Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A historical obligation requiring the grantee of land to deliver a portion of the land's produce to the lord pursuant to the charter's terms.
Sources & Authorities· 10 primary sources
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Cases
Statutes
Uniform Acts
How it applies
Common Examples
6
Buyer Acquires Land Free of Feorme
Fumiko Fujimoto purchased grain from a seller who owed a feorme to the original lord under an ancient charter. The seller had granted a security interest in the grain to a lender. Because Fumiko bought in the ordinary course without knowledge of any conflicting claims, she took the grain free of both the security interest and the feorme obligation.
Conflict Arises Over Feorme Payment
Faye Fuller and her insurer jointly represented family members in an auto accident case. When a former client became a defendant, the firm faced disqualification because it had learned confidential details about the feorme due on family farmland. The court removed the firm to protect the prior fiduciary duties.
Flora Ford owned land subject to a longstanding feorme payable in crops to a historical lord. New York City enacted landmark rules that prevented full harvesting needed to satisfy the feorme. The Supreme Court examined whether the rules effected a taking by destroying the economic value of the feorme right.
Penn Central Transportation Co. et al. v. New York City438 U.S. 104, 98 S.Ct. 2646, 57 L.Ed.2d 631 (1978)
Diversity Covers Feorme Dispute
Farid Farahani sued a seller in federal court over failure to pay a feorme on farm products. Additional plaintiffs from the same transaction joined the suit. The Supreme Court held that supplemental jurisdiction allowed the court to hear all claims even when some plaintiffs did not meet the amount-in-controversy requirement.
Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Allapattah Services, Inc.545 U.S. 546, 558–59 (2005)
Taking Extinguishes Feorme Interest
Felicia Fuentes held a feorme right to receive produce from land condemned by the city for economic development. The Supreme Court upheld the taking as serving a public purpose. The feorme obligation ended because the land passed to the city free of the historical charter burden.
Kelo, et al. v. City of New London545 U.S. 469, 503 (2005)
Punitive Award Includes Feorme Value
Finn Fletcher refused to pay a feorme due under a charter and caused severe crop loss to the lord. A jury awarded compensatory damages plus punitive damages many times larger than the feorme amount. The Supreme Court reviewed whether the punitive award was grossly excessive under due process standards.
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell538 U.S. 408, 123 S.Ct. 1513, 155 L.Ed.2d 585 (2003)
Common questions
Frequently Asked
1
What does feorme historically require of a land grantee?+
It requires delivery of a share of the land's produce to the lord as specified in the original charter.
272 U.S. 365, 47 S.Ct. 114, 71 L.Ed 303 (1926)Property
…population is between 5,000 and 10,000, and its area from twelve to fourteen square miles, the greater part of which is farm lands or unimproved acreage. It lies, roughly, in the form of a parallelogram measuring approximately three and one-half miles each way. East and west it is traversed by three principal…
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