A
land grant is a gift of
real estate - land or privileges - made by a
government or other authority as a
reward for
services to an individual, especially as rewards for
military service. Grants of land are also
awarded to individuals and companies as incentives to develop
unused land in relatively unpopulated countries; the process of
awarding land grants are not limited to the countries named
below.
Ancient Rome
Roman soldiers were
given rewards at the end of their service including cash or land
(
praemia).
Augustus fixed the
amount in AD 5 at 3000
denarii and by the
time of
Caracalla it had risen to 5000
denarii.
Australia
Starting
from 1788, the British crown granted land to released convicts in
the colony of New South
Wales
.
Males were allowed , plus if they were married, and additional per
child. Instructions were issued on 20 August, 1789 that
non-commissioned Marine Officers were to be entitled to additional
and privates to additional.
Governor Macquarie canceled land
grants issued during the
Rum Rebellion
1808-09, although some were later renewed.
Land grants started to be phased out when private tendering was
introduced, and stricter limits were placed on grants without
purchase. The instructions to
Governor
Brisbane were issued on 17 July, 1825. Eventually, on 9
January, 1831,
Viscount Goderich
commanded that all land was to be sold at
public auction.
There were
also significant land grants in the Swan
River Colony, and in Van Diemen's Land
from 1803.
Canada
The
Hudson's Bay Company was
incorporated in 1670 with the grant of
Rupert's Land by King
Charles II of England; this vast
territory was greater than one third the area of Canada today.
Following the
Rupert's Land
Act in the British Parliament, Rupert's Land was sold in 1969
to the newly-formed
Canadian
Government for the nominal sum of £300,000.
Land grants were an incentive for the construction of the
Canadian
Pacific Railway
Colonial America
In the
New World, starting in the 16th
century, land grants were given for the purpose of establishing
settlements, missions, and
farms. Countries granting land included Spain,
Portugal, the Netherlands, and Britain.
Under colonial law, a
patentee had to improve the
land. Under this doctrine of
planting and seeding,
the patentee was required to cultivate of land and build a small
house on the property, otherwise the patent would revert to the
government.
Ireland
The
Plantations of Ireland in
the 16th and 17th centuries involved the confiscation of some or
all the land of Irish lords and its grant to settlers ("planters")
from England or Scotland.
The English Parliament's Adventurers Act 1642 and Act for the Settlement of
Ireland 1652 specifically entitled "Adventurers" who funded the
Cromwellian conquest of
Ireland to lands seized from the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the
ensuing Confederacy
.
United States
Starting
with the American
Revolutionary War, United States
veterans often received land grants in lieu of
other remuneration.
Between
1783 and 1821, Spain offered land grants to anyone who settled in
their colony of Florida
. When
that colony was transferred to the United States, the resulting
treaty agreed to honor all valid land grants. As a result, years of
litigation ensued over the validity of many of the Spanish Land
Grants.
Controversy over community land grant claims
in New
Mexico
persist to this day.
During the 19th century, four out of the five
transcontinental railroads in the
United States were built using land grant incentives.
Since the conclusion of the Spanish-American war, there has not
been a legitimate use of Land Grants.
See also
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