PARTITION

8 definitions found across Law Mind sources

See encyclopedia: Concurrent Ownership -- Partition (Voluntary and Judicial) →
PARTITIONAuthored
The Law Mind • 1374 words
Definition
Partition is the division of real or personal property held by two or more co-owners into separate, individually owned portions, so that each former co-owner holds a distinct share in severalty rather than an undivided interest in the whole. The term applies most precisely to the division of real property — land, tenements, and hereditaments — among joint tenants, tenants in common, or coparceners. In a looser sense it extends to the division of personal property among co-proprietors. Partition takes two principal forms: 1. Voluntary partition. A partition effected by mutual agreement among the co-owners, carried out through mutual conveyances, releases, or a formal deed of partition. No court involvement is required. The parties negotiate the division themselves and execute the appropriate instruments. 2. Compulsory (judicial) partition. A partition ordered and supervised by a court, available as of right to any co-owner who cannot secure voluntary agreement. A court may order either partition in kind — physical division of the property into separately owned parcels — or partition by sale, in which the property is sold and the proceeds distributed among the co-owners according to their respective interests. Courts historically preferred partition in kind; modern courts are more willing to order a sale when physical division is impractical or would diminish the property's value. A deed of partition is the conveyancing instrument by which a voluntary partition is formally executed. Where one party receives a share of greater value than another, an owelty payment — a sum of money paid to equalize the division — may accompany the partition deed. ---
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A partition is something that divides or separates — a wall dividing a room, the division of a territory into autonomous parts, or any action that splits a thing into portions. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "The act of parting or dividing; the state of being parted; separation; division; distribution." Webster's also captures the physical sense: "that which divides or separates; an interior wall dividing one part or apartment of a house." The legal meaning is narrower and more specific than the common meaning in one important respect: in law, partition is not simply any division of anything between anyone. It presupposes co-ownership — a prior legal relationship among the parties that created shared, undivided interests. A seller dividing a tract before sale is not partitioning it in the legal sense. The legal term carries procedural weight: any co-owner may compel partition, and the law supplies a remedy when voluntary agreement fails. ---
Common Confusion
Partition is sometimes confused with subdivision or severance in casual usage. Subdivision is a regulatory and planning process by which land is divided for development, requiring governmental approval. Severance converts a joint tenancy into a tenancy in common without dividing the property itself. Partition goes further — it ends co-ownership by giving each former co-owner a separate, individually held parcel or share of sale proceeds. A severance changes how the property is held; a partition ends shared ownership altogether. ---
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES Partition in kind (actual partition): Physical division of the property into distinct parcels, each allocated to a co-owner. The preferred remedy at common law and in many equity courts. Partition by sale: The property is sold — voluntarily or by court order — and proceeds are divided among co-owners in proportion to their interests. Ordered when physical division is impossible, impractical, or would cause disproportionate prejudice. Voluntary partition: Agreed partition by mutual consent, effected by deed or mutual releases without judicial involvement. Compulsory (judicial) partition: Partition ordered by a court of equity (or, in modern practice, a court exercising statutory jurisdiction) at the suit of any co-owner entitled to seek it. Owelty partition: A partition in kind accompanied by a monetary payment (owelty) to compensate for inequality in the divided shares. ---
Why It Matters in Research
The right to compel partition is one of the most practically significant rights incident to co-ownership, and researchers must track several shifts across the corpus. Historical versus modern remedy. At common law, partition was a writ available between coparceners as a matter of right, but joint tenants and tenants in common initially had no writ — they depended on equity. Statutes in England and in most American jurisdictions eventually gave all co-owners a statutory right to compel partition. Sources predating those statutes describe a different procedural landscape. When reading older authorities, confirm which form of co-ownership is at issue and what procedural vehicle was available. Partition in kind versus sale. Older sources treat partition in kind as the default; partition by sale was exceptional and required special justification. Many modern statutes — including the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, enacted in a growing number of states — modify this balance, particularly for heirs property (informally inherited land among family co-owners). Corpus materials from different eras will reflect different default rules. Be alert to which standard a source applies. Personal