Also known as: rectum feudum · feuda recta · fee simple · direct fee
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An estate of inheritance in land under feudal tenure that passes to the grantee's general heirs without restriction to lineal descendants and without any special limitation, condition subsequent, or executory limitation.
Elizabeth conveyed the broadcast studio to Chad and his heirs until all news content shifted to personalized digital feeds. Because the terminating event was certain to occur but untethered to any life or fixed period, Chad received only a defeasible fee rather than a feudum rectum. Chad could mortgage the property but risked automatic loss of title upon the shift.
Lord Fairfax's heirs claimed title to the Northern Neck under letters patent granting the land to patentees and their heirs forever. The estate passed to general heirs without limitation, qualifying as a feudum rectum that supported the lessees' possessory rights against state seizure.
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The Brandt Trust asserted ownership of a former railroad corridor after abandonment. The original grant created a fee simple absolute that qualified as a feudum rectum, so the trust held full title once the railroad's limited use ended rather than a mere easement.
Weedon devised property to Baker for life with remainder to her heirs. The court determined the remainder created a fee simple absolute in the heirs that amounted to a feudum rectum, allowing Baker's life estate to be valued against the full inheritable interest.
The City of Chicago took railroad land for a street. The railroad held a feudum rectum because the original grant conveyed an inheritable estate without limitation, so just compensation was measured by the full fee simple value rather than a lesser interest.
The Endos held property as tenants by the entirety. Each spouse's interest constituted a feudum rectum that could not be reached by one spouse's separate creditors without severing the tenancy, shielding the land from unilateral attachment.
A feudum rectum is an estate of inheritance without any special limitation, condition subsequent, or executory limitation. A fee simple defeasible arises only when the conveyance adds one of those restrictions that may cut short the estate.
Under modern statutes and the Restatement, a conveyance of land without words of inheritance still passes a fee simple absolute unless an intent to pass a lesser estate is expressed. The feudum rectum therefore arises by operation of law in most jurisdictions.
Yes. Although feudal language once limited some estates to lineal heirs, a corporation can hold a fee simple absolute that functions as a feudum rectum because the estate is inheritable in the broad sense and passes without restriction to successors.
…of) value. In any event, we avoid this difficulty in the present case, since the "interest in land" that Lucas has pleaded (a fee simple interest) is an estate with a rich tradition of protection at common law, and since the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas found that the Beachfront Management Act left each of Lucas's…