tenure

tenure
    n 1: the term during which some position is held [syn: {tenure},
         {term of office}, {incumbency}]
    2: the right to hold property; part of an ancient hierarchical
       system of holding lands [syn: {tenure}, {land tenure}]
    v 1: give life-time employment to; "She was tenured after she
         published her book"
    

Tenure \Ten"ure\, n. [F. tenure, OF. teneure, fr. F. tenir to
   hold. See {Tenable}.]
   1. The act or right of holding, as property, especially real
      estate.
      [1913 Webster]

            That the tenure of estates might rest on equity, the
            Indian title to lands was in all cases to be
            quieted.                              --Bancroft.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Eng. Law) The manner of holding lands and tenements of a
      superior.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: Tenure is inseparable from the idea of property in
         land, according to the theory of the English law; and
         this idea of tenure pervades, to a considerable extent,
         the law of real property in the United States, where
         the title to land is essentially allodial, and almost
         all lands are held in fee simple, not of a superior,
         but the whole right and title to the property being
         vested in the owner. Tenure, in general, then, is the
         particular manner of holding real estate, as by
         exclusive title or ownership, by fee simple, by fee
         tail, by courtesy, in dower, by copyhold, by lease, at
         will, etc.
         [1913 Webster]

   3. The consideration, condition, or service which the
      occupier of land gives to his lord or superior for the use
      of his land.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Manner of holding, in general; as, in absolute
      governments, men hold their rights by a precarious tenure.
      [1913 Webster]

            All that seems thine own,
            Held by the tenure of his will alone. --Cowper.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Tenure by fee alms}. (Law) See {Frankalmoigne}.
      [1913 Webster]
    

TENURE, estates. The manner in which lands or tenements are holden. 
     2. According to the English law, all lands are held mediately or 
immediately from the king, as lord paramount and supreme proprietor of all 
the lands in the kingdom. Co. Litt. 1 b, 65 a; 2 Bl. Com. 105. 
     3. The idea of tenure; pervades, to a considerable degree, the law of 
real property in the several states; the title to land is essentially 
allodial, and every tenant in fee simple has an absolute and perfect title, 
yet in technical language, his estate is called an estate in fee simple, and 
the tenure free and common socage. 3 Kent, Com. 289, 290. In the states 
formed out of the North Western Territory, it seems that the doctrine of 
tenures is not in force, and that real estate is owned by an absolute and 
allodial title. This is owing to the wise provisions on this subject 
contained in the celebrated ordinance of 1787. Am. Jur. No. 21, p. 94, 5. In 
New York, 1 Rev. St. 718; Pennsylvania, 5 Rawle, R. 112; Connecticut, 1 Rev. 
L. 348 and Michigan, Mich. L. 393, feudal tenures have been abolished, and 
lands are held by allodial titles. South Carolina has adopted the statute, 
12 C. II., c. 24, which established in England the tenure of free and common 
socage. 1 Brev. Dig. 136. Vide Wright on Tenures; Bro. h.t.; Treatises of 
Feuds and Tenures by Knight's service; 20 Vin Ab. 201; Com. Dig. h.t.; Bac. 
Ab. h. Thom. Co. Litt. Index, h.t.; Sulliv. Lect. Index, h.t. 
    

103 Moby Thesaurus words for "tenure":
      adverse possession, alodium, appointment, berth, billet, burgage,
      claim, clamp, clasp, clench, clinch, clutch, colony,
      continuous tenure, de facto, de jure, dependency, derivative title,
      duration, employment, engagement, enlistment, fee fief,
      fee position, fee simple, fee simple absolute,
      fee simple conditional, fee simple defeasible,
      fee simple determinable, fee tail, feodum, feud, fiefdom,
      frankalmoign, free socage, freehold, gavelkind, gig, grapple,
      grasp, grip, gripe, having title to, hitch, hold, holding,
      incumbency, job, knight service, lay fee, lease, leasehold,
      legal claim, legal possession, mandate, moonlighting, occupancy,
      occupation, office, opening, original title, owning, permanence,
      permanency, place, position, possessing, possession, post,
      preoccupancy, preoccupation, prepossession, prescription,
      prison term, property, property rights, proprietary rights,
      residence, residency, second job, seisin, service, situation,
      socage, spell, squatting, station, stretch, sublease, tenancy,
      tenantry, tenure in chivalry, term, time, title, tour, underlease,
      undertenancy, usucapion, vacancy, villein socage, villeinhold,
      villenage