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Simple English definitions for legal terms
Statute of Uses
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A quick definition of Statute of Uses:
The Statute of Uses was a law in England in 1535 that changed the ownership of land. Before the law, someone could give land to another person to use, but the original owner still had to pay taxes on it. The law said that if someone gave land to another person to use, the person using the land would become the legal owner and would have to pay the taxes. This law was made to help the government collect more taxes. However, people found ways to get around the law by using trusts.
A more thorough explanation:
The Statute of Uses was an English law passed in 1535 that converted the equitable title held by a beneficiary (called a cestui que use) to a legal one. This was done to make the beneficiary liable for feudal dues, which only a legal owner (the feoffee to uses) could be.
The law was created to stop the practice of creating uses in land that deprived feudal lords of the valuable incidents of feudal tenure. The statute discouraged the granting of property subject to another's use by deeming the person who enjoys the use to have legal title with the right of absolute ownership and possession.
For example, if A conveyed land to B subject to the use of C, then C became the legal owner of the land in fee simple. This meant that C was responsible for paying feudal dues, not B.
However, the statute was eventually circumvented by the courts' recognition of the use of equitable trusts in land-conveyancing.
Overall, the Statute of Uses was an important law in English legal history that helped to establish the rights of beneficiaries in land ownership.