RESERVATION - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

RESERVATIONAuthored

The Law Mind • 1568 words

Definition

RESERVATION has distinct legal meanings depending on context. The three principal uses are:

Conveyancing. A clause in a deed or other instrument of conveyance by which a grantor carves out and retains a new right or interest in the property being transferred — one that did not previously exist as an independent legal interest. Classic examples include a reserved easement (the grantor retains the right to cross the land conveyed) or a reserved rent (the grantor retains a right to periodic payment from the grantee). A reservation differs from an exception: an exception withdraws something already existing from the grant, while a reservation creates a new interest in the grantor's favor out of what is being conveyed.

Public land and Indian law. A tract of public land set aside by the federal government for a specific purpose — most commonly for the use of a Native American tribe (an Indian reservation) or for a public use such as schools, military installations, or conservation. In this sense, a reservation is an act of governmental withdrawal: the land is held back from general disposition or sale.

General contract and transactional use. A qualification, condition, or limitation attached to an agreement, offer, or acceptance — something withheld or kept back from a full and unconditional commitment. An auction held "with reserve" means the seller retains the right to withdraw the item if bidding does not reach an acceptable price.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The act of reserving, withholding, or keeping back; a limitation or qualification attached to a statement or agreement; a tract of land set aside for a specific group or purpose; a booking or advance arrangement (as for a restaurant or hotel).

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The act of reserving or keeping back; something withheld from disclosure or surrender; a tract of public land reserved for some special use, including Indian use.

The everyday sense of "reservation" — making a booking or expressing a personal hesitation ("I have reservations about this deal") — is broadly consistent with the legal sense but does not capture the technical precision required. In property law, a reservation is not merely a general withholding: it is the creation of a new legal interest where none previously existed, operating through specific deed language with defined consequences for title. Conflating the casual sense of "keeping something back" with the technical conveyancing sense leads researchers astray when analyzing deed language in historical records.

Common Confusion

Reservation vs. Exception. These two concepts are routinely conflated, including in older cases and secondary sources, yet they operate differently. An exception removes from a grant something already in existence — the grantor never parts with it at all. A reservation creates a new right or interest in the grantor out of the thing conveyed — the grantor passes full title but simultaneously creates and retains a new interest (such as an easement or rent). Historical deeds often used the terms interchangeably, which can complicate title analysis. Some modern courts have softened the distinction and will honor the grantor's clear intent regardless of which word was used, but the technical difference remains important in jurisdictions that maintain it strictly.

Reservation vs. Mental Reservation. A mental reservation — a private, unexpressed qualification on a statement or promise — has no legal operative effect in contract law. Only an expressed reservation, incorporated into the instrument itself, carries legal weight.

Core Elements

For a reservation in a deed to be legally operative, the following elements are generally required:

Instrument in writing. The reservation must appear in the deed or conveyance itself; it cannot be created informally or by implication in most jurisdictions.

A grantor-grantee relationship. The reservation runs in favor of the grantor (or, in some jurisdictions, a third party, though this remains contested).

A new interest, not a pre-existing one. The interest reserved must be one that comes into existence through the instrument — not something the grantor already held separately.

Specificity. The nature, scope, and extent of the reserved right must be sufficiently clear to be enforceable. The same precision required for a grant applies to a reservation.

Privity of estate. The reserved interest typically burdens the land conveyed and runs with it, binding future owners who take with notice.

Recognized Forms

/SUBTYPES

Reservation of easement: Grantor conveys land but retains a right of way or other easement over the conveyed parcel.
Reservation of rent (fee farm rent): Grantor conveys a fee interest but reserves a periodic rent payable by the grantee, creating a landlord-like interest without a lease.
Mineral reservation: Grantor conveys surface rights while reserving subsurface mineral rights.
Indian reservation: Federal government sets aside public land for tribal use and governance.
Reservation in auction: Seller withholds the right to reject bids below a minimum price (sale "with reserve").

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers face several traps with this term across the Law Mind corpus:

Historical deed language is unreliable. Before the mid-nineteenth century, "reservation" and "exception" were used interchangeably in American conveyancing practice, even by trained lawyers. A deed that says "reserving the minerals" may have intended an exception (minerals never conveyed) rather than a true reservation (minerals conveyed and then re-created as a separate interest in the grantor). Researching title disputes or easement claims requires scrutiny of the underlying deed language and the applicable jurisdiction's interpretive rules.

Indian reservation law is a distinct field. The federal law governing Indian reservations — treaty rights, tribal sovereignty, reservation boundaries, allotment history — is a specialized body of law with its own terminology and historical vocabulary. The term "reservation" in this context signals a separate research pathway entirely, one that intersects with federal Indian law, treaty interpretation, and constitutional structure rather than property conveyancing doctrine.

Auction law usage requires separate analysis. When researching contract formation in auction contexts, "with reserve" and "without reserve" are terms of art that determine when a binding contract arises between bidder and seller. Confusing this usage with property reservation concepts will send research in the wrong direction.

The Tenth Amendment usage is distinct from all of the above. "Reserved powers" in constitutional law refers to powers not delegated to the federal government and thus retained by the states or the people. This sense of reservation is purely constitutional and carries no conveyancing implication.

