Quitrent

A rent paid by the tenant of the freehold, by which he goes quit and free, — ^that is, discharged from any other rent. 2 Bl. Comm. 42. In England, quit rents were rents reserved to the king or a proprietor, on an absolute grant of waste land, for which a price in gross was at first paid, and a mere nominal rent reserved as a feudal acknowledgment of tenure. Inasmuch as no rent 'of this description can exist in the United States, when a quit rent is spoken of, some other interest must be intended. 5 Call (Va.) 364. A perpetual rent reserved on a conveyance in fee simple is sometimes known by the name of "quit rent" in Massachusetts. See "Ground Rent;" "Rent."

A rent paid by the tenant of the freehold, by which he goes quit and free, — that is, discharged from any other rent. 2 Bla. Com. 42. In England, quit-rents were rents reserved to the king or a proprietor, on an absolute grant of waste land, for which a price in gross was at first paid, and a mere nominal rent reserved as a feudal acknowledgment of tenure. Inasmuch as no rent of this description can exist in the United States, when a quit-rent is spoken of some other interest must be intended. Marshall v. Conrad, 5 Call (Va.) 364. A perpetual rent reserved on a conveyance in fee-simple is sometimes known by the name of quit-rent in Massachusetts. See Ground-Rent; Rent. It was in England a survival of feudalism. During the Middle Ages the villeins of England gradually commuted their food and labor dues to an annual money payment, which came to be known as a quit-rent, because by it the land was freed of all feudal dues except fealty. It became an annual fixed and heritable charge upon the land and created a socage tenure. At the beginning of the sixteenth century money rents had become general. The feudal notion of land tenure, that the soil belonged to the crown, was carried to the new world. It may be traced in all the early charters. Sometimes it was granted to the proprietors and subinfeudation was permitted. Quit-rents were mentioned in the grants to the Duke of York and in the charter of Georgia. It was a part of the general colonial policy of the British crown. As a means of emphasizing the Imperial control its success became of the utmost importance. The system broke down in New England, met opposition in New York and was ineffective in Pennsylvania; in the southern colonies it became firmly rooted. The rent usually varied between 2 shillings and 4 shillings per 100 acres. In Pennsylvania it fell as low as one-half penny per acre, and sometimes the rent was a red rose, a bushel of wheat, or a beaver skin. In all the colonies except Maryland the history of the quit-rent was one of persistent struggle between the governor and the assembly, the former representing the crown or proprietor and the latter the tenants. B. W. Bond, Jr., in 17 Am. Hist. Rev. 496.

A rent paid by the tenant of the freehold, by which he goes quit and free, that is, discharged from any other rent. 2 Bl. Com. 42.;