, in the most general sense, comprehends any ground, soil, or earth whatsoever; as meadows, pastures, woods, moors, waters, marshes, furzes, and heath. Co. Litt 4a.
The word "land" includes not only the soil, but everything attached to it whether attached by the course of nature, as trees, herbage, and
More... , in the most general sense, comprehends any ground, soil, or earth whatsoever; as meadows, pastures, woods, moors, waters, marshes, furzes, and heath. Co. Litt 4a.
The word "land" includes not only the soil, but everything attached to it whether attached by the course of nature, as trees, herbage, and water, or by the hand of man, as buildings and fences. Mott v. Palmer, 1 N. Y. 572; Nessler v. Neher, 18 Neb. 649, 26 N. W. 471; Hlgglns Fuel Co. v. Snow, 113 Fed. 433, 61 C. C. A. 267; Llghtfoot v. Grove, 5 Helsk. (Tenn.) 477; Johnson v. Richardson, 33 Miss. 404; Mitchell v. Warner, 5 Conn. 517; Myers v. League, 62 Fed. 659, 10 C. CL A. 571. 2 Bl. Comm. 16, 17.
Land Is the solid material of the earth, whatever may be the ingredients of which it is composed, whether soil, rock, or other sub¬stance. Civ. Code Cal. § 659.
Philosophically, it seems more correct to say that the word "land" means, in law,'as in the vernacular, the soil, or portion of the earth's crust; and to explain or justify such expres¬sions as that "whoever owns the land owns the buildings above and the minerals below," upon the view, not that these are within the extension of the term "land," but that they are so con¬nected with it that by rules of law they pass by a conveyance of the land. This view makes "land," as a term, narrower in signification than "realty;" though it would allow an in¬strument speaking of land to operate co-exten-sively with one granting realty or real property by either of those terms. But many of the authorities use the expression "land as including these incidents to the soil. Abbott —Accommodation lands. In English law. Lands bought by a builder or speculator, who erects houses thereon, and then leases portions of them upon an improved ground-rent.—Bonn-ty lands. Portions of the public domain given or donated to private persons as a bounty for services rendered, chiefly for military service. —Certificate lands. In Pennsylvania, in the period succeeding the revolution, lands set apart in the western portion of the state, which might be bought with the certificates which the soldiers of that state in the revolutionary army had received in lieu of pay. Cent Diet —Crown lands. In England and Canada, lands belonging to the sovereign personally or to the government or nation, as distinguished from such as have passed into private owner-ship.—Demesne lands. See DEMESNE.—Do-nation lands. Lands granted from the pub-lic domain to an individual as a bounty, gift, or donation; particularly, in early Pennsyl-vania history, lands thus granted to soldiers of the revolutionary war.—Fabric lands. In English law, lands given towards the main-tenance, rebuilding, or repairing of cathedral and other .churches.—General land offi.ee. An office of the United States government, being a division of the department of the in-terior, having charge of all executive action relating to the public lands, including their survey, sale or other disposition, and patent-ing ; constituted by act of congress in 1812 (Rev. St. § 446 ft. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 2551) and presided over by an officer styled "commissioner of the general land office."— Land certificate. Upon the registration of freehold land under the English land transfer act, 1875, a certificate is given to the registered proprietor, and similarly upon every transfer of registered land. This registration super¬sedes the necessity of any further registration in the register counties. Sweet—Land eonrt* In American law. A court formerly existing in St. Louis, Mo., having a limited territorial jurisdiction over actions concerning real prop¬erty, and suits for dower, partition, etc.— Land damages. See DAMAGES.—Land de¬partment That office of the United States government which has jurisdiction and charge of the public lands, including the secretary of the interior and the commissioner of the gen¬eral land office and their subordinate officers, and being in effect the department of the in¬terior considered with reference to its powers and duties concerning the public lands. See U. S. v. Winona & St. P. R. Co., 67 Fed. 95i>, 15 C. C. A. 96; Northern Pac. R. Co. v. Bar-den (C. C.) 46 Fed. 617.—Land district. A division of a state or territory, created by fed¬eral authority, in which is located a United States land office, with a "register of the land office" and a "receiver of public money." for the disposition of the public lands within the district. See U. S. v. Smith (C. C) 11 Fed. 491.—Land-gabeL A tax or rent issuing out of land. Spelman says it was originally a penny for every house. This land-gabcl, or land-gavel, in the register of Domesday, was a quit-rent for the site of a house, or tne land whereon it stood; the same with what we now call "ground-rent." Wharton.—Xand iprsnt A donation of public lands to a subordinate government, a corporation, or an individual; as, from the United States to a state, or to a railroad company to aid in the construction of its road.—Land offices. Governmental offices, subordinate to the general land office, establish¬ed in various parts of the United States, for the transaction of local business relating to the survey, location, settlement pre-emption, and sale of the public lands. See "General land office," auprs.