释义 |
estate n. 1. (in land law) Technically, the duration of tenure in land (Walsingham’s Case (1573) 2 Plowd 547). In strict legal theory, the Crown has ownership of all land in England and Wales. All others hold an estate (a period of time for which the tenure will last) of the Crown. In practice, the freehold estate fee simple absolute in possession is indistinguishable from absolute ownership. Other freehold estates exist, such as the life interest and the fee tail, but these are far less common and will exist as part of a trust or settlement and be equitable rather than legal. The leasehold estate or term of years absolute is the estate held by a tenant from a landlord. It, like the fee simple absolute in possession, is capable of being a legal estate. 2. (in revenue law) The aggregate of all the property to which a person is beneficially entitled. It covers not only tangible property, but also equitable rights, debts, and any other rights capable of being reduced to a money value (O’Neill v IRC [1988] STC (SCD) 110; Melville v IRC [2001] EWCA Civ 1247, [2001] STC 271). There is no rule that prevents an asset from being in two different individuals’ estates at the same time. Excluded property, which includes most reversionary interests and certain foreign matters, is not taken into account for the death charge (see inheritance tax). |