Legal Definitions - fine sur concessit

Historically, a fine sur concessit was a specific type of legal agreement, often disguised as a fictitious lawsuit, used to formally grant a new interest in land to someone. Unlike other forms of land transfer that might acknowledge a pre-existing right, this particular "fine" (a formal agreement recorded in court) was used when the grantor (the person giving the interest) was creating a new legal right or estate in the property for the recipient (the person receiving the interest). This new interest was typically for a defined period, such as the recipient's lifetime or a specific number of years, and was often part of a broader settlement or arrangement.

• Imagine a wealthy landowner in 17th-century England who wanted to provide a secure home for his long-serving estate manager. Instead of simply letting the manager live on the property, the landowner might have used a fine sur concessit to formally grant the manager a life estate in a cottage and a small plot of land. This created a new legal right for the manager to occupy and use the property for the rest of his life, rather than confirming any prior claim the manager had to the land. The agreement would be recorded in court, giving it legal finality and making it difficult to challenge.

• Consider a situation where two neighboring families had a long-standing dispute over the use of a shared water source on one family's land. To resolve the conflict amicably, the family owning the land might have used a fine sur concessit to grant the other family a formal right to draw water for a period of 50 years. This created a new, legally recognized interest (an easement for a term of years) for the second family, ensuring their access to water without acknowledging they had any pre-existing ownership claim to the land itself. The court record of the fine would solidify this agreement.

• In a historical context, a lord might have wanted to encourage a skilled craftsman to settle in his village and provide services. To entice the craftsman, the lord could have used a fine sur concessit to grant him a leasehold interest in a workshop and living quarters for a term of 21 years. This act established a new, formal right for the craftsman to occupy and use the property for that specific duration, providing him with security and a clear legal basis for his presence, all without implying he had any prior claim to the lord's land.