In English and Irish law, a fee farm grant is a hybrid type of land ownership typical in cities and towns. The word ''fee'' is derived from
fief or fiefdom, meaning a
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
landholding, and a fee farm grant is similar to a
fee simple
In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., perm ...
in the sense that it gives the grantee the right to hold a freehold estate, the only difference being the payment of an annual rent ("
farm" being an archaic word for rent) and covenants, thus putting both parties in a landlord-tenant relationship.
Types
Fee farm grants fall into three categories:
* Feudal fee farm grants
The ban on
subinfeudation
In English law, subinfeudation is the practice by which tenants, holding land under the king or other superior lord, carved out new and distinct tenures in their turn by sub-letting or alienating a part of their lands.
The tenants were termed m ...
in the fee simple did not apply to land granted after ''
Quia Emptores'' to supporters of the Crown. These new estates (many of which were created after
the 17th-century plantations) were thus regularly divided into subtenures as fee farm grants.
* Conversion fee farm grants
Any
perpetually renewable leases for life were converted into fee farm grants after the enactment of the Renewable Leasehold Conversion Act 1849. This act also allowed any existing lessees for lives to convert their holding into a fee farm grant.
* Express fee farm grants
The
Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment (Ireland) Act 1860 (i.e. Deasy's Act) allowed for the creation of express fee farm grants.
Reform
In Ireland the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 (Section 12) does not allow the creation of any new fee farm grants, and where any such attempt is made a fee simple is automatically created instead. The act did not alter the status of any existing fee farm grants.
Etymology
* Fee – A right in law to the use of land; i.e. a
fief.
*
Farm – a fixed yearly amount of rent or other payment (from the
Medieval Latin ''ferma'', ''firma'').
Oxford English Dictionary online ''farm''
accessed 10 January 2011
* Grant – transfer of property by deed of conveyance.
See also
* Allodial title
Allodial title constitutes ownership of real property (land, buildings, and fixtures) that is independent of any superior landlord. Allodial title is related to the concept of land held "in allodium", or land ownership by occupancy and defens ...
* Demesne
A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...
* Fee tail
* Fee simple
In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., perm ...
* Ground rent
As a legal term, ground rent specifically refers to regular payments made by a holder of a leasehold property to the freeholder or a superior leaseholder, as required under a lease. In this sense, a ground rent is created when a freehold piece of ...
* Leasehold
* Life estate
* Quia Emptores
Notes
External links
Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009
DF* Law Reform Commission (200
Report on Land Law and Conveyancing Law
DF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fee Farm Grant
Property law of Ireland
English property law
Feudalism in the British Isles