Statute of Uses
Encyclopedia
The Statute of Uses was an Act
of the Parliament of England
that restricted the application of uses
in English property law. The Statute was originally conceived by Henry VIII of England
as a way to rectify his financial problems by simplifying the law of uses, which moved land outside the royal tax revenue, traditionally gathered through seisin
. His initial efforts, which removed uses almost completely, were stymied at the 1529 Parliament by members of the House of Commons, many of whom were landowners (who would lose money) and lawyers (who benefited in fees from the confusing law on uses). Academics disagree on how the Commons were brought around, but an eventual set of bills
introduced in 1535 was passed by both the Lords
and Commons.
The eventual bills invalidated all uses that did not impose an active duty on trustees, with the beneficiaries
of the use being held as the legal owners of the land, meaning they had to pay tax. The Statute partially led to the Pilgrimage of Grace
, and more importantly the development of trusts, but academics disagree as to its effectiveness. While most agree that it was important, with Eric Ives
writing that "the effect which its provisions had upon the development of English land law was revolutionary", some say that by allowing uses and devise
s in certain areas it not only failed to remove the fraudulent element from land law but actively encouraged it.
of England did not provide for a way to dispose of land held by feudal tenure
through wills, only urban land, and instead uses
were applied, which allowed a landowner to give his land to one or more feoffee
s, to dispose of it or treat it as the original landowner provided. It was viewed with distrust due to the possibility of abuse; Edward Coke
wrote that "there were two Inventors of Uses, Fear and Fraud; Fear in Times of Troubles and civil Wars to save their Inheritances from being forfeited; and Fraud to defeat due Debts, lawful Actions, Wards, Escheats, Mortmains etc". With as many as 13 of such feoffees, there was much confusion over the title to land following a lord's death, as evidenced by the case of Sir John Fastolf, which lasted from 1459 to 1476. While this was a problem that needed correcting, the actual motivation of the Statute was not to do so, but instead to bolster the finances of Henry VIII
. For several years prior to the Statute, Henry had been struggling with the need to raise revenue; his royal lands did not provide enough, loans and benevolences would have destroyed his personal popularity; as a result, simply increasing the size of his royal lands was the best option. He turned his attention to land law, arguably the most well developed and complex parts of the common law, and sought to reform it to further his aims. This was well-aimed, since it was uses that were destroying his income; the royal revenue was traditionally gathered through seisin
, which uses completely ignored.
Two bills
were drawn up to be submitted to Parliament
in 1529. The first, which took note of "grate trobull, vexacion, and unquietness amonges the kynges suggettes for tytyll of londes, tenements, and other heriditamentes as well by intayle as by uses and forgyng of false evidence", was a radical and "drastic" act bill that would have removed uses completely (unless registered at the Court of King's Bench
or Court of Common Pleas
) and abolished entail
s "so that all manner of possessions be in state of fee simple
from this day forward for ever", although barons and above were allowed entails; in addition, nobody was allowed to buy such land without the king's license. These measures were to obtain the support of the nobility for the second bill, which gave the King wardship over all the land held by noble orphans. When the orphan came of age and asked for the return of the lands, the king was to have a year's revenue from a third of those lands. While this plan was acceptable to barons and other senior nobles, it required passing by the House of Commons. The large landowners in the Commons felt that it prohibited them from making secure wills, while the lawyers saw it as stripping valuable business away from them by simplifying such cases; with these groups making up the majority of Parliament, these plans came to nothing.
The Parliament of 1532 saw another attempt by Henry to push the bill through, but it again met resistance; while the support of the nobility was valuable, it was useless in the Commons. Henry instead sought to appeal to one of the two opposition groups, and picked the lawyers. Many lawyers admitted that the uses made fraud easy and open, and in addition the lawyers of the common law were jealous of the Court of Chancery
's equitable jurisdiction, and sought to strip it away. As a result, Henry decided to bring them over to his side by frightening them, listening to a petition against court procedure and lawyers' fees, and openly musing about putting a clause in the draft bills that would fix the amount they could charge; Holdsworth argues that this was the reason the lawyers chose to ally with Henry, and the reason for the Statute's passage. John Bean disagrees, arguing first that many lawyers were landowners, and would have lost more personally than any reduction in fees could have produced, and second that even if they had been convinced, it is unlikely that lawyers made up a majority of the Commons and could have pushed a bill through alone.
