Definition
Autre vie (from Law French: "another's life") is a term describing a life estate measured by the life of a person other than the estate holder. When property is granted to one person for the duration of a third party's life, the interest is said to be held "pur autre vie" — meaning "for another's life." The tenant pur autre vie holds and enjoys the property until the measuring life ends; upon that person's death, the estate terminates regardless of whether the tenant himself is still living.
The key structural feature is the measuring life. The person whose lifespan governs the duration of the estate is called the cestui que vie. The holder of the estate (the tenant) and the measuring life (the cestui que vie) are two distinct people. This distinguishes the interest from an ordinary life estate, where the tenant's own life serves as the measure.
Common Confusion
Autre vie is frequently conflated with a standard life estate. The distinction is precise: a life estate measured by the tenant's own life ends when that tenant dies; an estate pur autre vie ends when the cestui que vie dies, which may be before or after the tenant. If the tenant pur autre vie dies while the cestui que vie is still living, the unexpired interest does not simply lapse — at common law, the estate could be occupied by a stranger as a "general occupant" until the measuring life ended, because the original grant contained no reversion to the grantor and no remainder. Later, statutes and the Statute of Frauds (1677) brought this interest within the rules of inheritance and devolution, eliminating much of the general occupancy doctrine.
Core Elements
For an estate pur autre vie to exist, three elements must be present:
1. A conveyance of a possessory interest in property to a grantee.
2. The duration of that interest measured by the life of a designated third party (the cestui que vie), not by the grantee's own life.
3. The interest terminates automatically upon the death of the measuring life, not upon the death of the tenant.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter autre vie most often in two contexts: property law doctrine (life estates and future interests) and probate/succession disputes involving historical conveyances.
The term appears frequently in older deeds, wills, and conveyances from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, particularly in jurisdictions with strong common law property traditions. When reviewing historical instruments, a researcher must distinguish between a life estate in the ordinary sense and an estate pur autre vie, because the devolution rules differ — and the pre-statutory doctrine of general occupancy (where a stranger could claim the estate if the tenant died before the cestui que vie) can affect chain of title analysis.
The cestui que vie problem also surfaces in insurance and annuity contexts in older records. Establishing proof of the measuring life's continued existence was a practical challenge, addressed in England by the Cestui Que Vie Act of 1666, which created presumptions of death after seven years' absence. Researchers tracing estates in colonial and early American records may encounter procedural relics of that statute.
In modern practice, estates pur autre vie are rare but not extinct. They arise most commonly when a life tenant conveys her interest to a third party — she can convey only what she has, so the transferee holds only for the duration of the original tenant's life. This produces an estate pur autre vie by operation of alienation, not by original grant, and can catch modern practitioners off-guard.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary defines autre vie concisely: "Another's life. A person holding an estate for or during the life of another is called a tenant 'pur autre vie,' or 'pur terme d'autre vie,'" citing Littleton's Tenures and Blackstone's Commentaries. This treatment is accurate but spare. It correctly identifies the relational structure of the estate but does not address the occupancy doctrine, the Cestui Que Vie Act, or the devolution problem that made autre vie a significant doctrinal puzzle in English property law.
Bouvier's entry for autre vie itself is not fully represented in the available source material — the excerpt provided corresponds to a different entry (per aversionem) and appears to be a cataloguing error. Researchers consulting Bouvier directly will find treatment of pur autre vie under that phrase, where the estate's connection to general and special occupancy is addressed with greater depth than Black's affords.
Neither historical dictionary fully captures the transition from the common law occupancy doctrine to the statutory regime. For that development, researchers should consult Blackstone's Commentaries, Book II, Chapter 8, and the Statute of Frauds (29 Car. II, c. 3), which rendered estates pur autre vie devisable.
Jurisdictional Note
American jurisdictions adopted the English framework largely intact, and most states recognize estates pur autre vie by statute or common law. However, some states have simplified or abolished the technical distinctions between life estates and estates pur autre vie in their property codes. Researchers should verify whether a particular state has codified life estate rules in ways that absorb or eliminate the classic autre vie doctrines.