Also known as: unqualified owner · absolute ownership
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A present interest in property that confers complete rights of use, management, and disposition without temporal or conditional limitations. The interest endures indefinitely and passes to heirs or successors without restriction upon the holder's death.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The City of Brookfield sold an office building at public auction to Mariah by deed naming her as grantee with no reservations or conditions. Mariah recorded the deed and later refused the city's demand for reconveyance when it sought to reuse the building. Because the conveyance created an estate of potentially infinite duration free of any limiting language, Mariah holds unqualified ownership and may retain the property against the former owner.
A chimney-sweeper's boy found a jewel and took it to a goldsmith's shop. The apprentice removed the stones and the master offered only the value of the empty socket. The boy refused and sued in trover. The court recognized that the finder holds sufficient property rights to prevail against all but the true owner, establishing unqualified ownership for purposes of the action.
A company built a dam that permanently flooded Pumpelly's land. Pumpelly sued for compensation, claiming the flooding amounted to a taking of his entire interest. The court treated the owner's rights as unqualified ownership that had been destroyed, entitling him to recover the value of the property taken.
The City of Chicago opened a street across a railroad's right of way. The railroad received only nominal damages while neighboring owners received full value. The Supreme Court held that the railroad's interest constituted unqualified ownership of the land taken, requiring compensation measured by the value of that interest.
Hannah, a soldier billeted in Peel's house, found a brooch in a bedroom cupboard. Peel, the owner of the house, claimed the brooch. The court awarded it to Hannah because his possession gave him unqualified ownership against everyone except the true owner, who had not appeared.
South Carolina enacted a coastal-protection statute that prohibited Lucas from building any habitable structure on his two beachfront lots. Lucas sued, claiming the regulation eliminated all economically beneficial use. The Supreme Court held that the statute deprived Lucas of unqualified ownership by denying him the core rights that define fee simple absolute title.
Unqualified ownership lasts indefinitely and passes to heirs without restriction. A life estate ends automatically upon the death of the measuring life and cannot be inherited beyond that point.
Supporting sources
Yes. A deed that names a grantee and contains no durational language or conditions presumptively conveys a fee simple absolute, which is unqualified ownership of potentially infinite duration.
Supporting sources
No. Because unqualified ownership is unlimited in duration, it is never followed by a future interest.
Supporting sources
…"Nor can it make any difference that the right is purchased previous to the passage of the by-law," for "[e]very right, from an absolute ownership in property, down to a mere easement, is purchased and holden subject to the restriction, that it shall be so exercised as not to injure others. Though, at the time, it be remote and…