Common recovery

Common recovery

A common recovery was a fictitious legal proceeding in England to enable an entailed estate in land (also called a fee tail) to be converted into absolute ownership, fee simple.

As a preliminary, there needed to be a conveyance of the land. The owner (in tail) of the land A conveyed it to someone else B (known as the tenant in precipe) to the intent that a third person C (known as the demandant) might sue for it. C accordingly issued a writ against B. In court, B defended his right saying (correctly) that he had acquired it from A. A (now called the vouchee) was called upon to vouch for his right to the land. He alleged that he had acquired it from D (a person known as the common vouchee). D asked for time and failed to appear subsequently; alternatively, he dashed out of the court. In either case, the judgment was that C should recover the land, and that D should compensate B with land of equal value. However, D was chosen because he was a 'man of straw' with no property at all, so that the judgment against him was valueless, and it was never enforced. The result was thus that C recovered land in fee simple, which A had owned in only fee tail; thus, the entail was barred.

Occasionally, it was also necessary to bar the rights of other persons E, such as trustees holding in trust for an equitable tenant in tail; in that case A alleged that he had acquired it from E and E alleged it had come from D, but the final result was the same.

The actual consequence of a common recovery depended on what the conveyance created a tenant in precipe said (usually in its final few lines). This might be:

  • to the use of A and his heirs (i.e. in fee simple)
  • (if the transaction was in connection with a sale) to the use of C (in fee simple)
  • (if the transaction was in connection with a mortgage) to the use of C provided that if A paid off the principal and interest then it should revert to A and his heirs.
  • If the entail was barred so that the land could be resettled (on marriage or otherwise), it might be provided that a father and son could jointly appoint the property as they wished, or there might be detailed provisions as to the future interests in the land.

At the end of the proceeding, the lawyers often had an exemplification of the proceedings prepared; this was a formal transcript of the proceedings in the monarch's name and sealed with a large seal, often mounted (to preserve it) in a tin box. Unless there was a whole manor or an advowson involved, the description of the land (which may be exaggerated) merely states the number of houses etc and acres of land, meadow, pasture etc and the townships or parishes where it was. They are thus usually not particularly useful as historical sources. Since the purpose of the transaction cannot be known from the recovery, it is possible to say only that the vouchee dealt with the land.

In England and Wales, recoveries were abolished in 1833; instead a disentailing deed (a successor to that creating the tenant in precipe) was enrolled in Chancery. Since 1926, entails can no longer exist as legal estates, only as equitable interests, and enrollment has become unnecessary.

Like Fines (or Final Concords), recoveries were fictitious proceedings to produce a genuine change. In this it differs from the fictitious form of the ejectment, which was concerned with a genuine dispute, but dressed up in a fictitious form.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Common recovery — Recovery Re*cov er*y (r?*k?v ?r*?), n. 1. The act of recovering, regaining, or retaking possession. [1913 Webster] 2. Restoration from sickness, weakness, faintness, or the like; restoration from a condition of mistortune, of fright, etc. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Common Recovery — A Common Recovery was a fictitious legal proceeding in England to enable an entailed estate in land (also called a fee tail) to be converted into absolute ownership, fee simple. As a preliminary, there needed to be a conveyance of the land. The… …   Wikipedia

  • common recovery — noun : a conveyance of real property through the medium of an action and judgment at law formerly widely used in England as a means of giving a tenant in tail an absolute power to dispose of his estate * * * common recovery A former method of… …   Useful english dictionary

  • common recovery — In conveyancing, a species of common assurance, or mode of conveying lands by matter of record, formerly in frequent use in England. It was in the nature and form of an action at law, carried regularly through, and ending in a recovery of the… …   Black's law dictionary

  • common recovery — In conveyancing, a species of common assurance, or mode of conveying lands by matter of record, formerly in frequent use in England. It was in the nature and form of an action at law, carried regularly through, and ending in a recovery of the… …   Black's law dictionary

  • common recovery — A fictitious suit brought by a third person against the holder of an estate in tail with the ultimate object of barring the estate in tail and giving the tenant in tail the power of disposing of the property in fee simple. Dutton v Donahue, 44… …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • Recovery — Re*cov er*y (r?*k?v ?r*?), n. 1. The act of recovering, regaining, or retaking possession. [1913 Webster] 2. Restoration from sickness, weakness, faintness, or the like; restoration from a condition of mistortune, of fright, etc. [1913 Webster] 3 …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • common — com·mon 1 adj 1 a: of or relating to a community at large: public common defense b: known to the community a common thief 2: belonging to or shared by two or more persons or things or by all members of a group …   Law dictionary

  • recovery — In its most extensive sense, the restoration or vindication of a right existing in a person, by the formal judgment or decree of a competent court, at his instance and suit, or the obtaining, by such judgment, of some right or property which has… …   Black's law dictionary

  • recovery by double voucher — A form of common recovery wherein the writ was brought against a person to whom a conveyance was made as a matter of form and who vouched the real tenant, the latter vouching the common vouchee …   Ballentine's law dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”