Definition
A reversioner is a person who holds a reversion — that is, the residual interest in real property that remains in a grantor (or the grantor's heirs) after a lesser estate has been carved out and granted to another. When the granted estate expires by its natural terms, the property returns to the reversioner by operation of law without any further conveyance.
By extension, the term is sometimes used more broadly to describe any person entitled to a future estate or property interest in expectancy, whether or not it technically arises by way of reversion in the strict sense.
The core scenario: A grants Blackacre to B for life. A is the reversioner. When B dies, Blackacre reverts to A (or A's heirs). A's interest exists and is legally cognizable throughout B's life tenancy, not merely upon B's death.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A person who possesses the reversion to an estate or office.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): One who has a reversion, or who is entitled to lands or tenements, after a particular estate granted is terminated.
The common definitions track the legal meaning closely, which is unusual. The gap that matters for researchers is subtle: ordinary usage implies the reversioner simply waits for the property to come back. Legally, the reversion is a present, vested, alienable interest — the reversioner can convey, devise, or encumber it while the prior estate is still in possession. The waiting is economic, not legal.
Common Confusion
Reversioner vs. Remainderman: These are the two major categories of future interest holders, and they are frequently conflated. A remainderman takes under a remainder — an interest created in a third party by the same instrument that created the possessory estate. A reversioner takes under a reversion — the interest that stays in the grantor when a lesser estate is granted out and no remainder is created to absorb what is left over. The distinction determines who holds the future interest, what rules govern its alienability and descendibility, and — historically — which common law doctrines applied. In older sources, "reversioner" is sometimes used loosely to cover both, which is a trap for researchers working with pre-20th-century materials.
Reversioner vs. Remainderman under the Rule Against Perpetuities: Reversions are vested interests retained by the grantor and were historically exempt from the Rule Against Perpetuities. Remainders, particularly contingent remainders, were subject to it. Misidentifying a future interest holder as a reversioner rather than a remainderman could therefore determine whether the interest was void at common law.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter "reversioner" most often in three contexts: landlord-tenant law, life estate planning, and future interests doctrine.
In landlord-tenant materials, the landlord is frequently described as the reversioner — the party who retains the freehold after granting a term of years. This usage is technically accurate but can obscure the distinction between reversion and the landlord's ongoing legal relationship with the tenant. Older English cases and treatises use the term heavily in this context, and American courts followed.
The extended meaning flagged in Black's — "one who is entitled to any future estate or any property in expectancy" — was never universally adopted. Researchers relying on that broader usage in one source should not assume it carries into another. Bouvier and Black's second edition track the strict meaning; the broader formulation appears mainly in Black's first edition and is not consistently applied in case law.
Source corruption is a real problem in this entry's historical record. The Rapalje & Lawrence entry reproduced here does not contain a definition of "reversioner" at all — it appears to contain text from a different entry (taxation of costs). Similarly, the Burrill entry reproduced here begins mid-sentence and transitions into a definition of "Bill of Revivor." Researchers consulting these historical dictionaries should verify that they are reading the correct entry, as binding and scanning errors in historical dictionary reproductions are common.
For property law corpus research, reversioner connects forward to materials on waste (a reversioner has standing to sue a life tenant for waste), on merger of estates, and on the effect of a tenant's disclaimer or forfeiture on the reversioner's rights.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (both editions) and Bouvier's agree on the core definition: a person entitled to an estate in reversion, with Black's noting the extended meaning covering any future estate in expectancy. Bouvier cross-references Blackstone's Commentaries, Book 2, which remains the foundational common law treatment. Webster's 1913 tracks Blackstone directly and quotes him by name, confirming that by the early 20th century the legal and general definitions had converged around the Blackstonian formulation.
What the historical dictionaries do not address: the standing of a reversioner to maintain tort actions (particularly nuisance and trespass) during the pendency of the prior estate, the reversioner's rights against third-party encroachments, or the modern Restatement treatment of reversions as a category of future interest. Researchers needing those dimensions must move from the dictionary layer into treatises and case law.
Jurisdictional Note
The concept of reversion and the reversioner's rights are creatures of common law property doctrine followed in all American states. However, states that have adopted the Uniform Trust Code, the Restatement (Third) of Property, or statutory modifications to future interests law may use different terminology or have altered the rules governing transfer and alienability of reversionary interests. Louisiana, with its civil law heritage, approaches future interests differently and does not use "reversioner" as a term of art in the same way.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Reversion (for the nature and characteristics of the reversionary interest itself); Future Interests (for the broader doctrinal framework placing reversion alongside remainder, executory interest, and possibility of reverter).