Rule in Shelley's case
- An old common-law mandate that transformed an ancestor's life estate into an estate of unlimited duration and extinguished the additional estate dedicated to the heirs, both of which were established by the same legal document
- The Rule in Shelley's case was invoked to convert the life estate into an estate in fee.
- Historically, the Rule in Shelley's case was used to prevent the creation of perpetuities.
- Though it's no longer widely applicable, the Rule in Shelley's case once played a vital role in common-law property rights.
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