QUIA EMPTORES

Quia Emptores (kwI-<<schwa>> orkwee-<<schwa>> emp-tor-eez). [Latin “since

purchasers”] Hist. A statute giving fee-simple tenants (other than those holding directly of the

Crown) the power to alienate their land and bind the transferee to perform the same services for

the lord as the transferor had been obliged to perform. • The statute, enacted in 1290, tended to

concentrate feudal lordships in the Crown by eliminating multiple layers of fealty. 18 Edw., ch. 1.

— Also termed Quia Emptores Terrarum.

“Edward I and his lords wished, for political reasons, to prevent the growth of subinfeudation,

and in 1290 the Statute Quia Emptores was enacted. It took its name from the beginning of its

preamble — ‘Since purchasers ….’ ” L.B. Curzon, English Legal History 300 (2d ed. 1979). [Blacks Law 8^th]