HISTORY OF LAND LAW
2009 – land of conveyance law act
- Feudal tenure abolished
A few exceptions:
• Some residual tenure out there, means we need to know the tenure system that had existed
before
• Very much a common law system, we inherited it from England
• Haven’t abolished it yet in England and Wales
• Lawyers have to be able to decipher old deeds and titles even now.
Ownership of land
- A misleading concept – the person does not really own the land, they own an ESTATE in the
land
- You have an interest in the land and that’s what the estate is, in comparison to owning the
land outstraight
- You have certain rights in relation to that land for a certain period of time
- Reasoning? The feudal system of tenure
- The system that existe from the 12th century still is very influential on contemporary
property law.
An estate
- involves a legal relationship
- a legal interest
- may vary
- the duration for which you hold the land
Tenure
- is the terms on which you own the land
- introduced by Anglo-Normans in the 12th century.
- It was well suited to the structure of society at that time and relationships
- However, as capitalism arose, things changed and there was an alteration in land ownership
- To understand how the feudal land ownership, you must understand the society
The feudal system of Land Ownership
- Introduced in England in 1066 – normans came from france to England and introduced their
ownership functioning
- Came to Ireland w/ modifications
- Gap of about 100 years between introduction to England and introduction to Ireland
- Around 1171-72
- Took several hundred years for Anglo law to settle in Ireland
2 simplified phases:
1. Around 1170s
, • Granted areas of land to Anglo-Norman lords who came over with a conquest
• This land was already owned by indigenous Irish
• It involved superimposing a ruling class onto an already ruled class.
• The aim – A.N remain as members of the ruling class but the two cultures inter-married So
this theory fell apart
• 12-15c Brehon law > new laws existed side by side
2. Around 1600s / 17th c
• Plantation introduced
• Feudal system – not just new law, new system completely
THE NEW SYSTEM
- The MANOR is the basic unit of the system
- It consisted of the castle which held the Lord
- Immediately around castle was the Lords Demesne
- The unenclosed fields – usually 2/3
- The people who lived in the village surrounding castle were serfs/ villeins
- They were bound to the manor, where they worked and stayed and they weren’t free to
move to a diff. manor.
- The fields were striped, with some parts being left fallow and others used
- Only a bit of the fields was used to provide them with sufficient food for themselves and a
bit extra for lord and family
- They’d each have a strip, and on certain days they’d have to work in the domain on special
stripes restricted to the Lord’s usage
DISTRIBUTION OF LAND
- The King would grant land to the ‘tenants in chief’
- Barrons would have large amounts of land and would grant it to people lower in the social
chain and so on
- Very bottom would be the peasants/ serfs
- The class of people in society determined what rights over land you had
- Land could not be bought and sold
- It was only given/ granted
- In return, you would owe them services/ incidents
- These would depend on type of estate given
- There was no land that was ‘allodial’ > without a Lord
- So, everything derived from the King
- Basically, relationships determined land ownership and land was very much about this
rather than actual ownership of the land under ‘law’
- Unless you were at the bottom or top, you’d owe something to someone and was owed
from someone else
- The person granting would be the landlord or landholder
- The person they granted it to would be a tenant
- The relationship between these, would be called seisin
2009 – land of conveyance law act
- Feudal tenure abolished
A few exceptions:
• Some residual tenure out there, means we need to know the tenure system that had existed
before
• Very much a common law system, we inherited it from England
• Haven’t abolished it yet in England and Wales
• Lawyers have to be able to decipher old deeds and titles even now.
Ownership of land
- A misleading concept – the person does not really own the land, they own an ESTATE in the
land
- You have an interest in the land and that’s what the estate is, in comparison to owning the
land outstraight
- You have certain rights in relation to that land for a certain period of time
- Reasoning? The feudal system of tenure
- The system that existe from the 12th century still is very influential on contemporary
property law.
An estate
- involves a legal relationship
- a legal interest
- may vary
- the duration for which you hold the land
Tenure
- is the terms on which you own the land
- introduced by Anglo-Normans in the 12th century.
- It was well suited to the structure of society at that time and relationships
- However, as capitalism arose, things changed and there was an alteration in land ownership
- To understand how the feudal land ownership, you must understand the society
The feudal system of Land Ownership
- Introduced in England in 1066 – normans came from france to England and introduced their
ownership functioning
- Came to Ireland w/ modifications
- Gap of about 100 years between introduction to England and introduction to Ireland
- Around 1171-72
- Took several hundred years for Anglo law to settle in Ireland
2 simplified phases:
1. Around 1170s
, • Granted areas of land to Anglo-Norman lords who came over with a conquest
• This land was already owned by indigenous Irish
• It involved superimposing a ruling class onto an already ruled class.
• The aim – A.N remain as members of the ruling class but the two cultures inter-married So
this theory fell apart
• 12-15c Brehon law > new laws existed side by side
2. Around 1600s / 17th c
• Plantation introduced
• Feudal system – not just new law, new system completely
THE NEW SYSTEM
- The MANOR is the basic unit of the system
- It consisted of the castle which held the Lord
- Immediately around castle was the Lords Demesne
- The unenclosed fields – usually 2/3
- The people who lived in the village surrounding castle were serfs/ villeins
- They were bound to the manor, where they worked and stayed and they weren’t free to
move to a diff. manor.
- The fields were striped, with some parts being left fallow and others used
- Only a bit of the fields was used to provide them with sufficient food for themselves and a
bit extra for lord and family
- They’d each have a strip, and on certain days they’d have to work in the domain on special
stripes restricted to the Lord’s usage
DISTRIBUTION OF LAND
- The King would grant land to the ‘tenants in chief’
- Barrons would have large amounts of land and would grant it to people lower in the social
chain and so on
- Very bottom would be the peasants/ serfs
- The class of people in society determined what rights over land you had
- Land could not be bought and sold
- It was only given/ granted
- In return, you would owe them services/ incidents
- These would depend on type of estate given
- There was no land that was ‘allodial’ > without a Lord
- So, everything derived from the King
- Basically, relationships determined land ownership and land was very much about this
rather than actual ownership of the land under ‘law’
- Unless you were at the bottom or top, you’d owe something to someone and was owed
from someone else
- The person granting would be the landlord or landholder
- The person they granted it to would be a tenant
- The relationship between these, would be called seisin
