Restraints on the Alienation of Property Author:John Chipman Gray Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 1. Unqualified Restraint on Alienation. § 13. In a fee simple a condition or conditional limitation on alienation generally is void. This is now past dispute.... more » § 14. In the earliest times it is doubtful how far land was alienable. [Digby, Hist. Law Heal Prop., c. 1, sect. 1, § 2.] At the end of the twelfth century, it appears, from Glanville, that the holder of land could not alienate the whole of it from his heir; the lord, however, of whom the land was held does not seem to have been considered as having any rights in the matter. Glanville, lib. 7, c. 1 (Beames's ed.), pp. 137-150; Digby, c. 2, § 7. § 15. But in Magna Carta, c. 39 (1217), it is provided, " Nullus liber homo de cetero det amplius alicui vel ven- dat de terra ana quam ut de residue terrse suse possit sufficienter fieri domino feodi servitium ei debitum quod pertinet ad feodum illud." § 16. Bracton, who wrote in the reign of Henry III., says that it is " generaliter verum " that the tenant can alienate the land at his pleasure, " nisi ad hoc specialiter agatur in possessione ne possit," thus recognizing the legality of restraints upon alienation. Bract., lib. 2, c. 19, fol. 45. [So, in another place, he says land can be given to " viri religiosi," or to Jews, " nisi modus donationis in- ducat contrarium, scilicet quod licitum sit donatorio rem datam dare vel vendere cui voluerit, exceptis viris religiosis et Judseis, et quod talibus personis dari non poterit sicut aliis, nulla ratio vel necessitas illud indncit, nisi tantum modus donationis." Id., lib. 2, c. 5, fol. 13.] See Digby, c. 3, sect. 2, § 14. § 17- The statute of Quia Emptores, 18 Edw. I. c. 1(1290), forbade subinfeudation, but gave full power to tenants to alienate their land at pleasure. § 18. Britton was written in the reign of Edward ...« less