The Law
Under the traditional American common law doctrine, the 99-year term was not literal, but merely an arbitrary time span beyond the life expectancy of any possible lessee or lessor.
In the law of several US states, a 99-year lease will always be the longest possible contract for realty by statute, but many have enacted shorter terms and some allow infinite terms.
The 99-year lease concept has been more common under the civil law regimes when it comes to concessions of territory: most concessions last for 99 years.
Read more about this topic: 99-year Lease
Famous quotes containing the word law:
“Jesus said to his Jews: “The law was for servants—love God as I love him, as his son! What are morals to us sons of God!””
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“In law it is a good policy to never plead what you need not, lest you oblige yourself to prove what you can not.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)