Real property and personal property Personal property, roughly speaking, is private property that is moveable, as opposed to real property or real estate. In the common law systems personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In the civil law systems personal property is often called movable property or movables - any property that can be moved from one location to are the main classifications of property Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of persons. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property has the right to consume, sell, rent, mortgage, transfer, exchange or destroy their property, and/or to exclude others from doing these things. Important widely recognized types of in the common law Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action. A "common law system" is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law, on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different. Real property refers to land This should be distinguished from an "estate" as used in reference to an area of land, and "estate" as used to refer to property in general and the improvements made by human efforts—buildings, machinery, the acquisition of various property rights, and the like. Real property is also termed realty In common law, real property, realty, real estate, or immovable property is any land and the improvements to it made by human efforts—buildings, machinery, the acquisition of various property rights, and the like. Real property and personal property are the main classifications of property, real estate Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with improvements to the land, such as buildings, fences, wells and other site improvements that are fixed in location—immovable. Real estate law is the body of regulations and legal codes which pertain to such matters under a particular jurisdiction and include things such as commercial, and immovable property Immovable property is an immovable object, an item of property that cannot be moved without destroying or altering it - property that is fixed to the Earth, such as land or a house. In the United States it is also commercially and legally known as real estate and in Britain as property. It is known by other terms in other countries of the world.

In countries with personal ownership of real property, civil law Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law, the primary feature of which is that laws are written into a collection, codified, and not determined by judges. Conceptually, it is the group of legal ideas and systems ultimately derived from the Code of Justinian, but heavily overlaid by Germanic, ecclesiastical, feudal, and local practices, as protects the status in realty markets, where realtors The National Association of Realtors , whose members are known as Realtors, is North America's largest trade association. representing over 1.2 million members (as reported November 2008), including NAR's institutes, societies, and councils, involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. NAR also functions as a work in realty selling real estate. Scottish civil law calls it heritable property, and in France it is said immobilier.

Identification of real property

To be of any value a claim to any property must be accompanied by a verifiable and legal property description. Such a description could make use of natural boundaries such as river and roads, or make use of purpose made markers such as cairns, posts, survey marks, etc.

Estates & ownership interests defined

The law recognizes different sorts of interests, called estates This should be distinguished from an "estate" as used in reference to an area of land, and "estate" as used to refer to property in general, in real property. The type of estate is generally determined by the language of the deed, lease, or bill of sale through which the estate was acquired. Estates are distinguished by the varying property rights Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of persons. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property has the right to consume, sell, rent, mortgage, transfer, exchange or destroy their property, and/or to exclude others from doing these things. Important widely-recognized types of that vest in each, and that determine the duration and transferability of the various estates. A party enjoying an estate is called a "tenant."

Some important types of estates in land This should be distinguished from an "estate" as used in reference to an area of land, and "estate" as used to refer to property in general include:

• Fee simple A fee simple is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. It is the most common way real estate is owned in common law countries, and is ordinarily the most complete ownership interest that can be had in real property short of allodial title, which is often reserved for governments. Fee simple ownership represents absolute ownership of real: An estate of indefinite duration, that can be freely transferred. The most common and perhaps most absolute type of estate, under which the tenant enjoys the greatest discretion over the disposition of the property.
• Conditional Fee simple: An estate lasting forever as long as one or more conditions stipulated by the deed's grantor does not occur. If such a condition does occur, the property reverts to the grantor, or a remainder interest is passed on to a third party.
• Fee tail Fee tail or entail is an obsolescent estate at common law. It describes an estate of inheritance in real property which cannot be sold, devised by will, or otherwise alienated by the owner, but which passes by operation of law to the owner's heirs upon his death. The term fee tail is derived from the Middle Latin foedum talliatum, which means &: An estate which, upon the death of the tenant, is transferred to his heirs.
• Life estate A life estate is a concept used in common law and statutory law to designate the ownership of land for the duration of a person's life. In legal terms it is an estate in real property that ends at death. The owner of a life estate is called a "life tenant": An estate lasting for the natural life of the grantee, called a "life tenant." If a life estate can be sold, a sale does not change its duration, which is limited by the natural life of the original grantee.
  • A life estate pur autre vie is held by one person for the natural life of another person A life estate is a concept used in common law and statutory law to designate the ownership of land for the duration of a person's life. In legal terms it is an estate in real property that ends at death. The owner of a life estate is called a "life tenant". Such an estate may arise if the original life tenant sells her life estate to another, or if the life estate is originally granted pur autre vie.
• Leasehold A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord: An estate of limited duration, as set out in a contract, called a lease, between the party granted the leasehold, called the lessee, and another party, called the lessor, having a longer lived estate in the property. For example, an apartment-dweller with a one year lease has a leasehold estate in her apartment. Lessees typically agree to pay a stated rent to the lessor.

