pond, doves in a dove-house, &c. though in themselves personal chattels, yet they are so annexed to and so necessary to the well-being of the inheritance, that they shall accompany the land wherever it vests, by either descent or purchase. For this reason also I apprehend it is, that the ancient jewels of the crown are held to be heir-looms; for they are necessary to maintain the state, and support the dignity, of the sovereign for the time being. Charters likewise, and deeds, court-rolls, and other evidences of the land, together with the chests in which they are contained, shall pass together with the land to the heir, in the nature of heirlooms, and shall not go to the executore. By special custom also, in some places, carriages, utensils, and other household implements, may be heir-looms f; but such custom must be strictly proved. On the other hand, by almost general custom, whatever is strongly affixed to the freehold or inheritance, and cannot be severed from thence without violence or damage, “ quod ab aedibus non facile revellitur," is become a member of the inheritance, and shall thereupon pass to the heir; as chimney-pieces, pumps, old fixed or dormant tables, benches, and the likeh (2). A very similar notion to which prevails in the dutchy of Brabant; where they rank certain things moveable among those of the immoveable e Co. Litt. 8. d Ibid. 18. e Bro. Abr. tit. chatteles. 18. g Spelm. Gloss. 277. 12 Mod. 520. and household furniWhere they are left shall respectively be fruitless attempts to make pictures, plate, books, ture, descend to the heir with a family mansion. to be enjoyed as heirlooms by the persons who in possession of a certain house, or to descend as heir-looms as far as courts of law and equity will admit, the absolute interest of them, subject to the life-interests of those who have life-estates in the real property, will vest in that person who is entitled to the first estate-tail or estate of inheritance, and upon his death that interest will pass to his personal representative. 1 Bro. 274. 3 Bro. 101. (2) See p. 281, n. 10, ante. kind, calling them by a very particular appellation, praedia volantia, or volatile estates: such as beds, tables, and other heavy implements of furniture, which (as an author of their own observes) ❝ dignitatem istam nacta sunt, ut villis, sylvis, et "aedibus, aliisque praediis comparentur; quod solidiora mobilia ❝ipsis aedibus ex destinatione patrisfamilias cohaerere videantur, et "pro parte ipsarum aedium aestimentur i ̧” دو OTHER personal chattels there are, which also descend to the heir in the nature of heir-looms, as a monument or tombstone in a church, or the coat-armor of his ancestor there hung up, with the pennons and other ensigns of [429] honor, suited to his degree. In this case, albeit the freehold of the church is in the parson, and these are annexed to that freehold, yet cannot the parson or any other take them away or deface them, but is liable to an action from the heirk. Pews in the church are somewhat of the same nature, which may descend by custom immemorial (without any ecclesiastical concurrence) from the ancestor to the heir1 (3). But though the heir has a property in the monuments and escutcheons of his ancestors, yet he has none in their bodies or ashes; i Stockmans de jure devolutionis. c. 3. sec. 16. k 12 Rep. 105. Co. Litt. 18.. (3) The right to sit in a particular pew in a church arises either from prescription as appurtenant to a messuage, or from a faculty or grant from the ordinary, for he has the disposition of all pews which are not claimed by prescription. Gibs. Cod. 221. In an action upon the case for a disturbance of the enjoyment of a pew, if the plaintiff claims it by prescription, he must state it in the declaration as appurtenant to a messuage in the parish. This prescription may be supported by an enjoyment for thirty-six years, and perhaps any time above twenty years. 1 T. R. 428. But where a pew was claimed as appurtenant to an ancient messuage, and it was proved that it had been so annexed for thirty years, but that it had no existence before that time, it was held this modern commencement defeated the prescriptive claim. 