What is "statute of uses"

Use \Use\, n. [OE. us use, usage, L. usus, from uti, p. p. usus, to use. See Use, v. t.]

1. The act of employing anything, or of applying it to one's service; the state of being so employed or applied; application; employment; conversion to some purpose; as, the use of a pen in writing; his machines are in general use.

   Books can never teach the use of books.
   --Bacon.

   This Davy serves you for good uses.
   --Shak.

   When he framed All things to man's delightful use.
   --Milton.

2. Occasion or need to employ; necessity; as, to have no further use for a book.
   --Shak.

3. Yielding of service; advantage derived; capability of being used; usefulness; utility.

   God made two great lights, great for their use To man.
   --Milton.

   'T is use alone that sanctifies expense.
   --Pope.

4. Continued or repeated practice; customary employment; usage; custom; manner; habit.

   Let later age that noble use envy.
   --Spenser.

   How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, Seem to me all the uses of this world!
   --Shak.

5. Common occurrence; ordinary experience. [R.]

   O C[ae]sar! these things are beyond all use.
   --Shak.

6. (Eccl.) The special form of ritual adopted for use in any diocese; as, the Sarum, or Canterbury, use; the Hereford use; the York use; the Roman use; etc.

   From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use.
   --Pref. to Book of Common Prayer.

7. The premium paid for the possession and employment of borrowed money; interest; usury. [Obs.]

   Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him.
   --Jer. Taylor.

8. [In this sense probably a corruption of OF. oes, fr. L. opus need, business, employment, work. Cf. Operate.] (Law) The benefit or profit of lands and tenements. Use imports a trust and confidence reposed in a man for the holding of lands. He to whose use or benefit the trust is intended shall enjoy the profits. An estate is granted and limited to A for the use of B.

9. (Forging) A stab of iron welded to the side of a forging, as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging. Contingent use, or Springing use (Law), a use to come into operation on a future uncertain event. In use.

   1. In employment; in customary practice observance.

   2. In heat; -- said especially of mares.
      --J. H. Walsh.

      Of no use, useless; of no advantage.

      Of use, useful; of advantage; profitable.

      Out of use, not in employment.

      Resulting use (Law), a use, which, being limited by the deed, expires or can not vest, and results or returns to him who raised it, after such expiration.

      Secondary use, or Shifting use, a use which, though executed, may change from one to another by circumstances.
      --Blackstone.

      Statute of uses (Eng. Law), the stat. 27 Henry VIII., cap. 10, which transfers uses into possession, or which unites the use and possession.

      To make use of, To put to use, to employ; to derive service from; to use.

The Statute of Uses (27 Hen 8 c 10) was an Act of the Parliament of England that restricted the application of uses in English property law. The Statute was originally conceived by Henry VIII of England as a way to rectify his financial problems by simplifying the law of uses, which moved land outside the royal tax revenue, traditionally gathered through seisin. His initial efforts, which would remove uses almost completely, were stymied at the 1529 Parliament by members of the House of Commons, many of whom were landowners (who would lose money) and lawyers (who benefited in fees from the confusing law on uses). Academics disagree on how the Commons were brought around, but an eventual set of bills introduced in 1535 was passed by both the Lords and Commons in 1536.

The eventual bills invalidated all uses that did not impose an active duty on trustees, with the beneficiaries of the use being held as the legal owners of the land, meaning they had to pay tax. The Statute partially led to the Pilgrimage of Grace, and more importantly the development of trusts, but academics disagree as to its effectiveness. While most agree that it was important, with Eric Ives writing that "the effect which its provisions had upon the development of English land law was revolutionary", some say that by allowing uses and devises in certain areas it not only failed to remove the fraudulent element from land law but actively encouraged it.