A tenant enjoying an undivided estate in some property after the termination of some estate of limited duration, is said to have a "future interest." Two important types of future interests are:

• Reversion: A reversion arises when a tenant grants an estate of lesser maximum duration than his own. Ownership of the land returns to the original tenant when the grantee's estate expires. The original tenant's future interest is a reversion.
• Remainder A remainder in property law is a future interest given to a person that is capable of becoming possessory upon the natural end of a prior estate created by the same instrument. For example, a person, D, gives ("devises") a piece of real property called Blackacre “to A for life, and then to B and her heirs.” A receives a life estate: A remainder arises when a tenant with a fee simple grants someone a life estate or conditional fee simple, and specifies a third party to whom the land goes when the life estate ends or the condition occurs. The third party is said to have a remainder. The third party may have a legal right to limit the life tenant's use of the land.

Estates An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person may be held jointly as joint tenants with rights of survivorship A concurrent estate or co-tenancy is a concept in property law, particularly derived from the common law of real property, which describes the various ways in which property can be owned by more than one person at a given time. If more than one person own the same property, they are referred to as co-owners, co-tenants or joint tenants. Most or as tenants in common A concurrent estate or co-tenancy is a concept in property law which describes the various ways in which property is owned by more than one person at a time. If more than one person own the same property, they are referred to as co-owners, co-tenants or joint tenants. Most common law jurisdictions recognize tenancies in common and joint tenancies,. The difference in these two types of joint ownership of an estate in land is basically the inheritability of the estate and the shares of interest that each tenant owns.

In joint tenancy with rights of survivorship deed, or JTWROS, the death of one tenant means that the surviving tenant(s) become the sole owner(s) of the estate. Nothing passes to the heirs of the deceased tenant. In some jurisdictions, the specific words "with right of survivorship" must be used, or the tenancy will assumed to be tenants in common without rights of survivorship. Co-owners always take a JTWROS deed as equal shares, so each tenant must own an equal share of the property regardless of contribution to purchase price. If the property is sold or partitioned, the proceeds must be distributed equally with no credits given for any excess than any one co-owner may have contributed to purchase the property.

The passing of a co-owner of a tenants in common (TIC) deed will have a heritable portion of the estate in proportion to his ownership interest which is presumed to be equal amongst tenants unless otherwise stated in the transfer deed. However, if TIC property is partitioned, some states may grant a credit for unequal contribution to purchaes price (unlike a partition of a JTWROS deed).

Real property may be owned jointly with several tenants, through devices such as the condominium A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights associated with the individual ownership and, housing cooperative A housing cooperative is a legal entity—usually a corporation—that owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings. Each shareholder in the legal entity is granted the right to occupy one housing unit, sometimes subject to an occupancy agreement, which is similar to a lease. The occupancy agreement specifies the co-op's rules, and building cooperative Building co-operatives are co-operative housing corporations where individuals or families work together to directly construct their own homes in a cooperative fashion.

Jurisdictional peculiarities

In the law of almost every country, the state A sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. While in abstract terms a sovereign state can exist without being recognised by other sovereign states, unrecognised states will often find it hard to is the ultimate owner of all land under its jurisdiction, because it is the sovereign Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided. The concept has been discussed, debated and questioned throughout history, from the time of the Romans through to the present day,, or supreme lawmaking authority. Physical and corporate persons do not have allodial title Allodial title is a concept in some systems of property law. It describes a situation where real property is owned free and clear of any encumbrances, including liens, mortgages, and tax obligations. Allodial title is inalienable, in that it cannot be taken by any operation of law for any reason whatsoever; they do not "own" land but only enjoy estates in the land, also known as "equitable interests."

