Shifting use
SHIFTING USE, estates. One which takes effect in derogation of some other
estate, and is either limited by the deed creating it, or authorized to be
created by some person named in it. This is sometimes called a secondary
use.
2. The following is an example: If an estate be limited to A and his
heirs, with a proviso that if B pay to A one hundred dollars by a time
named, the use to A shall ease, and the estate go to B in fee; the estate is
vested in A subject to the shifting or secondary use in fee in B. Again, if
the proviso be that C may revoke the use to A, and limit it to B, then A is
seised in fee, with a power in C of revocation and limitation of a new use.
These shifting uses must be confined within proper limits, so as not to
create a perpetuity. 4 Kent, Com. 291; Cornish on Uses, 91; Bac. Ab. Uses
and Trusts, K; Co. Litt. 327, a, note Worth on Wills, 419; 2 Bouv. Inst. n.
1890. Vide Use.