Severalty

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Severalty \Sev"er*al*ty\, n.
     A state of separation from the rest, or from all others; a
     holding by individual right.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Forests which had never been owned in severalty.


                                                    --Bancroft.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Estate in severalty} (Law), an estate which the tenant holds
        in his own right, without being joined in interest with
        any other person; -- distinguished from joint tenancy,
        coparcenary, and common. --Blackstone.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  severalty
       n : the state of being several and distinct [syn: {discreteness},
            {distinctness}, {separateness}]

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  SEVERALTY, title to an estate. An estate in severalty is one which is held 
  by the tenant in his own right only, without any other being joined or 
  connected with him in point of interest, during the continuance of his 
  estate. 2 Bl. Com. 179. Cruise, Dig. 479, 480. 
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  SEVERALTY, n.  Separateness, as, lands in severalty, i.e., lands held
  individually, not in joint ownership.  Certain tribes of Indians are
  believed now to be sufficiently civilized to have in severalty the
  lands that they have hitherto held as tribal organizations, and could
  not sell to the Whites for waxen beads and potato whiskey.
  
      Lo! the poor Indian whose unsuited mind
      Saw death before, hell and the grave behind;
      Whom thrifty settler ne'er besought to stay --
      His small belongings their appointed prey;
      Whom Dispossession, with alluring wile,
      Persuaded elsewhere every little while!
      His fire unquenched and his undying worm
      By "land in severalty" (charming term!)
      Are cooled and killed, respectively, at last,
      And he to his new holding anchored fast!