—Land-poor. *By this term is generally understood that a man has a great deal of unproductive land, and perhaps is oblig¬ed to borrow money to pay taxes; but a man "land-poor" may be largely responsible. Mat-teson v. Blackmer, 46 laich. 397, 9 N. W. 445.—Land-reeve. A person whose business it is to overlook certain parts of a farm or es¬tate; to attend not only to the woods and hedge-timber, but also to the state of the fen¬ces, gates, buildings, private roads, drift-ways, and water-courses; and likewise to the stocking of commons, and encroachments of every kind, as well as to ore vent or detect waste and spoil in general, whether by the tenants or others: and to report the same to the manager or land steward. Enc. Lond.—Land steward. A per¬son who overlooks or has the management of a farm or estate.—Land tan. A tax laid upon the legal or beneficial owner of real property, and apportioned upon the assessed value of his land.—Land tenant. The person actually 1Q possession of land; otherwise styled the "terre-tenant."—Land titles and transfer aot. An English statute (38 & 39 Vict c. 87) providing for the establishment of a registry for titles to real property, and making sundry provisions for the transfer of lands and the recording of the evidences thereof. It presents some anal¬ogies to the recording laws of the American states.—Land waiter. In English law. An officer of the custom-house, whose duty is, up¬on landing any merchandise, to examine, taste, weigh, or measure it, and to take an account thereof. In some ports they also execute the office of a coast waiter. They are likewise oc¬casionally styled "searchers" and are to at¬tend and join with the patent searcher in the execution of all cockets for the shipping of goods to be exported to foreign parts; and, in cases where drawbacks on bounties are to be paid to the merchant on the exportation of any
goods, they, as well as the patent searchers, are to certify the shipping thereof on the deben¬tures. Enc. Lond.—Land-warrant. The evi¬dence which the state, on good consideration, gives that the person therein named is entitled to the quantity of land therein specified, the bounds and description of which the owner of the warrant may fix by entry and survey, in the section of country set apart for its lo¬cation and satisfaction. Neal v. President, etc.. of East Tennessee College, 6 Yerg. (Tenn.) 205. —Mineral lands. In the land laws of the United States. Lands containing deposits of valuable, useful, or precious minerals in such quantities as to justify expenditures in the ef¬fort to extract them, and which are more val¬uable for the minerals they contain than for agricultural or other uses. Northern Pac. R. Cto. v. Soderberg, 18S U. S. 526. 23 Sup. Ct. 365, 47 L. Ed. 575; Deffeback v. Hawke, 115 U. S. 392, 6 Sun. Ct. 95, 29 L. Ed. 423; Davis v. Wiebbold. 139 U. S. 507. 11 Sup. Ct. 628, 85 L. Ed. 238; Smith v. Hill, 89 Cal. 122, 26 Pac. 644; Merrill v. Dixon, 15 Nev. 406.—Place lands. Lands granted in aid of a railroad company which are within certain limits on each side of the road, and which be¬come instantly fixed by the adootion of the line of the road. There is a well-defined differ¬ence between place lands and "indemnity lands." See INDEMNITY. See Jackson v. La Moure County, 1 N. D. 238, 46 N. W. 449.—Pnblio lands. The general public domain; unappro-Sriated lands; lands belonging to the United tates and which are subject to sale or other disposal under general laws, and not reserved or held back for any special governmental or?
ubllc purpose. Newhall v. Sanger, 92 U. S. 68. 23 L. Ed. 769; U. S. v. Garretson (C. C.) 42 Fed. 24; Northern Pac. R. Co. v. Hinchman (C. C.) 58 Fed. 526; State v. Telegraph Co., 52 La. Ann. 1411, 27 South. 796.—School lands. Public lands of a state set apart by the state (or by congress in a territory) to create, by the proceeds of their sale, a fund for the establishment and maintenance of public schools.—Seated land. Land that is occu-pied, cultivated, improved, reclaimed, farmed, or used as a place of residence. Residence without cultivation, or cultivation without resi¬dence, or both together, impart to land the char¬acter of being seated. The term is used, as opposed to "unseated land." in Pennsylvania tax laws. See Barley v. Euwer. 102 Pa. 340; Stoetzel v. Jackson, 105 Pa. 567; Kennedy v. Daily, 6 Watts (Pa.) 272; Coal Co. v/ Fales, 55 Pa. 98.—Swamp and overflowed lands. Lands unfit for cultivation by reason of their swampy character and requiring drainage or reclamation to render them available for bene¬ficial use. Such lands, when constituting a portion of the public domain: have generally been granted by congress to the several states within whose limits thev lie. See Miller v. Tobin (C. C.) 18 Fed. 614; Keeran v. Allen, 33 Cal. 546; Hogaboom v. Ehrhardt, 58 Cal. 233; Thompson v. Thornton, 50 Cal. 144.— Tide lands. Lands between high and low wa¬ter mark on the sea or any tidal water; that portion of the shore or beach covered and un-covered by the ebb and flow of the tide. Ron-deli v. Fay, 32 Cal. 354: Oakland v. Oakland Water i Front Co., 118 Cal. 160, 50 Pac. 277; Andrus v. Knott. 12 Or. 501, 8 Pac. 7&3; Walker v. State Harbor Com'rs, 17 Wall. 650. 21 L. Ed. 744.—Unseated land. A phrase used in the Pennsylvania tax laws to describe land which, though owned by a private person, has not been reclaimed, cultivated, improved, occupied, or made a place of residence. See SEATED LAND, supra. And see Stoetzel v. Jackson, 105 Pa. 567; McLeod v. Lloyd, 43 Or. 260, 71 Pac. 799.
Less...