were presented to Parliament
concerning uses and wills, along with one concerning Enrolments. It is from these bills that the Statute of Uses and the succeeding Statute of Enrolments
came. The three bills on uses suggested two different ways to deal with the problem. The first proposed severely limiting the situation in which uses could arise, with uses having no legal effect apart from that expressed when they were created. No contract or bargain over land could change the use of that land; anyone who suffered from the breach of such a contract had limited remedies in the courts. While this scheme would have prevented most of the evils of uses, it would also have submitted property law to the common law and limited other, beneficial developments; it would also not stop the practice of getting rid of land through a devise
, doing nothing to alleviate the King's financial concerns. The second, and more complex suggestion, was contained in the other two bills on uses. This simply removed the idea of an equitable interest in land, leaving only the idea of a legal interest, and left uses, maintaining the elastic and variable nature of property law rather than submitting it to the more-rigid standards of the common law
. Parliament eventually accepted the second idea, and the bill was passed in April 1536 as the Statute of Uses (27 Hen.8 c.10). As such, all uses were invalid except for those that imposed an active duty on a trustee, and the beneficiaries
of the use were held to be the legal owners, paying tax as a result.
, where rebels demanded not only an end to Henry's religious changes but an abandonment of the Statute. More importantly, the Statute led to the development of the trust as a replacement. While the Statute is believed to have led to the abolition of devise
s (and this was certainly the King's intent), Robert Megarry
argues that it failed in doing so. A feoffment
"to the use of such person and persons, and of such estate and estates as I shall appoint by my will" produced a use without formally creating a legal estate; the land was held on a lease, rather than freehold. As a result, it was unaffected by the Statute of Uses, which banned all other methods. Because of this, Megarry argues that not only did it keep devises intact, it gave it power in the common law as well as under equity. The precise aims of the Statute (that the law of property be made more open) was reversed by its impact, which made it far easier to convey property secretly.
Academic assessment of the Statute was initially disparaging, with some saying that it added at most "three words to a conveyance", but it was understood to be important by lawyers of the time and in the modern era. Both Francis Bacon
and Edward Coke
gave readings on it, while William Holdsworth called it "perhaps the most important addition that the legislature has ever made to our private law", with Eric Ives
writing that "the importance of the Statute of Uses is beyond doubt. The effect its provisions had on English land law development was revolutionary, and from it have grown the crucial doctrines of the trust".
Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom
An Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom is a type of legislation called primary legislation. These Acts are passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster, or by the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh....
of the Parliament of England
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
that restricted the application of uses
Use (law)
Use, as a term in real property law of common law countries, amounts to a recognition of the duty of a person, to whom property has been conveyed for certain purposes, to carry out those purposes....
in English property law. The Statute was originally conceived by Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
as a way to rectify his financial problems by simplifying the law of uses, which moved land outside the royal tax revenue, traditionally gathered through seisin
Seisin
Seisin is the term denoting the legal possession of a feudal fiefdom . It was used in the form of "the son and heir of X has obtained seisin of his inheritance", and thus is effectively a term concerned with conveyancing in the feudal era...
. His initial efforts, which removed uses almost completely, were stymied at the 1529 Parliament by members of the House of Commons, many of whom were landowners (who would lose money) and lawyers (who benefited in fees from the confusing law on uses). Academics disagree on how the Commons were brought around, but an eventual set of bills
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
introduced in 1535 was passed by both the Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
and Commons.
The eventual bills invalidated all uses that did not impose an active duty on trustees, with the beneficiaries
Beneficiary
A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example: The beneficiary of a life insurance policy, is the person who receives the payment of the amount of insurance after the death of the insured...
of the use being held as the legal owners of the land, meaning they had to pay tax. The Statute partially led to the Pilgrimage of Grace
Pilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...
, and more importantly the development of trusts, but academics disagree as to its effectiveness. While most agree that it was important, with Eric Ives
Eric Ives
Eric William Ives, OBE is a British historian and an expert on the Tudor period. He is Emeritus Professor of English History at the University of Birmingham...
writing that "the effect which its provisions had upon the development of English land law was revolutionary", some say that by allowing uses and devise
Devise
Devise may refer to:* To invent something* A disposition of real property in a will* Devise A Free and Open Software project providing application user authentication through Warden* Devise, Somme...
s in certain areas it not only failed to remove the fraudulent element from land law but actively encouraged it.
