Real Property Act, 1845

REAL PROPERTY ACT 1845

CHAPTER CVI.

An Act to amend the Law of Real property. [1] [4th August 1845.]

[S. 1 rep. 38 & 39 Vict. c. 66. (S.L.R.)]

Corporeal tenements to lie in grant as well as in livery.

2. After the first day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-five all corporeal tenements and hereditaments shall, as regards the conveyance of the immediate freehold thereof, be deemed to lie in grant as well as in livery; . . .

Feoffments, partitions, exchanges, leases, assignments, and surrenders (subject to certain exceptions) to be by deed.

Proviso.

3. [2] A feoffment made after the said first day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, other than a feoffment made under a custom by an infant, shall be void at law, unless evidenced by deed; and a partition and an exchange of any tenements or hereditaments, not being copyhold, and a lease, required by law to be in writing, of any tenements or hereditaments, and an assignment of a chattel interest, not being copyhold, in any tenements or hereditaments, and a surrender in writing of an interest in any tenements or hereditaments, not being a copyhold interest, and not being an interest which might by law have been created without writing, made after the said first day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, shall also be void at law, unless made by deed: Provided always, that the said enactment, so far as the same relates to a release or a surrender, shall not extend to Ireland.

Operation of feoffments, &c.

Words “give” and “grant” not to imply covenant.

4. A feoffment made after the said first day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-five shall not have any tortious operation; and an exchange or a partition of any tenements or hereditaments, made by deed executed after the said first day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, shall not imply any condition in law; and the word “give” or the word “grant,” in a deed executed after the same day, shall not imply any covenant in law in respect of any tenements or hereditaments, except so far as the word “give” or the word “grant” may by force of any Act of Parliament imply a covenant.

Strangers may take immediately under an indenture; and a deed purporting to be an indenture shall take effect as such.

5. Under an indenture executed after the first day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-five an immediate estate or interest in any tenements or hereditaments, and the benefit of a condition or covenant respecting any tenements or hereditaments, may be taken, although the taker thereof be not named a party to the same indenture; also, a deed executed after the said first day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, purporting to be an indenture, shall have the effect of an indenture, although not actually indented.

Contingent and other like interests, and rights of entry, shall be alienable by deed, saving estates tail.

Dispositions by married women. 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 74. or 4 & 5 Will. 4. c, 92.

6. After the first day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-five a contingent, an executory, and a future interest, and a possibility coupled with an interest, in any tenements or hereditaments of any tenure, whether the object of the gift or limitation of such interest or possibility be or be not ascertained, also a right of entry, whether immediate or future, and whether vested or contingent, into or upon any tenements or hereditaments in England, of any tenure, may be disposed of by deed; but no such disposition shall by force only of this Act defeat or enlarge an estate tail; and every such disposition by a married woman shall be made conformably to the provisions relative to dispositions by married women of the Fines and Recoveries Act, 1833, or in Ireland of the Fines and Recoveries (Ireland) Act, 1834.

Married women may disclaim.

7. After the first day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-five an estate or interest in any tenements or hereditaments in England, of any tenure, may be disclaimed by a married woman by deed; and every such disclaimer shall be made conformably to the said provisions of the Fines and Recoveries Act, 1833.

Contingent remainders protected as from 31 Dec. 1844 against the premature failure of a preceding estate.

8. A contingent remainder existing at any time after the thirty-first day of December one thousand eight hundred and forty-four shall be, and, if created before the passing of this Act, shall be deemed to have been, capable of taking effect, notwithstanding the determination, by forfeiture, surrender, or merger, of any preceding estate of freehold, in the same manner in all respects as if such determination had not happened.

When the reversion on a lease is gone the next estate to be deemed the reversion.

9. When the reversion expectant on a lease, made either before or after the passing of this Act, of any tenements or hereditaments of any tenure, shall after the said first day of October one thousand eight hundred and forty-five be surrendered or merge, the estate which shall for the time being confer as against the tenant under the same lease the next vested right to the same tenements or hereditaments shall, to the extent and for the purpose of preserving such incidents to and obligations on the same reversion as but for the surrender or merger thereof would have subsisted, be deemed the reversion expectant on the same lease.

Extent of Act.

10. This Act shall not extend to Scotland.

[1 Short title, “The Real Property Act, 1845.” See 55 & 56 Vict. c. 10.]

[2 Section 3, so far as the same refers to the relation of landlord and tenant in Ireland, is rep., save so far as same relates to feoffments, partitions, and exchanges, 23 & 24 Vict. c. 154 s. 104.]