allodium

English legal term denoting land that is the absolute property of its owner, free from any feudal tenure or obligation to a superior.

Since the Norman Conquest there has been no allodial land in England, for the laws declare all land to be the property of the sovereign. Before the Conquest the right was held to a certain extent, and it was common throughout the rest of northern Europe.

In Scots law the term is applied to all movable property and to Crown lands, and land bought under the Scots Lands Clauses Consolidation Act. The term is also applied to the udal land in the Orkney and Shetland islands.