Legal Definitions - tack

Tack

The term "tack" has several distinct meanings in law, depending on the jurisdiction and context. It can refer to a type of lease agreement in Scots law or, more commonly in other legal systems, to the act of combining different periods of possession or different financial claims to achieve a specific legal outcome.

• In Scots Law (Noun): A Lease Deed

  In Scots law, a tack refers to a formal legal document that creates a lease of land or other immovable property. This agreement typically specifies an annual rent, which can be paid in money, services, or even a portion of the produce from the land. The person who leases the property is sometimes called a "tacksman" or "tackswoman."

  • Example 1: A Scottish estate owner draws up a tack with a local shepherd, allowing the shepherd to graze his flock on a specific hillside for a yearly payment of £500 and a commitment to help with fence repairs.

    Explanation: Here, the formal document outlining the lease agreement for the grazing land and the terms of rent (money and services) is referred to as a tack.

  • Example 2: A family in the Highlands signs a tack to rent a small croft (a traditional Scottish farm) for 20 years, agreeing to pay the landowner a percentage of their annual potato harvest as rent.

    Explanation: This illustrates a tack as a long-term lease agreement where the rent is paid not in cash, but in the "fruits produced on the land."

• In Scots Law (Verb): To Lease Property

  As a verb in Scots law, to tack means to lease out land or other immovable property under the terms described above.

  • Example: A landowner decides to tack out a vacant cottage on their property to a young couple in exchange for a modest annual rent and their agreement to maintain the surrounding garden.

    Explanation: The act of the landowner entering into the lease agreement and granting the right to occupy the cottage is described as "to tack out" the property.

• In General Law (Verb): To Combine Periods of Possession (Adverse Possession)

  In the context of adverse possession, to tack means to add one's own period of continuous possession of land to the period of a prior possessor. This is done to meet the statutory time requirement needed to claim legal ownership of the property through adverse possession.

  • Example 1: A person occupies an abandoned plot of land for seven years, treating it as their own. They then sell their interest in the occupied land to a neighbor, who continues to occupy and use the same plot for another eight years. If the state law requires 15 years of continuous adverse possession to claim ownership, the neighbor can tack their eight years onto the original possessor's seven years to meet the 15-year requirement.

    Explanation: The neighbor is combining their period of possession with the previous occupant's period to satisfy the statutory duration for adverse possession.

  • Example 2: A family mistakenly builds a shed and a small fence five feet over their property line onto their neighbor's undeveloped land, using that strip of land for 12 years. When they sell their house, the new owners continue to use that same five-foot strip for another three years. If the statutory period for adverse possession in that state is 15 years, the new owners can tack their three years onto the previous owners' 12 years to claim legal ownership of that strip of land.

    Explanation: The new owners are adding their period of possession to that of the former owners to reach the necessary time for an adverse possession claim.

• In General Law (Verb): To Combine Liens for Priority

  To tack can also refer to a specific legal maneuver where a junior (later in time) lienholder purchases an existing senior (earlier in time) lien and combines it with their own junior lien. The purpose of this is to gain priority over any intermediate liens that fall between the original senior lien and the junior lienholder's own claim.

  • Example 1: A commercial property has three mortgages: Mortgage A (first in time), Mortgage B (second), and Mortgage C (third). Mortgage C, the third lender, buys out Mortgage A's claim. By tacking Mortgage A's priority to its own, Mortgage C effectively moves its claim ahead of Mortgage B's, becoming the primary creditor and potentially "squeezing out" Mortgage B in a foreclosure scenario.

    Explanation: Mortgage C is combining the first mortgage's priority with its own third mortgage to jump ahead of the second mortgage in the order of repayment.

  • Example 2: A homeowner has a first lien from Bank X, a second lien from a private lender Y, and a third lien from Credit Union Z. If Credit Union Z purchases Bank X's first lien, Credit Union Z can then tack that first lien to its own third lien. This would give Credit Union Z priority over the private lender Y's intermediate second lien.

    Explanation: Credit Union Z is using the legal strategy of tacking to elevate its position in the hierarchy of claims against the property, placing it above the private lender's claim.