§12. As a right may be acquired by use, so it may be lost by disuse; and as an enjoyment for twenty years, or such other period as is prescribed by statute, is necessary to establish a right; an absolute discontinuance of the use for such period will raise the presumption that the right has been released or extinguished. Thus a title to land may pass from its actual owner by non-occupancy for the period above stated; and a title to it may be acquired by an undisturbed occupant who shall hold it in peaceable and uninterrupted possession for the same period. Chapter LIII. Leases:--Estates for Life; Estates for Years; Estates at Will; Estates by Sufferance; Rent, &c. §1. Real estate, the title to which is conveyed by deed, as distinguished from other estates in land, is called an _estate of inheritance_. An estate of inheritance, that is, an estate in lands that may be transmitted by the owner to his heirs, is a _fee_. No estate is deemed a fee unless it may continue forever. When it is a pure and absolute inheritance, clear of any qualification or condition, it is called a _fee-simple_. §2. An interest in lands which is to continue for a limited period, is usually conveyed by a written instrument called lease. _To lease_, means to let; but generally to grant the temporary possession of real estate to another for rent or reward. Sometimes the word _demise_ is used for ease. The landlord, or person letting the estate, is called _lessor_; and the tenant, or person to whom the land is leased, is called _lessee_. Leases for a term longer than one year, are usually required to be sealed, and in some states, proved and recorded also, as deeds and mortgages. §3. These limited interests in land are divided into estates for life, estates for years, estates at will, and estates by sufferance. An _estate for life_ is an estate conveyed to a person for the term of his natural life. Life estates held by lease, however, are not common in this country. Another kind of life estate is that which is acquired, not by the acts of the parties, as by lease, but by the operation of law. Such is the right of a husband to the real estate of his wife acquired by her before or after marriage. Such also is the right of dower. (Chap. XLVIII, §6, 7. Chap. LI, §7.) §4. An _estate for years_ is a right to the possession and profits of land for a determinate period, for compensation, called rent; and it is deemed an estate for years, though the number of years should exceed the ordinary limit of human life. And if a lease should be for a less time than a year, the lessee would be ranked among tenants for years. Letting land upon shares for a single crop is not considered a lease; and possession remains in the owner.