Definition
In civil law, relocatio is the renewal or continuation of a lease upon its expiration. When the original term ends, the tenancy does not automatically terminate if both parties behave as though the lease continues — the landlord by accepting rent or tolerating the tenant's continued possession, the tenant by remaining in possession. This conduct gives rise to a new tenancy on the same or similar terms as the original.
Relocatio takes two forms:
1. Express relocatio: The parties explicitly agree to renew the lease, either by executing a new instrument or by clear oral or written agreement.
2. Tacit relocatio: The lease is renewed by implication from the parties' conduct. When the tenant holds over after the term expires and the landlord knows of this and raises no objection, the law infers consent to a new tenancy. This is the more legally significant form because it operates without any affirmative act by either party.
Common Confusion
Relocatio is not the same as an option to renew or a lease extension clause. Those mechanisms operate prospectively, within the original lease agreement, and require exercise according to specified terms. Relocatio, by contrast, arises after the term has already ended, from conduct rather than contract. Similarly, relocatio should not be confused with a tenancy at sufferance, which describes a holdover tenant whose continued possession is merely tolerated without consent. Tacit relocatio implies the landlord's constructive consent and creates a new tenancy with legal standing; tenancy at sufferance does not.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Express relocatio — renewal by affirmative agreement of the parties.
Tacit relocatio — renewal by implication from holdover possession and landlord acquiescence. This is the dominant form in civil law and Scots law sources and is the primary subject of historical treatment.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will encounter relocatio almost exclusively in civil law contexts, Roman law scholarship, and Scots law materials. It does not appear as a live term of art in English common law, though the underlying concept — the implied renewal of a tenancy by holdover — is recognized in common law jurisdictions under different terminology (holdover tenancy, tenancy from year to year).
The critical navigational point: when searching historical materials on lease renewal and holdover, relocatio will not surface in English equity or common law sources. It will appear in Roman law digests, Scottish institutional writers, and civilian treatises. Burrill's reference to Bell's Dictionary and Scots law is a productive lead — tacit relocation remains a recognized doctrine in Scots property law, where it has had continuous development and case law. Researchers working on the Scots law side will find substantially more live doctrine than in sources derived from Roman law alone.
In historical English-language legal dictionaries, relocatio is treated as a borrowed civil law term with limited domestic application. The entries are consistent and brief, treating it as principally a terminological entry rather than a doctrinal one. For research into 19th-century landlord-tenant law, the concept's common law analog — the holdover tenant creating a new periodic tenancy — is the more productive search path in English and American sources.
Historical Dictionary Support
The three source dictionaries are in close agreement. Black's (both editions) defines relocatio as the renewal of a lease on its determination, distinguishing express from tacit forms, and both cite Mackeldey's Roman Law for authority. Burrill's entry is slightly richer: it provides the Latin derivation (re + locatio), cites Heineccius's Elementa Juris Civilis, and explicitly connects tacit relocatio to the Scots law doctrine of tacit relocation, citing Bell's Dictionary. This cross-reference to Scots law is the most useful addition in the Burrill entry and points researchers toward a living legal system where the doctrine has practical force.
None of the historical dictionaries address how relocatio interacts with changed conditions — whether tacit renewal imports the same rent, the same term, or merely the same general conditions. That question is better addressed in the Roman law scholarship and Scots institutional writers (Stair, Erskine, Bell) than in the dictionary literature.
Jurisdictional Note
Relocatio as a term is primarily relevant to civil law systems and Scots law. In Scots law, tacit relocation is a well-developed doctrine with ongoing judicial application. In common law jurisdictions (England, most U.S. states), the equivalent holdover tenancy doctrine achieves similar results but operates under different terminology and rules. Researchers should not assume that relocatio maps precisely onto the holdover rules of any particular common law jurisdiction.