Background
The common lawCommon law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
of England did not provide for a way to dispose of land held by feudal tenure
Land tenure
Land tenure is the name given, particularly in common law systems, to the legal regime in which land is owned by an individual, who is said to "hold" the land . The sovereign monarch, known as The Crown, held land in its own right. All private owners are either its tenants or sub-tenants...
through wills, only urban land, and instead uses
Use (law)
Use, as a term in real property law of common law countries, amounts to a recognition of the duty of a person, to whom property has been conveyed for certain purposes, to carry out those purposes....
were applied, which allowed a landowner to give his land to one or more feoffee
Feoffee
A Feoffee is a trustee who holds a fief , that is to say an estate in land, for the use of a beneficial owner. The term is more fully stated as a feoffee to uses of the beneficial owner. The use of such trustees developed towards the end of the era of feudalism in the middle ages and became...
s, to dispose of it or treat it as the original landowner provided. It was viewed with distrust due to the possibility of abuse; Edward Coke
Edward Coke
Sir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and politician considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the...
wrote that "there were two Inventors of Uses, Fear and Fraud; Fear in Times of Troubles and civil Wars to save their Inheritances from being forfeited; and Fraud to defeat due Debts, lawful Actions, Wards, Escheats, Mortmains etc". With as many as 13 of such feoffees, there was much confusion over the title to land following a lord's death, as evidenced by the case of Sir John Fastolf, which lasted from 1459 to 1476. While this was a problem that needed correcting, the actual motivation of the Statute was not to do so, but instead to bolster the finances of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. For several years prior to the Statute, Henry had been struggling with the need to raise revenue; his royal lands did not provide enough, loans and benevolences would have destroyed his personal popularity; as a result, simply increasing the size of his royal lands was the best option. He turned his attention to land law, arguably the most well developed and complex parts of the common law, and sought to reform it to further his aims. This was well-aimed, since it was uses that were destroying his income; the royal revenue was traditionally gathered through seisin
Seisin
Seisin is the term denoting the legal possession of a feudal fiefdom . It was used in the form of "the son and heir of X has obtained seisin of his inheritance", and thus is effectively a term concerned with conveyancing in the feudal era...
, which uses completely ignored.
Two bills
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
were drawn up to be submitted to Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
in 1529. The first, which took note of "grate trobull, vexacion, and unquietness amonges the kynges suggettes for tytyll of londes, tenements, and other heriditamentes as well by intayle as by uses and forgyng of false evidence", was a radical and "drastic" act bill that would have removed uses completely (unless registered at the Court of King's Bench
Court of King's Bench (England)
The Court of King's Bench , formally known as The Court of the King Before the King Himself, was an English court of common law in the English legal system...
or Court of Common Pleas
Court of Common Pleas (England)
The Court of Common Pleas, or Common Bench, was a common law court in the English legal system that covered "common pleas"; actions between subject and subject, which did not concern the king. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century after splitting from the Exchequer of Pleas, the Common...
) and abolished entail
Entail
Entail may refer to:* Fee tail, a term of art in common law describing a limited form of succession....
s "so that all manner of possessions be in state of fee simple
Fee simple
In English law, a fee simple is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. It is the most common way that real estate is owned in common law countries, and is ordinarily the most complete ownership interest that can be had in real property short of allodial title, which is often reserved...
from this day forward for ever", although barons and above were allowed entails; in addition, nobody was allowed to buy such land without the king's license. These measures were to obtain the support of the nobility for the second bill, which gave the King wardship over all the land held by noble orphans. When the orphan came of age and asked for the return of the lands, the king was to have a year's revenue from a third of those lands. While this plan was acceptable to barons and other senior nobles, it required passing by the House of Commons. The large landowners in the Commons felt that it prohibited them from making secure wills, while the lawyers saw it as stripping valuable business away from them by simplifying such cases; with these groups making up the majority of Parliament, these plans came to nothing.
The Parliament of 1532 saw another attempt by Henry to push the bill through, but it again met resistance; while the support of the nobility was valuable, it was useless in the Commons. Henry instead sought to appeal to one of the two opposition groups, and picked the lawyers. Many lawyers admitted that the uses made fraud easy and open, and in addition the lawyers of the common law were jealous of the Court of Chancery
Court of Chancery
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the administration of the estates of...
's equitable jurisdiction, and sought to strip it away. As a result, Henry decided to bring them over to his side by frightening them, listening to a petition against court procedure and lawyers' fees, and openly musing about putting a clause in the draft bills that would fix the amount they could charge; Holdsworth argues that this was the reason the lawyers chose to ally with Henry, and the reason for the Statute's passage. John Bean disagrees, arguing first that many lawyers were landowners, and would have lost more personally than any reduction in fees could have produced, and second that even if they had been convinced, it is unlikely that lawyers made up a majority of the Commons and could have pushed a bill through alone.
