Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/585

* FEOFFMENT. 533 FER-DE-LANCE. an actual physical transfer of possession i- es- sential to the'transfer of title. Il consisted in the i al conveyance of the land t the feoffor to the feoffee, the former stating distinctly the meas ure of the estate conferred, whether ii was in fee, in tail, or for life. This conveyance of the land, in order to be complete, required to be aci panied by livery of seisin ('delivery of possession'). Livery of seisin was oi I wo kind • by deed, and in law. In the former ease, the parties being ac- tually upon the land, the feoffor, l>. delivery of n (wig or a turf, testified his conveyance of the land. In livery in law, the parlies being in Bight of the land, the feoffor, referring to the land, gave possession to the feoffee by indicating or describ- ing Hie parcel to be conveyed. Tins mode of mak- ing livery was ineffectual unless the feoffee en- tered into possession during the life of the feoffor. Livery in deed might be effected by attorney; but livery in law only by the parties themselves. In the earliest times these ceremonies completed the conveyance. But by degrees the practice of em- bodying the transaction in a deed was introduced. When a deed was used it was customary to in- dorse on the deed the fact that livery of seisin had been made. But it was still the livery and not the deed which effected the conveyance. By t lie Statute of Frauds ( 29 Car. II.. c. 3 ) it was de- elared that no estate created by livery of seisin, unless accompanied by a writing signed by the party or his agent, should be of any effect, except as an estate at will, and by 8 and 9 Vict., c. 106, 3, a feoffment is void unless accompanied by deed. The law formerly gave so great an effect to a feoffment that even when the party osten- sibly making the conveyance was not lawfully seized of the estate, the feoffment was sustained. This was called a tortious conveyance; the party in whose favor it was made was said to have ac- quired an estate by wrong, the rightful owner was disseised, and was left to his right of entry (q.v.). But by the statute last mentioned this tortious effect of a feoffment was destroyed. The practice of feoffment above described, and which has existed in England from time im- memorial, differed materially from the old form of investiture in use in strictly feudal times, and from that which still prevails in Scot- land. In England the transaction was simply a conveyance by the actual holder of the land to a new tenant, attended by certain ceremonies, but requiring no confirmation by a third party to complete it. But by feudal usage every holder of land was the vassal of some superior lord, to whom he owed suit and service, and without whose consent he could not part with his land; hence no conveyance was complete without the reception of a new tenant by the lord paramount as his vassal. In like manner, to this day. in Scotland, no transfer of a heritage is complete without formal confirmation by the superior; and although by recent legislation the old feudal usages have been abolished, yet the fact of ac- ceptance by the superior, ami the performance of the pecuniary services attendant on that ac- ceptance, are still preserved. See Conveyance; Fee; Feudalism. FE'RJE (Lat. nom. pi., wild). In the Lin- nsean system of zoology, an order of mammals including nearly all of the modern order Carniv- ora. plus several genera now ranked under the Inseetivora and Marsupialia. Tn modern zoology, the term is little used. FE'R^E NATU'E5! (Lat., animals, wild of nature). In law, animals "i wild nature and hab- its, in contradistinction i" domesticated animals. At common law, they are not the subjects of absolute property, and persons having them in possession are hound at their peril to keep them from doing harm. A qualified property in them may be gained by taming or confining them, or by reason of owning I lie hind on which are their habitual resorts, or by reason of their inability to wander from such land, or by reason of an exclu ive legal pi nil of hunting, taking, and killing them. Even in such cases, if the aim escape from the possession of the qualified owner or fr In- hind, ami are thus al liberty in ac- cordance with their wild nature and habits, the qualified property ceases, and any strari take them without incurring any liability to the possessor. In accordance with this doc- trine il is held that if a swarm of bees fly fr the owner's land, they remain in his posse-, ion 50 long as he keeps them in sight, and is able to pos- sess themj hut if they escape from his pur-nit and light upon the land of another, the lattei may hive and keep them. It is also held that a landowner has a qualified property in a swarm of wild bees in his woods, and a stranger can acquire no title to them by finding and taking them there without such owner'- consent. The liability of a person who has in hi- pos- session animals ferm natures is virtually that of an insurer of the safety of others against harm from such animals. It has been held, there- fore, that one vim keeps an elephant does so at his own risk, and an action can be maintained for an injury done by it. although the owner had no knowledge of its mischievous propensities. Consult the Commentaries of Blackstone and Kent; also Darlington. On Personal Property (Philadelphia. 1891) ; Schouler. Treatise on the Law of Personal Property (3d ed., Boston, 1896). FERAMORZ, fer'a-morz. The young poet in Moore's Lalla Rookh, who tells stories to Lalla Rookh on her journey, and gains her heart. On the wedding day he is revealed as the Sultan to whom she is already officially betrothed. FERATJD-GIRATJD, fa'rd'zhe'r&', Louis Jo- seph Delphin (1819—). A French jurist, born at Marseilles. He studied at the University of Aix. and became a judge in that city in 1851. Tn 1878 he was appointed a councilor of the Court of Cassation. He published several legal works, including Servitudes de voirie (1850- 5'2) : Traite de la grande voirie el hi voirie uroaine (1865); Occupation miUtaire (1S81); and Code des mines <t ilex mineurs (1887). FER-DE-LANCE, farMe-laNs' (Fr.. iron of the lance). A tropical American venomous snake (Lachesis lanceolatus) of extraordinary viru- lence. It is a pit-viper, or crotalid, of the sub family Lachesin.T. and hence closely related to the northern copperhead, the bushmaster (qq.v.), and others of South America and Tndo-Malay-ia. Tt resembles a rattlesnake, but has a tapering tail ending in a hard point thence one name is 'rat-tailed viper'), not rattle: reaches a length ,,f -even feet, and is reddish-yellow brown, marked with a black stripe from the eye to (he neck, and irregular dark cross-bands: sometimes the sides are bright red. Tt inhabits nearly all South and Central America, and is everywhere dangerously