from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
SPECIAL OCCUPANT, estates. When an estate is granted to a man and his heirs
during the life, of cestui que vie, and the grantee die without alienation,
and while the life for which he held continues, the heir will succeed, and
is called a special occupant. 2 Bl. Com. 259. In the United States the
statute provisions of the different states vary considerably upon this
subject. In New York and New Jersey, special occupancy is abolished.
Virginia, and probably Maryland, follow the English statutes; in
Massachusetts and other states, where the real and personal estates of
intestates are distributed in the same way and manner, the question does not
seem to be material. 4 Kent, Com. 27.