HOMESTEAD AND EXEMPTION LAWS, laws (prin cipally in the United States) designed primarily either to aid the head of a family to acquire title to a place of residence or to protect the owner against loss of that title through seizure for debt. These laws have all been enacted in America since about the middle of the 19th century, and owe their origin to the demand for a population of the right sort in a new country, to the con viction that the freeholder rather than the tenant is the natural supporter of popular government, to the effort to prevent insolvent debtors from becoming useless members of society, and to the belief that such laws encourage the stability of the family.
By the cessions of several of the older States, and by various treaties with foreign countries, public lands have been acquired for the United States in every State and Territory of the Union except the original 13, and Maine, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas. For a time they were regarded chiefly as a source of revenue, but about 182o, as the need of revenue for the payment of the national debt decreased and the inhabitants of an increasing number of new States became eager to have the vacant lands within their bounds occupied, the demand that the public lands should be disposed of more in the interest of the settler became increasingly strong, and the home stead idea originated. Until the advent of railways, however, the older States of the north were opposed to promoting the develop ment of the West in this manner, and soon afterwards the Southern representatives in Congress opposed the general home stead bills in the interests of slavery, so that except in isolated cases where settlers were desired to protect some frontier, as in Florida and Oregon, and to a limited extent in the case of the Pre-emption Act of 1841 (see below), the homestead principle was not applied by Washington until the Civil War had begun.
A general homestead bill was passed by Congress in 186o, but this was vetoed by President James Buchanan ; two years later, however, a similar bill became a law. The act of 1862 originally provided that any citizen of the United States, or applicant for citizenship, who was the head of a family, or 21 years of age, or who, if younger, had served not less than 14 days in the army or navy of the United States during an actual war, might apply for 16o ac. or less of unappropriated public lands, and might acquire title to this amount of land by residing upon and cultivating it for five years immediately following, and paying such fees as were necessary to cover the cost of adminis tration ; a homestead acquired in this manner was exempted from seizure for any debt contracted prior to the date of issuing the patent. A commutation clause of this act permitted title to b acquired after only six months of residence by paying $1.25 per acre, as provided in the Pre-emption Act of 1841. The act c f 1872, amended in 1901, allowed any soldier or seaman, who had served at least 90 days in the army or navy of the United States during the Civil War, in the Spanish-American War or in the suppression of the insurrection in the Philippines, and who was honourably discharged, to apply for a homestead, and permitted deduction of the time of such service, or, if discharged on account of wounds or other disability incurred in the line of duty, the full term of his enlistment, from the five years otherwise required for perfecting title, except that in any case he shall have resided upon and cultivated the land at least one year before the passing of title.
Pursuant to legislation en acted during and since the World War, ex-service men of that war are granted privileges in connection with homestead entries made by them similar to those conferred upon veterans of the Civil and Spanish wars, and in addition a preference over the general public in the entry of lands opened to entry by restoration from withdrawal or reservation, or by the filing of plots of survey of lands formerly unsurveyed. In the meantime, by an act of June 6, 1912, the period of residence required to perfect a homestead entry was reduced from five years to three, and a specific area to be cultivated substituted for the former indefinite provisions. After the more desirable and easily cultivable public land had passed into private ownership and that remaining was either chiefly valuable• for grazing or generally cultivable only by dry farm methods, the need for a greater area to sustain a family was met by the Enlarged Homestead Act of Feb. 19, 1909, and the stock-raising act of Dec. 29, 1916, granting a maximum area of 64o acres. More than 250,000,000 ac. have been patented to individuals under the various homestead laws.
The principle of protecting the home against involuntary loss by reason of debt was recognized as a public policy by the original Homestead Act of 1862, which pro vided that no lands acquired thereunder should in any event become liable to the satisfaction of a debt contracted prior to the issuance of patent, and by a public resolution of Congress, approved on April 28, 1922, the provision was made applicable to all homesteads acquired under the later homestead laws. A short time before the original homestead law, providing for the acquirement of homesteads on the public domain, went into operation, some of the State legislatures had passed homestead and exemption laws designed to protect homesteads or a certain amount of property against loss to the owners in case they should become insolvent debtors, and by the close of the century the legislature of nearly every State in the Union had passed a law of this nature. At the present time every State has some sort of exemption law. These laws vary greatly, but with few exceptions exempt the home property, country or city, as well as certain personal property such as moneys, household effects, tools of trade and the like. The value of exempted real property ranges in the several States from $5,000 downward. To some debts the exemp tion does not usually apply; the most common of these are taxes, purchase money, a debt secured by mortgage on the homestead and debts contracted in making improvements upon it. If the homestead belongs to a married person, the consent of both husband and wife is usually required to mortgage it. Some States require that the homestead for which exemption is to be claimed shall be previously entered upon record, others require only occupancy and still others permit the homestead to be designated whenever a claim is presented. Exemption laws have also been enacted by the insular possessions of the United States.
Canada has provided for the acquisition of homesteads on its public lands, and the several provinces have exemption laws similar to those of the United States. The same is true of other British possessions.
J. B. Sanborn, "Some Political Aspects of HomeBibliography.—J. B. Sanborn, "Some Political Aspects of Home- stead Legislation," in The American Historical Review (1900) ; E. Manson, "The Homestead Acts," in the Journal of the Society of Com parative Legislation (London, 1899) ; also S. D. Thompson, A Treatise on Homesteads and Exemptions (San Francisco, 1886) ; P. Bureau, Le Homestead on l'Insaisissabilite de la petite propriete f onciere (1894) ; and L. Vacher, Le Homestead aux Etats-Unis (1899). (W. SP.)
