reversion (reverter)

The interest in land of a person (called the reversioner) who has granted some lesser interest than his own to another but has not disposed of the whole of his own interest. For example, if A grants land to B for life, A has an interest in reversion, since the land reverts to him on B’s death. Similarly, a person who lets or sublets land to another retains an interest in reversion. The reversionary interest of a lessor can subsist as a legal estate, but the reversion after any other interest than a lease is necessarily an equitable interest.