heir apparent of a tenant by the curteſy could not be in ward to the lord of the fee, during the life of ſuch tenant[1]. As ſoon therefore as any child was born, the father began to have a permanent intereſt in the lands, he became one of the pares curtis, and was called tenant by the curteſy initiate; and this eſtate being once veſted in him by the birth of the child, was not liable to be determined by the ſubſequent death and coming of age of the infant.
There are four requiſites neceſſary to make a tenancy by the curteſy; marriage, ſeiſin of the wife, iſſue, and death of the wife[2]. 1. The marriage muſt be canonical, and legal. 2. The ſeiſin of the wife muſt be an actual ſeiſin, or poſſeſſion of the lands; not a bare right to poſſeſs, which is a ſeiſin in law, but an actual poſſeſſion, which is a ſeiſin in deed. And therefore a man ſhall not be tenant by the curteſy of a remainder or reverſion. But of ſome incorporeal hereditaments a man may be tenant by the curteſy, though there have been no actual ſeiſin of the wife; as in caſe of an advowſon, where the church has not become void in the life time of the wife, which a man may hold by the curteſy, becauſe it is impoſſible to have had actual ſeiſin of it; and impotentia excuſat legem[3]. If the wife be an idiot, the huſband ſhall not be tenant by the curteſy of her lands; for the king by prerogative is entitled to them, the inſtant ſhe herſelf has any title: and ſince ſhe could never be rightfully ſeiſed of theſe lands, and the huſband's title depends entirely upon her ſeiſin, the huſband can have no title as tenant by the curteſy[4]. 3. The iſſue muſt be born alive. Some have had a notion that it muſt be heard to cry; but that is a miſtake. Crying indeed is the ſtrongeſt evidence of it's being born alive; but it is not the only evidence[5]. The iſſue alſo muſt be born during the life of the mother; for, if the mother dies in labour, and the Caeſarean operation is performed, the huſband in this caſe ſhall not be tenant by the cur-
