Old documents have a language of their own, which can be extremely puzzling. Here are some words that I have encountered, and the meanings that I have found for them:
Assignment. The transfer of a right from one person to another, for example on a property lease or mortgage.
Old Title Deeds, A guide for local and family historians, N W Alcock,Phillimore 1986 p82 - 84
Curtilage. A yard or court associated with a dwelling house, and immediately surrounding it
Old Title Deeds, A guide for local and family historians, N W Alcock,Phillimore 1986 p82 - 84
Feoffee. A person who holds property on behalf of another. Similar to a trustee.
Old Title Deeds, A guide for local and family historians, N W Alcock,Phillimore 1986 p82 - 84
http://oxforddictionaries.com/
Indenture. A deed or contract between two or more persons. The deed, usually made in identical copies, had indentations at the top.
Old Title Deeds, A guide for local and family historians, N W Alcock,Phillimore 1986 p82 - 84
http://oxforddictionaries.com/
In fee simple. Unconditional. Does not end eg when a leaseholder dies
Old Title Deeds, A guide for local and family historians, N W Alcock,Phillimore 1986 p82 - 84
Dictionary of Legal terms, Brockhampton Press, 1997 p 45
Messuage. A property including a dwelling house, and often other buildings, a garden etc.
Old Title Deeds, A guide for local and family historians, N W Alcock,Phillimore 1986 p82 - 84
Dictionary of Legal terms, Brockhampton Press, 1997 p 92
Peppercorn rent. A ground rent had to be set so that the terms of a lease could be enforced, but sometimes these were tiny amounts. A peppercorn (ie the same thing that is put in pepper grinders) or other token was sometimes set as the rent, to save the freeholder having to collect the money.
http://property.practicallaw.com/
Reversion (as applied to leases). Grant of property starting at a particular time or after a particular event. For example, a property might revert to the original owner after (for instance) the death of the leaseholder
Old Title Deeds, A guide for local and family historians, N W Alcock,Phillimore 1986 p82 - 84
http://oxforddictionaries.com/
Tenement. Any type of property of a permanent nature, particularly property that included a building.
Old Title Deeds, A guide for local and family historians, N W Alcock,Phillimore 1986 p82 - 84
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/tenement
Three Life Leases As the name suggests, this was a lease that ran until three named people had died - there was an upper limit of 99 years. Sales of leases often stated the ages of the persons named (the younger the people, the more likely it was that the lease would run for a long time) - sometimes the sale particulars would even claim that the people were 'healthy'. When Lurgecombe flour mill was sold in 1842, the lease was for the remainder of 99 years, and the 'three healthy lives' were aged 53, 14 and 11
The British Records Association guidelines to interpreting deeds http://www.britishrecordsassociation.org.uk/ Western Times 5 March 1842 p1 col2
'Lord Clinton's farms etc. are chiefly held on leases for lives, but there are many small freeholds in the parish. 'History, gazetteer and directory of Devonshire, William White 1850, p462