Also known as: tenures · tenured · tenuring · land tenure · academic tenure
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A right or mode of holding lands or tenements in subordination to a superior. Feudal tenures such as socage or military service determined the obligations owed to the lord paramount.
A status granted to a teacher or professor that protects against summary dismissal without cause. The interest in continued employment under tenure constitutes a property right entitled to due process protections.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
A right or mode of holding lands or tenements in subordination to a superior. Feudal tenures such as socage or military service determined the obligations owed to the lord paramount.
Tanner Thompson holds Blackacre in fee simple tenure after inheriting from his lord. When a dispute arises over feudal services, the court confirms that Thompson's tenure requires only nominal payments rather than military service to the paramount lord.
Tara Tran owns a large fee simple estate in Hawaii under the traditional concentrated ownership system. The state condemns the land and transfers title to lessees to break up the feudal-style tenure pattern while paying just compensation.
A status granted to a teacher or professor that protects against summary dismissal without cause. The interest in continued employment under tenure constitutes a property right entitled to due process protections.
Thaddeus Tran serves as a judge on an Article I bankruptcy court created by Congress. Because the position carries no life tenure or salary protection, Tran may be removed by the legislative branch without violating Article III.
Tanya Tang receives Social Security disability benefits that the agency seeks to terminate. Because the interest resembles the property interest held by a tenured professor, Tanya is entitled to a pre-termination hearing under the Mathews balancing test.
Feudal tenure describes a hierarchical system of land holding under which the tenant owes services to a superior lord. Academic tenure instead grants an individual employment security against arbitrary dismissal and creates a constitutionally protected property interest.
Tobias Thomas works as an at-will programmer. When the company terminates him without cause, he cannot claim breach of the implied covenant because no agreement for continued tenure or good-cause protection exists.
Tyler Taylor serves as a non-tenured instructor on a one-year contract. When the university declines to renew the appointment without a hearing, Tyler has no protected property interest in continued employment under the Due Process Clause.
Yes. A tenured professor possesses a legitimate claim of entitlement to continued employment that qualifies as a property interest under the Fourteenth Amendment. The interest arises from the mutual understanding created by the grant of tenure and requires procedural safeguards before termination.
…Amendments must be given some meaning. In Board of Regents v. Roth , 408 U.S. 564 (1972), we held that the interest of a tenured professor in continued employment was a "property" interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. We also held that the interest of a welfare recipient in continued receipt of welfare…