Doctrines
Rule Against Perpetuities
Also Known As The Rule Against Perpetuities (RAP)
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Origin Originated in the Duke of Norfolk's Case (1682); given its classic modern formulation by John Chipman Gray in 1886.
The rule against perpetuities is a common law property doctrine that voids a future interest in land or other property unless it is certain to vest, if it vests at all, no later than twenty-one years after the death of some person alive when the interest was created. It originated in the Duke of Norfolk's Case (1682), in which the House of Lords held that a settlor could not tie up property in shifting future interests indefinitely across generations, and it received its classic formulation from the American jurist John Chipman Gray in 1886. The rule has been substantially reformed in most common law jurisdictions: the Uniform Statutory Rule Against Perpetuities (1986) replaces the common law formulation with a flat ninety-year wait-and-see period in states that have adopted it, at least six United States states have repealed the rule outright to permit long-duration dynasty trusts, and England reset its own perpetuity period to a flat one hundred and twenty-five years in 2009, while Ireland abolished the rule entirely the same year.
Facts
Disputed
Core PrincipleWhether the rule should survive at all is now itself contested: at least six United States states have repealed it outright to permit dynasty trusts of indefinite duration, and others have extended the permitted vesting period to three hundred and sixty years or more, which trusts-and-estates scholars are divided over as either a sound modernization freeing property owners from a rule whose purposes no longer apply, or an abandonment of the rule's original function of preventing the dead hand of a settlor from controlling property indefinitely. 1 The scope of the modern reform, and whether it has hollowed out the rule's original anti-dead-hand purpose, is a live and unsettled debate among trusts-and-estates scholars rather than a settled question. Origin PeriodOriginated in the Duke of Norfolk's Case (1682); given its classic modern formulation by John Chipman Gray in 1886. 1 Core PrincipleNo interest in property is good unless it must vest, if at all, not later than twenty-one years after some life in being at the creation of the interest. 1 John Chipman Gray's 1886 formulation, the rule's classic statement in common law jurisdictions. Cross-Tradition Connections
Established By
In Legal System
Sources
1. Rule Against Perpetuities (Wikipedia)
OverviewQuote, Overview
The rule against perpetuities is a legal rule in common law that prevents people from using legal instruments (usually a deed or a will) to exert control over the ownership of private property for a time long beyond the lives of people living at the time the instrument was written.
1. Rule Against Perpetuities (Wikipedia)
DefinitionQuote, Definition
Black's Law Dictionary defines the rule against perpetuities as "[t]he common-law rule prohibiting a grant of an estate unless the interest must vest, if at all, no later than 21 years (plus a period of gestation to cover a posthumous birth) after the death of some person alive when the interest was created."
1. Rule Against Perpetuities (Wikipedia)
HistoryQuote, History
The rule has its origin in the Duke of Norfolk's Case of 1682. That case concerned Henry, 22nd Earl of Arundel, who had tried to create a shifting executory limitation so that some of his property would pass to his eldest son (who was mentally deficient) and then to his second son, and other property would pass to his second son, but then to his fourth son.
1. Rule Against Perpetuities (Wikipedia)
Modern reformsQuote, Modern reforms
The Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009 codified the "wait and see" doctrine developed by courts and made the perpetuity period 125 years.
1. Rule Against Perpetuities (Wikipedia)
Duke of Norfolk's Case (Wikipedia)
WikipediaEstablished By: Duke of Norfolk's Case, Lede (doctrine origin edge)Quote, Established By: Duke of Norfolk's Case, Lede (doctrine origin edge)
Duke of Norfolk's Case (1682) 3 Ch Cas 1; 22 ER 931 is an important legal judgment of the House of Lords that established the common law rule against perpetuities.
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