Legal Definitions - sursum redditio

Sursum redditio is a historical legal term that refers to the voluntary surrender of an interest in property, such as a leasehold, by the person holding that interest back to the person who originally granted it. This surrender must occur by mutual agreement between both parties. Essentially, it describes a consensual termination of a property right, where the holder gives up their claim and the grantor accepts it.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a small business owner who has a five-year lease on a retail storefront. Two years into the lease, the owner decides to move their operations entirely online and no longer needs a physical store. They approach their landlord, who, seeing an opportunity to rent the space to a new tenant at a higher market rate, agrees to terminate the existing lease early. The business owner then performs a sursum redditio by mutually agreeing to surrender their remaining three years of tenancy back to the landlord.

  This illustrates sursum redditio because the business owner (holder of the leasehold interest) voluntarily gives up their property right (the remaining lease term) to the landlord (who granted it) through a mutual agreement.

• Consider a historical scenario where a landowner granted a long-term agricultural lease to a farmer for a specific parcel of land. After several years, the farmer decides to retire from farming and relocate to another region. Rather than trying to find someone to take over the lease, the farmer approaches the landowner. The landowner, perhaps wanting to develop the land for a different purpose or lease it to a family member, agrees to release the farmer from their obligations. The farmer then executes a sursum redditio, returning their leasehold interest in the land to the landowner by mutual consent.

  This example demonstrates sursum redditio as the farmer (holder of the agricultural lease, an estate in land) surrenders their interest in the property to the landowner (who originally granted the lease) as a result of a shared agreement.