Glossary

absolute

an absolute estate or interest is one which is not

modified; that is, neither conditional nor

determinable

administrator

a person appointed by the court to administer the

estate of an intestate (cf executor)

adverse possession

squatter’s rights

advowson

the right of presenting a clergyman to a vacant

benefice

alienation

the act of transferring ownership to another

annexation

the act of attaching something to the land so as to

make it part of the land, as in the case of a fixture

or the benefit of a restrictive covenant

assent

a transfer of property from a personal

representative to the person entitled, or the

document effecting the transfer

assignment

transfer, especially of leaseholds or choses in action

(cf conveyance)

assurance

a transfer or disposition, as in ‘disentailing

assurance’

barring an entail

converting an entail into a fee simple or other

estate, thus defeating the claims of the heirs of

the entail owner

base fee

a determinable fee simple produced by the partial

barring of the entail

beneficiary

one who benefits, especially the equitable owner

of property held in trust (cf trustee)

bequest

the leaving of personal property (including

leaseholds) by will (cf devise)

UNDERSTANDING LAND LAW

BFP

an abbreviation for ‘bona fide purchaser of a legal

estate for value and without notice’

bona fide

(literally, in good faith) honest

bona vacantia

(literally, empty goods) ownerless property; may

be claimed by the Crown

caution

entering a caution on the register is one method

of protecting an interest in registered land

charge

(as in ‘legal charge’, ‘equitable charge’) an

incumbrance on land, usually given as security for

a loan, or the document which creates it

chattel

(1) personal property; and especially (2) an item of

tangible personal property (a chose in

possession), such as a bell, book or candle

chattel real

old fashioned terminology for a lease or term of

years

chose in action

intangible personal property, such as debts, shares

in a company, or copyright

clog

(as in ‘clog on the equity of redemption’) a

stipulation in a mortgage arrangement which

prevents the borrower from redeeming his

property entirely free and unfettered

co-parcenary

a kind of co-ownership all but abolished in 1925,

applicable in the event of joint heirs

common law

(1) general law, as opposed to local (or manorial)

law; (2) judge made law, as opposed to

legislation; (3) Law, as opposed to Equity;

(4) Anglo-American law, as opposed to Civil (or

Roman) Law; (5) national law, as opposed to

international law; (6) as an academic discipline:

contract and tort, as opposed to public law,

criminal law or property law

condition precedent

a condition which must be fulfilled before a

disposition can take effect (‘to A if she marries’)

condition subsequent

a condition which will defeat a gift after it has

taken effect (‘to A, but if she fails to look after my

tomcat Tiddles, then to B’)

GLOSSARY

conditional

a conditional interest is one which is subject to a

condition subsequent (‘to X, unless the clock

tower falls’)

contingent

a contingent interest is one which is subject to a

condition precedent (‘to X if he passes his land

law exam’)

conveyance

transfer, especially of freeholds (cf assignment)

copyhold

a form of tenure originating in the Saxon

manorial system; previously called villeinage;

eventually abolished in 1925 (cf freehold)

corporation

a company which is a legal entity, an artificial

person; a corporation aggregate has several

members; a corporation sole, just one

covenant

a promise in a deed

deed

a formal written document, traditionally ‘signed,

sealed and delivered’, but these days merely

‘signed as a deed’ and formally witnessed as

such

demise

grant by way of lease

determinable

a determinable interest is one which is given for a

period of time defined by the occurrence of some

event which may or may not happen (‘to X until

the clock tower falls’)

devise

the leaving of freehold property by will (cf

bequest)

disclaimer

a formal refusal to accept, especially a refusal to

accept the transfer of property

disentail

to bar the entail

distress, distraint

taking and selling chattels to satisfy arrears of

rent, usually by sending in professional bailiffs

easement

a right over one piece of land (the servient

tenement) for the benefit of another piece of land

(the dominant tenement), for example, rights of

way, water, light, drainage or support

enfranchisement

turning (leasehold or copyhold) into freehold tenure

UNDERSTANDING LAND LAW

entail

an estate or interest which is inheritable by the

lineal heirs of the original grantee

equity

(1) in a general sense: fairness or justice; (2) by

derivation (‘Equity’): a set of principles which

modifies the effect of the common law; (3) by

derivation (‘an equity’): an equitable right or

interest

equity of redemption

the aggregate of a mortgagor’s rights in

mortgaged property

escheat

the reverting of land to the feudal lord in certain

(now extremely unlikely) circumstances

estate

(1) the bundle of rights owned by the

‘landowner’ (cf tenure); (2) the property of a

deceased person; (3) an area of land

estate contract

a contract for the purchase of an interest in land

executor

a person nominated in a will to administer the

estate of a testator (cf administrator)

fealty

the duty of loyalty owed to a feudal lord

fee

literally, inheritable estate, but a fee simple is no

longer inheritable in the strict sense after 1925 (cf

mere freehold)

fee simple

(virtually) perpetual ownership

fine

(1) a capital payment or premium; (2) an obsolete

method of barring the entail

fixture

an erstwhile chattel which has been annexed to

the land and so become part of the land

foreclosure

a court order which extinguishes the mortgagor’s

rights in mortgaged property, thus vesting the

title in the mortgagee absolutely

freehold

(1) free tenure (cf leasehold, copyhold); (2) an estate

of uncertain duration (cf leasehold)

heir

the person(s) who, before 1926, automatically

inherited the freeholds of an intestate (typically,

the deceased’s eldest son)

