Tenant pur autre vie meaning

A tenant pur autre vie is someone who holds a life interest in land that lasts for the lifetime of a specified third person (the cestui que vie). The interest ends when that third person dies, not when the tenant dies. This is a common-law descriptive expression, used mainly in wills, trusts and older settlements, rather than a term defined by a single statute. Key features: - Possession and use belong to the tenant during the measuring life. - The interest is usually alienable: it can be assigned and, if the tenant dies first, it generally devolves to the tenant’s personal representatives unless expressly limited to the tenant personally. - It is distinct from an ordinary life estate (measured by the tenant’s own life). In England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, modern conveyancing legislation means life estates (including estates pur autre vie) rarely subsist as legal estates; they typically take effect in equity under a trust of land, or arise under historic instruments or wills. Usage and effect are broadly consistent across these jurisdictions. In Scotland, the equivalent concept is a liferent. The expression “tenant pur autre vie” is not standard Scots terminology, though a liferent can, in principle, be measured by another’s life.