Extinguishment - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition extinguishment

Definition :

Extinguishment, the annihilation of a collateral interest, or the supersedure of one interest by another and greater interest in that out of which it is derived. It is of various natures as applied to various rights.

The cessation or cancellation of some right on interest, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 604.

(1) Extinguishment of common. It he who is entitled to common appurtenant purchase any part of the land which is subject to his right of common, that right is extinguished for the whole; and so, if he release his right over any part of the land. But it has been justly doubted whether in any case, and especially if all persons who have common appurtenant in the same land concur in discharg-ing some part of it, this legal trap should be allowed to operate, Burton's Comp., 8th Edn. 352. If one of the tenants of a manor purchase any part of the land over which he has a right of common appendant, his right over the rest will continue. So, on the alienation of any part of land to which common is appendant or appurtenant (though the latter is less favoured by the old law), the right of common is preserved and apportioned, 1 Bac. Ab. 628.

(2) Extinguishment of Easement. By statute, release, non-user, unity of seisin, or alteration of the dominant tenement; the term is sometimes used to denote the interruption but for which an inchoate right would become established by prescription.

(3) Extinguishment of copyhold. When a tenant conveyed to his lord, or did an act denoting his intention of not holding of his lord any longer, his copyhold was extinguished. When the lord did an act inconsistent with the nature of the tenure, e.g., conveyed to the tenant the freehold, or released to him his seignorial rights, an enfranchisement was effected.

(4) Extinguishment of Manorial incidents: and enfranchisement of customary suits and services. See COPYHOLD.

(5) Extinguishment of debt. A creditor, by accepting a higher security than he had before, extinguishes the first debt. And when judgment is given for a debt, it supersedes or extinguishes the previous obligation (Plowd. 184; 1 Salk. 304); though it does not prejudice a security given for the debt, Economic Life Assurance Society v. Usborne, 1902 AC 147.

(6) Extinguishment of estates. If a person have a yearly rent out of lands, and afterwards purchase those lands, so that he has as good an estate in the land as in the rent, the rent is extinguished; for no one can have a rent issuing out of his own land, though a person must have as high an estate in the land as in the rent, or the rent will not be extinct, Co. Litt. 147. It appears that an estate by statute, recognizance, or elegit may be extinguished by any act (as a deed of defeazance or of release), which extinguished the debt, Burt. Comp. 373. Sect. 185, (English) L.P. Act, 1925, replacing the (English) Judicature Act, 1873, s. 25(4), provides that there shall not, after commencement of that Act, be any merger by operation of law only of any estate the beneficial interest in which would not be deemed to be merged or extinguished in equity.

(7) Extinguishment of interesse termini. A mere interesse termini could neither promote nor hinder the merger of any estate, nor could itself, properly speaking, be surrendered; but it might have been extinguished by surrender in law, or by assignment or release, Burt. Comp. 364. The doc-trine of interesse termini has been abolished by s. 149, (English) L.P. Act, 1925. See INTERESSE TERMINI.

(8) Release by way of extinguishment. If my tenant for life make a greater estate than he is warranted in granting, as a lease to A. for life, remainder to B. and his heirs, and I release to A., this extinguishes my right to the reversion, and shall enure to the advantage of B.'s remainder as well as to A.'s particular estate, 2 Bl. Com. 325.

(9) Extinguishment of Power. A power which is ancillary to the performance of a trust or duty cannot be extinguished. In regard to other cases, the (English) Law of Property Act, 1925, s. 155, replacing the (English) Conveyancing Act, 1881, s. 52, provides that all powers, whether coupled with an interest or not, may be released. Until 1882 collateral powers over property without any estate or interest in it could not be released or extinguished. The powers of a tenant for life under the (English) S.L. Act, 1925, cannot be extinguished (ibid., s. 104), except by surrender of the life estate to the remainderman (s. 105).