subinfeudation

Subinfeudation was a practice in feudal law where a tenant would grant land to another person, who would then become the lord of the original tenant. This created a subdivision of a feudal estate, effectively making the original tenant a lord to their own tenants.1

The English Statute of Quia Emptores in 1290 prohibited subinfeudation. This law meant that if one tenant granted land to another, the new tenant's lord would not be the original grantor but the grantor's lord. This statute was crucial in the development of English real property law, particularly in establishing the right of free alienation and leading to most land being held directly from the crown.2