use
historical property law
- Related Topics:
- trust
- feudal land tenure
use, in medieval English property law, the right of one person to take the profits of land belonging to another. It involved at least two and usually three persons. One man (A) would convey or enfeoff land to another (B) on the condition that the latter would use it not for his own benefit but for the benefit of a third man (C)—who could be A himself. C (or A), thus, had the profits—that is, the use—of the land and could treat the land as he pleased. This legal institution, which arose as early as the 11th century, came to ...(100 of 283 words)