Tenement (law)
This was held from a superior overlord, (a mesne lord), or from the crown itself in which case the holder was termed a tenant-in-chief, upon some manner of service under one of a variety of feudal land tenures.The sole surviving form in the United States is that species of freehold known as free socage.The major consequences, in the modern world, of this feudal approach, as distinguished from ownership, are, first, the forfeiture of the tenement upon failure to perform the service (that is, non-payment of taxes), and second, the doctrine of eminent domain, whereby the "lord of the fee" might take back the estate, provided he make just compensation.Also existing in a vestigial form is the concept of escheat, under which an estate of a holder without heirs returns to the ownership of the state.Localities that depend on real estate taxes to provide services are often put at a disadvantage when the state or federal government acquires a piece of land.