joint-tenant
Forms: 6 ioynt tenaunt, ioyntenaunt(e, iointenaunte, 7 joyntenant, joyn-tenant, 7–8 jointenant; 7 joynt-tenant, 8– joint-tenant, joint tenant.
[f. joint a. + tenant.]
One who holds an undivided estate in the same right jointly with another or others, with a jus accrescendi, whereby the interest of each passes at his death to the survivors or survivor, till the whole remains in a single hand.
This right of survivorship distinguishes joint-tenants from tenants in common.
| 1531 Dial. on Laws Eng. ii. xxv. 55 The ioynt tenaunt hathe ryght to the hole goodes. 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 57 a, If two or three disseise another of anye landes..to theire owne use, then the disseisoures be iointenauntes. 1659 Termes de la Ley s.v., If one Joyntenant grant that which belongs to him to a Stranger, then the other Joyntenant and the Stranger are Tenants in common. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. xii. 184 While it [the joint-tenancy] continues, each of two joint-tenants has a concurrent interest in the whole; and therefore, on the death of his companion, the sole interest in the whole remains to the survivor. |
| fig. 1621 Quarles Div. Poems, Esther (1638) 91 These brave ioyntenants that surviv'd To see a little world of men unliv'd. 1645 ― Sol. Recant. viii. 23 Nay, Heaven and Hel May sooner..turn Joynt-tenants in one perfect Line. 1733 Pope Ess. Man iii. 152 In nature's state..Man walked with beast, joint-tenant of the shade. |
So
joint-ˈtenancy, the holding of an estate by two or more joint-tenants.
| 1613 Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 364 The writ abating for some cause that cannot be imputed to the Plaintifes folly: as for..Ioyntenancie, and such like. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. xii. 179 An estate in joint-tenancy is where lands or tenements are granted to two or more persons, to hold in fee-simple, fee-tail, for life, for years, or at will. 1844 Williams Real Prop. vi. (1875) 132 Any estate may be held in joint tenancy. |