property. Historical dictionaries acknowledge partition of personal property, but the doctrine developed primarily around real property. Sources focusing on personal property partition are sparser and often analogize loosely from real property rules. Coparceners. Coparcenary — co-ownership arising by inheritance under older common law descent rules — is a form of co-ownership that has largely disappeared in American law but is prominent in English historical sources and some colonial American materials. References to partition among coparceners in historical sources may not map cleanly onto modern tenancy in common analysis. Owelty. The concept of owelty appears in older sources as a mechanism for equalizing partition but is underexplained in modern materials. When researching historical partition deeds or disputes, expect owelty to appear without extended definition. ---
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries are broadly consistent on core doctrine and converge on the essential definition: partition divides lands held by co-owners into severalty. Bouvier offers the fullest treatment, distinguishing voluntary partition (by mutual conveyances or releases) from other forms, and extending the definition to goods and chattels as well as real estate. Anderson's is more concise but notes the etymological root and the requirement of agreement. Rapalje & Lawrence adds the English practice of partition among heirs in gavelkind — a tenure-specific form of co-ownership that has no American analog — as a reminder that English sources must be read with awareness of tenure distinctions absent in American law. Black's (1st Ed.) adds the deed of partition as a recognized conveyancing instrument, classifying it as a species of "primary or original" conveyance — a useful structural note for researchers working with historical title chains. The 2nd Edition excerpt, though fragmentary in the provided source material, reflects the procedural emphasis on necessary parties in partition suits: all co-owners must generally be before the court, because a partition judgment affects all outstanding interests. What the historical dictionaries underemphasize: the equity dimension. The shift from partition as a common law writ (available only to coparceners) to partition as an equitable and statutory remedy available to all co-owners is described incompletely across the shelf sources. Researchers tracing the history of a partition action must look beyond the dictionary shelf to equity treatises and the relevant enabling statutes for a complete procedural picture. ---
Jurisdictional Note
All American jurisdictions recognize both voluntary and judicial partition by statute, but the standards governing when a court will order sale rather than partition in kind vary. States that have adopted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act apply a distinct framework for property inherited without clear title documents, favoring buyout rights and in-kind partition. Researchers should identify the applicable statute and whether the UPHPA has been enacted in the relevant jurisdiction before assuming that modern cases reflect a uniform national standard. ---
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Concurrent Ownership — Partition (Voluntary and Judicial), The Law Mind Property Law Encyclopedia (property_14) ---
Related Terms
Tenancy in common Joint tenancy Coparcenary Severalty Severance (of joint tenancy) Owelty Deed of partition Partition in kind Partition by sale Co-ownership Heirs property Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act
PARTITIONmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
The dividing of lands held by joint tenants, coparceners, or tenants in common, into distinct portions, so that they may hold them in severalty. And, in a less technical sense, any division of real or personal property between co-owners or co- proprietors. PARTITION, DEED OF. In convey- ancing. A species of primary or original N
PARTITIONmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
dispensing complete justice, unless they are before the court in such a manner as to entitle them to be heard in vindication or protection of their interests. See Chandler v. Ward, 188 Ill. 322, 58 N. E. 919; Phoenix Nat. Bank v. Cleveland Co., 58 Hun, 606, 11 N. Y. Supp. 873; Chadbourne v. Coe, 51 Fed. 480, 2 C. C. A. 327; Burrill v. Garst. 19 R. I. 38, 31 Atl. 436; Castle v. Madison, 113 Wis. he 89 N. W. 156; Iowa County Sup’rs v. Minera Point R. Co.,:24 Wis. 132. Nominal parties are those who are joined as plaintiffs or defendants, not because they have any real interest in the subject-matter or because any relief is demanded as against them, but merely because the technical rules of pleading require their presence on the record. It should be noted that some courts make a further distinction between “necessary” parties and “indispensable”’ parties. Thus, it is said that the supreme court of the United States divides parties in equity suits into three different classes: (1) Formal parties, who have no interest in the controversy between the immediate litigants, but have such an interest in the subject-matter as may be conveniently settled in the suit, and thereby prevent further litigation; (2) necessary parties, who have an interest in the controversy but whose interests are separable from those o the parties before the court, and will not be directly affected by a decree which does complete and full justice between them; (3) indispensable parties, who not only have an interest in the subject-matter of the controversy, but an interest of such a nature that a final decree cannot be made without either affecting their interests or leaving the controversy in such a condition that its final determination may be wholly inconsistent with equity and pox conscience. Hicklin v. Marco. 