Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/495

 Ch. 18. mut have a licence from the king to purchae, before they can exert that capacity which is veted in them by the common law: nor is even this in all caes ufficient. Thee tatutes are generally called the tatutes of mortmain; all purchaes made by corporate bodies being aid to be purchaes in mortmain, in mortua manu: for the reaon of which appellation ir Edward Coke offers many conjectures; but there is one which eems more probable than any that he has given us: viz. that thee purchaes being uually made by eccleiatical bodies, the members of which (being profeed) were reckoned dead perons in law, land therefore, holden by them, might with great propriety be aid to be held in mortua manu.

I defer the more particular expoition of thee tatutes of mortmain, till the next book of thee commentaries, when we hall conider the nature and tenures of etates; and alo the expoition of thoe diabling tatutes of queen Elizabeth, which retrain piritual and eleemoynary corporations from aliening uch lands as they are at preent in legal poeion of: only mentioning them in this place, for the ake of regularity, as tatutable incapacities incident and relative to corporations.

general duties of all bodies politic, conidered in their corporate capacity, may, like thoe of natural perons, be reduced to this ingle one; that of acting up to the end or deign, whatever it be, for which they were created by their founder.

III. therefore next to enquire, how thee corporations may be viited. For corporations being compoed of individuals, ubject to human frailties, are liable, as well as private perons, to deviate from the end of their intitution. And for that reaon the law has provided proper perons to viit, enquire into, and correct all irregularities that arie in uch corporations, either Rh