England and Wales

In the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land, The Crown The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms, as well as in any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof, represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial. It evolved naturally first in the United Kingdom as a separation of the literal crown and property of the nation state from the is held to be the ultimate owner of all real property in the realm. This fact is material when, for example, property has been disclaimed by its erstwhile owner, in which case the law of escheat Escheat is a common law doctrine that operates to ensure that property is not left in limbo and ownerless. It originally referred to a number of situations where a legal interest in land was destroyed by operation of law, so that the ownership of the land reverted to the immediately superior feudal lord applies. In some other jurisdictions (not including the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language), real property is held absolutely Allodial title is a concept in some systems of property law. It describes a situation where real property is owned free and clear of any encumbrances, including liens, mortgages, and tax obligations. Allodial title is inalienable, in that it cannot be taken by any operation of law for any reason whatsoever.

English law English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countriesand the United States . It was exported to Commonwealth countries while the British Empire was established and maintained, and it forms the basis of the jurisprudence of most of those countries. English law prior to has retained the common law distinction between real property and personal property, whereas the civil law Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals and/or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim. For instance, if a car crash victim claims damages against the driver for loss or injury sustained in an accident, this will be a civil law case distinguishes between "movable" and "immovable" property. In English law, real property is not confined to the ownership of property and the buildings sited thereon – often referred to as "land." Real property also includes many legal relationships between individuals or owners of land that are purely conceptual. One such relationship is the easement An easement is the right to use the real property of another without possessing it. Easements are helpful for providing pathways across two or more pieces of property or allowing an individual to fish in a privately owned pond. An easement is considered as a property right in itself at common law and is still treated as a type of property in most, where the owner of one property may enjoy the right to pass over a neighboring property. Another is the various "incorporeal hereditaments," such as profits a prendre A profit , in the law of real property, is a nonpossessory interest in land similar to the better-known easement, which gives the holder the right to take natural resources such as petroleum, minerals, timber, and wild game from the land of another. Indeed, because of the necessity of allowing access to the land so that resources may be gathered,, where an individual may have the right to take crops from land that is part of another's estate.

English law retains a number of forms of property which are largely unknown in other common law jurisdictions such as the advowson Advowson is the right in English law of a patron to present or appoint a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or to a church living, a process known as presentation. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish. It is also known as advocation or patronage, chancel repair liability Chancel repair liability is a liability on some property owners in England and Wales to fund repairs to the chancel of their local church. This responsibility of owners of once rectorial land exists in perpetuity and lordships of the manor Manorialism or Seigneurialism, an essential ingredient of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market economy and new forms of agrarian. These are all classified as real property, as they would have been protected by real actions in the early common law.

USA

Each U.S. State A U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of commonwealth rather than state. State citizenship is except Louisiana Some Louisiana urban environments have a multicultural, multilingual heritage, being so strongly influenced by an admixture of 18th century French, Spanish, Indian and African cultures that they are considered to be somewhat exceptional in the U.S. Before the American influx and statehood at the beginning of the 19th century, the territory of has its own laws governing real property and the estates therein, grounded in the common law Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action. A "common law system" is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law, on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different. In Arizona^{[citation needed]}, real property is generally defined as land and the things permanently attached to the land. Things that are permanently attached to the land, which also can be referred to as improvements, include homes, garages, and buildings. Manufactured homes can obtain an affidavit of affixture.

Economic aspects of real property

Land use, land valuation, and the determination of the incomes of landowners, are among the oldest questions in economic theory. Land is an essential input (factor of production In economics, factors of production are the resources employed to produce goods and services. They facilitate production but do not become part of the product (as with raw materials) or are significantly transformed by the production process (as with fuel used to power machinery). To 19th century economists, the factors of production were land () for agriculture, and agriculture is by far the most important economic activity in preindustrial societies. With the advent of industrialization, important new uses for land emerge, as sites for factories, warehouses, offices, and urban agglomerations. Also, the value of real property taking the form of man-made structures and machinery increases relative to the value of land alone. The concept of real property eventually comes to encompass effectively all forms of tangible fixed capital In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital are factors of production used to create goods or services that are not themselves significantly consumed in the production process. Capital goods may be acquired with money or financial capital. with the rise of extractive industries, real property comes to encompass natural capital Natural capital is the extension of the economic notion of capital to goods and services relating to the natural environment. Natural capital is thus the stock of natural ecosystems that yields a flow of valuable ecosystem goods or services into the future. For example, a stock of trees or fish provides a flow of new trees or fish, a flow which. With the rise of tourism and leisure, real property comes to include scenic and other amenity values.

