Allod
An allod (Old Low Franconian: allōd i.e. "property of all", "joint property", later "property, goods, estate", Medieval Latin: allod or allodium, Old High German for "entire property"), also personal property or allodium,[1] refers, in the law of the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period and especially within the Holy Roman Empire, to property (almost always an estate or an urban plot of land), over which the owner (the hereditary lord) had full ownership and free disposal.
This form of ownership meant that the owner had no obligation to render benefits or obligations to any other person. A allod could be inherited freely according to the usual law of the land. To begin with, the income from allodial estates was not even liable for taxes paid to the territorial princes.
In all of these ways, the allod differed from fiefs, which did not fully belong to their feudatories or vassals. Overall sovereignty remained with the feudal lord, who could require certain services from his vassals under common law. These might vary from vassal to vassal. A vassal had "usable ownership" (German: nutzbares Eigentum) of his fief, whereas a lord had "full ownership" (volles Eigentum) over his allod. This was also reflected in the contemporary synonymous term for an allod, "Erbe und Eigen" (loosely: "inherited and owned"). The property of the citizens within the scope of town rights was usually allodial in nature. Likewise, ecclesiastical establishments (such as abbeys and cathedrals) held their estates as Erbe und Eigen.
See also
Literature
- Otto Brunner: Land und Herrschaft. Grundfragen der territorialen Verfassungsgeschichte Österreichs im Mittelalter. 5th edition, Rohrer, Vienna, 1965 (Unamended reprographic copy of the 5th edition: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1984, ISBN 3-534-09466-2).