Editing Allodial title (section)

==Legal concept==
Allodial lands are the absolute property of their owner and not subject to any [[Renting|rent]], service, or acknowledgment to a superior. Allodial title is therefore an alternative to [[feudalism|feudal]] [[land tenure]].<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Allodium|volume=1|page=698}}</ref> However, [[historian]] [[J.&nbsp;C. Holt]] states that "In [[Normandy]] the word ''alodium'', whatever its sense in other parts of the Continent, meant not land held free of [[Manorialism|seigneurial]] services, but land held by [[hereditary right]]",<ref>{{cite book | last=Holt | first=J. C. | title=Colonial England, 1066–1215 | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | location=London | year=1997 | isbn=978-1-4411-7794-0 | page=115}}</ref> and that "''alodium'' and ''feodum'' should be given the same meaning in England".{{sfn|Holt|1997|p=116}}

''Allodium'', meaning "land exempt from feudal duties", is first attested in English-language texts in the 11th-century [[Domesday Book]], but was borrowed from [[Old Dutch|Old Low Franconian]] *''allōd'', meaning "full property", and attested in [[Latin]] as e.g., {{lang|la|alodis}}, {{lang|la|alaudes}}, in the [[Salic law]] (c. A.D. 507–596) and other [[Germanic law]]s. The word is a compound of *''all'' "whole, full" and *''ōd'' "estate, property" (cf. [[Old Saxon]] ''ōd'', [[Old English]] ''ead'', [[Old Norse]] ''auðr'').<ref>C.T. Onions, ed., ''Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology'', s.v. "allodium" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 26–27.</ref> Allodial tenure seems to have been common throughout northern Europe,<ref name="EB1911"/> but is now unknown in [[common law]] jurisdictions apart from the [[United States]], [[Scotland]] and the [[Isle of Man]]. An allod could be converted into a fief, by the owner surrendering it to a lord and receiving it back as a fief.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=Susan|title=Fiefs and Vassals|date=1994|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-820458-2|page=48}}</ref> Allodial land title is common in the [[Isle of Man]] which has laws with Nordic origins. A version called [[udal tenure]] exists in the [[Orkney]] and [[Shetland]] Islands, also of Nordic origin. These are the only parts of the [[United Kingdom]] where allodial title exists, with the few exceptions. One such exception is the [[Barons in Scotland|Scottish Barony]] of the [[Bachuil]], 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 the [[Gaels|Gaelic]] Kingdom of [[Dál Riata]]. In recognition as allodial ''Barons par le Grâce de Dieu'' not barons by a [[feudal]] crown grant, the Baron of the Bachuil has the only [[coat of arms]] in Scotland granted a [[cap of maintenance]] with a "[[vair]]" ([[squirrel]] fur) lining (as opposed to [[Stoat|ermine]]) by the [[Lord Lyon Court]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The MacLeas or Livingstones and their Allodial Barony of the Bachuil |author=Niall Livingston of the Bachuil, yr. |publisher= Baronage Press |date=2006 |url=http://baronage.co.uk/2006a/Bachuil.pdf |access-date= 2018-05-21}}</ref> Another exception is [[Somerset House]] which was vested in His Majesty explicitly not in fee simple, and is held to be allodial.

===Development of equitable title===
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As late as the Tudor period, in order to avoid [[estate tax]]es, a legal [[loophole]] was exploited where land was willed to a [[trustee]] for the use of the [[beneficiary]]. However, trustees often abused this privilege, and heirs found that the courts of common law would refuse to recognize the "use" clause, and would instead grant title in law to the trustee. However, the [[courts of equity]], which were developed by the sovereign to deal with obvious injustices in the common law courts, ruled that the [[heir]]s were entitled to the use of the property, and gave them title in equity. As rulings of equity courts ranked above those of common law courts, this gave heirs the use of the land, but not title to it in the common law.

However, this distinction between common law and equity title helped develop forms of [[security]] based on the distinction, now known as the [[mortgage law|mortgage]]. Enjoyment of the property during the period where the mortgage was in good standing could be assured through the equity courts, while the right to foreclose on the property to merge the common law and equity title were guaranteed in the common law courts.

===Proof of ownership===
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Until the 18th century, almost all common law property ownership depended on proving a link of possession from a royal grant of title to the property owner. Although the feudal system had ceased from England in 1660, and is now [[fee simple]] [[taxation]], in theory the feudal chain of title still exists, although it is a formality.

However, proving ownership in the absence of the documents was an impossibility, and [[Forgery|forgeries]] of crown grants were common and difficult to detect. Moreover, it was nearly impossible to determine if land was subject to common law encumbrances (i.e. mortgages). This led to the establishment in the 18th century of [[Land registration|land registry]] systems, where a central office in each county was responsible for the filing of land [[deed]]s, mortgages, [[lien]]s and other evidence of ownership, transfer or encumbrance. Under land registry, deeds and charges were not recognized unless they were filed, and persons who filed were given priority over previous transactions that had not been filed. Moreover, under [[Statute of limitations|statutes of limitation]], in certain jurisdictions only documents that had been filed in the past 40 years had to be consulted to determine the chain of ownership.