Actuarial tables are used to determine the likelihood that the person in question will or will not live to see their next birthday. They are also known as mortality tables or life tables. Tables such as these are often used to determine the value of 'life estates' since ownsership of the property would end in the death of the land owner who is called the "life tenant." Life estates could also be
. measured by the life of a third party, and this is known as 'pur autre vie'. You can find more information about life estates here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_estate.
