Surrender

Surrender, in law, a mode of alienation of real estate. It is defined by Lord Coke to be "the yielding up of an estate for life or years to him that hath an immediate estate in reversion or remainder" (Coke upon Littleton, 337 b). It is the converse of release, which is a conveyance by the reversioner or remainderman to the tenant of the particular estate. A surrender is the usual means of effecting the alienation of copyholds. The surrender is made to the lord, who grants admittance to the purchaser, an entry of the surrender and admittance being made upon the court rolls. Formerly a devise of copyholds could only have been made by surrender to the use of the testator's will followed by admittance of the devisee. The Wills Act of 1837 now allows the devisee of copyholds without surrender, though admittance of the devisee is still necessary. A surrender must, since the Real Property Act 1845, be by deed, except in the case of copyholds and of surrender by operation of law. Surrender of the latter kind generally takes place by merger, that is, the combination of the greater and less estate by descent or other means without the act of the party (see Remainder). In Scots law surrender in the case of a lease is represented by renunciation. The nearest approach to surrender of a copyhold is resignation in remanentiam (to the lord) or resignation in favorem (to a purchaser). These modes of conveyance were practically superseded by the simpler forms introduced by the Conveyancing Act 1874.