Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/307

 Ch. 19. provided attainder follows : for uch conveyance by them may tend to defeat the king of his forfeiture, or the lord of his echeat. But they may purchae for the benefit of the crown, or the lord of the fee, though they are diabled to hold: the lands o purchaed, if after attainder, being ubject to immediate forfeiture; if before, to echeat as well as forfeiture, according to the nature of the crime. So alo corporations, religious or others, may purchae lands; yet, unles they have a licence to hold in mortmain, they cannot retain uch purchae; but it hall be forfeited to the lord of the fee.

and perons of nonane memory, infants, and perons under dures, are not totally diabled either to convey or purchae, but ub modo only. For their conveyances and purchaes are voidable, but not actually void. The king indeed, on behalf of an idiot, may avoid his grants or other acts. But it hath been aid, that a non compos himelf, though he be afterwards brought to a right mind, hall not be permitted to allege his own infanity in order to avoid uch grant: for that no man hall be allowed to tultify himelf, or plead his own diability. The progres of this notion is omewhat curious. In the time of Edward I, non compos was a ufficient plea to avoid a man's own bond : and there is a writ in the regiter for the alienor himelf to recover lands aliened by him during his infanity; dum fuit non compos mentis uae, ut dicit, &c. But under Edward III a cruple began to arie, whether a man hould be permitted to blemih himelf, by pleading his own infanity : and, afterwards, a defendant in aie having pleaded a releae by the plaintiff ince the lat continuance, to which the plaintiff replied (ore tenus, as the manner then was) that he was out of his mind when he gave it, the court adjourned the aie; doubting, whether as the plaintiff was ane both then and at the commencement of the uit, he hould be permitted to plead an intermediate deprivation of reaon; and the quetion Rh