Right to Transfer

Question 1

Multiple Individual Rights (sticks)

Answer 1

right to transfer
right to exclude
right to use
right to destroy

Question 2

Right to Transfer- General Rule

Answer 2

an owner may freely alienate, or transfer, property to anyone else EXCEPT when public policy dictates the right should be limited (who may transfer, what may transfer, and how you transfer)

Question 3

Johnson v M’Intosh (discovery doctrine)

Answer 3

• property rights exist only to the extent that they are recognized by
  government.
• here government said they “discovered “ lands; therefore, they could make the rules, and the rule was that natives could only sell to the US (limited right to transfer, only right to possession)
• tittle to lands depends entirely on the law of the nation in which they lie- not natural justice
• tries to protect first possession and utilitarian theory

Question 4

Moore v Regents of California ( blood cells case)

Answer 4

• D acquire title to the cell line based on accession
• Law views human biological materials as objects sui generis (unique), so they regulate their disposition to achieve policy goals
• Where P does not have title to the property alleged to have been converted, nor possession thereof, he cannot maintain an action for conversion. P did not expect to retain possession of his cells following the removal, and to sue for conversion, he must have retained an ownership interest in them.