Introduction: Proprietary Rights
Key Facts
1 Proprietary rights govern your ability to use and enjoy both land you physically
possess and land physically possessed by others.
2 Proprietary rights are rights in the land itself which makes them capable of
enduring changes of ownership to the land.
3 whilst technically all land is owned by the Crown, holding an estate in land, and
in particular a freehold estate that gives you rights to possess, enjoy, and use
the land forever,, is tantamount to actual ownership.
4 Holding an estate in land gives you rights to possess, and enjoy and use the
land beyond just the physical surface area of that land.
5 Apart from an estate in land, the other type of proprietary right that exists is an
interest in land.
6 Whilst an estate gives you a slice of time during which you are entitled to use
and enjoy land you physically possess, an interest gives you rights to use and
enjoy land physically possessed by another.
7 Proprietary rights can be either legal or equitable.
The history behind land ownership: the doctrine of tenures
Free tenure Unfree tenure
Characteristics - services provided to the Characteristic - services provided to the
immediate lord were fixed and certain. immediate lord were not fixed as to their
nature and duration.
Types
Chivalary Villeniage
Socage Customary
Spiritual