Allodial

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Allodial

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Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
ALLO'DIUM, noun
Freehold estate; land which is the absolute property of the owner; real estate held in absolute independence, without being subject to any rent, service, or acknowledgment to a superior. It is thus opposed to feud. In England, there is no allodial land, all land being held of the king; but in the United States, most lands are allodial.

ALLO'DIAL, adjective
Pertaining to allodium; freehold; free of rent or service; held independence of a lord paramount; opposed to feudal.
Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, 1856
ALLODIUM estates.
1. Signifies an absolute estate of inheritance, in contradistinction to a feud.
2. In this country the title to land is essentially allodial, and every tenant in fee simple has an absolute and perfect title, yet in technical language his estate is called an estate in fee simple, and the tenure free and common socage. 3 Kent, Com. 390; Cruise, Prel. Dis. c. 1, §13; 2 Bl. Com. 45.
For the etymology of this word, vide 3 Kent Com. 398 note; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1692.

ALLODARII, Eng. law, Book of Domesday. Such tenants, who have as large an estate as a subject can have. 1 Inst. 1; Bac. Ab Tenure, A.

ODHALL RIGHT. The same as allodial.

TENURE, estates.
1. The manner in which lands or tenements are holden.
2. According to the English law, all lands are held mediately or immediately from the king, as lord paramount and supreme proprietor of all the lands in the kingdom. Co. Litt. 1 b, 65 a; 2 Bl. Com. 105.
3. The idea of tenure; pervades, to a considerable degree, the law of real property in the several states; the title to land is essentially allodial, and every tenant in fee simple has an absolute and perfect title, yet in technical language, his estate is called an estate in fee simple, and the tenure free and common socage. 3 Kent, Com. 289, 290. In the states formed out of the North Western Territory, it seems that the doctrine of tenures is not in force, and that real estate is owned by an absolute and allodial title. This is owing to the wise provisions on this subject contained in the celebrated ordinance of 1787. Am. Jur. No. 21, p. 94, 5. In New York, 1 Rev. St. 718; Pennsylvania, 5 Rawle, R. 112; Connecticut, 1 Rev. L. 348 and Michigan, Mich. L. 393, feudal tenures have been abolished, and lands are held by allodial titles. South Carolina has adopted the statute, 12 C. II., c. 24, which established in England the tenure of free and common socage. 1 Brev. Dig. 136. Vide Wright on Tenures; Bro. h. t.; Treatises of Feuds and Tenures by Knight's service; 20 Vin Ab. 201; Com. Dig. h. t.; Bac. Ab. h. Thom. Co. Litt. Index, h. t.; Sulliv. Lect. Index, h. t.
The Century Dictionary, An Encyclopedic Lexicon Of The English Language, William Dwight Whitney, 1895
allodia, ». Plural of allodium.

allodial (a-16'di-al), a. and n. [= F. Pg. allodial,< ML. aUodialis,' < allodium: see allodium.}

I. a. Pertaining to allodium or freehold; free of rent or service; held independently of a lord
paramount : opposed to feudal. In the United States all lands are deemed allodial in the owner of the fee, but subject, nevertheless, to the ultimate ownership or dominion of the state. In England there are no allodial lands, all being held of the crown. The lands thus presented to these [Teutonic] warriors [as rewards for fidelity and courage] were called allodial; that is, their tenure involved in. obligation ol service whatever. StilU, Stud. Med. Hist., p. 136.

The allodial tenure, which is believed to have been originally the tenure of freemen, became in the –Middle Ages the tenure of serfs. Maine, Early law and custom, p. 341.

II. n. 1. Property held allodially. The contested territory which lay between the Danube and the Naab, with the town of Neuburg and the allodial*, were adjudged, etc. Coxe, House of Austria, xxii.
2. An allodialist.

allodialism (a-16'di-al-izin), «. [< allodial + -ism.} The allodial system. See allodial.

In order to illustrate and explain feudalism, I shall first illustrate its negation, allodialism.
Sir /•:. Creasy, Eng. Const., p. 75.

allodialist (a-lo'di-al-ist), «. [< allodial + -ist.}
One who owns land allodially. Insulated allodialiste are of very little importance . . .as compared with the organic groups of agriculturists, which represented the primitive democracy, but were . . . incorporated into the feudal state. X. A. Bev., CXXIII. 153.

allodiality (a-lo-di-al'i-ti), ». [< allodial + -ity, after I-', allodiality.} The stale or quality of being held in allodial tenure.

allodially (a-16'di-nl-i ). tttlr. In an allodial manner: in allodial tenure ; as a freeholder.

allodian (a-16'di-an), a. [< allodium + -an.} Allodial. [Rare.]

allodiary (a-16'di-a-ri), n.; pi. allodiaries i-riz). [< ML. allodiarius,\ allodium : see allodium and
-aril.} An allodialist.

