DEMISE  , an Anglo-

French legal term (from the Fr. demettre, Lat. dimittere, to send away) for a transfer of an estate, especially by lease . The word has an operative effect in a lease implying a covenant for " quiet enjoyment " (see LANDLORD AND TENANT) . The phrase " demise of the crown " is used in English law to signify the immediate transfer of the sovereignty, with all its attributes and prerogatives, to the successor without any interregnum in accordance with the maxim " the king never dies." At common law the death of the sovereign eo facto dissolved parliament, but this was abolished by the Representation of the People Act 1867, §51 . Similarly the common law doctrine that all offices held under the crown determined at its demise has been negatived by the Demise of the Crown Act 1901 . " Demise" is thus often used loosely for death or decease .