SEPARATE ESTATE-continued. a married woman, under certain circumstances, is entitled to retain for her separate and independent use. By the custom of London a married woman may acquire a separate estate by carrying on trade on her own separate account. The right of the wife to the enjoyment of property separately from her husband is usually secured by trustees being appointed on her behalf, to whom the property is conveyed in trust for her sole and separate use; but although no trustees be appointed for the wife, under a limitation to her separate use, Equity would convert her husband into a trustee for her, and she would still be entitled to the enjoyment of the separate estate. And under the stat. 21 & 22 Vict. e 85, a woman judicially separated from her husband holds her property to her own separate use, and such use continues in case the cohabitation is afterwards resumed. So also under the M. W. P. Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 93) numerous species of property are made the wife's separate estate.

The Court of Chancery, to further secure to married women the enjoyment of separate estate, allows of a restraint upon anticipation, i.e., alienation, to be attached to the property (Pybus v. Smith, 3 Bro. C. C. 339); and the operation of that restraint was settled in the case of Tullett v. Armstrong (1 Beav. 1) to be this,-that it attaches upon marriage, dis-attaches upon widowhood, re-attaches upon a re-marriage, and so on.

To the extent that a married woman has separate estate she is a feme sole; and unless restrained from anticipation she may alienate it by any of those voluntary or involuntary modes by which a feme sole or a man may do (Taylor v. Meals, 34 L. J. (Ch.) 203; Matthewman's Case, L. R. 3 Eq. 787). She may also permit her hus band to receive it, and in that case she is entitled to only one year's account of it; and her husband takes all her separate personal estate that is undisposed of at her death, if choses in possession or chattels real, by his marital right (Molony v. Kennedy, 10 Sim. 254), and if choses in action, by his right as her administrator. Proudley v. Fielder, 2 My. & K. 57.

SEQUESTER. As used in the Civil Law signifies to renounce or disclaim, &c. As when a widow comes into Court and disclaims to have anything to do or to intermeddle with her deceased husband's estate she is said to sequester. The word more commonly signifies the act of taking in execution under a sequestration the ecclesiastical goods and chattels of a beneficed clerk or clergyman.

See title SEQUESTRATION.

SEQUESTRARI FACIAS. A writ of execution against a clergyman, directed to the bishop of the diocese in which the defendant resides, commanding the bishop to enter the rectory and parish church, and to take and sequester the same and hold them until of the rents, tithes, and profits thereof, and of other ecclesiastical goods of the defendant, he shall have levied the plaintiff's debt. 2 Arch. Pract. 1284.

SEQUESTRATION.

This word, in its

;

most ordinary sense, signifies a kind of execution for debt, and is most frequently used against a beneficed clerk or clergyman, In this case the plaintiff sues out a fieri facias de bonis ecclesiasticis, directed to the bishop of the diocese, commanding him to make of the ecclesiastical goods and chattels belonging to the defendant within his diocese the sum mentioned in the writ. This writ is taken to the registrar of the diocese, who thereupon issues a sequestration, which is in the nature of a warrant directed to the church wardens, requiring them to levy the debt of the tithes and other profits of the defendant's benefice. Sequestration also issues in Chancery when a defendant has eluded the process of the Court, and a commission of rebellion has been awarded against him to no effect by virtue of which sequestration his per sonal estate, and the profits of his real, are seized and detained until the defendant obeys the commands of the Court. A sequestration is also defined to be the separating of a thing in controversy from the possession of both those who contend for it, and in this sense it is considered either as voluntary or necessary; the former being that which is done by the consent of each party, the latter that which is done by the judge of his own authority, whether the parties will or not. The word "sequestration" used also to signify the act of the ordinary in disposing of the goods and chattels of a deceased person whose estate no man would meddle with. It is also used to signify the gathering, collecting, and taking care of the fruits and profits of a vacant benefice for the benefit of the next incumbent. The persons who are appointed to take care of the goods and chattels, or of the rents and profits of lands that are so sequestered, are denominated sequestrators. 2 Arch. Pract. 1284; Cowel.

SÉQUESTRE: See title DÉPÔT.

