Section 1 - Chapter 7

Question 1

police power

Answer 1

state’s power to enact legislation to preserve order, protecct public health and safety, and promote the general welfare of its citizens

Question 2

4 governmental powers

Answer 2

police power, eminent domain, taxation, escheat

Question 3

eminent domain

Answer 3

right of govt to acquire privately owend real estate for public use

Question 4

condemnation

Answer 4

act of taking the property via eminent domain; just compensation paid to owner, rights of prop owner must be protected by law

Question 5

taxation

Answer 5

charge on real estate to raise funds to meet the public needs of govt

Question 6

escheat

Answer 6

process by which the state may acquire privately owned real or personal property; intended to prevent property from becoming abandoned

Question 7

estate in land

Answer 7

defines the degree, quantity, nature, and extent of an owners interest in real property; an interest must allow possession either now or in the future

Question 8

freehold estates

Answer 8

last for an indefinite period of time; fee simple (also called indefeasible fee), defeasible fee, life estates

Question 9

leasehold estates

Answer 9

last for a fixed period of time; such as estates for years and estates from period to period

Question 10

fee simple estates

Answer 10

unlimited duration and “run forever”, upon death passes to owners or by will; fee simple absolute and fee simple defeasible are the two types

Question 11

fee simple absolute

Answer 11

highest interest in real estate recognized by law; holder entitled to all right of property

Question 12

fee simple defeasible

Answer 12

qualified estates, subject to occurrence or nonoccurrence of some event; 2 types include “condition subsequent” and “fee simple determinable” (a special limitation)

Question 13

condition subsequent

Answer 13

new owner must not perform some specified activity; if so, former owner can retake property through legal action

Question 14

fee simple determinable

Answer 14

qualiied by a special limiitation using “so long as” or “while” or “during”. former owner has “possibility of reverter” where they can retake property without going to court

Question 15

life estate

Answer 15

freehold estate limited in duration to life of the owner or another designated person; not inheritable

Question 16

life tenant

Answer 16

rights of ownership and possession like fee simple, but can’t harm the property. ability to use it limited to official owner’s lifetime

Question 17

conventional life estate

Answer 17

created intentionally by the owner. estate conveyed to an individual called the life tenant. when that person dies, estate goes on to a pre-assigned person or back to original owner

Question 18

pur autre vie

Answer 18

life estate based on the lifetime of a person other than the life tenant

Question 19

remainderman, remainder interest

Answer 19

in a conventaional life estate, the person to whom the property will pass when the life estate ends

Question 20

reversionary interest

Answer 20

when a life esate ends, the property goes back to original owner

Question 21

legal life estate

Answer 21

not created voluntarily by owner; establised by state law (dower, curtesy, and homestead are 3 types)

Question 22

dower

Answer 22

life estate that a wife has in real estate of deceased husband

Question 23

curtesy

Answer 23

interest that husband has in deceased wife’s real property

Question 24

homestead

Answer 24

legal life estate occupied as the family home where home is protected from unsecured creditors

Question 25

encumbrance

Answer 25

claim, charge, or liability that attaches to real estate; 2 categories - leins (monetary charges) and encombrances (restrictions, encroachments, licenses, easements)

Question 26

lein

Answer 26

charge against property that proivdes security for a debt or an obligation of the property owner (like real estate taxes, mortgages, judgements, mechanics’ leins)

Question 27

deed restrictions

Answer 27

private agreements that affect land use and “run with the land”

Question 28

covenants, conditions, restrictions

Answer 28

private agreements typically imposed by developer or subdivider to maintain specific standards

Question 29

easement

Answer 29

right to use the land of another for a particular purpose

Question 30

appurtenant easement

Answer 30

attached to ownership of one parcel and allows the owner the use of a neighbor’s land

Question 31

servient tenement

Answer 31

land which serves the other property

Question 32

dominant tenement

Answer 32

the dominating party benefited by the easement

Question 33

easement in gross

Answer 33

individual or company interest in or right to use someone else’s land

Question 34

easement by necessity

Answer 34

by court order, buyer of land must have rights to enter (ingress) and exit (egress), by way of seller’s remaining land

Question 35

easement by prescription

Answer 35

made use of another’s land for a certain period of time; use must be continuous, exclusive, and without owner’s approval (adverse); use must also be visible, open, and notorious (owner must have been able to learn of it)

Question 36

easement by condemnation

Answer 36

acquired for public purpose, through right of eminent domain; owner of servient tenement must be compensated for any loss in property value

Question 37

license

Answer 37

personal privilege (not a right) to enter the land of another for a specific purpose

Question 38

encroachments

Answer 38

all or part of a structure illegally extends byond the land of its owner

Question 39

spot survey

Answer 39

shows the location of all improvements located on a property and whether they extend over the lot or building lines

Question 40

survey sketch

Answer 40

shows only lot dimensions

Question 41

riparian rights

Answer 41

common law rights granted to owners of land along course of a river, strea, or similar body of flowing water; non-navigable

Question 42

littoral rights

Answer 42

rights of property owners whose land borders commerically navigable lakes, seas, and oceans (littoral and riparian are appurtenant - attached - to the land)

Question 43

accretion

Answer 43

owner entitled to all land resulting from deposit of soil by water’s action; reliction is new land acquired by water receding

Question 44

erosion

Answer 44

losing land by land being worn away by nature

Question 45

avulsion

Answer 45

removal of land by sudden act of nature

Question 46

doctrine of prior appropriation

Answer 46

right to use water is controlled by state, not landowner adjacent to the water