| Property law |
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| Part of thecommon law series |
| Types |
| Acquisition |
| Estates in land |
| Conveyancing |
| Future use control |
| Nonpossessory interest |
| Related topics |
| Othercommon law areas |
Higher category:Law andCommon law |
| English feudalism |
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| Manorialism |
| Feudal land tenure in England |
| Feudal duties |
| Feudalism |
Allodial title constitutes ownership ofreal property (land, buildings, andfixtures) that is independent of any superior landlord. Allodial title is related to the concept of land heldin allodium, or land ownership by occupancy and defence of the land.
Most property ownership incommon law jurisdictions isfee simple. In the United States, the land is subject toeminent domain by federal, state and local government, and subject to the imposition of taxes by state or local governments, and there is thus no true allodial land. Land is "held ofthe Crown" inEngland and Wales and other jurisdictions in theCommonwealth realms. Some land in theOrkney andShetland Islands, known asudal land, is held in a manner akin to allodial land in that these titles are not subject to the ultimate ownership of the Crown.
In France, while allodial title existed before theFrench Revolution, it was rare and limited toecclesiastical properties and property that had fallen out of feudal ownership. After the French Revolution, allodial title became the norm in France and othercivil law countries that were underNapoleonic legal influences. In October 1854, theseigneurial system ofLower Canada, which had been ceded from France to Britain in 1763 at the conclusion of theSeven Years' War, was extinguished by the Seigneurial Tenures Abolition Act of October 1854, and a form similar tosocage replaced it.
Property owned under allodial title is referred to as allodial land, allodium, or anallod. In theDomesday Book of 1086 it is called alod.[1] Historically, allodial title was sometimes used to distinguish ownership of land without feudal duties from ownership byfeudal tenure which restrictedalienation and burdened land with the tenurial rights of a landholder'soverlord orsovereign.
Allodial lands are the absolute property of their owner and not subject to anyrent, service, or acknowledgment to a superior. Allodial title is therefore an alternative tofeudalland tenure.[2] However, historianJames Holt states that "InNormandy the wordalodium, whatever its sense in other parts of the Continent, meant, not land held free ofseigneurial services, but land held byhereditary right", and that "alodium andfeodum should be given the same meaning in England".[3]
Allodium, meaning "land exempt from feudal duties", is first attested in English-language texts in the 11th-centuryDomesday Book, but was borrowed fromOld Low Franconian *allōd, meaning "full property", and attested inLatin as e.g.,alodis,alaudes, in theSalic law (c. A.D. 507–596) and otherGermanic laws. The word is a compound of *all "whole, full" and *ōd "estate, property" (cf.Old Saxonōd,Old Englishead,Old Norseauðr).[4] Allodial tenure seems to have been common throughout northern Europe,[2] but is now unknown incommon law jurisdictions apart fromScotland and theIsle of Man. An allod could be converted into afief by the owner surrendering it to a lord and receiving it back as a fief.[5]
Allodial land title is common in theIsle of Man which has laws with Nordic origins. A version calledudal tenure exists in theOrkney andShetland Islands, also of Nordic origin. These are the only parts of theUnited Kingdom where allodial title exists, with the few exceptions.
One such exception is theScottish Barony of theBachuil, which is not of feudal origin like other baronies but is allodial in that it predates (A.D. 562) Scotland itself and the feudal system, dating from theGaelic Kingdom ofDál Riata. In recognition as allodialBarons par le Grâce de Dieu not barons by afeudal crown grant, the Baron of the Bachuil has the onlycoat of arms in Scotland granted acap of maintenance with a "vair" (squirrel fur) lining (as opposed toermine) by theLord Lyon Court.[6]
Another exception isSomerset House which was vested in His Majesty explicitly not in fee simple, and is held to be allodial.
The dictionary definition ofallodial title at Wiktionary