Professor Kales and Common Law Remainders

In an article in Vol. 22 of the Law Quarterly Review, Professor Albert M. Kales presents a reclassification of future interests in land, the salient feature of which is an attempt to overthrow the conventional conception of a contingent remainder as a future estate given, not presently, but on condition precedent, and to substitute an entirely new conception of his own. This effort, by its boldness and novelty commands something more than a mere passing mention. It is my purpose, first to present as briefly as is consistent with clearness what I conceive to be the common law theory of estates in land and the nature of remainders, vested and contingent; and then to discuss Professor Kales' article with like brevity and attempt to show how and why he has wandered from what I conceive to be the beaten path, trodden by our law-makers.