Land, in its restrained sense, means soil, but in its legal acceptation it is a generic term, comprehend-ing every species of ground, soil or earth, whatso-ever, as meadows, pastures, woods, moors, waters, marshes, furze and heath; it includes also houses, mills, castles, and other buildings; for with the conveyance of the land the structures upon it pass also. And besides an indefinite extent upwards, it extends downwards to the globe's centre, hence the maxim, Cujus est solum ejus est usque ad c'lum et ad inferos; or, more curtly expressed, Cujus est solum ejus est altum. See Co. Litt. 4 a.
In an (English) Act of Parliament passed after 1850 'land' includes messuages, tenements and hereditaments, houses, and buildings of any tenure, Interpretation Act, 1889, s. 3. By the Law of Property Act,1925, s. 205(1)(ix.), 'land' for the purposes of the Act includes land of any tenure, and mines and minerals, whether or not held apart from the surface, buildings or parts of buildings (whether the division is horizontal, vertical or made in any other way), and other corporeal hereditaments; also a manor, an advowson, and a rent and other incorporeal hereditaments, and an easement, right, privilege, or benefit in, over, or derived from land; but not an undivided share in land. a conveyance of land does not pass tithe rent-charge by implication, Public Trustee v. Duke of Lancaster, (1927) 1 KB 516.
Also water, by a solecism, is held to be a species of land; e.g., in order to recover possession of a pool or rivulet of water, the action must be brought for the land--e.g., ten acres of 'land covered with water'--and not for the water only; see Hampton Urban Council v. Soutwark Water Company, 1900 AC 3.
Includes benefits to arise out of land and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth. [National Highways Act, 1956, s. 3 (b)]
Includes benefits to arise out of land, and things attached to the earth of permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth. [Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894), s. 3 (a)]
The sanad undoubtedly used the word 'lands' to describe the subject-matter of the grant, but the word 'land' is defined in Bombay Act 2 of 1863 to include share of land revenue and this meaning should apply in the construction of the word 'land' in the sanad, since the sanad was apparently granted pursuant to the enquiry made under Bombay Act 2 of 1863. The description of the subject-matter of the grant as 'lands' in the sanad would not, therefore, necessarily indicate that it was a grant of the soil, State of Maharashtra v. Narayan Vyankatesh Deshpande, AIR 1976 SC 1204: (1976) 3 SCC 404: (1976) 3 SCR 980.
The word 'land' in Entry 49 of List 2 is wide enough to include all lands, whether agricultural or not, and it would be plainly unreasonable to assume that it includes non-agricultural lands but does not include agricultural lands, Raja Jagannath Baksh Singh v. State of U.P., AIR 1962 SC 1563: (1963) 1 Supp SCR 220. (Constitution of India, Sch. VII, List II Entry 49)
--does not include 'buildings', Mylapore Hindu Permanent Fund Ltd. v. K.S. Subramania Iyer, AIR 1970 SC 1683: (1970) 2 SCC 307: (1971) 1 SCR 546.
Includes, not only the face of the earth, but everything under it or over it, Anant Mills Co. Ltd. v. State of Gujarat, AIR 1975 SC 1234 (1250): (1975) 3 SCR 220: (1975) 2 SCC 175.
Includes uncultivated land held by a landholder as such, Ratna Sugar Mills Co. Ltd. v. State of U.P., AIR 1976 SC 1742: (1976) 2 SCC 797: (1976) 3 SCR 1062.
The definition of 'land' s. 3(14) of the U.P. Zamin-dari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950 shows that it is not necessary for the land to fall within the purview of this definition that it must be actually under cultivation or occupied for purposes conn-ected with agriculture. The requirement of the definition is, amply satisfied if the land is either held or occupied for purposes connected with agriculture, State of U.P. v. Sarjoo Devi, AIR 1977 SC 2196: (1977) 4 SCC 2: (1978) 1 SCR 181. [UPZA & L.R. Act, 1950, s. 3(14)].
The word 'land' in entry 18 is not restricted to agricultural land as are the latter portions of it. It would cover all types of land - rural or urban, agricultural or non-agriculture, vacant follows or pastures, Accountant and Secretarial Services Pvt. Ltd. v. Union of India, AIR 1988 SC 1708: (1988) 4 SCC 324: (1988) Supp 1 SCR 493. [U.P.Z.A. & L.R. Act, 1950, s. 3(14)]
The word 'lands' in the Constitution of India Schedule 7, List 2, Entry 49 is wide enough to include all lands, whether agricultural or not, Raja Jagannath Baksh Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1962 SC 1563 (1568). [Constitution of India, Sch. VII, List 2, entry 49].
The word 'land' should be understood to have been covered by the elongated definition singed defines with inclusiveness that the tank fisheries is a benefit to arise out of land, Mrinalini Roy v. Ratna Prova Mondal v. State of West Bengal, AIR 1997 SC 2244 (2245). [Land Acquisition Act, 1894, s. 3(a)]
The expression 'land' in its legal sense is a comprehensive expression which is wide enough to include structures, if any, raised thereon, P. Rami Reddi v. State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1988 SC 1626 (1635). [Constitution of India, Sch. V, para 5(2) (a)]
Means any land used or purported to be used for residential, commercial or industrial purpose or for any other purpose whatsoever. [Kolkata Land Revenue Act, 2003, s. 2(f)]