Definition
Ferance is an archaic or abbreviated legal form appearing in compound property-law terms, most prominently in the phrase "tenancy by sufferance" and related constructions. In its standalone appearance in historical sources, it functions not as an independent term but as a truncated or variant rendering drawn from the root "sufferance" — referring to the passive, implied permission that characterizes certain possessory relationships in land law.
In practice, the term is inseparable from its compound context. A tenant at sufferance (also rendered historically in variant phrasings drawing on "ferance" as a suffix or contracted form) is one who originally entered upon land lawfully but continues in possession after the termination of the lawful interest, without the landlord's renewed consent and without being a trespasser at law. Possession is tolerated rather than authorized; no new tenancy is created by mere inaction on the landlord's part.
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Common Confusion
Ferance as a standalone dictionary entry can mislead researchers into treating it as a term of art with independent legal content. It is not. Its significance in the historical record is derivative — it appears in Rapalje & Lawrence in direct connection with "sufferance" constructions, and researchers encountering "ferance" in an index, marginal notation, or abbreviated historical source should immediately redirect to SUFFERANCE and TENANCY AT SUFFERANCE for the operative doctrine.
Do not confuse tenancy at sufferance with tenancy at will. A tenancy at will is created by mutual consent and may be terminated by either party; a tenancy at sufferance arises without the landlord's ongoing consent and confers the narrowest possessory protection the common law recognizes. The distinction matters for ejectment, holdover proceedings, and the calculation of mesne profits.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers using Law Mind's historical corpus will encounter "ferance" most often in one of three situations: as a suffix in "sufferance" broken across a line or abbreviated in a manuscript source; as a headword or sub-entry in older dictionaries pointing toward the sufferance family of doctrines; or as a variant spelling in reports from New York courts, where the doctrine received significant early American elaboration (see the Rapalje & Lawrence references to 4 Johns. (N.Y.) 150 and 23 Wend. (N.Y.) 616).
The New York reports are particularly important for tracing how tenancy at sufferance was received and adapted in American jurisdictions. English common law treated the tenant at sufferance harshly — no estate, no notice requirement, no implied tenancy from the mere acceptance of rent in some formulations. New York courts in the early nineteenth century worked out the American contours of these rules, and those decisions became influential authority across multiple states.
When searching historical indexes and digests, be alert to inconsistent headword placement. Some compilers index under "tenancy," others under "sufferance," and variant forms including truncations like "ferance" appear in marginalia and running heads. A search confined to any single spelling or headword may miss material.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Rapalje & Lawrence treat "ferance" entirely within the sufferance cluster, citing two New York authorities: 4 Johns. (N.Y.) 150 for the substantive definition of tenancy by sufferance, and Wheeler's American Common Law (Wheel. Am. C. L. 389) together with 23 Wend. (N.Y.) 616 for the definition of tenant at sufferance. This organizational choice confirms that the compilers understood "ferance" as a cross-reference vehicle rather than a term carrying independent doctrinal weight.
What Rapalje & Lawrence do not address — and what researchers should not assume from their silence — is any distinct procedural or remedial content specific to "ferance" as a form. The dictionary's value here is directional: it routes the reader to the sufferance doctrine and its New York authorities, not to a separate body of law.
Older English authorities such as Blackstone and Coke address tenancy at sufferance at length under "sufferance" proper. The absence of "ferance" as a freestanding entry in English law dictionaries of comparable vintage (Bouvier, Black's early editions) reinforces the conclusion that this is a variant or abbreviated form rather than a term with transatlantic doctrinal currency.
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Jurisdictional Note
The sufferance doctrine underlying this term developed primarily through English common law and was received unevenly across American states. New York's early elaboration was influential, but statutory holdover and landlord-tenant frameworks in most U.S. jurisdictions have substantially displaced the common-law distinctions. Researchers working in any specific jurisdiction should verify whether local statute has redefined or replaced the common-law category of tenant at sufferance.
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