SERIATIM. Severally, separately, individually, one by one: e.g., "Their lordships delivered their judgments seriatim." In cases of great importance, or where the judges differ in opinion, it is usual for them to deliver their judgments individually, instead of delegating one with the power

are various officers connected with the law that are denominated serjeants-as serjeant-at law, serjeant-at-arms, serjeant of the mace, &c. A serjeant-at-law is a barrister of the Common Law Courts of high standing, and of much the same rank as a doctor of law is in the Ecclesiastical Courts. These serjeants seem to have derived their title from the old knights templars (amongst whom there existed a peculiar class under the denomination of frères "sergens," or fratres servientes), and to have continued as a separate fraternity from a very early period in the history of the legal profession. The barristers who first assumed the old monastic title were those who practised in the Court of Common Pleas, and until a very recent period (the 25th of April, 1834, 9 & 10 Vict. c. 54) the serjeants-at-law always had the exclusive privilege of practice in that Court. Every judge of a Common Law Court previous to his elevation to the bench used to be created a serjeant-at-law; but since the Judicature Act, 1873, this is no longer necessary. Amongst all the serjeants, judges, and others, the practice is to address each other by the familiar epithet of "brother." A serjeant-at-arms is an officer connected with the House of Commons, whose duty it is to keep the doors of the House, and also to apprehend and to take into custody any offender whom the House may commit to his charge. There is a similar officer connected with the House of Lords. There is also a serjeant-at-arms belonging to the Court of Chancery, whose duty it is to apprehend such persons as are guilty of contempt of Court, &c. Serjeants of the mace are a kind of inferior officers who attend the mayor or other head officer in the city of London and other corporate towns. Cowel; Addison's Knights Templars, 318; The Serjeants' Case, 6 Bing. N. C. 235; Fortesc. c. 50.

SERJEANT-AT-ARMS is the title of an officer in each of the two Houses of Parliament. His duties in the House of Lords are to attend upon the Chancellor with the mace, and to execute the orders of the House for the apprehension of delinquents; and in the Commons this officer attends upon the Speaker with the mace, carries messages from the bar to the table, and executes the orders of the House with respect to delinquents to be taken into custody for breaches of its privileges.

SERJEANTY. A species of tenure by

SERJEANTY-continued.

knight service, which was due to the king only, and was distinguished into grand and petit serjeanty; the tenant holding by grand serjeanty was bound, instead of serving the king generally in his wars, to do some honorary service to the king in person, as to carry his banner, his sword, or the like; or to be his butler, champion, or other officer at his coronation. Petit serjeanty differed from grand serjeanty in that the service rendered to the king was not of a personal nature, but consisted in rendering him annually some small implement of war-as a bow, a sword, a lance, an arrow, or the like (Cowel). Both these species of tenures were spared at the general abolition of feudal tenures in 1660 (12 Car. 2, c. 24); and the estates of Strathfieldsaye (Duke of Wellington) and Blenheim (Duke of Marlborough) are examples, perhaps the only examples, at the present day of the tenure by petit serjeanty.

SERVICE. The consideration which the feudal tenants were bound to render to their lords in recompense for the lands they held of him. This service in original feods was only twofold; to follow, or do suit to their lord, in his courts in time of peace, and in his armies or warlike retinue in times of war. Generally, however, these services varied much; some being of a personal nature, others not; some of an honourable, others of a menial or servile character. Britton, c. 66.

SERVICE OF WRITS, &c. The service of writs, summonses, rules, &c., signifies the delivering or leaving them with the party to whom, or with whom they ought to be delivered or left; and when they are so delivered they are then said to have been served. Usually a copy only is served, and the original is shewn. Various periods of time are limited for the service of particular process; and those periods cannot in the general case be exceeded. Usually the service must be personal, but in cases of peculiarity substituted service may be made with the leave of the Court. See title SUBSTITUTED SERVICE.

SERVICES FONCIERS. These are in French Law the easements of English Law.

SERVIENT TENEMENT. In the law of easements the tenement whose owner as such is subject to an easement enjoyed by an adjoining tenement, is called by this

name.

See title EASEMENTS.

