tenure of property

Most common-law jurisdictions have abolished the concept of feudal land tenure of property, and so the concept of escheat has lost something of its meaning.

The township's title, 'freehold', was manifestly adapted from the English noun (occasionally utilized as an adverb) meaning "the tenure of property held in fee simple for life".

In the later Middle Ages - probably from the late 13th century onwards - residents of Croydon, as defined by boundary markers known as the "four crosses", enjoyed a degree of self-government through a town court or portmote, and a form of free tenure of property.