The doctrine of estates appears to be a logical consequence of tenure. The theory underpinning Land Law in England is that all land belongs to the Crown and that people held the land from the Crown, originally, in return for the performance of services. In this case, the tenants did not actually own the land itself, but only held an interest, or estate, in the land. Certain incidents of ownership can be divided between different people at different times, a process facilitated by the doctrine of estates. This chapter focuses on the doctrines of tenure and estates. It discusses freehold estates, which include the fee simple, the life estate, and the fee tail, as well as the co-existence of estates, ownership and possession of land, and leasehold estates.
Chapter
2. Tenure and Estates
Chapter
5. Registration of Title
The 1925 legislation was enacted in part to encourage the development of the registration of title to land, to which end the basic doctrines of substantive Land Law had to be simplified. Thereafter, the legislation’s ultimate goal has been to make sure that all land titles in England and Wales are registered. Registration of title aims to facilitate the security of land ownership and land transfer. This chapter focuses on the registration of land titles in England and Wales. After providing an overview of the basics of title registration, it discusses the Land Registration Act 2002, registrable interests, registration with an absolute title, third-party rights, unregistered interests which override registration, titles that are less than absolute, dealings with registered land, and indemnity as a result of alteration of register.
Chapter
6. Adverse Possession
According to Section 17 of England’s Limitation Act 1980, a person who loses the right to recover possession of land also loses his title to that land. The corollary is that the person who takes possession of the land acquires ownership rights. In cases where title is unregistered, English Land Law provides that ownership of land or, more accurately, estates in land, is a relative concept. In a dispute over entitlement to possession of land, the court must determine which of the two claimants has a better right to possess, rather than who is the owner. This is not true, however, under the Land Registration Act 2002, and so this chapter deals with 1) the question of how adverse possession is established in all cases, and 2) the question of the effect of an adverse possession claim in both the unregistered and registered systems.
Chapter
7. Acquisition of Interests in the Home
Co-ownership of land can involve a number of quite different relationships. One type of relationship, which has caused the most anxiety for courts, is that between cohabiting couples in an intimate relationship. Much of the case law dealing with the acquisition of interests in land has arisen in the context of disputes over ownership of the family home. This chapter, which explores legal issues concerning co-ownership of matrimonial property in England, focusing on acquisition of interests in the matrimonial home, first discusses the creation of co-ownership before turning to express declarations of ownership. It considers resulting, implied, and constructive trusts as well as joint ownership of the legal title, sole ownership of the legal title, contributions and resulting trusts, recent case law on trusts of the family home and the nature of inference and imputation under a constructive trust, and reform of the law on co-ownership.
