Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan … > Volume 2, C-L

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moveables already fallen under efcbeat, without a fpecial
claufe for that purpofe.
19. The rebel, if he continues unrelaxed for year and
day after rebellion, is conftrued to be civilly dead : And
therefore, where he holds any feudal right, his fuperiors,
as being without a vaffal, are entitled, each of them, to
the rents of foch of the lands belonging to the rebel
as holds of himfelf, during all the days ot the rebel’s na¬
tural life, by the cafualty of Liferent-escheat ;
except where the denunciation proceeds upon treafon or
proper rebellion, in which cafe the liferent falls to the
King.
20. It is that eftate only, to which the rebel has a
proper right of liferent in his own perfon, that falls un¬
der his liferent efcheat.
21. Though neither the fuperior nor his donatory
can enter into poffdlion in confequence of this cafualty,
till decree of declarator ; yet that decree, being truly
declaratory, has a retrofpedl, and does not fo properly
confer a new right, as declare the right formerly confti-
tuted to the fuperior, by the civil death of his vaflal.
Hence, all charters or heritable bonds, though granted
prior to the rebellion, and all adjudications, though led
upon debts contrafted before that period, are ineffedtual
againft the liferent efcheat, unlefs feifin be taken thereon
within year and day after the granter’s rebellion,
22. Here, as in fingle efcheat, no debt contradted after
rebellion can hurt the donatory, nor any voluntary right
granted after that period, though in fecurity or fatisfac-
tion of prior debts.
23. Disclamation is that cafualty whereby a
vaffal forfeits his whole feu to his fuperior, if he difowns
or difclaims him without ground, as to any part of it.
Purpresture draws likewife a forfeiture of the whole
feu after it, and is incurred by the vaffal’s incroaching
upon any part of his fuperior’s property, or attempting,
by building, inclofing, or otherwile, to make it his own.
In both thefe feudal delinquencies, the lead colour of
-excufe fav.es the vaffal.
24. All grants from the crown, whether charters,
•gifts of cafuaities, or others, proceed on fignatures which
pafs the fignet. When the King refided in Scotland, all
fignatures were fuperferibed by h m ; but, on the accef-
fion of James VI. to the crown of England, a cachet or
feal was made, having the King’s name engraved on it,
in purfuanee of anadlof the Privy Council, dpSil 4. 1603,
with which all fignatures were to be afterwards fealed,
that the Lords of exchequer were impowered to pafs;
and thefe powers are transferred to the court of Exchequer,
which was eftablilhed in Scotland after the union of the
two kingdoms in 1707. Grants of higher confequence,
as remiffions of crimes, gifts proceeding upon forfeiture,
and charters of navodamus, muft have the King’s fign-
manual for their warrant.
25. If lands holding of the Crown were to be convey¬
ed, the charter paffed, before the union of the kingdoms
in 1707, by the great feal of Scotland ; and now by a
leal fubltituted in place thereof Grants of church-digni¬
ties, during epifcopacy, paffed alfo by the great feal ;
and the commiffions to all the principal officers of the
Crown, as Juftice Clerk,^King’s Advocate, Solicitor, &£•.
do fo at this day. All rights which fubjedts may tranf-
mit by limple affignation, the King tranfmits by the priv y
fieal ; as gifts of moveables, or of cafuaities that require
no feifin. The quarter feal, otherwife called the tefti-
monial of the great feal, is appended to gifts of tutory,
commiffions of brieves iffuing from the ch-ncery, and
letters of prefentation to lands holding of a fubjedt, pro¬
ceeding upon forfeiture, baftardy, ox ultimus hares.
26. Seals are to royal grants, what fubfeription is to
rights derived from fubje&s, and give them authority ;
They ferve alfo as a check to gifts procured (fuhreptione
vel obreptioneJ by concealing the truth, or expreffing a
falfehood ; for, where this appears, the gift may be
flopped before paffing the feais, though the fignature
ffiouid have been figned by the King. All rights paffing
under the great or privy feal mufl be regiftered in the re-
giiters of the great or privy feal refpeilive, before ap¬
pending .the feal.
Tit. 13. Of th&BJght which the Vajfal acquires
by getting the Feu.
Under the dominium utile which the vaffal acquires
by the feudal ridht, is comprehended the property of
whatever is conliqered as parr of the lands, whether of
houfes, woods, inclofures, <bc. aboveground; or of coal,
limdlone, minerals, under ground. Mills have, by
the generality of our lawyers, been deemed a feparate
tenement, and fo not carried by a charter or difpolition,
without either a fpecial claufe conveying mills, or the
eredtion of the lands into a barony. Yet it is certain,
that, if a proprietor builds a mill on his own lands, it
will be carried, by his entail, or by a retour, without men¬
tioning it, although the lands are not erected into a ba¬
rony. If the lands difponedfae aftridted, or thirled to a-
nother mill, the purchaser is not allowed to build a new
corn-mill on his property, even though he ffiouid offer
fecurity that it ffiall not hurt the thirle; which is intro¬
duced for preventing daily temptations to fraud.
2. Proprietors are prohibited to build dove-cotes, xm-
lefs their yearly rent, lying within two miles thereof,
extend to ten chalders of vidlnal. A purchafer of lands*
with a dove-cote, is not obliged to pull it down, though
he ffiouid not be qualified to build one ; but, if it becomes
ruinous, he cannot rebuild it. The right of brewing,
though not expreffed in the grant, is implied in the na¬
ture of property ; as are alfo the rights of fiffiing, fowl¬
ing, and hunting, in To far as they are not reftrained by
ftatute.
3. There are certain rights naturally confequent on
property, which are deemed to be referved by the crown
as regalia; unlefs they be fpecially conveyed. Gold and
filver mines are of this fort: The firlt univerfally; and
the-other, where three half-pennies of filver can be extrac¬
ted from the pound of lead, by aft 1424, (three half¬
pennies at that time was equal to about two ffiillings five
pennies of our prefent Scots money.) Thefe were by our
ancient law annexed to the Crown; but they are now dtf-
folved from it ; and every proprietor is intitled to a grant
of the mines within bis own lands, with the burden cf
delivering to the crown a tenth of what ffiall be brought up.
4. Saimaa*