Legal Definitions - Statute of Uses

The Statute of Uses was an English law passed in 1535 that converted the equitable title held by a beneficiary (called a cestui que use) to a legal one. This was done to make the beneficiary liable for feudal dues, which only a legal owner (the feoffee to uses) could be.

The law was created to stop the practice of creating uses in land that deprived feudal lords of the valuable incidents of feudal tenure. The statute discouraged the granting of property subject to another's use by deeming the person who enjoys the use to have legal title with the right of absolute ownership and possession.

For example, if A conveyed land to B subject to the use of C, then C became the legal owner of the land in fee simple. This meant that C was responsible for paying feudal dues, not B.

However, the statute was eventually circumvented by the courts' recognition of the use of equitable trusts in land-conveyancing.

Overall, the Statute of Uses was an important law in English legal history that helped to establish the rights of beneficiaries in land ownership.