56 Fed. How. 139, 15 L. Ed. 158; Ribon v. Railroad . Ed. 367; Williams Bankhead, 19 Wall. 571. 22 L. Ed. 184; Kendig v. Dean, 97 U. S. 425, 24 L. Ed. 1061. —Parties and privies. Parties to a deed or contract are those with whom the deed or contract is actually made or entered into. By the term “privies,” as applied to contracts, is frequently meant those between whom the contract is mutually binding, although not literally parties to such contract. Thus, in the case of a lease, the lessor and lessee are both parties and privies, the contract being literally made between the two, and also being mutually binding; but, if the lessee assign his interest to a third party, then a privity arises between the assignee and the original lessor, although such assignee is not literally a party to the original lease. Brown. ; Parpart, 106 U. 8. 679, 1 Sup. Ct. 456, 27 L. Ed. 256. ~—Gwelty of partition. See OWELTY. Partition, deed of. In conveyancing. A species of primary or original conveyance between two or more joint tenants, coparceners, or tenants in common, by which they divide the lands su held among them in severalty, each taking a distinct - part. 2 Bl. Comm. 323, 324.—Partition of a succession. ‘The partition of a succession is the division of the effects of which the succession is composed, among all the co-heirs, according to their respective rights. Partition is voluntary or judicial. It is voluntary when it is made among all the co-heirs present and of age, and by their mutual consent. It is judicia] when it is made by the authority of the court, and according to the formalities prescribed by law. Every partition is either definitive or provisional. Definitive partition is that which is made in a permanent and irrevocable manner. Provisional! partition is that which is made provisionally, either of certain things before the rest can be divided, or even of everything that is to be divided, when the parties are not in a situation to make an irrevocable partition. Civ. Code La. art. 1293, et seq.
PARTITIONmain
Rapalje & Lawrence • 1888
-See OWELTY. EQUALLY, (in a will). 3 Bro. Ch. 367; Cowp. 657, 660; 1 Cro. 443; 1 Dyer 25a; 9 East 276; 3 Ves. 258, 260. (synonymous with "alike"). 16 Mich. 211, 215. EQUALLY AMONG, (in a will). 3 Ves. 629, 631. EQUALLY AMONGST THEM, (in a will). 8 Petersd. Abr. 330 n. EQUALLY AND THEIR HEIRS, (in a will). 1 Cro. 695.
PARTITIONn.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
The act of parting or dividing; the state of being parted; separation; division; distribution; as, the partition of a kingdom. And good from bad find no partition. Shak. That which divides or separates; that by which different things, or distinct parts of the same thing, are separated; separating boundary; dividing line or space; specifically, an interior wall dividing one part or apartment of a house, an inclosure, or the like, from another; as, a brick partition; lath and plaster partitions. No sight could pass Betwixt the nice partitions of the grass. Dryden. A part divided off by walls; an apartment; a compartment. [R.] "Lodged in a small partition." Milton. The servance of common or undivided interests, particularly in real estate. It may be effected by consent of parties, or by compulsion of law. A score. Partition of numbers (Math.), the resolution of integers into parts subject to given conditions. Brande & C.
PARTITIONv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To divide into parts or shares; to divide and distribute; as, to partition an estate among various heirs. To divide into distinct parts by lines, walls, etc.; as, to partition a house. Uniform without, though severally partitioned within. Bacon.
partitionnoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
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An action which divides a thing into parts, or separates one thing from another. | A part of something that has been divided. | An approach to division in which one asks what the size of each part is, rather than (as in quotition) how many parts there are. | The division of a territory into two or more autonomous ones. | A vertical structure that divides a room. | That which divides or separates; that by which different things, or distinct parts of the same thing, are separated; boundary; dividing line or space. | A part divided off by walls; an apartment; a compartment. | The severance of common or undivided interests, particularly in real estate. It may be effected by consent of parties, or by compulsion of law. | A section of a hard disk separately formatted. | A division of a database or one of its constituting elements such as tables into separate independent parts. | A division of a data stream, such as a messaging queue or topic (often representing a unit of parallelism, and of fault tolerance). | A collection of non-empty, disjoint subsets of a set whose union is the set itself (i.e. all elements of the set are contained in exactly one of the subsets). | A musical score.
partitionverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributorsCC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
To divide something into parts, sections or shares. | To divide a region or country into two or more territories with separate political status. | To separate or divide a room by a partition (ex. a wall), often use with off.

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