Tenure

4 definitions found

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

  Tenure \Ten"ure\, n. [F. tenure, OF. teneure, fr. F. tenir to
     hold. See {Tenable}.]
     1. The act or right of holding, as property, especially real
        estate.
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              That the tenure of estates might rest on equity, the
              Indian title to lands was in all cases to be
              quieted.                              --Bancroft.
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     2. (Eng. Law) The manner of holding lands and tenements of a
        superior.
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     Note: Tenure is inseparable from the idea of property in
           land, according to the theory of the English law; and
           this idea of tenure pervades, to a considerable extent,
           the law of real property in the United States, where
           the title to land is essentially allodial, and almost
           all lands are held in fee simple, not of a superior,
           but the whole right and title to the property being
           vested in the owner. Tenure, in general, then, is the
           particular manner of holding real estate, as by
           exclusive title or ownership, by fee simple, by fee
           tail, by courtesy, in dower, by copyhold, by lease, at
           will, etc.
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     3. The consideration, condition, or service which the
        occupier of land gives to his lord or superior for the use
        of his land.
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     4. Manner of holding, in general; as, in absolute
        governments, men hold their rights by a precarious tenure.
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              All that seems thine own,
              Held by the tenure of his will alone. --Cowper.
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     {Tenure by fee alms}. (Law) See {Frankalmoigne}.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  tenure
       n 1: the term during which some position is held [syn: {term of
            office}, {incumbency}]
       2: the right to hold property; part of an ancient hierarchical
          system of holding lands [syn: {land tenure}]
       v : give life-time employment to; "She was tenured after she
           published her book"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  103 Moby Thesaurus words for "tenure":
     adverse possession, alodium, appointment, berth, billet, burgage,
     claim, clamp, clasp, clench, clinch, clutch, colony,
     continuous tenure, de facto, de jure, dependency, derivative title,
     duration, employment, engagement, enlistment, fee fief,
     fee position, fee simple, fee simple absolute,
     fee simple conditional, fee simple defeasible,
     fee simple determinable, fee tail, feodum, feud, fiefdom,
     frankalmoign, free socage, freehold, gavelkind, gig, grapple,
     grasp, grip, gripe, having title to, hitch, hold, holding,
     incumbency, job, knight service, lay fee, lease, leasehold,
     legal claim, legal possession, mandate, moonlighting, occupancy,
     occupation, office, opening, original title, owning, permanence,
     permanency, place, position, possessing, possession, post,
     preoccupancy, preoccupation, prepossession, prescription,
     prison term, property, property rights, proprietary rights,
     residence, residency, second job, seisin, service, situation,
     socage, spell, squatting, station, stretch, sublease, tenancy,
     tenantry, tenure in chivalry, term, time, title, tour, underlease,
     undertenancy, usucapion, vacancy, villein socage, villeinhold,
     villenage
  
  

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

  TENURE, estates. 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.