SERVITIUM LIBERUM. A sort of free or liberal service which certain feodatory tenants, called liberi homines, were bound

SERVITIUM LIBERUM-continued. to perform. And as these tenants themselves were different from vassals, so were their services of a more honourable nature; as to attend the lord's Court, to find a man and horse to go with the lord into the army, and such like. Cowel.

Royal service,

SERVITIUM REGALE, or the rights and prerogatives of manors which belong to the king as lord of the same, and which were generally reckoned to be six; viz., (1), power of judicature in matters of property; (2), power of life and death in felonies and murders; (3), a right to waifs and strays; (4), assessments; (5), minting of money; and, (6), assize of bread, beer, weights, and measures. Cowel.

SERVITORS OF BILLS were

messen

SERVITUDE, in its original and popular sense, signifies the duty of service, or rather the condition of one who is liable to the performance of services. The word, however, in its legal sense, is applied figuratively to things. When the freedom of ownership in land is fettered or restricted, by reason of some person, other than the owner thereof, having some right therein, the land is said to serve such person; the restricted condition of the ownership, or the right which forms the subject-matter of the restriction, is termed a servitude; and the land so burdened with another's right is termed a servient tenement, while the land belonging to the person enjoying the right is called the dominant tenement (see titles DOMINANT AND SERVIENT TENEMENTS). The principles with regard to servitudes, and the terms employed in treating of them, are borrowed from the Roman Law. In the language of the Roman Law, a thing is said to be servient in which, although it is owned by another, we have a real right, by virtue of which, and for the advantage of our person or property, we can require the owner, or any possessor of the thing. to suffer, or omit to do something with respect to such thing, which he would not have to submit to if the rights which constitute ownership remained in himself undiminished. Servitude is therefore a jus in re, as distinguished from a jus ad rem; the former is a real right, or a right in the thing itself, and consequently has effect against every third person; while the latter is a personal right, or a right to the thing, and hence applies only against the

SERVITUDE-continued.

actual obligee. If my neighbour burthens his land for the benefit of my land, with the servitus compascui, or with the servitus ne luminibus officiatur, I have in each of these cases a jus in re, and every holder of the land must suffer me to pasture my cattle on it, and he must abstain from erecting anything on his ground, or doing anything to it whereby my light would be injured. The word "servitude" may be said to have both an active and a passive signification in the former sense denoting the restrictive right belonging to the entitled party; in the latter, the restrictive duty entailed upon the proprietor or possessor of the servient land.

See also title EASEMENTS.

SESSION. The sitting of the justices in Court by virtue of their commission. There are various kinds of sessions, viz., (1). Session of Parliament; (2), Great Session of Wales; (3), Session of Gaol Delivery; (4), Session of the Peace. These will be explained in their order: (1.) Session of Parliament signifies merely the sitting of Parliament, in order to transact the business of the State. (2.) The Great Session of Wales was a session or Court held in Wales twice in every year, similar to our assizes; these sessions, however, were abolished by the 1 Will. 4, c. 70, and the judges now go the circuits in Wales and Cheshire the same as in the English counties. (3.) Session of Gaol Delivery was a session held for delivering a gaol of the prisoners therein confined. (4.) Session of the Peace. This is a Court of record, and is held before two or more justices of the peace, one of whom must be of the quorum (see title QUORUM). The jurisdiction of this Court, by stat. 34 Edw. 3, c. 1, extended to the trying and determining all felonies and trespasses whatsoever, although they seldom, if ever, try any greater offence than small felonies. There are three different kinds of sessions held by justices of the peace: (a.) General sessions, which may be held at any time of the year for the general execution of the authority of the justices; (b.) The general quarter sessions, which are held at four stated times in the year; and (c.) A special or petty sessions, which may be holden on any special occasion for the execution of some particular branch of the authority of the justices. 2 Hale, P. C. 42; Tomlins.

SESSIONAL ORDERS. These are certain resolutions which are agreed to by both Houses at the commencement of every session of Parliament, and have relation to the business and convenience thereof; but they are not intended to cor.. tinue in force beyond the session in which

SESSIONAL ORDERS-continued. they are adopted. They are principally of use as directing the order of business.

