Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies
the Crown. It is the equivalent of an
entailed estate
Estate or The Estate may refer to:
Law
* Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations
* Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries.
** The Estates, representat ...
and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in
Commonwealth realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations whose monarch and head of state is shared among the other realms. Each realm functions as an independent state, equal with the other realms and nations of the Commonwealt ...
s such as Canada and Australia, crown land is considered
public land and is apart from the monarch's private estate.
In Britain, the hereditary revenues of Crown lands provided income for the monarch until the start of the reign of
George III, when the profits from the
Crown Estate were surrendered to the
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...
in return for a fixed
civil list
A civil list is a list of individuals to whom money is paid by the government, typically for service to the state or as honorary pensions. It is a term especially associated with the United Kingdom and its former colonies of Canada, India, New Zeal ...
payment. The monarch retains the income from the
Duchy of Lancaster.
Australia
In Australia, public lands without a specific tenure (e.g. National Park or State Forest) are referred to as Crown land or State Land, which is described as being held in the "right of the Crown" of either an individual
State or the
Commonwealth of Australia; there is not a single "Crown" (as a legal governmental entity) in Australia (see
The Crown). Most Crown lands in Australia are held by the Crown in the right of a State. The only land held by the Commonwealth consists of land in the Northern Territory (surrendered by South Australia), the Australian Capital Territory, Jervis Bay Territory, and small areas acquired for airports, defence and other government purposes.
Each jurisdiction has its own policies towards the sale