Basics Flashcards
Ad Coelum
Whoever owns the soil also owns to the sky and to the depths
Practical use of Ad Coelum
You own whatever space you can reasonably use
Themes of Property
- Exclusion
- Control/Dominion
- Labor/Desert
- Use
- Possession
Structure of Property Law
Set menu of ownership forms
Three Kinds of Property
- Real Property
- Personal Property/Chattel
- Intellectual Property
Limits on Property
- Personhood/Bodies
- Information
- Inherently public places like beaches (limited)
- Custom defined boundaries
Criminal Penalties for Personal Property
- Larceny: taking property
- Robbery: taking property in a way that directly endangers persons
- Criminal Mischief: damaging property
Criminal Penalties for Real Property
- Criminal Trespass: mild compared to tort
- Arson: fire to building or occupied structure
- Burglary: entering a building intending to commit a crime
Civil Actions For Personal Property
- Conversion: permanent taking of chattel
- Replevin: action to return converted property
- Trespass to Chattel: interference with chattel
Civil Actions for Real Property
- Trespass: action against intruder on land
- Ejectment: action against someone living on their land
- Nuisance: neighbor is using land in a way that inhibits you use and enjoyment
Self Help
Owners have the privilege to use reasonable, peaceable self help to protect property rights
Self Help Majority Rule
Landlords may not use self help to retake premises
Self Help for Creditors
Self help without breach of the peace generally authorized for creditors repossessing collateral without judicial authorization
Steps for Repossession
- Must be legally entitled to present possession
- Entry must be peaceable
Powers of Ownership
- Allow people on or kick them off (license)
- Lend to People (bailment)
- Abandon
- Destroy
Licenses
Property owner (licensor) grants permission to another (licensee) to come on or use personal property
License Creation
- Waiver of the right to exclude
- Can be governed by contract
- Can be expressed or implied
Revocability of License
Revocable by owner for any time for any or no reason
- continued use/presence becomes trespass
Bailment
Personal property owner (bailor) lends property to another (bailee)
- Temporary transfer of right to exclude and control to bailee
Bailment Creation
Express or implied contract
Issue with Bailments
Duty of care owed by the bailee to the bailor
Abandonment of Personal Property
- Have the right to abandon personal property
- Property becomes unowned and first to claim becomes the owner
Abandonment of Real Property
Cannot abandon real property
General Rules of Destroying Property
- Owners have the right to destroy
- Can do by will what you can do while alive
Limits to Destroying Property
Public policy
- Ex: destroying a mansion is waste
Limits to Ownership Powers
- Necessity
- Custom
- Public Policy
- Public Accommodations
- Anti-Discrimination
Necessity Limit
Saves human lives, goods, from being destroyed, prevents obstruction of roadways, animals going on land before you can stop them, etc.
- would be liable for damages caused
Custom Limit
custom can limit the right to exclude in some jurisdictions
-Ex: the people who wanted to but a fence on the beach that had been used by the public forever
Public Policy Limitations
All jurisdictions recognize this limitation
Variation On
- how public policy is decided
- analyzed case by case or in general rules
- What public policy demands
Public Accommodation Limit
- Limit the right to exclude from certain businesses open to the public
- Rights to exclude must be reasonable
- All jurisdictions recognize the above obligation on the part of common carriers
- Federal law broadly prohibits kinds of discrimination
Anti-Discrimination
- Anti-discrimination laws are a broad exception to exclusion arising from federal law
- Rights of ownership also limited
