Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/152

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F etates, that are les than freehold, there are three orts; 1. Etates for years: 2. Etates at will: 3. Etates by ufferance.

I. etate for years is a contract for the poeion of lands or tenements, for ome determinate period: and it happens where a man letteth them to another for the term of a certain number of years, agreed upon between the leor and the leee, and the leee enters thereon. If the leae be but for half a year, or a quarter, or any les time, this leee is repected as a tenant for years, and is tiled o in ome legal proceedings; a year being the hortet term which the law in this cae takes notice of. And this may, not improperly, lead us into a hort explanation of the diviion and calculation of time by the Englih law.

pace of a year is a determinate and well-known period, coniting commonly of 365 days: for, though in biextile or Rh