5 T. R. 296. In an action against the ordinary, the plaintiff must allege and prove repairs of the pew. 1 Wils. 326. nor can he bring any civil action against such as indecently at least, if not impiously, violate and disturb their remains, when dead and buried. The parson indeed, who has the freehold of the soil, may bring an action of trespass against such as dig and disturb it: and, if any one in taking up a dead body steals the shroud or other apparel, it will be felony m; for the property thereof remains in the executor, or whoever was at the charge of the funeral (4). BUT to return to heir-looms: these, though they be merc chattels, yet cannot be devised away from the heir by will; but such a devise is void ", even by a tenant in fee-simple. For, though the owner might during his life have sold or disposed of them, as he might of the timber of the estate, since, as the inheritance was his own, he might mangle or dismember it as he pleased; yet, they being at his death instantly vested in the heir, the devise (which is subsequent, and not to take effect till after his death) shall be postponed to the custom, whereby they have already descended. m 3 Inst. 110. 12 Rep. 113. 1 Hal. P. C. 515% n Co. Litt. 185. (4) It has been determined, that stealing dead bodies, though for the improvement of the science of anatomy, is an indictable offence as a misdemeanor; it being a practice contrary to common decency, and shocking to the general sentiments and feelings of mankind. 2 T. R. 733 CHAPTER THE TWENTY-NINTH. OF TITLE BY SUCCESSION, MARRIAGE, AND JUDGMENT. IN the present chapter we shall take into consideration three other species of title to goods and chattels. V. THE fifth method therefore of gaining a property in chattels, either personal or real, is by succession: which is, in strictness of law, only applicable to corporations aggregate of many, as dean and chapter, mayor and commonalty, master and fellows, and the like; in which one set of men may, by succeeding another set, acquire a property in all the goods, moveables, and other chattels of the corporation. The true reason whereof is, because in judgment of law a corporation never dies: and therefore the predecessors, who lived a century ago, and their successors now in being, are one and the same body corporate a. Which identity is a property so inherent in the nature of a body politic, that, even when it is meant to give any thing to be taken in succession by such a body, that succession need not be expressed: but the law will of itself imply it. So that a gift to such a corporation, either of lands or of chattels, without naming their successors, vests an absolute property in them so long as the corporation subsists. And thus a lease for years, an obliga tion, a jewel, a flock of sheep, or other chattel in- [431] terest, will vest in the successors, by succession, as well as in the identical members, to whom it was originally given. BUT, with regard to sole corporations, a considerable dis'tinction must be made. For if such sole corporation be the a 4 Rep. 65. b Bro. Abr. t. estates. 90. Cro. Eliz. 464. representative of a number of persons; as the master of an hospital, who is a corporation for the benefit of the poor brethren; an abbot, or prior, by the old law before the reformation, who represented the whole convent; or the dean of some ancient cathedral, who stands in the place of, and represents in his corporate capacity, the chapter; such sole corporations as these have in this respect the same powers, as corporations aggregate have, to take personal property or chattels in succession. And therefore a bond to such a master, abbot, or dean, and his successors, is good in law; and the successor shall have the advantage of it, for the benefit of the aggregate society, of which he is in law the representative. Whereas in the case of sole corporations, which represent no others but themselves, as bishops, parsons, and the like, no chattel interest can regularly go in succession = and therefore, if a lease for years be made to the bishop of Oxford and his successors, in such case his executors or administrators, and not his successors, shall have itd. For the word successors, when applied to a person in his political capacity, is equivalent to the word heirs in his natural; and as such a lease for years, if made to John and his heirs, would not vest in his heirs but his executors; so if it be made to John bishop of Oxford and his successors, who are the heirs of his body politic, it shall still vest in his executors and not in such his successors. The reason of this is obvious: for, besides that the law looks upon goods and chattels as of too low and perishable a nature to be limited either to heirs, or such successors as are equivalent to heirs; it would also follow, that if any such chattel interest (granted to a sole corporation and his successors) were allowed to descend to such successor, the property thereof must be in abeyance [432] from the death of the present owner until the successor be appointed and this is contrary to the nature of a chattel interest, which can never be in abeyance or without an ownere; but a man's right therein, when once e Dyer. 48. Cro. Eliz. 464. d Co. Litt. 46. e Brownl. 132. |