Passage and text of the Statute
In 1535, three draft billsBill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
were presented to Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
concerning uses and wills, along with one concerning Enrolments. It is from these bills that the Statute of Uses and the succeeding Statute of Enrolments
Statute of Enrolments
The Statute of Enrolments was a 1536 Act of the Parliament of England that regulated the sale and transfer of land. The Statute is commonly considered an addition to the Statute of Uses, which was passed within the same Parliament, probably due to an omission in the Statute of Uses...
came. The three bills on uses suggested two different ways to deal with the problem. The first proposed severely limiting the situation in which uses could arise, with uses having no legal effect apart from that expressed when they were created. No contract or bargain over land could change the use of that land; anyone who suffered from the breach of such a contract had limited remedies in the courts. While this scheme would have prevented most of the evils of uses, it would also have submitted property law to the common law and limited other, beneficial developments; it would also not stop the practice of getting rid of land through a devise
Devise
Devise may refer to:* To invent something* A disposition of real property in a will* Devise A Free and Open Software project providing application user authentication through Warden* Devise, Somme...
, doing nothing to alleviate the King's financial concerns. The second, and more complex suggestion, was contained in the other two bills on uses. This simply removed the idea of an equitable interest in land, leaving only the idea of a legal interest, and left uses, maintaining the elastic and variable nature of property law rather than submitting it to the more-rigid standards of the common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
. Parliament eventually accepted the second idea, and the bill was passed in April 1536 as the Statute of Uses (27 Hen.8 c.10). As such, all uses were invalid except for those that imposed an active duty on a trustee, and the beneficiaries
Beneficiary
A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example: The beneficiary of a life insurance policy, is the person who receives the payment of the amount of insurance after the death of the insured...
of the use were held to be the legal owners, paying tax as a result.
Impact and aftermath
Most immediately, the Statute partially led to the Pilgrimage of GracePilgrimage of Grace
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular rising in York, Yorkshire during 1536, in protest against Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as well as other specific political, social and economic grievances. It was done in action against Thomas Cromwell...
, where rebels demanded not only an end to Henry's religious changes but an abandonment of the Statute. More importantly, the Statute led to the development of the trust as a replacement. While the Statute is believed to have led to the abolition of devise
Devise
Devise may refer to:* To invent something* A disposition of real property in a will* Devise A Free and Open Software project providing application user authentication through Warden* Devise, Somme...
s (and this was certainly the King's intent), Robert Megarry
Robert Megarry
Sir Robert Edgar Megarry FBA PC QC was a British lawyer and judge.Originally a solicitor, he requalified as a barrister and also pursued a parallel career as a legal academic. He later became a High Court judge and served as Vice-Chancellor of the Chancery Division from 1976 to 1981...
argues that it failed in doing so. A feoffment
Feoffment
Feoffment, in English law was a transfer of property that gave the new owner the right to sell the land as well as the right to pass it on to his heirs. It was total relinquishment and transfer of all rights of ownership in land from one individual to another. It was the granting of a fee simple...
"to the use of such person and persons, and of such estate and estates as I shall appoint by my will" produced a use without formally creating a legal estate; the land was held on a lease, rather than freehold. As a result, it was unaffected by the Statute of Uses, which banned all other methods. Because of this, Megarry argues that not only did it keep devises intact, it gave it power in the common law as well as under equity. The precise aims of the Statute (that the law of property be made more open) was reversed by its impact, which made it far easier to convey property secretly.
Academic assessment of the Statute was initially disparaging, with some saying that it added at most "three words to a conveyance", but it was understood to be important by lawyers of the time and in the modern era. Both Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
and Edward Coke
Edward Coke
Sir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and politician considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the...
gave readings on it, while William Holdsworth called it "perhaps the most important addition that the legislature has ever made to our private law", with Eric Ives
Eric Ives
Eric William Ives, OBE is a British historian and an expert on the Tudor period. He is Emeritus Professor of English History at the University of Birmingham...
writing that "the importance of the Statute of Uses is beyond doubt. The effect its provisions had on English land law development was revolutionary, and from it have grown the crucial doctrines of the trust".
See also
- FeuFeuFeu was previously the most common form of land tenure in Scotland, as conveyancing in Scots law was dominated by feudalism until the Scottish Parliament passed the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. Act 2000...
- Quia EmptoresQuia EmptoresQuia Emptores of 1290 was a statute passed by Edward I of England that prevented tenants from alienating their lands to others by subinfeudation, instead requiring all tenants wishing to alienate their land to do so by substitution...
(1290) - Statute of WillsStatute of WillsThe Statute of Wills was an Act of the Parliament of England. It made it possible, for the first time in English history, for landholders to determine who would inherit their land upon their death by permitting bequest by will...
(1540) - Statute of FraudsStatute of fraudsThe statute of frauds refers to the requirement that certain kinds of contracts be memorialized in a signed writing with sufficient content to evidence the contract....
(1677) - Cestui que