Definition
Reversionary is an adjective describing any interest, right, estate, or benefit that takes effect upon or is measured by a reversion — the return of property to a grantor or the grantor's heirs after a particular estate carved out of that property has ended. Something is reversionary when its enjoyment is deferred pending the termination of a prior possessory interest held by another.
In property law, a reversionary interest is the portion of an estate that remains in a grantor after the conveyance of a lesser estate — a life estate, a term of years, or a fee tail — and that will return to the grantor (or the grantor's successors) automatically when that lesser estate expires. The grantor need not do anything to reclaim it; the reversion arises by operation of law.
The term appears most frequently in these contexts:
1. Reversionary interest: The residual ownership stake retained by a transferor who has conveyed less than a fee simple absolute. The holder of a reversionary interest does not currently possess the property but has a vested right to future possession.
2. Reversionary lease: A lease arranged to commence in the future, either after the expiration of an existing lease or at some fixed future date. The lease is "reversionary" in the sense that possession will not pass to the lessee until a prior occupancy ends.
3. Reversionary right: The legal entitlement, held by a landlord or original grantor, to reclaim possession or title when the intervening estate terminates.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Pertaining to reversion, especially that of an estate.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Of or pertaining to a reversion; involving a reversion; to be enjoyed in succession, or after the termination of a particular estate; as, a reversionary interest or right.
Both common definitions track the legal meaning closely, which reflects how thoroughly the term belongs to the vocabulary of property law. The important gap for researchers: in ordinary speech, "reversionary" sometimes drifts toward a vague sense of something that reverts or bounces back. In legal sources it carries a precise temporal and possessory meaning — the interest is vested now but possessory only later, and it arises specifically from the structure of estate law, not merely from any contractual right of return.
Common Confusion
Reversionary interest vs. remainder: Both are future interests that become possessory after a prior estate ends, and both appear in historical sources in ways that can blur together. The distinction is structural: a reversion arises in the grantor (or the grantor's heirs) by operation of law whenever the grantor conveys less than the full estate. A remainder arises in a third party by express grant. Researchers encountering "reversionary" in older deeds or equity pleadings should confirm whether the drafting party is the grantor or a designated third-party beneficiary before treating the interest as a reversion rather than a vested or contingent remainder.
Reversionary vs. possibility of reverter: A possibility of reverter is the future interest retained when a grantor conveys a fee simple determinable. It shares the quality of returning property to the grantor, but it is not a reversion in the technical sense and was treated differently at common law and in equity. Older dictionaries sometimes use "reversionary" loosely to describe possibilities of reverter; modern sources keep them distinct.
Why It Matters in Research
Reversionary appears throughout property, landlord-tenant, trust, and pension law, meaning the corpus researcher must read context carefully to determine which doctrinal strand applies.
In property and landlord-tenant sources, the word signals the estate-law framework: look for the underlying conveyance structure, whether a life estate or term of years is involved, and what the governing jurisdiction said about the landlord's rights during the tenancy. The reversionary interest of the landlord is the doctrinal foundation for the landlord's right to sue for waste, to receive rent service, and to recover possession at term's end — connections Rapalje & Lawrence make explicit through the feudal tenure relationship.
In pension and employment law (a context absent from the historical dictionaries), "reversionary" describes plan assets or contributions that may revert to an employer upon plan termination or surplus. This usage is entirely modern; do not expect Black's or Rapalje to illuminate it.
Reversionary lease is a historically important concept for researchers working in commercial property or landlord-tenant cases: courts and treatises from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries generated substantial litigation over whether a reversionary lease took priority over intervening tenancies, whether it required notice, and how it interacted with recording acts. Wharton's definition (cited in Black's 2nd) — a second lease to commence after the expiration of a former lease — is the standard formulation, but jurisdictions differed on the enforceability of reversionary leases granted during an existing tenancy.
The feudal context flagged in Rapalje & Lawrence matters for reading older English and early American authorities: the tenure relationship between reversioner and tenant generated obligations (fealty, rent service) that have no modern analog but appear regularly in pre-twentieth-century case law and commentary. Researchers should not assume these obligations survive in any American jurisdiction.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's 1st edition offers only a fragment — "to be enjoyed in reversion" — but it confirms the core meaning: reversionary describes enjoyment that is deferred, contingent on the end of a prior possessory interest.
Black's 2nd edition is more instructive, defining the reversionary interest as "that which is to be enjoyed in futuro" and specifically noting the reversionary lease as one "to take effect in futuro" or "to commence after the expiration of a former lease." The citation to Holthouse situates the concept squarely in possessory and occupancy terms, which reflects the English common-law tradition the American courts inherited.
Rapalje & Lawrence provide the clearest structural account: the reversion is what remains in the grantor; the reversioner is the owner of that reversion; and the tenure relationship — with its incidents of fealty and rent service — runs between reversioner and particular tenant. This feudal underpinning is largely invisible in modern property law but essential for understanding pre-twentieth-century English and early American authorities.
None of the historical sources address the modern pension-law or trust-administration uses of "reversionary." Researchers working in those areas should rely on post-1950 treatises and regulatory materials rather than the shelf dictionaries.
Jurisdictional Note
The basic meaning of reversionary interest is uniform across common-law jurisdictions. Reversionary leases, however, were subject to English statutory restriction (the Law of Property Act 1925 limited their advance grant in certain circumstances), and American states have varied in their treatment of reversionary leases granted during an existing tenancy. Researchers working across jurisdictions should verify local recording and notice requirements before relying on general-treatise statements about reversionary lease priority.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Future Interests; Landlord and Tenant; Estates in Land.