I. Intro Property Concepts Flashcards
Right to Possession
A property owner has the right to possess the property. This right remains even if another person has a legal interest in the property (e.g., in the case of an easement). This right can also be given to another (e.g., as a landlord does to a tenant).
Right to Use
Gives the property owner the right to use the property. If the property owner wishes, the right can be held by, or shared with, someone who is not the owner. This right to use is limited because an owner’s use cannot interfere with or injure the rights of another.
Right to Disposition
The right to disposition allows the property owner to dispose of the property as he or she desires. This means that, unless otherwise limited by law, the property owner has the power to dispose of the property by sale, gift, inheritance, bequest or devise.
Right to Exclusion
The right to exclude gives a property owner exclusive possession of the property, but that right is limited. For example, a landowner may exclude trespassers from his or her land but cannot prohibit the access of persons offering governmental services to migrant workers located on the land.
First in Time
This is the idea that the first to acquire property has the greatest right to it. “First in time” is easily manipulated because it does not designate what must be first in time. The decision of what must be first in time is usually decided by public policy and society’s goals. Common examples of this manipulation are:
- Discovery and Conquest: Awarded land to the first “civilized nation” to discover it, regardless that the land’s indigenous population was in first occupation.
- Wild Animals: The first to kill or capture a wild animal gains ownership of that animal.
Actual Possession
The idea that a person must have something actually in hand to receive a right.
Constructive Possession
Grants the right based on something less than actual possession.
Wild Animals and Custom
Whaling custom in nineteenth century New England awarded ownership based on constructive possession because of the difficulties in actually capturing a whale.
Labor Theory
The idea that a person can acquire ownership of something if the person adds labor to it. Difficulties arise when one mixes one’s labor or adds materials to the property of someone else.
Protection of Designs at Common Law
At CL, a person who creates a chattel is protected only to the extent of the chattel itself, not against copying and invitation of the chattel.
Protection of News
The first to disseminate news is protected against copying by competitors