GLOSSARY

hereditament

(literally, inheritable property) real property; in

effect: freehold ‘land’; a corporeal hereditament is

one which gives physical possession (eg, land,

buildings, growing things); an incorporeal

hereditament is intangible freehold property (eg,

an easement or a rentcharge)

incumbrance

a liability which binds the land (eg, a mortgage,

easement or restrictive covenant)

inhibition

an order preventing any dealing with registered

land

injunction

an equitable remedy, ordering the defendant to

desist from certain conduct (a ‘prohibitory

injunction’) or (less commonly) ordering him to

do certain things (a ‘mandatory injunction’)

inter vivos

(literally) between living persons

interest

(in a broad sense) any property right, including

an estate in land; (in a narrow sense) an

incumbrance as opposed to an estate in land

intestate

a person who dies without making a will (cf

testator)

ius accrescendi

or right of survivorship (literally, right of

accrual): the right of the surviving joint tenant(s)

to the accrual of the interest of a deceased joint

tenant

ius tertii

(literally) right of a third party

joint tenancy

a kind of co-ownership which is vested in a

group of two or more persons; no individual has

a separate share, and the last survivor of the

group becomes sole owner (cf tenancy in common)

land charge

in relation to unregistered land: those classes of

incumbrance which need to be registered in the

Land Charges Registry

Land Charges Registry

records certain incumbrances (land charges)

which affect unregistered land (eg, restrictive

covenants, estate contracts)

Land Registry

deals with registered land (that is, where the

whole title is registered)

UNDERSTANDING LAND LAW

lease

a term of years, or the document which creates it

leasehold

(1) a form of tenure which implies a duty to pay

rent service (cf freehold); (2) an estate of which the

maximum duration is certain (cf freehold)

licence

a permission, especially a permission to enter

land

Local Land

Charges Registry

a department of the district council or other local

authority which records various (mostly local,

public) charges on the land (tree preservation

orders, planning permissions, etc)

mere freehold

a life estate (cf fee)

mesne

intermediate

minor interest

an interest in registered land which needs to be

protected by an entry against the proprietor’s

title

modified

a modified interest is one which is made

conditional or determinable

money

obviously cash, but note that the plural is

‘moneys’, not ‘monies’

mortgage

the giving of ownership as security for a loan, or

the document which creates such a security

mortgagee

a lender who takes a mortgage as security for the

loan

mortgagor

a borrower who gives a mortgage as security for

the loan

next of kin

the ‘statutory next of kin’ are those persons

identified by the Intestate Estates Act 1952 as

being entitled to the property of an intestate

GLOSSARY

notice

(1) in connection with registered land, entering a

notice on the register is one method of protecting

a minor interest in that land; (2) in relation to the

BFP, notice means knowledge of some

incumbrance which (a) was obtained (‘actual

notice’); or (b) would have been obtained had the

purchaser exercised due care and diligence

(‘constructive notice’); or (c) was or ought to have

been obtained by the purchaser’s agent

(‘imputed notice’)

overreaching

the process of transferring a beneficiary’s right out

of the land and into the purchase moneys;

typically, a purchaser overreaches, and so takes

free of, the beneficiary’s right by paying his

money to at least two trustees or a trust

corporation

overriding interest

an interest which binds the purchaser of

registered land notwithstanding that its existence

is not indicated on the register; overriding

interests are defined in s 70 of the Land

Registration Act 1925

particular estate

an estate less than the fee simple

periodic tenancy

includes weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly

tenancies; the tenancy is automatically renewed

unless due notice to quit is served

perpetuity

undue remoteness: gifts which may not vest until

too far into the future are said to be ‘void for

perpetuity’

personal property

property which is not freehold property; personal

property includes leasehold property, chattels and

choses in action

personal representative

an executor or an administrator

personalty

another way of saying personal property

possession

(1) loosely, physical occupation; (2) the legal right

to possession; (3) the right to receive a rent from

a leasehold tenant

possibility of reverter

the grantor’s right to the land in the event that a

determinable fee comes to an end

UNDERSTANDING LAND LAW

prescription

the act of acquiring an easement or profit by long

user

privity of contract

the relationship between contracting parties

privity of estate

the relationship of landlord and tenant

probate

(literally, proof) the process of ‘proving the will’

of a deceased person, resulting in a ‘grant of

probate’ – a formal court order authorising an

executor to deal with the deceased’s estate (cf

letters of administration)

profit à prendre

a right to enter another’s land and take

something from it, as in the case of sporting

rights or grazing rights

puisne mortgage

a legal mortgage where the mortgagee does not

have possession of the title deeds; in practice, a

second or subsequent legal mortgage

pur autre vie

(literally, for another life) an estate pur autre vie is

an estate for the life of another (‘to A so long as B

shall live’)