SESSIONS FOR WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. A session in London, which may be held before four justices, selected from the mayor, recorder, and aldermen (of which the mayor or recorder must be one), to inquire into the offences of selling by false weights and measures, contrary to the statutes, and to receive indictments, punish offenders, &c. Cunningham.

SET. This word appears to be nearly synonymous with the word "lease." When used as a verb, it would seem to convey the same meaning as "to lease." A lease of mines is frequently termed a "mining set."

SET-OFF.

A demand which the defendant in an action sets up against the plaintiff's demand, so as to counterbalance that of the plaintiff, either altogether or in part. As if the plaintiff sues for ten pounds due on a note of hand, the defendant may set off nine pounds due to himself from the plaintiff, for merchandise sold to the plaintiff; and if he pleads such set-off in reduction of the plaintiff's claim, such plea is termed a plea of set-off. set-off may therefore be defined to be a claim which a defendant has upon a plaintiff, and which he sets up or places against the plaintiff's demand.

A

The leading principles of set-off are the following:-1st. At Law, there was no setoff in case of mutual unconnected debts, until the Statutes of Set-off, 2 Geo. 2, c. 22, and 8 Geo. 2, c. 24, permitted it in the case of the bankruptcy of either debtor; but as to connected accounts, the balance was in the general case recoverable at Law. 2dly. In Equity, these Courts generally follow the rules of the Common Law in allowing or in refusing a set-off, but they allow a set-off in the following further cases, (a.) In the case of mutual independent debts, contracted upon the faith of a mutual credit (Lanesborough v. Jones, 1 P. Wms. 326); (b) In the case of cross demands admitting a set-off at Law, but of which the one or both are of an equitable nature; and even (c.) In the case of cross demands arising in different rights, but in this last case only under circumstances of particularity, e.g., of fraud. Ex parte Stephens, 11 Ves. 24.

SETTLEMENT, ACT OF. The stat. of 12 & 13 Will. 3, c. 2, by which the Crown was limited to the house of Hanover, and some new provisions were added at the same time for the better securing our religion, laws, and liberties.

See also title SUCCESSION ΤΟ THE
CROWN.

SETTLEMENT, DEED OF. A deed made for the purpose of settling property, i.e., arranging the mode and extent of the enjoyment thereof. The party who settles property is called the settlor; and usually his wife and children, or his creditors, or his near relations, are the beneficiaries taking interests under the settlement.

It may be either a marriage settlement, and in that case either a settlement of real estate or a settlement of personal estate; or it may be a trust deed in favour of creditors, or it may be a voluntary settle

ment.

See each of these several titles.

SETTLEMENT OF PERSONAL ESTATE. This is a settlement usually made upon marriage, either a marriage to follow, or one which has already taken place. It is a deed of trust; and usually the first trusts (after providing for the investment of the trust funds) relate to the destination of the income during the lives of husband and wife, and that of the survivor of them. When the property put into settlement is contributed by the husband, the first life interest is in general given to him; on the other hand, where the property is contributed by the wife, the first life interest is invariably given to her own separate use without power of anticipation but it is competent to the wife to allow the husband to receive the income without account. After the decease of both husband and wife, the ordinary trusts of the settlement are for the children or remote issue of the marriage as the husband and wife or the survivor shall appoint; and in default of, or subject to, any such appointment, then in trust for the children equally, sons taking a vested, i.e., transmissible, share at twenty-one, daughters the like at twentyone or marriage, whichever is the earlier event; and in case of a failure of children or remote issue of the marriage living to attain a vested interest, the trust property is usually made to revert to the party who has contributed the same. The settlement usually contains special provisions regarding the maintenance, education, and advancement of the children of the marriage, as to which see these titles. Very generally, it also contains a covenant to bring into settlement the after-acquired property of the wife (exceeding a certain value, which varies according to the wealth of the parties).

SETTLEMENT OF REAL ESTATE. This, also, is usually a deed of trust made in contemplation of marriage; but it differs from a settlement of personal estate in this respect, that the limitations of real estate may be made without the intervention of trustees, whereas there can be no partial estate, but only the absolute interest in

SETTLEMENT OF REAL ESTATE-cont. personal estate at Law, and such latter estates are only good in Equity.

