Legal interest - n.(in land law) A right in or over land. It may comprise equitable ownership of the land (such as the interest of the tenant for life under a settlement), where the legal estate is owned by trustees; or the benefit of some other right over the land of another, such as an easement or rentcharge. Interests of the latter type can be legal or equitable, but under the Law of Property Act 1925 only interests owned on terms equivalent to a fee simple absolute in possession or a term of years absolute qualify as legal interests. A person interested in land is one who has rights in it. See also equitable interests.

equitable interests - Interests in property originally recognized by the Court of Chancery, as distinct from legal interests recognized in the common-law courts. They arose in cases when it was against the principles of equity for a person to enforce a legal right. Originally equitable rights (e.g. a trust, or the equity of redemption under a mortgage) were enforceable against the person with a legal right over property in question. Later, however, those who were given the property by the holder of the legal interests took it subject to equitable interests; later still, anyone who bought property knowing of the equitable interests was bound by them. In the developed law, everyone took property subject to equitable interests except those who bought it and neither knew nor ought to have known of the equitable interests (the doctrine of notice). Since 1925, equitable interests may be protected by the doctrine of overreaching, under the system of land charges, or by notice.

equitable interest An interest in, or ownership of, property that is recognized by equity but not by the common law. A beneficiary under a trust has an equitable interest. Any disposal of an equitable interest (e.g. a sale) must be in writing. Some equitable interests in land must be registered or they will be lost