Note 114 — DISSERTATION IV.

So in the law stile. "If a man die intestate;" "if a man die seised of an estate in fee;" "if Titius enfeoff Gaius," &c. are future; and in most such phrases used in translations from the Latin and French, the verbs in the original are future. But in law the same form is used in the present very frequently, agreeable to the ancient practice. The reason may be, the convenience and necessity of copying words and phrases with great exactness. But Blackstone, the most accurate and elegant law writer, uses the other form, "if a man has heirs;" "if a good or valuable consideration appears;" and too often, when the sense requires the future. He generally gives be its subjunctive form, as it is called, and most other verbs the indicative.