estate by release. The two instru ments of lease and of release could thus be executed in quick succession, and. later, the two acts became simultaneous and were merged in one and the same instrument. This process, of lease and release was the usual mode of convey ance in England for three hundred years, and prevailed in the United States as well, until superseded by the simpler conveyance by deed of grant, which is now in vogue in both countries. See DEED; GRANT; CONVEYANCE.