Allodial land, or allodium, is literally land which has no lord. The holder of allodial land would owe no obligations, as owner of the land, to anyone else.
Some systems of law, for example English law, do not permit any land to be allodial, all land ultimately being held from the Crown, whereas others, such as Scottish law do permit this.
Allodial property rights were claimed by the people of colonial America after the Declaration of Independence and recognized by the States after the Revolutionary War. Once this occurred there was no real distinction between land held in fee simple and allodial land, and the two terms are used interchangeably in legal systems which have abolished the notion of a Lord. In these situations, Allodial land ownership may be contrasted to feudalland ownership.
In particular, in the nations recognising Elizabeth II as sovereign, land is said to be "held of the Crown." In common legal use, allodial title is used to distinguish absolute ownership of land by individuals from feudal ownership, where property ownership is dependent on relationship to a lord or the sovereign.
Webster's first dictionary says allodium is "land which is absolute property of the owner, real estate held in absolute independence, without being subject to any rent, service, or acknowledgement to a superior.
Moreover, as liens can't attach to allodial title, it is difficult to have improvements made to a property as once incorporated, they become part of the allodial title and become exempt from lien or seizure of the property to pay a contractor's allodium bill.
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