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A Saxon tale
Uhtred was kidnapped as a child by Norsemen and reared as one of them. He is brought up
knowing that they plan to invade Angle-land and re-establish the Dane-law. When he comes
of age he escapes and returns to Southumberland where he plans to set up a defence
impregnable to Danish weapons and fight to the death. With this in mind he chooses
Begganburg Castle on the Solent as the scene for his last stand.
He arranges to buy the castle from its owner, Earl Ragnar, for four pounds of silver.
However, realising that he is unlikely to live long, he arranges for title to be taken in addition
to himself in the names of several of his followers: the castle is conveyed to “Uhtred, Ravn,
Beocca, Aelfric, Guthrum and Kjarten as joint tenants”. A few weeks later he is slightly
surprised to receive from the land registry a certificate of title naming as proprietors Aelfric,
Beocca, Ravn and Uhtred, and even more surprised to see a restriction on the register.
Near the castle is a little promontory sticking out into the Solent. Uhtred realises that in
order to make the castle safe against attack from the sea he needs to secure and fortify this.
He meets Earl Ragnar and asks for a lease of the promontory for the rest of his life. Earl
Ragnar replies that Uhtred is mad to stand up to the Danes and it is impossible for him to
survive a fortnight. In the end they compromise and Earl Ragnar writes out a lease of the
promontory “to Uhtred for two years if he so long lives” in return for two oxen a quarter. The
earl signs the lease but since no third person is present his signature remains unwitnessed.
Uhtred immediately sets out to make a temporary fortification on the promontory.
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Neighbours of Uhtred manage to capture four Danish longboats, which are badly damaged so
as no longer to be seaworthy. Uhtred arranges to buy all four. They are hauled along to the
promontory where they are arranged in a square, supported by a wooden structure to which
the boats are firmly lashed and bolted. This arrangement is used as an advance fort to protect
the seaward side of Begganburg. Two years elapse without a Danish attack and Earl Ragnar
now demands the return of the promontory and the longboats, which he intends to cut up for
firewood.
Uhtred is outraged to discover that Beocca has formed a relationship with Brida, who is half
English, half Danish. Uhtred and Beocca arrange that the joint tenancy will be severed and
that Beocca will then assign his beneficial undivided share in the property to Leofric. Uhtred
calls together that evening Ravn, Beocca and Aelfric and all four of them sign a contract
stating that the joint tenancy between them of Begganburgh Castle is duly severed. Uhtred
explains that Beocca’s share will be assigned to Leofric, even though the contract makes no
mention of this fact. Guthrum and Kjarten both swear orally to accept Leofric as co-owner.
However, Beocca and Brida elope that night and no assignment is ever made.
Discuss.
The situation provided contains issues relating to the conveyance of property and the
formation of trusts in property, certainty of leases, whether or not items have become fixtures
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to land, contract formalities in land and severance of a joint tenancy. These issues will be
discussed with reference to what the law means for Uhtred.
The castle which Uhtred desired to buy was conveyed to “Uhtred, Ravn, Beocca, Aelfric,
Guthrum and Kjarten as joint tenants”. For multiple individuals to own land together, a trust
must be created. In the usual case of a couple buying property together, it would mean that
they would be the legal owners of the property, and would also hold the property on trust for
themselves as beneficiaries to the trust.
Under the Law of Property Act (LPA) 1925 section 1(6) legal estates may not be held in
undivided share, or in other words legal estates must be held as joint tenants rather than
tenants in common, although the beneficial interest may be held as tenants in common. A
result of holding a property as joint tenants is that survivorship operates, meaning that should
Uhtred die, his share of the castle would pass to the other joint tenants. This is desirable for
Uhtred as he does not know for how long he may live, holding the castle alongside other joint
tenants was a good decision for him to make. Conveying property to multiple individuals
creates a legal joint tenancy, however, it must be considered whether Uhtred has done enough
to create an equitable joint tenancy.
Joint tenancies are characterised by 4 unities; interest, title, possession and time. The joint
tenants must all possess the land, must all have the same interest in the land, must all derive
their title from the same act and they must all have derived their title at the same time. In
relation to Uhtred’s situation, we can presume that those he has chosen to convey the property
to possess the property and have the same interest in the property, and also they do derive
their title from the same act and at the same time, so we can conclude that the four unities are
met. However these alone do not necessarily mean a beneficial joint tenancy.
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