“[The interesse termini’s] essential qualities, as a mere interest, in contradistinction to a term in possession, seems to arise from a want of possession. It is a right or interest only, and not an estate, and it has the properties of a right. It may be extinguished by a release to the lessor, and it may be assigned or granted away, but it cannot, technically considered, be surrendered; for there is no reversion before entry, in which the interest may drown. Nor will a release from the lessor operate by way of enlargement, for the lessee has no estate before entry.” 4 James Kent, Commentaries on American Law *97 (George Comstock ed., 11th ed. 1866).
“There was a troublesome doctrine of the common law which established, in the case of a lease not operating under the Statute of Uses, that the lessee acquired no estate in the land until he actually entered into possession. Until that time he was said to have a mere right to take possession, and this right was called an interesse termini. This requisite of entry to perfect a lease has, however, been swept away by the Law of Property Act, 1925, and all terms of years absolute, whether created before or after the commencement of the Act, can take effect from the date fixed for the commencement of the term without actual entry.” G.C. Cheshire, Modern Law of Real Property 128–29 (3d ed. 1933).
