1.
[syn: discreteness, distinctness, separateness, severalty]
2. exclusive individual ownership;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Severalty \Sev"er*al*ty\, n.
A state of separation from the rest, or from all others; a
holding by individual right.
[1913 Webster]
Forests which had never been owned in severalty.
--Bancroft.
[1913 Webster]
Estate in severalty (Law), an estate which the tenant holds
in his own right, without being joined in interest with
any other person; -- distinguished from joint tenancy,
coparcenary, and common. --Blackstone.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
severalty
n 1: the state of being several and distinct [syn:
discreteness, distinctness, separateness,
severalty]
2: exclusive individual ownership
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
SEVERALTY, title to an estate. An estate in severalty is one which is held
by the tenant in his own right only, without any other being joined or
connected with him in point of interest, during the continuance of his
estate. 2 Bl. Com. 179. Cruise, Dig. 479, 480.
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):
SEVERALTY, n. Separateness, as, lands in severalty, i.e., lands held
individually, not in joint ownership. Certain tribes of Indians are
believed now to be sufficiently civilized to have in severalty the
lands that they have hitherto held as tribal organizations, and could
not sell to the Whites for waxen beads and potato whiskey.
Lo! the poor Indian whose unsuited mind
Saw death before, hell and the grave behind;
Whom thrifty settler ne'er besought to stay --
His small belongings their appointed prey;
Whom Dispossession, with alluring wile,
Persuaded elsewhere every little while!
His fire unquenched and his undying worm
By "land in severalty" (charming term!)
Are cooled and killed, respectively, at last,
And he to his new holding anchored fast!