Settled Land - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition settled-land

Definition :

Settled land. For the purposes of the (English) Settled Land Acts, 1882-1890, 'settled land' meant land, and any estate and interest therein, which was the subject of a settlement; and 'settlement' meant any instrument, or any number of instruments, under which any land, or any estate or interest in land, 'stands for the time being limited to or in trust for any persons by way of succession' (Settled Land Act, 1882, s. 2) (see infra for the statutory definitions in the Settled Land Act, 1925, which has repealed the S.L. Acts, 1882-1890). Where the settlement consists of more instruments than one it is commonly called a 'compound settlement,' though this term is not defined in the Acts themselves; as to compound settlements, see Re Du Cane & Nettlefold, (1898) 2 Ch 96; Re Munday & Roper, (1899) 1Ch 275; Re Lord Wimborne & Browne (1904) 1 Ch 537; Wolstenholme & Cherry, Conveyancing, etc., Acts.

Prior to 1856 settled estates could not be sold or leased except under the authority of some power in the settlement by which they were settled, or of a private (English) Acts of Parliament. In 1856 the (English) Leases and Sales of Settled Estates Act (19 & 20 Vict. c. 120) (amended and extended by 1 & 22 Vict. c. 77; 27 & 28 Vict. c. 45; and 37 & 38 Vict. c. 33), gave large powers to the Court of Chancery, with the concurrence of the parties interested, to direct sales and leases of settled estates, and also enabled tenants for life, without application to any court, to make certain leases binding on the parties in remainder. The Settled Estates Act, 1877 (40 & 41 Vict. c. 18), consolidated these Acts, with some amendments.

The (English) Settled Land Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 38), came into operation on the 1st January, 1883, was retrospective, and though not repealing the Act of 1877, rendered its provisions comparatively useless. The main objects of the Settled Land Acts, 1882 to 1890, were to liberate tenants for life from the control of their trustees, and to enable them to improve settled land out of the proceeds of the sale of part of it, or permanently to convert the whole or part of the settled land into money and receive the income derived from its investment instead of the rents of the estate. The Acts regarded the tenant for life as the person most interested in the welfare of the estate, and empowered him to do almost anything that a judicious owner would wish to do, subject to one great exception--he could not sell the estate and himself receive the purchase money; that must be paid at his option either into Court or to the trustees of the settlement, as defined by s. 2 (8) of the (English) Settled Land Act, 1882, and s. 16 of the Act of 1890, now replaced and reproduced by s. 30 of the (English) S.L. Act, 1925, including among trustees the persons appointed for the purpose by the settlement, or trustees with a power of sale or consent thereto, and others. The number of trustees to whom the money is paid must not be less than two, or a trust corporation, but this does not apply to a personal representative selling in course of administration or to persons of full age absolutely entitled to deal with the legal estate free from the settlement. The direction of investment lies with the tenant for life and the investments may not be varied without his consent (s. 75 of the (English) S.L. Act, 1925); capital money and the investments representing it will devolve on the death of the life tenant in the same way as the land would have done if it had remained unsold [Re Monckton, (1913) 2 Ch 636], and see s. 22 of the Act of 1882, replaced by s. 75 (5) of the S.L. Act, 1925.

The general scheme of the (English) Settled Land Acts, 1882-1890, has not been materially altered by the (English) Settled Land Act, 1925, which repeals, consolidates and extends the (English) S.L Acts, 1882 to 1890. The Act of 1925, however contains some innovations which bring it into line with the rest of the land legislation of 1925, so that a fee-simple in possession or a term of years absolute (which are the only legal estates in existence) should be vested in an owner who could transfer either of these if settled entirely to a purchaser for value without being affected by the limitations and trusts of the settlement. To effect this, the entire legal estate comprised in the settlement is now vested in the tenant for life or in a person on who the like powers have been conferred instead of being merely subject to the power of disposition freed from the settlement which had been given to the tenant for life by the Acts of 1882 to 1890. The difference is technical without any substantial alteration in effect, since the tenant for life's beneficial interest is still limited for his life only, but more substantial changes have been introduced.

By the (English) S.L. Act, 1925, s. 4 (1), it is provided that 'Every settlement of a legal estate in land inter vivos shall, save as in this Act otherwise provided, be effected by two deeds, namely, a vesting deed and a trust instrument, and if effected in any other way shall not operate to transfer or create a legal estate.' See VESTING INTRUMENT and TRUST INSTRUMENT.

By s. 1, ibid., a settlement now includes one or more instruments whereby land stands limited in trust: [sub-s. (i.)] for any persons by way of succession, [sub-s. (ii.)] for any person in possession (a) in tail, (b) for a legal estate subject to a limitation over, (c) for a base or determinable fee, or corresponding interest in leasehold land, (d) being an infant, for a legal estate, or [sub-s. (iii.)] limited in trust for any person for a legal estate contingently on the happening of any event, or [sub-s. (iv.)] limited or in trust for a married woman of full age in possession for a legal estate or any other interest with a restraint upon anticipation, or [sub-s. (v.)] charged voluntarily, or in consideration of marriage or by way of family arrangement with any payment of any rent-charge for life or less period or any capital or annual or periodic sum for portions, advancement, maintenance or other benefits with or without terms of years for securing the same (as to this see the liberating amendment in the L. P. Amendment Act, 1926, ss. 1 and 2), and references in the Act to the settlement shall extend to any compound settlement to which the land may be subject, see Re Ogle's Settled Estates, (1927) 1 Ch 229.

