Summary of my lecture notes and readings for every module in first year Intro to Property Law. Written in 'question-answer' format to help with memorising and covers all major issues, cases, etc. for the multiple choice exam.
Helped me get 100% on the exam, so hopefully it helps you too!
● Defined as a bundle of rights by Hohfeld
● Defined as a manmade construct to control the allocation of finite resources by Kohler
● Defined as a network of jural relationships by Gray and Gray
● Defined as control over access and a relative concept by Gray
2. Judicial definitions of property (4)
● Defined as the bundle of rights and obligations relating to a building in R (Lord Chancellor) v
Chief Land Registrar
● Defined as the right to use and enjoy, exclude others and alienate in Milirrpum v Nabalco Pty Ltd
● Defined as a legally endorsed concentration of power of things in Yanner v Eaton
● Defined as any thing in action or interest in real or personal property in S205 LPA 1925
3. Features of real property (3)
● Is land, including all corporeal and incorporeal hereditaments
● Is permanent, of limited supply, indestructible, capable of multiple use, treated as unique, needed
for human survival, and easier to protect
● Can be used as a private resource, a home, a source of wealth-creation, a community resource,
etc.
4. Features of personal property (3)
● Is property other than land, including chattels real and chattels personal (choses in possession and
choses in action)
● Isn’t always permanent, is easily destructible, and not usually capable of multiple use
● Can be used as a private or community resource
5. What’s included within land? (3)
● Is an old Latin maxim which means everything up to the sky and down below to the centre of the
Earth is included within the concept of land (cuius est solum…)
● Seen in an advert in a shop’s airspace being trespass in Kelsen v Imperial Tobacco Co
● Isn’t an absolute maxim; there’s no right to airspace above a height necessary for ordinary use
and enjoyment of the land (Bernstein of Leigh v Skyviews & General Ltd)
6. Test for fixtures (4)
● Set out in Holland v Hodgson
,● Something is a fixture depending on the degree of annexation (how firmly it’s attached to land)
and purpose of annexation
● e.g. sculpture a chattel in Tower Hamlets LBC v Bromley LBC because it didn’t form part of the
integral design of the land and conferred an equal benefit on all people
● e.g. bungalow a fixture in Elitestone Ltd v Morris because required a high degree of annexation to
remove it
7. Features of proprietary rights (3)
● Are enforceable against third parties (in rem rather than in personam)
● Needs to be definable, identifiable by third parties, capable of assumption and have some degree
of permanence or stability (National Provincial Bank v Ainsworth)
● Doctrine of numerus clausus means there’s a limited number of property rights
8. Need to propertise (3)
● Need to propertise something in order to exercise complete control over it
● Not successful in Victoria Park Racing and Recreation Grounds Co Ltd v Taylor because you
cannot propertise a spectacle
● Certain resources are incapable of propertising, including physically, legally and morally
non-excludable resources
, TOPIC 2: OWNERSHIP
1. Academic definitions of ownership (2)
● Hohfeld says it’s a bundle of rights (e.g. rights of use, possession, profit, etc.)
● Pollock says it’s ‘the entirety of the powers of use and disposal allowed by the law’
2. Academic definitions of possession and title (3)
● Said in Mabo v Queensland that possession defines the ‘nature and status of a particular
relationship of control’ whereas title is the ‘abstract bundle of rights’ associated with this
possession
● Gray and Gray define title as the right/entitlement of an owner to assert their estate in land against
strangers
● Title is relative - Birks says the law will ‘protect a good title against a bad one, and a bad one
against a worse one’
3. When does(n’t) a finder have better title? (2)
● Finders have better title where the owner doesn’t manifest an intention to control things found on
their land (Parker v British Airways Board)
● Occupier will have a better title when the object is an integral part of realty that is part and parcel
of the land meaning finder has to do something to detach it, and it’s unlikely the original owner
will return to claim in (Waverley Borough Council v Fletcher)
4. What is treasure? (7)
● Statutory definition given in Treasure Act 1996
● Is an object other than a coin which is at least 300 years old and 10% precious metal
● Is a coin which is at least 300 years old, 10% precious metal and there’s at least 10
● Is a designated object under S2
● Is a treasure trove (substantially made of gold or silver, original owner unknown and was
concealed with the intention of being recovered)
● Is at least 200 years old and the Secretary of State considers it to be of outstanding historical,
archaeological or cultural importance
● Finder needs to report finds of objects they reasonably believe to be treasure within 14 days (S8)
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