ABE

sary that he should do or say something
showing his consent to the felonious pur-
pose, and contributing to its execution.
9 N. Caroling R. 440. 18 Missouri R.
882. 1 Wisconsin R. 159.

ABEYANCE, Abeiance, Abbayance, Ab-
baiaunce. L. Fr. & Eng. [from Fr. bayer,
or abbayer, to expect, to wait for earnestly,
to gape after, to bay at; L. Lat. abeyan-
tia] In the law of estates. Expectation,
waiting, suspense; remembrance and con-
templation in law. Where there is no
person in existence in whom an inheritance
can vest, it is said to be in abeyance; that
is, in expectation; the law considering it
as always potentially existing, and ready to
vest; whenever a proper owner appears. 2
Bl. Com. 107. Or, in other words, it is
said to be in the remembrance, considera-
tion and intendment of the law. Litt.
sect. 646, 650. Thus, in a grant to J. for
life, and afterwards to the heirs of R., the
inheritance is plainly neither granted to
J. nor R., nor can it vest in the heirs of
R. till his death: it remains, therefore, in
waiting, or abeyance, during the life of R.
2 Bl. Com, ub. sup. Plowd. 29 a, 35 a.
556.

The term abeyance is also sometimes ap-
plied to personal property. Thus, in the
case of maritime captures during war, it is
said that “until the capture becomes in-
vested with the character of prize by a
sentence of condemnation, the right’ of
property is in abeyance, or in a state of
legal sequestration.” 1 Kent's Com. 102.
Tt has also been applied to the franchises
ofa corporation. ‘“‘ When a corporation is to
be brought into existence by some future
acts of the corporators, the franchises re-
main in abeyance, until such acts are
done, and when the corporation is brought
into life, the franchises instantaneously
attach to it.” Story, J. 4 Wheaton’s K.
691.

*,* An inheritance in abeyance has
been otherwise said to be in nubibus, (in
the clouds;) a figure intended to denote a
condition of suspension, ‘indefinite and in-
tangible existence, remoteness from human
view and enjoyment, or molestation; in
connection with the quality of readiness to
descend and vest at the proper time. vtt.
ub. sup. Co, Inti. 342 b. Hob. 335. 2
Crabb’s Real Prop. 8, § 951. 4 Kent's
Com, 258, 260, note. So, it has been said
to be in gremio legis, (in the bosom of the
law,) that is, under the special protection

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ABI

of the law, and existing only in its view,
intendment or consideration. 1 Co. 131,
134, arg. Spelman, voc. Abeyantia. Litt.
ub. sup. So the fee, in such case, has
been said by Britton to be in the balance,
(le fee est en balaunce.) Brit. fol. 249.
And Bracton uses the ‘corresponding
phrase, in pendenti, (in suspension.) Bract.
fol. 19 a, 20 a. Spelman prefers giving to
abbayer, the root of the word, the sense of
fixedness of position, (certe station? in-
herere,) the fee being stopped or arrested
in its transit from one party to another.
Mr. Stephen objects to expectation as the
proper import of abbeyance, and prefers
Littleton’s exposition of the term,—re-
membrance, intendment and consideration
of the law; referring to the case of the
parson of a church, where the fee is in
perpetual abeyance. 1 Steph. Com. 223,
note (2). Mr. Fearne treats the whole no-
tion of abeyance as an absurd and unintel-
ligible fiction. Fearne on Remainders,
452, [360.] And the inclination in mod-
ern law seems to be, to substitute in its
place the doctrine, that where there is no
person in existence in whom an inherit-
ance can vest, it remains in the grantor or
his heirs, or (in case of a devise,) in the
heirs of the testator, until the contemplated
contingency happens. 2 Chitt. Bl. Com.
107, notes.

An inheritance in abeyance answers to
the hereditas jacens, or caduca (q. v.) of
the civilians and feudists, which, by a fig-
ure directly opposite to that of suspen-
sion, was considered as waiting in a state
of prostration for the heir to take it
up. Bract. fol. 8 a 160 a Co, Litt.
342 b. JIncertam et caducam hereditatem
relevabat ; raised, or took up the doubt-
ful and fallen inheritance.’ 2 Bl. Com.
56.

ABEYANTIA. IL. Lat. Abeyance.
Spelman. See Abeyance. .

ABIATICDS. Aviaticus. L. Lat. In
feudal law. A grandson; the son of a son.
Spelman. Lib. Feudorum, Baraterii, tit.
8, cited zbid.

ABIDING BY. In Scotch law. Com-
mitting one’s self to the consequences of
an act. A term used in cases where a
deed is challenged as forged. The party
founding on the deed must appear in court
and abide by it. This is done by his
signing a declaration that he abides by the
deed quarrelled, [contested,] sub periculo
falsi, which has the effect of pledging him