purchaser

(1) in a broad, general sense: a buyer; (2) in a

narrow, technical sense, one who takes by act of

party (sale, gift, lease, mortgage) as opposed to

one who takes by involuntary transfer (trustee in

bankruptcy, administrator)

real property

freehold property (cf personal property)

realty

another way of saying real property

recovery

an obsolete method of barring the entail

registered charge

a mortgage of registered land

registrable interest

in connection with registered land: a fee simple

or a lease with at least 21 years to run

remainder

an interest which is subject to a prior freehold

interest or interests (‘to A for life, remainder to B’)

rent

(1) rent service is a money payment payable by a

leasehold tenant to the landlord; (2) a rentcharge

rentcharge

a periodic payment secured on land (cf rent,

charge); also known as a fee farm rent

GLOSSARY

restriction

entering a restriction on the powers of

disposition of the registered proprietor is one

method of protecting a minor interest in

registered land

restrictive covenant

a negative covenant, a covenant which restricts the

use of land; it constitutes an equitable

incumbrance on the land

reversion

(1) the interest remaining in the grantor after the

grant of a particular estate (‘to A for life’ impliedly

leaves the grantor with a reversion in fee simple);

(2) a freehold or leasehold estate which is subject

to a lease (a leasehold tenant owns a term of

years; his landlord owns the reversion on that

term)

right in personam

(literally, a right against a person) a non-property

right, a right which is not binding on third

parties (cf right in rem)

right in rem

(literally, a right [which penetrates] into the

thing) a property right, a right which is binding

on third parties (cf right in personam)

right of (re-)entry

a right to repossess the land, as where a landlord

forfeits a lease or a mortgagee (lender) evicts a

borrower with a view to selling the property

right of survivorship

ius accrescendi: the right of the surviving joint

tenant(s) to the accrual of the interest of a

deceased joint tenant

second mortgage

a mortgage of property which is already subject to

a mortgage

seisin

(broadly) possession of freehold land

settlement

a series of trusts in succession (‘A for life,

remainder to B’) or the document establishing

such a trust

settlor

one who creates a settlement

severance

the act of making separate, as where a fixture is

severed and reconverted into a chattel, or where a

joint tenant severs his interests and so converts it

into a tenancy in common

socage

(the only surviving) freehold tenure

UNDERSTANDING LAND LAW

specific performance

an equitable remedy, ordering the defendant to

perform his contract; available as a matter of

course in relation to contracts for land, but not

normally available in relation to a contract for

chattels (where damages are typically an

adequate remedy)

submortgage

a mortgage of a mortgage

tenancy in common

a kind of co-ownership where each owner has

individual, but unpartitioned shares (as where A

and B own a house in equal shares; cf joint

tenancy)

tenement

(literally, property held by a tenant) in effect, a

piece of land; a ‘dominant tenement’ enjoys the

benefit of an easement; a ‘servient tenement’ is

subject to the burden of an easement

tenure

the relationship between lord and tenant; the

conditions upon which a tenant holds land (cf

estate)

term of years

(in a broad sense, especially ‘term of years

absolute’) any leasehold estate; (in a narrow sense)

a fixed term as opposed to a periodic tenancy

testator

a person who makes a will (cf intestate)

time immemorial

before the year 1189

tithe

the right, now obsolete, of the church to take one-

tenth of the produce of the land

title

a person’s claim to property, or the evidence

which supports that claim

trust

the relationship which arises where an owner of

property (the trustee, typically the legal owner) is

compelled by Equity to treat the property as if it

belonged to another (the beneficiary, or equitable

owner); Equity will also enforce a trust for

charitable, and sometimes other, purposes

trust corporation

a large company such as a bank or insurance

company which is authorised to conduct trust

business or certain designated officials (such as

the Public Trustee)

GLOSSARY

trustee

the nominal or apparent owner of trust property

(cf beneficiary)

undivided shares

means unpartitioned shares (as where A and B

own a house in equal shares); in most cases

‘undivided shares’ is synonymous with a tenancy

in common

user

in relation to the acquisition of easements by

prescription means the act of using (‘user in fee

simple’)

value

money, money’s worth, or (in Equity) marriage

vested

an interest is vested if it is either in possession or

ready to take effect in possession, subject only to

the dropping of life or lives

villeinage

an earlier version of copyhold tenure

voluntary covenant

a promise in a deed unsupported by any actual

consideration; it is enforceable at Law (because of

the formality of a deed), but unenforceable in

Equity (because Equity looks to the substance,

and sees that there is no real consideration)

volunteer

a donee; a person who gives no consideration

waiver

the abandonment of a legal right

waste

the doctrine of waste is a method of allocating the

cost of property repairs as between the tenant for

life and the owner of the fee

will

the declaration by a testator of his wishes

regarding the disposition of his property after his

death; normally a will must be in writing, signed

by the testator in the presence of two witnesses,

and signed by the witnesses in his presence

words of limitation

words which define an estate in land (cf words of

purchase)

words of purchase

words which designate the person(s) entitled to

an estate in land (cf words of limitation)

words of severance

words which indicate separateness and so

indicate a tenancy in common rather that a joint

tenancy (eg, ‘in equal shares’)