Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/140

 128 tey: becaue, at the intant of the mother's death, he was clearly not entitled, as having had no iue born, but the land decended to the child, while he was yet in his mother's womb; and the etate, being once o veted, hall not afterwards be taken from him. In gavelkind lands, a huband may be tenant by the curtey without having any iue. But in general there mut be iue born; and uch iue mut alo be capable of inheriting the mother's etate. Therefore if a woman be tenant in tail male and hath only a daughter born, the huband is not thereby entitled to be tenant by the curtey; becaue uch iue female can never inherit the etate in tail male. And this eems to be the true reaon, why the huband cannot be tenant by the curtey of any lands of which the wife was not actually eied: becaue, in order to intitle himelf to uch etate, he mut have begotten iue that may be heir to the wife; but no one, by the tanding rule of law, can be heir to the ancetor of any land, whereof the ancetor was not actually eied; and therefore, as the huband hath never begotten any iue that can be heir to thoe lands, he hall not be tenant of them by the curtey. And hence we may oberve, with how much nicety and conideration the old rules of law were framed; and how cloely they are connected and interwoven together, upporting, illutrating, and demontrating one another. The time when the iue was born is immaterial, provided it were during the coverture: for, whether it were born before or after the wife's eiin of the lands, whether it be living or dead at the time of the eiin, or at the time of the wife's deceae, the huband hall be tenant by the curtey. The huband by the birth of the child becomes (as was before oberved) tenant by the curtey initiate, and may do many acts to charge the lands; but his etate is not conummate till the death of the wife; which is the fourth and lat requiite to make a complete tenant by the curtey. Rh