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Last edited 31 May 2023

Allodial

Allodial is a historical term most often used in connection with land or property, effectively meaning total freehold. Where land is owned by someone absolutely, and independent of any superior land lord. The term stems from the feudal system in that upper classes, stemming from William the Conqueror to the current monarchy declared themselves allodial titles over land and property, making any other potential land users liable to feudal duties. These were payable to the owner with the allodial title, or the Lord directly above the tenant (Lower level Lords may also have been liable to feudal duties to upper level Lords). As such it was the equivalent of true freehold but one that was only open to a select percentage of the population.

In 1660 the Tenures Abolition Act declared that all land was to be held by socage tenure, which ended the obligations to those with allodial titles under feudal duties of tenure but it did not mean all land in England and Wales became truely allodial. Socage was tenure in return for a specified duty, commonly payment, common socage was not, and is what eventually became the basis of what the English may refer to as freehold tenure, referred to then as 'free and common socage'.

Free and common socage, differs however from allodial tenure in that land remains in exchange for clearly defined, fixed regular payments whilst the lord is obligated to provide certain services, more in line with what we might term leasehold. Allodial by its nature is complete ownership, free from any of the earlier accepted obligations, more akin to what is now referred to as freehold, it is however worth noting that in principle and theory at least, this type of total allodial land ownership does not exist in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.

The crown estates summarise this perhaps most appropriately "Under our legal system, the Monarch (currently King Charles III), as head of state, owns the superior interest in all land in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In most cases, this is usually irrelevant but it can become relevant if a freehold property becomes ownerless." In contrast in France and following the French Revolution of 1789, all land became allodial, so long as a country has a Monarchy, which relates to a feudal system land ownership cannot be allodial. The impact of this is however heavily debated.