S. 1, defining settlement, does not apply to land held on trust for ale [(English) L.P. Amendment Act, 1926]. See also Ryder and Steadman's Contract, (1927) 2 Ch 62.

By s. 4 (2), the vesting deed must convey the land to the tenant for life or statutory owners for the legal estate, the subject of the settlement, or if the legal estate is already vested in the tenant for life or statutory owner, must declare that the land is vested in him for that estate. The expression 'Tenant for life' [defined in s. 19 (1) and extended by s. 117 (1), (xxviii.)] includes persons having the powers of a tenant for life and complying with the statutory definition (see s. 20), and includes tenants for life as defined by s. 1 (5) of the Act of 1882 (f of full age), and persons having the powers of a tenant for life under ss. 58 and 59 of 1882, as exten-ded by s. 20, 1925, such as tenants in tail, tenants in fee-simple subject to executory limitations over, and more particularly to an estate owner of land subject to family charges, and a married woman subject to restraint upon anticipation.

A vesting instrument must be executed in favour of each successive tenant for life or statutory owner upon his becoming entitled, and if the legal estate is held by statutory owners, they must also at his request execute a vesting deed in favour of the tenant for life upon his becoming entitled. The vesting deed constitutes the tenant for life's title to deal with the legal estate, and a purchaser for value from him under that title is not concerned with anything outside the vesting instrument so far as relates to equitable interests affecting the estate and subject to the provisions of the Law of Property and other land legislation of 1925, except that in some cases, notably a first vesting instrument in connec-tion with a pre-1926 settlement, it will be incum-bent on the purchaser (inter alia) to identify the land conveyed with the land comprised in the settlement, so as to see that the person conveying is the person in whom the land ought to be vested as tenant for life or statutory owner and that the trustees have been properly constituted [see s. 110, (English) S.L. Act, 1925]. Under s. 21, an estate owner in fee-simple in possession or entitled to a term of years absolute subject to family charges may declare that the legal estate is vested in him on trust to give effect to those charges, etc., and thereupon subject to the appointment of trustees as provided by the s., he may exercise the powers of a tenant for life. A similar result can be attained by way of trust for sale [(English) L.P. Act, 1925, s. 2], but the owner may also convey the legal estate simply as owner in fee or of the term subject to the charge. [(English) L.P. Amend. Act, 1926]

By s. 23, where there is no tenant for life or person having the power of a tenant for life under ss. 20 and 26 (infancy), any person of full age on whom such powers are by the settlement conferred or in any other case the trustees of the settlement are to have the powers of a tenant for life. These persons having the powers of a tenant for life, as well as the (English) Settled Land Act trustees during an infancy [if so acting instead of a personal representative, see s. 26 (2)], are called 'statutory owners' and may come into existence (a) in the event of land being limited in trust contingently on a future event, or (b) in case of a discretionary trust, or (c) a trust for accumulation, or in other cases where there is no person being a tenant for life or having his powers under s. 20 in possession of the property.
Very wide powers of sale, mortgage, leasing improvements and investing capital money were conferred on tenants for life by the S.L. Acts, 1882 to 1890, subject to safeguards provided by the Acts for the protection of the estate and the other beneficiaries under the settlement, and these powers have been reproduced and extended by the Act of 1925 (see Parts II. to V. of that Act). Improvements are classed under three heads (see the Third Schedule of the Act of 1925), the cost of which the tenant for life is (a) not required, or (b) may be required by the trustees of the Court, or (c) is unconditionally, required to replace by instalments of income into capital money.

By s. 18 (b) or (c), capital money must be paid to not less than two trustees of the settlement, or a trust corporation if trustee.

The powers given by the Act are not assignable, and any contact not to exercise them is void (s. 104 of the (English) S.L. Act, 1925); and any prohibition against any exercise of the powers is forbidden (s. 51; s. 106 of the S.L. Act, 1925); the tenant for life is however to be regarded as a trustee in exercising the powers of the Act (s. 107 of the S.L. Act, 1925; see Re Hunt, 1905, s Ch 418; (1906) 2 Ch 11). The case of property settled not by a strict settlement, i.e. as land, but through the medium of a trust for sale, was provided for by s. 63 of 1882, which gave the statutory powers to the person entitled to receive the income of the sale moneys. This was soon found to create a difficulty, the question arising whether the trustee for sale or the tenant for life was the proper person to sell; but the Act of 1884 restored the rights of the trustees under the trust for sale, unless and until an order has been made by the Court authorizing the tenant for life to sell: see Settled Land Act, 1884, ss. 6, 7; Re Harding's Estate, (1891) 1 Ch 60. But now by the Law of Property (Amendment) Act, 1926, settlements by way of trust for sale have been expressly excluded from settlements which are regulated by the Settled Land Act, 1925, and trustees for the purposes of the Settled Land Act, 1925, have no general power of sale against the tenant for life. On the other hand, trustees for sale under trusts for sale have all the powers of a tenant for life (see Law of Property Act, ss. 28 et seq.).

The principal mansion house on any settled land, and the park and grounds occupied therewith, cannot be sold without the consent either of the trustees of the settlement or an order of the Court [see (English) Settled Land Act, 1890, s. 10; Gilbey v. Rush, (1906) 1 Ch 11]; unless a settlement made before 1926 provides to the contrary, or a post-1925 settlement imposes the condition that it is not to be sold without such consent or order (s. 65, S.L. Act, 1925); and heirlooms cannot be sold without an order of the Court [(English) Settled Land Act, 1882, s. 37], and see now (English) S.L. Act, 1925,
s. 67.