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Property Law and Real Estate

University of Michigan Law School

Estates

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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Rise Of The Perpetual Trust, Jesse Dukeminier, James E. Krier Jan 2003

The Rise Of The Perpetual Trust, Jesse Dukeminier, James E. Krier

Articles

For more than two centuries, the Rule against Perpetuities has served as the chief means of limiting a transferor's power to tie up property by way of successive contingent interests. But recently, at least seventeen jurisdictions in the United States have enacted statutes abolishing the Rule in the case of perpetual (or near-perpetual) trusts. The prime mover behind this important development has been the federal Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax. This Article traces the gradual decline of the common law Rule against Perpetuities, considers the dynamics behind the recent wave of state legislation, examines the problems that might result from the rise …


Perpetuity Statutes, Edwin C. Goddard Jan 1923

Perpetuity Statutes, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

THE common law of perpetuities is one of the most interesting examples of almost pure judicial legislation. De Donis, The Statutes of Uses and of Wills, but gave wider scope to the development by the courts of rules of law to thwart the attempt of the great landowners to tie up their landed estates in their families in perpetuity. One body of rules to this end limited restraints upon alienation, another the creation of future interests vesting at too remote a period. Restriction of restraints upon alienation, and the rule against perpetuities, these two were developed for the same end, …


The Disposition To Be Made Of Property The Subject Of A Power If The Power Is Not Exercised, John R. Rood Mar 1917

The Disposition To Be Made Of Property The Subject Of A Power If The Power Is Not Exercised, John R. Rood

Articles

The object sought in this article is to collect and classify the cases in which the courts have passed on the question as to what shall be done with property over which a power of appointment has been given; when it finally turns out for some reason that the power has not been exercised. It is not the object to establish any particular thesis, but rather to ascertain how the adjudicated cases stand.


Estates In Fee Tail, Ralph W. Aigler Jan 1916

Estates In Fee Tail, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

Quite generally estates in fee tail under the Statute de Donis were recognized by the states as a part of the common law. Statutory provisions in the way of modification and abolishment of such estates, however, are very common. The nature and scope of the statutory provisions have varied.


Rule Against Perpetuities As Applied To Options, John R. Rood Jan 1916

Rule Against Perpetuities As Applied To Options, John R. Rood

Articles

Does the rule against perpetuities render unlimited options void? This is a question which the English courts answered affirmatively some thirty-five years ago; new aspects of the question have been frequently presented to those courts since that time, and conclusions not easy to reconcile have been reached. It is believed that the present status of the law in England is that an option is like any other interest in land, void if it may arise at too remote a time, otherwise not. This conclusion is based on the decision in Borland's Trustees v. Steel Bros. & Co. [1901] 1 Ch. …


Does The Power To Alienate In Fee Simple Defeat An Executory Devise?, Bradley M. Thompson Jan 1903

Does The Power To Alienate In Fee Simple Defeat An Executory Devise?, Bradley M. Thompson

Articles

Under the common law one who held an estate in lands in fee simple absolute was the sole owner of such lands, and his right to enjoy the estate and exercise all the powers and privileges incident thereto could not be restricted by the devisor or grantor. The rights and privileges incident to an estate in fee simple constituted the estate-they were all essential, they were its bone, sinew and blood, and in the absence of any one of them the estate was regarded as less than a fee simple. Among those essential rights were the right of possession, the …