Monday, 5 October 2020
Introduction to Land Law Basics
De nition - the law of property deals with the legal relationship between a thing and
the owner of that thing; and land law deals with the legal relationship between land
and the owner of that land.
- Land can support multiple users at the same time.
We don’t own Land: We own Estates and Interests
- Theological debate that revolves around the Crown’s relationship with land.
- Land was God’s gift to human kind, a gift to the ruler of mankind, which was
the Monarch.
- Feudalism and tenures (Knight Service, Sergeanty, Socage, Copyhold)
- Prohibition of subinfeudation; 1290 Statute Quia Emptores
- Removal of types of Tenure and Incidents but still with us all having access to the
land due to the permission of the only true owner - the Crown
Estates
- Land owners are actually estate owners, this entitles them to exercise the kind of
rights and the control over a de ned area of land similar to absolute ownership.
- They can exclude people from the land, build on the land, live on the land etc
- Duration of rights
- Two types:
- Freehold estate - where the length of duration is uncertain: Freeholds of
Inheritance (fee simple (no limitation on who can inherit) and fee tail (can
limit)), and Freeholds not of Inheritance (life estates/estate pur autre vie).
Freeholds can also be (i) in possession - indicates they enjoy that exclusive
possession, (ii) in remainder - will get it when the possessor passes away;
waiting for this, or (iii) in reversion - will return to the original settler after the
possessory estate has expired.
- Estates less than Freehold - where the duration is certain from the start
(Leasehold estates)
1
fi
fi
Introduction to Land Law Basics
De nition - the law of property deals with the legal relationship between a thing and
the owner of that thing; and land law deals with the legal relationship between land
and the owner of that land.
- Land can support multiple users at the same time.
We don’t own Land: We own Estates and Interests
- Theological debate that revolves around the Crown’s relationship with land.
- Land was God’s gift to human kind, a gift to the ruler of mankind, which was
the Monarch.
- Feudalism and tenures (Knight Service, Sergeanty, Socage, Copyhold)
- Prohibition of subinfeudation; 1290 Statute Quia Emptores
- Removal of types of Tenure and Incidents but still with us all having access to the
land due to the permission of the only true owner - the Crown
Estates
- Land owners are actually estate owners, this entitles them to exercise the kind of
rights and the control over a de ned area of land similar to absolute ownership.
- They can exclude people from the land, build on the land, live on the land etc
- Duration of rights
- Two types:
- Freehold estate - where the length of duration is uncertain: Freeholds of
Inheritance (fee simple (no limitation on who can inherit) and fee tail (can
limit)), and Freeholds not of Inheritance (life estates/estate pur autre vie).
Freeholds can also be (i) in possession - indicates they enjoy that exclusive
possession, (ii) in remainder - will get it when the possessor passes away;
waiting for this, or (iii) in reversion - will return to the original settler after the
possessory estate has expired.
- Estates less than Freehold - where the duration is certain from the start
(Leasehold estates)
1
fi
fi
