There is a great variety of modes of
land ownership and tenure.
Traditional land tenure Most of the indigenous nations or tribes of
North America had differing notions of land ownership. Whereas European land ownership centered around control, Indigenous notions were based on stewardship. When
Europeans first came to North America, they sometimes disregarded traditional land tenure and simply seized land, or they accommodated traditional land tenure by recognizing it as
aboriginal title. This theory formed the basis for
treaties with indigenous peoples.
Ownership of land by swearing to make productive use of it In several developing countries, such as Egypt and Senegal, this method is still presently in use. In Senegal, it is mentioned as "mise en valeur des zones du terroir" and in Egypt, it is called Wadaa al-yad.
Allodial title Allodial title is a system in which
real property is owned absolutely free and clear of any superior landlord or sovereign. True allodial title is rare, with most property ownership in the
common law world (
Australia,
Canada,
Ireland,
New Zealand,
United Kingdom,
United States) being in
fee simple. Allodial title is inalienable, in that it may be conveyed, devised, gifted, or mortgaged by the owner, but it may not be distressed and restrained for collection of taxes or private debts, or condemned (
eminent domain) by the government.
Feudal land tenure Feudal land tenure is a system of mutual obligations under which a
royal or
noble personage granted a
fiefdom — some degree of interest in the use or revenues of a given parcel of land — in exchange for a claim on services such as military service or simply maintenance of the land in which the
lord continued to have an interest. This pattern obtained from the level of high nobility as vassals of a
monarch down to lesser nobility whose only vassals were their
serfs.
Fee simple Under
common law,
Fee simple is the most complete ownership interest one can have in
real property, other than the rare
Allodial title. The holder can typically freely sell or otherwise transfer that interest or use it to
secure a mortgage loan. This picture of "complete ownership" is, of course, complicated by the obligation in most places to pay a
property tax and by the fact that if the land is mortgaged, there will be a claim on it in the form of a
lien. In modern societies, this is the most common form of land ownership. Land can also be owned by more than one party and there are various
concurrent estate rules.
Native title In Australia,
native title is a common law concept that recognizes that some indigenous people have certain land rights that derive from their traditional laws and customs. Native title can co-exist with non-indigenous proprietary rights and in some cases different indigenous groups can exercise their native title over the same land. There are approximately 160 registered determinations of native title, spanning some 16% of Australia's land mass. The case of
Mabo overturned the decision in
Milirrpum and repudiated the notion of
terra nullius. Subsequent Parliamentary Acts passed recognised the existence of this common law doctrine.
Life estate Under
common law,
Life estate is an interest in real property that ends at death. The holder has the use of the land for life, but typically no ability to transfer that interest or to use it to
secure a mortgage loan.
Fee tail Under common law,
fee tail is hereditary, non-transferable ownership of real property. A similar concept, the
legitime, exists in
civil and
Roman law; the
legitime limits the extent to which one may disinherit an heir.
Leasehold Under both common law and civil law, land may be
leased or
rented by its owner to another party. A wide range of arrangements are possible, ranging from very short terms to the 99-year leases common in the
United Kingdom for
flats, and allowing various degrees of freedom in the use of the property.
Common land Rights to use a
common may include such rights as the use of a road or the right to graze one's animals on commonly owned land.
Sharecropping When
sharecropping, one has use of agricultural land owned by another person in exchange for a share of the resulting crop or livestock.
Easement Easements allow one to make certain specific uses of land owned by someone else. The most classic easement is
right-of-way (right to cross), but it could also include (for example) the rightknown as a
wayleave to run an electrical power line across someone else's land.
Other In addition, there are various forms of collective ownership, which typically take either the form of membership in a
cooperative, or shares in a
corporation, which owns the land (typically by fee simple, but possibly under other arrangements). There are also various hybrids; in many
communist states, government ownership of most agricultural land has combined in various ways with tenure for farming collectives. == In archaeology ==