A settlement of real estate may be either a strict settlement, as it is called, or one that is not strict. The latter kind of settlement is made where it is desired to settle the land in such a way as that the children shall take equally, and the proper mode of attaining that object is by conveying the land to trustees in trust for sale, such trust being made exercisable during the lives of the tenants for life with their consent only, and afterwards at the sole discretion of the trustees, and the proceeds to arise from the sale are then settled as personal estate (see title SETTLEMENT OF PERSONAL ESTATE), with a proviso that until sale the rents and profits shall be paid and applied in the same manner as the income of the proceeds would be applicable if a sale had been already made. On the other hand, if the real estate (being an old family estate, or for any other reason) is to be settled strictly, the general form and contents of the settlement are as follows:-The first testatum contains a grant of the freehold property to the general trustees (grantees to uses) to the use of the settlor until the marriage, and thereafter to the use of pin-money trustees for a term of ninety-nine years, and subject thereto to the use of the settlor for life, remainder to the use that the wife surviving her husband shall receive a jointure rentcharge during her life, and subject thereto to the use of jointure trustees for a term of 200 years, and subject thereto to the use of portion trustees for a term of 600 years, and subject thereto to the use of the first and other sons of the marriage successively in tail male, [with remainders to the use of the husband's younger brothers for life, and to their respective issues in tail male in succession, with remainder to the first and other sons of the intended husband in tail, with the like remainder to his daughters in tail, with remainder to the first and other sons of the husband's brother in tail, with remainder to the first and other daughters of the same brothers in tail], with remainder to the right heirs of the settlor. The limitations within the square brackets are often omitted, or are left to be subsequently settled by the remainderman in fee, or by the first tenant in tail. The settlement ought also to contain the following usual clauses:-

(1.) Maintenance and education clause; (2.) Advancement clause;

(3) Provisions for the raising of portions; (4.) Provisions for the application of rents during minorities; (5.) Power for the husband to charge the premises with a gross sum;

SETTLEMENT OF REAL ESTATE-cont. (6.) Power for him to charge an additional rent-charge for his intended wife;

(7.) Power for him to jointure any future wife, and to charge portions for his children by her;

(8.) General powers of managing estate, according to its nature, by granting mining, agricultural, or other leases, subject to certain restrictions;

(9.) Powers of sale and exchange; (10.) Powers of enfranchisement and partition;

(11.) Provisions for the application of the moneys received upon any sale, exchange, enfranchisement, or partition;

(12.) Power to general trustees to give receipts for such last-mentioned

moneys; and

(13.) Power of appointing new trustees;

Where the settled property comprises freeholds, copyholds, leaseholds, and heirlooms, or general personal estate, there is usually a separate testatum for each of these species of property; and the settlor gives the usual covenants on the part of a vendor, a settlement being in the nature of a purchase-deed.

SETTLEMENT, POOR LAW. The right, depending on various circumstances, which entitles a pauper to be maintained by a particular locality, whether parish or union, is called his settlement. In the case of a married woman, her settlement follows that of her husband, assuming the marriage to have been legal (Chinham v. Preston, 1 W. Bl. 192); but if her husband has no settlement she retains her maiden settlement (Rex v. St. Botolph, Burr. S. C. 367). With reference to children (a), if legitimate, the place of their birth is prima facie the place of their settlement, such settlement continuing so long as the child remains a member of the family (Rex v. Bleasby, 3 B. & A. 377); and (b), if illegitimate, the mother's settlement is that of the child (4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 76, c. 71). Domestic servants used to acquire a settlement by one year's uninterrupted service in the same service, but such is not now the effect of service (4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 64). Being an apprentice and inhabiting in any town or place makes that place the settlement of the child (3 W. & M. c. 11, s. 8; St. Pancras v. Clapham, 2 El. & El. 742). Also renting a tenement of the yearly value of £10 and paying poor rates for one year, confers a settlement, under 35 Geo. 3, c. 101, and 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 76. Also acquiring property at the purchase price of £30 or upwards, appears to confer