Covenant (law)

Property law
Part of the common law series
Types
Personal property Community property Real property Unowned property
Acquisition
Gift Adverse possession Deed Conquest Discovery Accession Lost, mislaid, and abandoned property Treasure trove Bailment License Alienation
Estates in land
Allodial title Fee simple Fee tail Life estate Defeasible estate Future interest remainder Concurrent estate Leasehold estate Condominiums Real estate Land tenure
Conveyancing
Bona fide purchaser Torrens title Strata title Deeds registration Estoppel by deed Quitclaim deed Mortgage Equitable conversion Action to quiet title Escheat
Future use control
Restraint on alienation Rule against perpetuities Rule in Shelley's Case Doctrine of worthier title
Nonpossessory interest
Lien Easement Profit Usufruct Covenant Equitable servitude
Related topics
Fixtures Waste Partition Practicing without a license Property rights Mineral rights Water rights prior appropriation riparian Lateral and subjacent support Assignment Nemo dat Quicquid plantatur Conflict of property laws Blackacre Security deposit
Other common law areas
Contract law Tort law Wills, trusts and estates Criminal law Evidence Higher category: Law and Common law
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A covenant, in its most general sense and historical sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Under historical English common law, a covenant was distinguished from an ordinary contract by the presence of a seal.^[1] Because the presence of a seal indicated an unusual solemnity in the promises made in a covenant, the common law would enforce a covenant even in the absence of consideration.^[2] In United States contract law, an implied covenant of good faith is presumed.

A covenant is an agreement like a contract. A covenantor makes a promise to a covenantee to perform an action (affirmative covenant in the United States or positive covenant in England and Wales) or to refrain from an action (negative covenant). In real property law, the term real covenants means that conditions are tied to the ownership or use of land. A "covenant running with the land", meeting tests of wording and circumstances laid down in precedent, imposes duties or restrictions upon the use of that land regardless of the owner.

A covenant for title that comes with a deed or title to the property assures the purchaser that the grantor has the ownership rights that the deed purports to convey.^[3] Non-compete clauses in relation to contract law are also called restrictive covenants.

Landlords may seek and courts may grant forfeiture of leases such as in leasehold estates for breach of covenant, which in most jurisdictions must be relatively severe breaches; however, the covenant to pay rent is one of the more fundamental covenants. The forfeiture of a private home involves interference with social and economic human rights. In the case of leases commuted to a large sum payable at the outset (a premium), that has prompted lobbying for and government measures of leasehold reform particularly in the law of ground rents and service charges.

Restrictive covenants are somewhat similar to easements and equitable servitude.^[4] In the US, the Restatement (Third) of Property takes steps to merge the concepts as servitudes.^[5] Real covenant law in the US has been referred to as an "unspeakable quagmire" by one court.^[6]