Corpus connections: Property reservation doctrine connects directly to easement creation rules and deed construction principles. Indian reservation research connects to treaty law, federal preemption, and tribal jurisdiction. Auction reservations connect to offer-and-acceptance analysis and the law of sales.

Historical Dictionary Support

The historical sources converge on the conveyancing sense as the primary legal meaning. Burrill is the most precise, defining reservation as a clause by which the grantor "reserves some new thing to himself, out of the thing granted" — squarely emphasizing the creation of a new interest rather than the retention of a pre-existing one. Black's (1st Ed.) makes the same point, specifying that the reserved interest "had no previous existence as such, but is first called into being by the instrument reserving it." Bouvier adds a useful practical note: the meaning of a reservation in any instrument must be determined by the particular facts, including the character of the conveyance and the nature of the property — a reminder that no formula resolves all cases. Anderson notes the application to government land-setting-aside, flagging that governmental reservations do not require the same precision of expression as private deed conveyances.

What the historical sources largely omit is the auction-law usage and the constitutional usage. These are primarily twentieth-century developments in the legal vocabulary, or at least developments not treated under this heading in the classical dictionaries. Researchers relying exclusively on nineteenth-century dictionary sources will find an incomplete picture.

Jurisdictional Note

The distinction between reservation and exception in deed construction is treated inconsistently across American jurisdictions. Some states maintain the technical difference strictly; others apply a liberal intent-based approach and treat the two terms as functionally equivalent. Indian reservation boundaries and the legal consequences of reservation status are matters of federal law, but state courts sometimes assert jurisdiction over related questions in ways that produce conflicting results.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

Easements — Creation by Express Grant or Reservation (The Law Mind Property Law Encyclopedia)
The Tenth Amendment — Reserved Powers and State Sovereignty (The Law Mind Constitutional Law Encyclopedia)
Contracts — Auctions (With and Without Reserve) (The Law Mind Contracts & Commercial Law Encyclopedia)

RESERVATIONmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

A clause in a deed or other instrument of conveyance by which the grantor creates, and reserves to himself, some right, interest, or profit in the estate granted, which had no previous existence as such, but is first called into being by the in- strument reserving it; such as rent, or an easement. A reservation is something taken from the whole The written statement by an appellate thing covered by the general terms making the court of its decision in a case, with the rea- sons therefor, sent down to the trial court.

RESERVATIONmain

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910

in individual cases, chiefly given in response to inquiries by parties in relation to litigated suits, or to inquiries by the judges, and which became rules for future litigated or doubtful legal questions. Mackeld. Rom. Law, 3 46. At common law. A counterpart, duplicate, or Copy. In American law. A written order from the court to the clerk, giving directions concerning the further disposition of a case. Pub. St. Mass. p. 1295. The written statement by an appellate court of its decision in a case, with the reasons therefor, sent down to the trial court. A clause in a deed or other instrument of conveyance by which the ~ RESERVATION grantor creates, and reserves to himself, some right, interest, or profit in the estate granted, which had no previous existence as such, but is first called into being by the instru-. ment reserving it; such as rent, or an ease-. ment. Stephens v. Reynolds, 6 N. Y. 458; In re Narragansett Indians, 20 R. I. 715, 40 Atl. 347; Miller v. Lapham, 44 Vt. 435; Engel v. Ayer, 85 Me. 448, 27 Atl. 352; Smith v. Cornell University, 21 Misc. Rep. 220, 45 N. Y. Supp. 640; Wilson v. Higbee (C. C.) 62 Fed. 726; Hurd v. Curtis, 7 Metc. (Mass.) 110. A “reservation” should be carefully distinguished from an “exception,” the difference bee tween the two being this: Ky an exception, the grantor withdraws from the effect of the grant some part of the thing itself which is tn esse, and included under the terms of the grant, as one acre from a certain field, a shop or mill standing within the limits of the granted premises, and the like; whereas, a reservation; though made to the grantor, lessor, or the one creating the estate, is something arising out of the thing granted not then én esse, or some new thing created or reserved, issuing or coming out of the thing granted, and not a part of the thing itself, nor of. reer issuing out of another thing. 3 Washb. Real Prop. 45. In public land laws of the United States, a reservation is a tract of land, more or less considerable in extent, which is by public authority withdrawn from sale or settlement, and appropriated to specific public uses; such as parks, military posts, Indian lands, etc. Jackson v. Wiicox, 2 Ill 344; Meehan v. Jones (C. C.) 70 Fed. 405; Cuhn v. Barnes (C. C.) 5 Fed. 331. 7 In practice, the reservation of a point of, law is the act of the trial court in setting it aside for future consideration, allowing the trial to proceed meanwhile asif the question had been seitled one way, but subject to alteration of the judgment in case the court in banc should decide it differently. ,

RESERVATIONmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

by the government is but an expression of a desire to use them for that purpose. The same precision in the use of terms is not required as in the case of a conveyance.¹ 4. The creation of a right or interest, which had no prior existence as such, in a thing or part of a thing granted.2 By a reservation in a deed a new right is created in the thing granted which did not previously exist, and is reserved to the grantor.3 An "exception" is always part of the thing granted, and of the whole of the thing excepted. A reservation may be of a right or interest in the particular part which it affects. The terms are often used in the same sense. Though apt words of reservation be used, they will be continued as an exception, if such was the design of the parties. 2, 3 See EXCEPTION, 1. 5. Many other rights are said to be reserved or not reserved. Thus, the maker of a power of attorney may reserve the right to revoke the power; and a respondent in equity may reserve, in his answer, the advantage to be had from a defect in the structure of the bill. As to reserved rights under the Constitution, see that title, pp. 237-39. 6. In practice, when, during the course of a trial, the judge decides, for the time being, a point raised, but subject to revision by the court at the hearing of a motion for a new trial, he is said to reserve a question of law." The procedure enables the jury to render a verdict on the facts subject to the decision upon the question reserved. The question must be one of pure law. The facts, which are to be agreed upon or else found by the jury, must be stated in the record. The question, moreover, must be such as rules the case: the object of reserving it being to save the necessity for a second trial. An adverse verdict on the facts will, of course, preclude the point from arising. The reservation of subordinate questions tends to complicate the case, A 3. Public land withheld from sale, as, for military posts, for parks, for the use of Indian tribes, or other purposes, is called the public reservation" or simply the "reservation." In former years, "reserve" seems to have been in vogue, as, in "Western Repoint cannot properly be reserved unless, if it be held serve." In this sense reservation does not imply an absolute disposition of the land or lands, in all cases, but a withholding for some other disposition, as, sale, or the use of schools." See PRE-EMPTION, 2; LAND, Public. The reservation of lands for any specific purpose 13 Bl. Com. 12, 170; 42 N. H. 469; 5 Pick. 714; 113 U. S. 111-14, infra. 24 Bl. Com. 131. See 2 Bish. Cr. Law, § 1065; 1 Hale, P. C. 606; Find ley v. McAllister, 113 U. S. 111-14 (1885), cases; 1 Story, 88; 2 Gall. 313. F. reserver: L. re-servare, to keep back. • [McConnell v. Wilcox, 2 III. 359 (1837), Smith, J. one way, the court would be bound to instruct the jury for which of the parties to find. 7. The sum of money which every national bank in the sixteen largest cities must have on hand-an amount equal to at least 1 United States v. Payne, McCrary, 301 (1881); 13 Pet. 266; 92 U. S. 733. 2 Kister v. Reeser, 98 Pa. 5 (1881), Trunkey, J. 3 Perkins v. Stockwell, 131 Mass. 530 (1881), cases, Devens, J.; Kimball v. Withington, 141 id. 379 (1886). See also 2 McLean, 302; 8 Saw. 99; 16 Conn. *482; 38 id. 542; 18 Iowa, 358; 42 Me. 9; 59 id. 310; 107 Mass. 322-23; 126 id. 196: 129 id. 231; 11 N. Y. 321; 41 id. 483; 29 Ohio St. 568; 47 Pa. 197; 44 Vt. 416; 22 Wis. 547. 4 Wilde v. Trainor, 59 Pa. 442 (1868), Sharswood, J.

RESERVATIONn.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

The act of reserving, or keeping back; concealment, or withholding from disclosure; reserve. A. Smith. With reservation of an hundred knights. Shak. Make some reservation of your wrongs. Shak. Something withheld, either not expressed or disclosed, or not given up or brought forward. Dryden. A tract of the public land reserved for some special use, as for schools, for the use of Indians, etc. [U.S.] The state of being reserved, or kept in store. Shak. A clause in an instrument by which some new thing is reserved out of the thing granted, and not in esse before. A proviso. Kent. The portion of the sacramental elements reserved for purposes of devotion and for the communion of the absent and sick. A term of canon law, which signifies that the pope reserves to himself appointment to certain benefices. Mental reservation, the withholding, or failing to disclose, something that affects a statement, promise, etc., and which, if disclosed, would materially change its import.

reservationnoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Wiktionary contributors • CC 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.

The act of reserving, withholding or keeping back. | The act of reserving, withholding or keeping back. | The practice of reserving part of the consecrated bread of the Eucharist for the communion of the sick. | The act of reserving, withholding or keeping back. | The act of the pope to reserve to himself the right to nominate to certain benefices. | Something that is withheld or kept back. | A limiting qualification regarding certainty or risk; a doubt or concern. | A tract of land set apart by the US government for the use of a Native American people, such as the Hopi Reservation or the Navajo Nation's territory. | An arrangement by which accommodation or transport arrangements are secured in advance. | The area which separates opposing lanes of traffic on a divided motorway or dual carriageway. | The setting aside of a certain percentage of vacancies in government institutions for members of backward and underrepresented communities (defined primarily by caste and tribe). | A power of an overseeing authority to suspend legislation in the jurisdiction being overseen pending the approval of a higher authority. Such as a provincial/state governor reserving a bill passed by the state/provincial legislature from assent, pending approval of the federal government; or a federal bill passed by federal parliament being reserved by the viceroy pending approval by the crown.

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

Subscribe Encyclopedia Sign In