ABSTRACT
DEFINITIONS OF A FREEHOLD COVENANT This chapter is concerned with freehold covenants, that is, covenants affecting freehold land. A covenant is merely a promise or a contract. The word ‘covenant’ used to be used as a synonym for the word ‘contract’, but it is now usually used in a more technical sense to mean a ‘promise’, made by deed, to use land (or not to use land) in a certain way or for a certain purpose. Consider the following example:
In the example, B has entered into a covenant with A. Let us imagine that the covenant is a promise that B will not use his property for business purposes. The person who makes the promise, in this case B, is known as the covenantor, and the person to whom the promise is made, in this case A, is the covenantee. Because A and B are in privity of contract, A is able to enforce the promise against B.
