perpetual privilege.

perpetual privilege.

Royal rights

The crown offered two methods of gaining use of land in Virginia, head rights and treasury rights. Head rights, the dominant method during the 1600s, allowed persons who paid their passage (and that of companions) to America to have use of 50 acres/person. After 1699, treasury rights, which allowed purchase (at 5 shillings/50 A) without bringing in settlers, became the primary method of land acquisition. In both cases, an annual fee called a quitrent was paid to the Crown and the leaseholders had to occupy the land within three years and cultivate at least a third of it. Quitrent sounds a bit like an oxymoron, but no, *twas not free. It simply meant that once you have paid the Vent’ for the year it was not due (quit) until the next time. Thus these little payments were really another name for a property tax, that quaint practice that survives even today. As a not insignificant benefit, compared with the European system, the leaseholder had no other obligations to a Lord after paying the quitrent. But in a sense, things never really change: You paid (pay) for the land with cash or sweat equity and you paid (pay) Caesar forever via quitrents. For Jeopardy contestants only, the date on which quitrents