Lease and release: a technical way of avoiding English court fees for transferring land. The possessor of the land would lease it for a year to the person who wanted to buy it. The leaseholder would take possession of the land, and then could purchase the remaining rights to the land through a release. The entire process had the same effect as a sale of land. lease for "lives": in Colonial days the customary time for a lease to be in force was twenty-one years, but at times it was for three "lives." This could be for the lives of any three people: a man, his wife and child, a man and two friends, or any other combination. At the death of the last of the three, the use of the land reverted to the owner. This type of lease usually was not recorded in the local land register. leasehold: land which has been rented. Lease: 1.) to rent; 2.) a legal contract in writing whereby a person conveys a portion of his interest in property to another, in consideration of a certain rent or other recompense; 3.) pasture. June