The term property is commonly used to denote objects, which are owned
In a wider sense, the term includes all those rights which a person can or has and can be
exercised for instance, right to life, personal liberty, reputation, and all those rights which he can
exercise against others.
Salmond says that the law of property is law of propriety rights, also rights in rem.
The law of proprietary rights ‘in personam’ is distinguished from the former as the law of
obligations
According to him, property has been termed in a variety of senses
Legal rights-all rights, entitled by way of law
Proprietary rights-means land chattel, shares or debt, but does not include right to life and
reputation
Corporeal pro- includes only property, which is real that is to say lands chattel et cetera, it does
not include shares or debts as property.
Austin suggests that property is the greatest enjoyment which a person holds. Include whole of
assets whether personal or proprietary.
Kinds of property
Corporeal
Which may be subdivided into
movable and immovable
and real and personal property
Incorporeal
Can be subdivided into
I.Jura in re aliena-> leave, servitude, securities, trusts
II. Jura in re propria-> patent, copyright, commercial Goodwill
1.Real and personal property
Real property includes land plus the buildings xtures permanently attached to it. It does not
include movable property which is categorised as personal property.
Trees and other plants naturally growing on the land are also part of real property.
But the plants that require human cultivation and labour aren’t treated as such.
2.Personal property
First and foremost it is not a real property
I. Chattels
The term chattel sometimes refers to all kinds of personal property, but often it refers only to
tangible personal property
Chattels A xed to land-> xtures
II. Intangibles
Involving legal right
A person can own all sorts of intangible things, for example, bank account, franchises and
licenses, insurance policies, stocks, bonds, et cetera
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Rights in repropria or Jura in re propria
Proprietary rights are of both material as well as non-material things; material thing is a physical
object and non-material thing can be understood as a right attached to that material thing or even
other material
Writes in repropria is mainly over non-material things
The person having right over the thing which he attains due to his skill and labour.
De nitions
Austin-property is the greatest enjoyment, which a person holds includes whole of assets,
whether personal or proprietary.
Hobbs and Blackstone- property, which is entitled by law, that is legal right
Modes of acquisition of property
According to Salmond, four kinds of acquisition of property are there
1.Possession
Physical control over a property-prima facie evidence of ownership
According to him, a person having possession of a property, enjoys a good title against the third
person, except for the true owner.
Armony vs Delomine
2.Prescription
According to Salmond prescription is the e ect of lapse of time in creating and destroying right,
two kinds of prescription are there-
Positive prescription and negative prescription
A prescription is positive when a right over property is acquired by lapse of time
A prescription is negative when right over property is destroyed, viz. Time bar debt.
3.Agreement
Property can also be acquired by an agreement in force by law
An agreement has four essential elements-
1. There should be two or more parties to the agreement.
2. Mutual consent of parties should be there.
3. It should be communicated
4. There should be common intention to a ect the legal relationship.
Case Miller versus Collins
4.Inheritance
When a person dies, there are some of his rights, which are transferred to his heirs and
successors whereas there are some other rights which cannot be transferred.
Theories that have evolved for the purpose of understanding the concept of property are
Historical theory
Concept of private property had grown out of collective group or joint property
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Labour theory
Psychological
Functional
Philosophical
