SEISIN, in law, signifies possession. In this sense we say, premier seisin, for the first possession, &c.
Seisin is divided into that in deed or in fact, and that in law. A seisin in deed is where a possession is actually taken: but a seisin in law is, where lands descend, and the party has not entered thereon; or in other words, it is where a person has a right to lands, &c. and is by wrong disseised of them. A seisin in law is held to be sufficient to avow on; though to the bringing of an assize, actual seisin is required; and where seisin is alleged, the person pleading it must show of what estate he is seised, &c.
Seisin of a superior service is deemed to be a seisin
Selkirk. goat with his ears thus flit on the neighbouring island of Mas-a-fuera, where Selkirk never was. He made companions of his tame goats and cats, often dancing and singing with them. Though he constantly performed his devotions at stated hours, and read aloud; yet, when he was taken off the island, his language, from disuse of conversation, was become scarcely intelligible. In this solitude he continued four years and four months; during which time only two incidents happened which he thought worth relating, the occurrences of every day being in his circumstances nearly similar. The one was, that, pursuing a goat eagerly, he caught it just on the edge of a precipice, which was covered with bushes, so that he did not perceive it, and he fell over to the bottom, where he lay (according to captain Roger's account) 24 hours senseless; but, as he related to Sir R. Steele, he computed, by the alteration of the moon, that he had lain three days. When he came to himself, he found the goat lying under him dead. It was with great difficulty that he could crawl to his habitation, whence he was unable to stir for ten days, and did not recover of his bruises for a long time. The other event was the arrival of a ship, which he at first supposed to be French: and such is the natural love of society in the human mind, that he was eager to abandon his solitary felicity, and surrender himself to them, although enemies; but upon their landing, approaching them, he found them to be Spaniards, of whom he had too great a dread to trust himself in their hands. They were by this time so near that it required all his agility to escape, which he effected by climbing into a thick tree, being shot at several times as he ran off. Fortunately the Spaniards did not discover him, though they stayed some time under the tree where he was hid, and killed some goats just by. In this solitude Selkirk remained until the 2d of February 1709, when he saw two ships come into the bay, and knew them to be English. He immediately lighted a fire as a signal; and on their coming on shore, found they were the Duke captain Rogers, and the Duchess captain Courtney, two privateers from Bristol. He gave them the best entertainment he could afford; and, as they had been a long time at sea without fresh provisions, the goats which he caught were highly acceptable. His habitation consisting of two huts, one to sleep in, the other to dress his food in, was so obscurely situated, and so difficult of access, that only one of the ship's officers would accompany him to it. Dampier, who was pilot on board the Duke, and knew Selkirk very well, told captain Rogers, that, when on board the Cinque-Ports, he was the best seaman on board that vessel; upon which captain Rogers appointed him master's mate of the Duke. After a fortnight's stay at Juan Fernandez, the ships proceeded on their cruise against the Spaniards; plundered a town on the coast of Peru; took a Manila ship off California; and returned by way of the East Indies to England, where they arrived the 1st of October 1711; Selkirk having been absent eight years, more than half of which time he had spent alone in the island. The public curiosity being excited respecting him, he was induced to put his papers into the hands of Defoe, to arrange and form them into a regular narrative. These papers must have been drawn up after he left Juan Fernandez, as he had no means of recording his transactions there. Captain Cooke remarks, as an extraordinary circumstance, that he had
contrived to keep an account of the days of the week and month: but this might be done, as Defoe makes Robinson Crusoe do, by cutting notches in a post, or many other methods. From this account of Selkirk, Defoe took the idea of writing a more extensive work, the romance of Robinson Crusoe, and very dishonestly defrauded the original proprietor of his share of the profits. Of the time or place or manner of this extraordinary man's death we have received no account; but in 1792 the chest and musket which Selkirk had with him on the island were in the possession of his grand-nephew, John Selkirk weaver in Largo, where doubtless they are at present.