Terms Used In New Jersey Statutes 46:3-14

  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • person: includes corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships and joint stock companies as well as individuals, unless restricted by the context to an individual as distinguished from a corporate entity or specifically restricted to one or some of the above enumerated synonyms and, when used to designate the owner of property which may be the subject of an offense, includes this State, the United States, any other State of the United States as defined infra and any foreign country or government lawfully owning or possessing property within this State. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
Whenever by conveyance, will or other instrument in writing, to take effect hereafter, an estate of freehold in any property is limited to a person and the same instrument contains a limitation, either mediate or immediate, to his heirs or the heirs or any of the heirs of his body or to his descendants or issue or any of them, in any manner or by any description such that, by the application of the rule of the common law, known as the Rule in Shelley’s Case, the word “heirs” or other words used in creating the interest after such estate of freehold would be held to be words of limitation and not of purchase and such estate of freehold would be held to be enlarged by reason of the use thereof, then and in any such case the word “heirs” or other words so used shall hereafter be held to be words of purchase and not to be words of limitation and such estate of freehold shall not be held to be enlarged by the use thereof, to the end that the said rule of the common law, known as the Rule in Shelley’s Case, shall not be applicable to any interest in property created by any instrument to take effect hereafter.
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