Starting in the 1960s, as part of the emerging field of law and economics Law and economics is an approach to legal theory that applies methods of economics to law. It includes the use of economic concepts to explain the effects of laws, to assess which legal rules are economically efficient, and to predict which legal rules will be promulgated, economists and legal scholars began to study the property rights Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of persons. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property has the right to consume, sell, rent, mortgage, transfer, exchange or destroy their property, and/or to exclude others from doing these things. Important widely-recognized types of enjoyed by tenants under the various estates, and the economic benefits and costs of the various estates. This resulted in a much improved understanding of the:

• Property rights Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of persons. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property has the right to consume, sell, rent, mortgage, transfer, exchange or destroy their property, and/or to exclude others from doing these things. Important widely-recognized types of enjoyed by tenants under the various estates. These include the right to:
  • Decide how a piece of real property is used;
  • Exclude others from enjoying the property;
  • Transfer (alienate) some or all of these rights to others on mutually agreeable terms;
• Nature and consequences of transaction costs In economics and related disciplines, a transaction cost is a cost incurred in making an economic exchange . For example, most people, when buying or selling a stock, must pay a commission to their broker; that commission is a transaction cost of doing the stock deal. Or consider buying a banana from a store; to purchase the banana, your costs when changing and transferring estates.

For an introduction to the economic analysis of property law, see Shavell (2004), and Cooter and Ulen (2003). For a collection of related scholarly articles, see Epstein (2007). Ellickson (1993) broadens the economic analysis of real property with a variety of facts drawn from history and ethnography Ethnography is a research strategy often used in the social sciences, particularly in anthropology and in some branches of sociology. It is often employed for gathering empirical data on human societies/cultures. Data collection is often done through participant observation, interviews, questionnaires, etc. Ethnography aims to describe the nature.

Historical background

The word "real" ultimately derives from Latin res "thing" and was used to Middle English to mean "relating to things, especially real property"^[1]

In common law, real property was property that could be protected by some form of real action, in contrast to personal property, where a plaintiff would have to resort to another form of action. As a result of this formalist approach, some things the common law deems to be land would not be classified as such by most modern legal systems, for example an advowson (the right to present to the living of a church) was real property. By contrast the rights of a leaseholder originate in personal actions and so the common law originally treated a leasehold as part of personal property.

The law now broadly distinguishes between real property (land and anything affixed to it) and personal property (everything else, e.g., clothing, furniture, money). The conceptual difference was between immovable property, which would transfer title along with the land, and movable property, which a person would retain title to.

In modern legal systems derived from English common law, classification of property as real or personal may vary somewhat according to jurisdiction or, even within jurisdictions, according to purpose, as in defining whether and how the property may be taxed.

Bethell (1998) contains much historical information on the historical evolution of real property and property rights.

See also

• Real estate
• Land tenure
• Mineral rights
• Landlord
• Fiefdom
• Benefice
• The Land Report
• Land ownership in Canada

References and further reading

1. ^ Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Tenth Edition,1999,p 1192.

The law of real property

• Stoebuck, W. B., and Dale A. Whitman, 2000. The Law of Property, 3rd. ed. St. Paul MN: West Group Publishing.
• Thomas, David A., ed., 1996. Thompson on Real Property. Charlottesville VA: Michie Co.

Analysis of the law of real property

• Ackerman, B., R. Ellickson, and C.M. Rose, 2002. Perspectives on Property Law, 3rd ed. Aspen Law and Business.
• Tom Bethell, 1998. Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity through the Ages. St Martin's Press. For lay people.
• Robert Cooter, and Thomas Ulen, 2003. Law and Economics, 4th. ed. Addison-Wesley. Chpts. 4,5. Easier text.
• Ellickson, Robert, 1993, "Property in Land," Yale Law Review 102: 1315-1400.
• Richard Epstein, ed., 2007, Economics of Property Law. Edward Elgar. An anthology of articles, mostly from the law literature.
• Shavell, Steven, 2004. Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law. Harvard Univ. Press. Chpts. 2-5. Harder text; extensive references.
• Jeremy Waldron, 1988. The Right to Private Property. Oxford Univ. Press.

External links

• International Real Property Foundation

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