Land Rights

Land Use Terms Land Use The author of this response is asked to define a few terms. There are three terms in total and all of them relate to land use and land rights in some manner or form and how personal land ownership rights are juxtaposed against that of a land owner or a government that wishes to take ownership of land for public use, the latter of which is commonly known as eminent domain.

Allodial Title The definition of allodial title is the ownership of property such as land and/or buildings. The ownership has to be free of any higher power over the land such as a landlord or other leasing power. In other words, the land has to be entirely owned and otherwise legally held by the part that has allodial title over the land and/or property. This is in contrast to land that is subject to feudal duties and/or as many burdens as is normal to the presiding government.

The term is used much more in countries like England and Wales but is also used in some areas of the United States as well. Allodial land is land that is not as restricted in its use and disposition by the federal government but it is still subject to many of the same restrictions nonetheless. Allodial, as a word, means "exempt from duties such as feudal and this term has its roots in Latin as well as older French and English law.

This term and its associated law dates back to roughly the 11th century AD in non-Latin corners and as far back as 5th century AD in Latin dimensions as well as even some Salic law and Germanic laws. A similar but different term is freehold law. This term refers specifically to law in areas of the United Kingdom such as England, Wales and Scotland. Freehold law is often referred to as frank-tenement and franktenemant law.

The term refers to ownership of real property and does not refer to property that is leased from the actual owner on a temporary basis rather than direct ownership, the latter being freehold law. For law to be freehold in nature, there are two conditions that must be met. First, the property must not be movable in nature. For example, a mobile home would not be property that would be applicable under freehold law.

The other condition is that the ownership of the property must be for an indefinite amount of time rather than a fixed period. For example, if a piece of land or associated structures is for a finite amount of time such as one year or two years, then it is probably a lease or some other landlord/tenant relationship. Regardless, it is not a freehold situation if the time of ownership is the least bit fixed and pre-determined/agreed in nature.

Eminent domain is a concept that is used around the civilized world, although it tends to be called different things based on where it is exercised. In areas like South Africa and Canada, it is called expropriation. In the United States, it is called eminent domain. In the UK, New Zealand and Ireland, it is called compulsory purchase. Regardless of where it is occurring, the concept is basically the same.

It refers to when land that is currently owned and held righteously by private interests is intended to be taken for public use. For example, if a public road or highway needs to be built or if some land needs to be partitioned off for environmental or other similar reasons, this is when eminent domain typically kicks in.

Some examples of attempted or actual eminent domain use can be controversial because some uses pertain to economic development reasons that can sometime involve private owners taking land that was already allocated to other private owners for the uses that the government deems fit.

The topics of allodial law, freehold law and eminent domain law can all intersect at some point because there has to be a managed and orderly transfer from when government does NOT own the land that they wish to use for public purposes and the time in which they can and do use land for public purposes.

At least in American courts, this is typically done using the facets and topics of "fair compensation" so that the land is not taken from the proper owners without any compensation for the land that they.