Property Legal Terms Glossary
Property law concepts for ownership, estates, and land use doctrines.
Definitions
Fee Simple Absolute
A fee simple absolute is the greatest estate in land recognized by law, granting the owner complete ownership for an infinite duration with no limitations on inheritability. It is freely alienable, devisable, and descendible. The holder of a fee simple absolute has the right to use, possess, exclude, transfer, and dispose of the property as they see fit, subject only to government regulation. Language such as 'to A and his heirs' creates a fee simple absolute at common law, though modern law generally presumes a fee simple unless otherwise indicated.
Life Estate
A life estate is an ownership interest in property that lasts for the duration of a person's life (typically the grantee's). The life tenant has the right to possess, use, and enjoy the property but must not commit waste — acts that permanently diminish the property's value. Upon the life tenant's death, the property passes to the remainderman (if a remainder was created) or reverts to the grantor (reversion). Life estates can be measured by the life of someone other than the tenant (pur autre vie).
Remainder
A remainder is a future interest created in a third party that becomes possessory upon the natural expiration of a prior estate (such as a life estate or term of years). Remainders are either vested (created in an ascertained person with no condition precedent) or contingent (subject to a condition precedent or created in an unascertained person). Vested remainders are freely transferable and not subject to the Rule Against Perpetuities, while contingent remainders may be subject to it.
Reversion
A reversion is a future interest retained by the grantor when the grantor conveys a lesser estate than they own. For example, if O (who has a fee simple) conveys a life estate to A, O retains a reversion in fee simple — upon A's death, the property returns to O or O's heirs. Reversions are vested interests, freely alienable, and not subject to the Rule Against Perpetuities. They arise automatically by operation of law whenever the grantor transfers less than their full interest.
Easement
An easement is a nonpossessory interest in another's land that grants the holder the right to use the property for a specific purpose. Easements may be affirmative (granting a right to do something on the land) or negative (preventing the landowner from doing something). They can be created by express grant, reservation, implication, necessity, or prescription. An easement appurtenant benefits a neighboring parcel (the dominant estate) and burdens the servient estate, while an easement in gross benefits a person rather than a parcel.
Adverse Possession
Adverse possession is a doctrine by which a person who occupies land belonging to another may acquire legal title if their possession is actual, exclusive, open and notorious, adverse/hostile (without permission), and continuous for the statutory period. The rationale includes encouraging productive use of land, settling disputes, and rewarding those who treat land as their own. The required state of mind varies by jurisdiction — some require good faith, others bad faith, and still others are indifferent to the possessor's subjective intent.
Eminent Domain
Eminent domain is the government's inherent power to take private property for public use, provided just compensation is paid. The Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause limits this power by requiring that the taking be for a 'public use' and that the owner receive just compensation (generally fair market value). The Supreme Court has broadly interpreted 'public use' to include economic development, and regulatory takings (government restrictions that go 'too far') may also require compensation.
Takings Clause
The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment provides that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. It applies to both physical takings (where the government physically occupies or appropriates property) and regulatory takings (where government regulations deprive the owner of economically viable use). The Penn Central test balances the economic impact, interference with investment-backed expectations, and the character of the government action. A total deprivation of economic value is a per se taking under Lucas.
Covenant (Real Covenant)
A real covenant is a promise concerning the use of land that runs with the land, binding or benefiting successors in interest. For a covenant to run at law, it must be in writing, the parties must intend it to run, it must 'touch and concern' the land, and there must be horizontal and vertical privity. Horizontal privity exists when the original parties share an interest in the same land (e.g., grantor-grantee). Vertical privity requires that the successor hold the entire estate of the original party.
Servitude (Equitable Servitude)
An equitable servitude is a covenant regarding the use of land that equity will enforce against successors, even when the requirements for a real covenant at law are not met. Unlike real covenants, equitable servitudes do not require horizontal privity. The requirements are a writing (satisfying the statute of frauds, unless implied from a common scheme), intent to bind successors, touch and concern, and notice (actual, constructive, or inquiry). The remedy for breach is typically injunctive relief rather than money damages.
Tenancy in Common
A tenancy in common is a form of concurrent ownership in which two or more persons hold undivided interests in the same property. Each tenant has the right to possess the entire property, and their interests are independently alienable, devisable, and descendible. There is no right of survivorship — when a tenant in common dies, their interest passes through their estate. Tenancy in common is the default form of concurrent ownership in modern American law.
Joint Tenancy
A joint tenancy is a form of concurrent ownership characterized by the right of survivorship — upon the death of one joint tenant, the deceased's interest automatically passes to the surviving joint tenant(s). At common law, creation requires the four unities: time, title, interest, and possession. A joint tenancy can be severed unilaterally by one tenant conveying their interest (which converts the transferee's share to a tenancy in common), by mutual agreement, or by certain legal actions.
Landlord-Tenant Law
Landlord-tenant law governs the relationship between property owners who lease their property and the tenants who occupy it. The four types of tenancies are: tenancy for years (fixed term), periodic tenancy (renewing automatically), tenancy at will (terminable by either party), and tenancy at sufferance (holdover). Modern landlord-tenant law has evolved from property-based doctrines to a more contract-based framework, incorporating the implied warranty of habitability, which requires landlords to maintain residential premises in a livable condition.
Fixture
A fixture is personal property (chattel) that has been attached to real property in such a way that it is considered part of the real estate. The determination of whether an item is a fixture involves the intent of the annexor, the degree of attachment, the adaptation of the item to the use of the land, and the relationship between the parties. Trade fixtures — items installed by a tenant for business purposes — may generally be removed by the tenant before the lease expires. Fixtures pass with the land upon sale unless specifically excluded.
Recording Statute
Recording statutes govern the priority of competing claims to real property by determining the effect of recording (or failing to record) a deed or other conveyance. There are three types: race statutes (first to record wins, regardless of notice), notice statutes (a subsequent bona fide purchaser without notice prevails over a prior unrecorded conveyance), and race-notice statutes (a subsequent bona fide purchaser without notice who records first prevails). Recording provides constructive notice to the world of the conveyance.