In law, uses were equitable or beneficial interests in land. In early law a man could not dispose of his estate by will nor could religious houses acquire it. As a method of evading the common law arose the practice of making feoffments to the use of, or upon trust for, persons other than those to whom the seisin or legal possession was delivered, to which the equitable jurisdiction of the chancellor gave effect. To remedy the abuses which it was said were occasioned by this evasion of the law the Statute of Uses of 1536 was passed. However it failed to accomplish its purpose. Out of this failure of the Statute of Uses arose the modern law of trusts, see that article for further details.

Text in this article was adapted from the public domain 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica

In other contexts, use may refer to a custom, whether having force of law or not; e.g. use may be used as a synonym of rite in the sense of a particular liturgical traditions, as in Aquileian Use