In common law, a '''hereditament''' (from Latin ''hereditare'', to inherit, from ''heres'', heir) is any kind of property that can be inherited.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Hereditament |volume=13 |page=350 |inline=1}}</ref> Hereditaments are divided into corporeal and incorporeal.
'''Corporeal hereditaments''' are "such as affect the senses, and may be seen and handled by the body; incorporeal are not the subject of sensation, can neither be seen nor handled, are creatures of the mind, and exist only in contemplation".<ref>Blackstone, ''Commentaries''</ref> An example of a corporeal hereditament is land held in freehold<ref name=EB1911/> and in leasehold.
'''Incorporeal hereditaments''' include hereditary titles of honour or dignity, heritable titles of office, coats of arms, prescriptive baronies, pensions, annuities, rentcharges, franchises, and any other like interest having no physical existence.<ref>[http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/manors/practice-guide-22-manors HM Land Registry Practice Guide 22 Manors] at section 2: Lordship titles</ref> Two categories related to the church have been abolished in England and Wales and certain other parts of the British Isles: tithes and advowsons.
The term featured in the one-time "sweeper definition" (ie, the catch-all phrase) "lands, tenements and hereditaments"<ref name="EB1911" />, although this is deprecated in contemporary legal documents. The terms "land", "buildings" and (where such land is unregistered) "appurtenant rights", invariably coupled with itemised lists of fixtures and decorations and the like, more properly describe property constituting or connected with land — as opposed to goods, chattels and other forms of movable property.<ref name="EB1911" />
==Other meanings== In the UK, the word is used in annual property taxation; its practical definition being the answer to the question, "as a matter of fact and degree, is or will the building, as a building, be ready for occupation, or capable of occupation, for the purposes for which it is intended?" combined with tests surrounding whether it is a dwelling and case law decisions, for example whether: *other structures than homes such as garages form part of the ''hereditament'' *the addition or reduction of small parcels of land constitutes a new "hereditament".<ref name=voa>{{Cite web|url=http://manuals.voa.gov.uk/corporate/publications/Manuals/CouncilTaxManual/council_tax_man_pn/c-ct-man-pn1.html|title=Valuation Office Agency manuals|access-date=2017-09-23|archive-date=2017-09-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923193844/http://manuals.voa.gov.uk/corporate/publications/Manuals/CouncilTaxManual/council_tax_man_pn/c-ct-man-pn1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Subsections 21 (2) and (3) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 - incorporates the taxation definition of '''hereditament''' in an otherwise repealed section of the General Rate Act 1967. </ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
Category:Inheritance Category:Heraldry and law Category:Property law legal terminology Category:Common law legal terminology Category:English property law