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{{Short description|Fair division in law}}
{{About|the legal term|the distribution of seats in a representative body|Apportionment (politics)|other uses|}}
{{update-EB|date=November 2010}}

The legal term '''apportionment''' ({{langx|fr|apportionement}}; [[Mediaeval Latin]]: {{lang|la|apportionamentum}}, derived from {{langx|la|portio}}, share), also called '''delimitation''',<ref>{{cite web |title=legislative apportionment {{!}} government {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/legislative-apportionment |website=www.britannica.com |access-date=16 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref> is in general the distribution or [[Allotment (financial)|allotment]] of proper shares,<ref name="EB1911"/> though may have different meanings in different contexts. Apportionment can refer to estate, the amount of compensation received by a worker<ref>{{cite web |title=Apportionment |url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/apportionment.asp |website=Investopedia |access-date=16 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref> and in respect of time.

This term may be employed roughly and sometimes has no technical meaning; this indicates the distribution of a benefit (''e.g.'' salvage or damages under the [[Fatal Accidents Act 1846]], § 2), or [[legal liability|liability]] (''e.g.'' general average contributions, or [[tithe]] rent-charge), or the incidence of a duty (''e.g.'' obligations as to the maintenance of highways).<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Apportionment|volume=2|pages=226–227|first=Alexander Wood|last=Renton|authorlink=Alexander Wood Renton}}</ref>

==Apportionment in respect of estate==
Apportionment in respect of [[estate (law)|estate]] may result either from the act of the parties or from the operation of law.<ref name="EB1911"/>

===Apportionment by act of the parties===
Where a [[leasing|lessee]] is [[eviction|evicted]] from, or surrenders or forfeits possession of part of the [[property]] leased to him, he becomes liable at [[common law]] to pay only a rent apportioned to the value of the interest which he still retains. So where the person entitled to the reversion of an estate assigns part of it, the right to an apportioned part of the rent incident to the England,<ref>[[Law of Property Amendment Act 1859]], § 3; [[Conveyancing Act 1881]], § 12.</ref> and in many of the British colonies.<ref>For example, Ontario, Rev. Stats''., 1897, c. 170, § 9; Barbados, No. 12 of 1891, § 9.</ref> In the cases just mentioned there is apportionment in respect of estate by act of the parties.<ref name="EB1911"/>

=== Apportionment by operation of law ===
Apportionment by operation of law may be brought about where by act of law a lease becomes inoperative as regards its subject-matter, or by the "act of God", as, for instance, where part of an estate is submerged by the encroachments of the sea. To the same category belongs the apportionment of rent which takes place under various statutes (''e.g.'' the [[Lands Clauses Consolidation Act 1845]] ([[8 & 9 Vict.]] c. 18), section 119, when land is required for public purposes; the [[Agricultural Holdings Act 1883]] ([[46 & 47 Vict.]] c. 61), section 41, in the case of a tenant from year to year receiving notice to quit part of a holding; and the [[Irish Land Act 1903]] ([[3 Edw. 7]]. c. 37), section 61, apportionment of quit and [[The Crown|crown]] rents).<ref name="EB1911"/>

== Apportionment in respect of time ==
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Apportionment Act 1834
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act to amend an Act of the Eleventh Year of King George the Second, respecting the Apportionment of Rents, Annuities, and other periodical Payments.
| year                  = 1834
| citation              = [[4 & 5 Will. 4]]. c. 22
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 16 June 1834
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
At common law, there was no apportionment of rent in respect of time. Such apportionment was, however, in certain cases allowed in England by the [[Distress for Rent Act 1737]], and the '''{{visible anchor|Apportionment Act 1834}}''' ([[4 & 5 Will. 4]]. c. 22), and is now allowed generally. Under that [[statute]] (section 2) all rents, [[Annuity (financial contracts)|annuities]], [[dividend]]s and other periodical payments in the nature of income are to be considered as accruing from day to day and to be apportionable in respect of time accordingly. It is provided, however, that the apportioned part of such rents, etc., shall only be payable or recoverable in the case of a continuing payment, when the entire portion of which it forms part itself becomes payable, and, in the case of a payment determined by re-entry, death or otherwise, only when the next entire portion would have been payable if it had not so determined (§ 3). Persons entitled to apportioned parts of rent have the same remedies for recovering them when payable as they would have had in respect of the entire rent; but a lessee is not to be liable for any apportioned part specifically. The rent is recoverable by the [[heir]] or other person who would, but for the apportionment, be entitled to the entire rent, and he holds it subject to distribution (section 4). 

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Apportionment Act 1870
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act for the better Apportionment of Rents and other periodical Payments.
| year                  = 1870
| citation              = [[33 & 34 Vict.]] c. 35
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 1 August 1870
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = current
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/33-34/35/contents/enacted
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = Apportionment Act 1870
| collapsed             = yes
}}
The '''{{visible anchor|Apportionment Act 1870}}''' ([[33 & 34 Vict.]] c. 35) extends to payments not made under any instrument in writing (section 2), but not to annual sums made payable in policies of insurance (section 6). Apportionment under the act can be excluded by express stipulation.<ref name="EB1911"/>

The apportionment created by this statute is "apportionment in respect of time." The cases to which it applies are mainly cases of either:
# apportionment of rent due under leases where at a time between the dates fixed for payment the lessor or lessee dies, or some other alteration in the position of parties occurs; or
# apportionment of income between the representatives of a limited owner and the remainder-man when the limited interest determines at a time between the date when such income became due.<ref name="EB1911"/>

=== Apportionment of rent ===
With regard to the former of these classes, it may be noticed that although apportioned rent becomes payable only when the whole rent is due, the landlord, in the case of the [[bankruptcy]] of an ordinary tenant, may prove for a proportionate part of the rent up to the date of the receiving order;<ref>[[Bankruptcy Act 1883]], Sched. ii. r. 19.</ref> and that a similar rule holds good in the winding up of a company;<ref>In ''South Kensington Co-operative Stores'', 1881, 17 Ch.D. 161.</ref> and further that the act of 1870 applies to the liability to pay, as well as to the right to receive, rent.<ref>Wilson, 1893, 62 L.J.Q.B. 628, 632.</ref> Accordingly, where an assignment of a lease is made between two half-yearly rent-days, the assignee is not liable to pay the full amount of the half-year's rent falling due on the rent-day next after the date of the assignment, but only an apportioned part of that half-year's rent, computed from the last mentioned date.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref>Glass v. Patterson, 1902, 2 Ir.R. 660.</ref> If someone pays a ground rent on a leasehold property or a rentcharge on a freehold property that is also payable on other neighbouring properties, they can apply to the Department for Communities and Local Government for an 'order of apportionment' that legally separates their share of the ground rent or rentcharge.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/rentcharges#apportioning-ground-rents-on-leasehold-houses|title=Rentcharges - GOV.UK|website=www.gov.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-02-21}}</ref>

=== Apportionment of income ===
With regard to the apportionment of income, the only points requiring notice here are that all dividends payable by public companies are apportionable, whether paid at fixed periods or not, unless the payment is, in effect, a payment of [[capital (economics)|capital]] (§ 5).<ref name="EB1911"/>

== See also ==
{{Wiktionary}}
* [[Formulary apportionment]], is a method of allocating profit earned or loss incurred
*[[Fair division]]
*[[Entitlement (fair division)]]
*[[Proportional cake-cutting with different entitlements]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Legal terminology]]