allodification (a-lod i-fi-ka'shon), n. [< allodium + -fication.} The conversion of feudal into allodial or freehold tenure.

allodium (a-16'di-um), n.\ p\. allodia
Freehold estate; land which is the absolute property of the owner; real estate held in absolute independence, without being subject to any rent, service, or acknowledgment to a superior. It is thus opposed to feud. Sometimes used, in the Anglo-Saxon period, of land which was alienable and inheritable, even though held of a superior lord. Also written allod, alody. The allod in some form or other is probably as old as the institution of individual landed property, and we may regard it as equivalent to or directly descended from the share which each man took in the appropriated portion of the domain of the group to which he belonged— tribe, joint-family, village community, or nascent city. Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 339.
Black's Law Dictionary, 1st Edition, 1891
ALLODARII.
Owners of allodial lands.Owners of estates as large as a subject may have.
ALLODIAL.
Free; not holden of any lord or superior; owned without obligation of vassalage or fealty; the opposite of feudal.
ALLODIUM.
Land held absolutely in one’s own right, and not of any lord or superior; land not subject to feudal duties or burdens.
An estate held by absolute ownership,without recognizing any superior to whom any duty is due on account thereof. 1
Washb. Real Prop. 16.

Black’s Law Dictionary, 6th Edition
Allodial.
Free; not holden of any lord or superior; owned without obligation of vassalage or fealty; the opposite of feudal.

Allodium.
Land held absolutely in one’s own right, and not of any lord or superior; land not subject to feudal duties or burdens. An estate held by absolute ownership, without recognizing any superior to whom any duty is due on account thereof.
What is Property? by P. J. Proudhon
As long as the German tribes dwelt in their forests, it did not occur to them to divide and appropriate the soil. The land was held in common: each individual could plow, sow, and reap. But, when the empire was once invaded, they bethought themselves of sharing the land, just as they shared spoils after a victory. "Hence," says M. Laboulaye, "the expressions sortes Burgundiorum Gothorum and {GREEK, ' k }; hence the German words allod, allodium, and loos, lot, which are used in all modern languages to designate the gifts of chance."

Allodial property, at least with the mass of coparceners, was originally held, then, in equal shares; for all of the prizes were equal, or, at least, equivalent. This property, like that of the Romans, was wholly individual, independent, exclusive, transferable, and consequently susceptible of accumulation and invasion. But, instead of its being, as was the case among the Romans, the large estate which, through increase and usury, subordinated and absorbed the small one, among the Barbarians—fonder of war than of wealth, more eager to dispose of persons than to appropriate things—it was the warrior who, through superiority of arms, enslaved his adversary. The Roman wanted matter; the Barbarian wanted man. Consequently, in the feudal ages, rents were almost nothing,—simply a hare, a partridge, a pie, a few pints of wine brought by a little girl, or a Maypole set up within the suzerain's reach. In return, the vassal or incumbent had to follow the seignior to battle (a thing which happened almost every day), and equip and feed himself at his own expense. "This spirit of the German tribes—this spirit of companionship and association—governed the territory as it governed individuals. The lands, like the men, were secured to a chief or seignior by a bond of mutual protection and fidelity. This subjection was the labor of the German epoch which gave birth to feudalism. By fair means or foul, every proprietor who could not be a chief was forced to be a vassal." (Laboulaye: History of Property.)
Landholding in England by Fisher, Joseph, the younger, of Youghal, 1875
Even in the nomenclature of FEUDALISM, introduced into England in the fifth century, we are driven back to Scandinavia for an explanation. The word FEUDAL as applied to land has a Norwegian origin, from which country came Rollo, the progenitor of William the Norman. Pontoppidan ("History of Norway," p.290) says "The ODHALL, right of Norway, and the UDALL, right of Finland, came from the words 'Odh,' which signifies PROPRIETORS, and 'all,' which means TOTUM. A transposition of these syllables makes ALL ODH, or ALLODIUM, which means absolute property. FEE, which means stipend or pay, united with OTH, thus forming FEE-OTH or FEODUM, denoting stipendiary property. "Wacterus states that the word ALLODE, ALLODIUM, which applies to land in Germany, is composed of AN and LOT--i.e., land obtained by lot.

I therefore venture the opinion that the settlement of England in the fifth and sixth centuries was not Teutonic or Germanic, but SCANDINAVIAN.
STUART v. CITY OF EASTON et al. Decided: May 9, 1898
The patent expressly purports to convey the fee, the reservation of an annual quitrent of a red rose being merely a feudal acknowledgment of tenure (Marshall v. Conrad, 5 Call, 364, 398), which was in effect annulled by the Revolution and acts of the assembly of Pennsylvania subsequently passed, declaring all lands within the commonwealth to be held by a title purely allodial.
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