What Is the Rule Against Perpetuities?
The rule against perpetuities is a feature of English common law that requires that when an ownership interest in property is created, full ownership must be vested within a certain period of time. Before its adoption in the 1600s, English landowners, in their wills, would frequently bequeath the use of their property to their heirs, who would then leave the use of the property to their heirs. This would continue for generations, without bequeathing the actual title, so that the property could never be broken up or sold. This perpetual tying up and control of property long after the death of the owner is sometimes called control by the “dead hand,” or “mortmain.” Like other statutes of mortmain, the rule against perpetuities limits this practice, in part because it tends to concentrate wealth in a small group of families, and in part because it may prevent land from being put to a use that’s in the best interest of the family.
