Care to
Choose Your Own Background Music
If you want to change the music just click on another selection.
The default music currently is "Samba". My favorite is Number 5
Summer Day - A bluesy sort.
Cake Walk - How about a little mild Rag Time.
Dueling Banjos - From the movie "Deliverance". Hot Durn!
Romance - A classical guitar type, smooth and mellow.
Blues In The Evening - A real folksy blues song.
Property is anything that can be
possessed and disposed of in a legal manner. Running water in a stream is not anyone's
property, because no one possesses it. If one, however, lawfully takes water from a stream
in a container, the water in the container becomes property. In a legal sense property is
the aggregate of legal rights of individuals with respect to objects and obligations owed
to them by others that are guaranteed and protected by the government. Ownership of
property is classified as either private or public. Private property is ownership by an
individual or individuals, whereas public ownership implies possession by some kind of a
governmental unit. In another sense property is classified as either real or personal.
Real property, also known as realty, is land, any buildings that may be on the land, any
mineral rights under the land, and anything that is attached to the land or buildings with
the intention that it remain there permanently. Personal property, also known legally as
personalty (and sometimes as chattels), is simply defined as any property that is not real
property.
History
The concept of property goes far back into history. Some historians, particularly
Marxists, have maintained that the earliest societies were communistic; that is, all
property was held and used in common. Records of primitive societies, however, indicate a
degree of private ownership of personal property. Private ownership of real
property--the land itself--is apparently a much later concept, one that evolved after
nomadic tribes settled down in permanent agricultural communities. Even in agricultural
societies the land was often considered the property of the tribe or of a clan within the
tribe and was rarely privately owned. Even as late as the Middle Ages the absolute
ownership of the land by its individual occupants was unusual. Under feudalism, for
example, land was held subject to obligations to a superior lord. The breakdown of the
feudal system gradually destroyed the feudal relationship between lord and vassal, and the
settlement of the New World increased by millions of acres the available land. In the
Western Hemisphere absolute ownership of the land became the norm.
During most of human history, real property--the land itself--was considered the greatest
source of wealth. With the coming of the Industrial Revolution, however, personal
property--especially in the form of stocks and bonds--gradually outstripped land as the
basis of the industrial nations' wealth. Classical Marxism views the private ownership of
both forms of property as symptoms of the capitalist system that needs to be abolished to
make way for a communist society. Therefore, in traditional communist nations very little
real property and wealth-producing personal property is individually owned. Private
ownership is generally limited to such personal articles as furniture and clothing. Small
farms and dwellings in some Marxist countries remain privately owned, but most land is
cooperatively owned. In the reformist and democratic socialist countries a mixture of
private and public ownership of property generally prevails.
Real Property
When a house is bought the purchase includes, as real property, the land, the buildings on
the land, and such items as are permanently attached to the buildings. Known legally as
fixtures, these items include the heating system, built-in kitchen cabinets, attached
plumbing appliances, and fitted carpets. Mineral and timber rights may or may not be
included with the land; some jurisdictions permit landowners to sell or lease their
mineral and timber rights to an outside party, a contract that continues in effect when
the land is sold to another party.
Perhaps because land was traditionally the main source of wealth, the transfer of real
property from one owner to another used to be much more complicated than the transfer of
personal property. Since the Middle Ages this difference has diminished. Two basic
instruments of transfer are used: the deed and the will. The government may cause land to
pass from some form of public ownership to private ownership by a grant (and reclaim
private land for public use by eminent domain). Much of the land in the American West, for
example, was granted by the government to the original settlers. When the owner of real
property sells to another person, the instrument of transfer is the deed (which is a
document attesting to ownership), and the transfer by deed must be recorded by the county
clerk or registrar (see Torrens system). Deeds may contain restrictions, which vary from
state to state, on how the purchaser may use the real property.
When an owner chooses to leave his or her property to another person upon death, a will
effects the transfer. Where property is in the names of two or more persons with the right
of survivorship or in the names of a husband and wife (see joint tenancy), no owner can
will to anyone he or she chooses; the property must pass to the survivor or survivors. In
most modern jurisdictions, however, owners of real property are free to will it to
whomever they choose (although in the United States spouses--and in some states
descendants--are protected against total disinheritance; see inheritance). Real property
can also be acquired by adverse possession. Adverse possession occurs when one who is not
the owner takes possession of land under some claim of right and uses the land for a
period set by statute.
Personal Property
Personal property is classified as tangible or intangible. Tangible personal property is
any physical object (other than real property) with intrinsic value--an automobile, for
example. Intangible personal property includes copyrights, franchise agreements, patents,
stocks, bonds, personal annuities, leases, and business goodwill.
The transfer of ownership of personal property is generally quite simple; the most common
transfer of personal property is the retail sales transaction. The transfer of intangible
property often requires the formal reregistration of the property in the new owner's name
(as does the transfer of such registered tangible properties as automobiles). Personal
property may also be transferred by will
Copyright © 2000
- 2007 Brenda Rose - Broker/Owner