Law Commons^™

Loosening The Grip Of The Dead Hand: Shall We Abolish Legal Future Interests In Land?, C. Dent Bostick

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article is concerned with a dilemma in the law of Future Interests. The dilemma stems from the needs and demands of a modern society to convey land cleanly and quickly and from the desire of property owners, especially landowners, to direct from the grave the on-going disposition of their property. This desire of landowners has always played a role in English and American property law. Much of the energy of the early judiciary was devoted to counter balancing the numerous ingenious arrangements devised by persons to effectuate continual control of their property.

Introductory Essay On The Literature Of Future Interests, Roy M. Mersky

Vanderbilt Law Review

The general practice of law involves, among other things, the drafting of wills and trust agreements and the litigation of cases arising out of such instruments as drawn by other lawyers. Successful practice in this field is predicated upon adequate training in the law of future interests. This difficult and technical branch of law contains rules and procedures which are understandable only in the light of their historical background

Real Property--1959 Tennessee Survey, Thomas G. Roady, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Future Interests.-The creation of divided interests in real property always carries with it problems in controlling the use and man- agement by the owner of the possessory interest. One of the most difficult problems in future interests is how to adjust the relation between the holder of a present possessory interest and the holder of a future interest in the same parcel of land. In resolving such problems many courts are influenced primarily by the nature (classification) of the future interest involved and have worked out with some degree of certainty the distribution of benefits and burdens in the simple …

Decedents' Estates, Trusts And Future Interests -- 1958 Tennessee Survey, Herman L. Trautman

Vanderbilt Law Review

The subject matter of this article will be presented in three parts entitled Decedents' Estates, Trusts, and Future Interests. The developments of the year' consist of judicial decisions of the appellate courts in Tennessee, and the work of the Section on Real Property,Probate and Trust Law of the Tennessee Bar Association on a new statute concerning intestate succession for the state. Since the General Assembly was not in session, there were no legislative developments. The part entitled Decendents' Estates will include a discussion of intestate succession, wills, and the problems of fiduciary administration in decendents' estates. The problems of fiduciary …

Wills, Trusts And Estates (Herein Of Future Interests) -- 1955 Tennessee Survey, W. J. Bowe

Vanderbilt Law Review

Execution of Wills:

Under the Tennessee Code a will valid at the place of execution is valid under the laws of Tennessee. A testator domiciled in Tennessee executed a will in Mississippi in the presence of two witnesses, but thinking that the will should be acknowledged by a notary public rather than subscribed by the witnesses, he had the acknowledgment taken by a Mississippi notary public. As the Mississippi statute is peculiar in that it merely requires "that the Will shall be attested by two or more credible witnesses" rather than the usual "shall be both attested and subscribed" the …

Future Interests And Estates -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Herman L. Trautman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Worthier Title--A Rule of Property: In Cochran v. Frierson' the Supreme Court affirmed the rule of Robinson v. Blankenship that the doctrine of worthier title is still a rule of absolute property law in Tennessee, and not a rule of construction. The Blankenship case is nationally recognized as representative of the early English doctrine which was abolished by statute in England in 1833. The doctrine has been modified by the majority of American courts which hold that it is a rule of construction.

Real Property, Herman L. Trautman

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Tennessee cases in the fields of Real Property and Future Interests have been quite abundant during the period' covered by this Survey. Because of the number of cases and the very interesting and novel problems presented in some of them, and because the scope of the law of Future Interests includes cases which involve Wills and Personal Property as well as Real Property, it is believed that the reader will find it more feasible to consider the Future Interest cases in a separate article appearing in this Survey. Therefore, notwithstanding some overlapping, the emphasis of this article will be …

Future Interests, Herman L. Trautman

Vanderbilt Law Review

There were five cases in the field of Future Interests during the period' covered by this Survey. They were all decided by the Supreme Court of Tennessee. From the standpoint of doctrinal development, Mountain City Missionary Baptist Church v. Wagner, involving the relation of the possibility of reverter to the Rule against Perpetuities, was probably the most significant, although the point determined had perhaps been assumed previously in Tennessee. Pope v. Alexander drew a neat distinction between a trust for a "public" cemetery and a trust for a "private" cemetery with respect to the Rule against Perpetuities. A plausible suggestion …

Book Reviews, Robert J. Lynn (Reviewer), William J. Bowe (Reviewer), Samuel J. Foosaner (Reviewer), Stanley D. Ross (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Handbook on the Law of Future Interests

By Lewis M. Simes

St.Paul, West Publishing Co., 1951. Pp. xv, 495. $8.00

reviewer: Robert J. Lynn

============================

Tax Savings in Real Estate Transactions

Prepared by Bureau of Analysis, Davenport, Iowa. Chicago: Published under auspices of National Institute of Real Estate Brokers of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, 1951. Pp. 98. $5.00

reviewer: William J. Bowe

============================

Income Tax Treatment of Life Insurance proceeds and other Tax Articles

By William J. Bowe

Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press,1951. Pp. 90. $2.10

reviewer: Samuel J. Foosaner

============================

Justice According to Law

By Roscoe Pound …

Alienability Of Future Interests In Tennessee, Ernest C. Matthews, Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

One of the most technical problems in the field of property law is the manner in which future interests in realty and personalty may be alienated. The term, future interest, is used here to mean a presently existing interest which is deprived of possession but which looks forward to possession in the future. The term is a misnomer. Such an interest is "future" only in the sense that it looks toward becoming possessory in the future. Just as future interests is a law of words, so the alienability of future interests is, in the absence of statute, a law of …