Understanding what is property, without that understanding you can not begin to have property rights!

The Legal Definition of Property

The legal definition of property most often refers not to a particular physical object, but rather to the legal bundle of rights recognized in that object, which bundle of rights includes the rights to possess, use, and dispose of a particular article. (1) The term "property" embodies more than just physical, corporeal assets; it can include intangible entities, such as rights and interests. (2) As a matter of legal definition, "property" refers not to a particular material object, but to the right and interest in an object; (3) as to a thing, "property" does not consist merely in its ownership or possession, but also in the lawful, unrestricted right of its use, enjoyment, and disposal. (4) In its precise legal sense, property is nothing more than a collection of rights; (5) indeed, "property," in law, is not the material object itself, but is the right and interest or domination rightfully obtained over such object, with the unrestricted right to its use, enjoyment, and disposition. (6) The right to exclude others, as well as their property, is one of the most essential sticks in the bundle of rights that are commonly characterized as property. (7) While ownership of real property does not always mean absolute dominion, the right to exclude persons is a fundamental aspect of private property ownership, (8) and inherent in one's ownership of real property is the right to exclude uninvited visitors. (9) Ownership of property implies the right of possession and control, and includes the right to exclude others; thus, the true owner of land exercises full dominion and control over it and possesses the right to expel trespassers. (10) Property has also been described as the unrestricted and exclusive right to a thing, the right to dispose of it in every legal way, to possess it, use it, and to exclude everyone else from interfering with it. (11) The term is generally used in this sense in the federal and state constitutional guarantees against deprivation of property without due process of law, (12) and as so used, the word signifies the sum of all the rights and powers incident to ownership. (13)

Property interests are not created by the Federal Constitution, but rather by existing rules or understandings that stem from an independent source such as state law. (14)

Generally, the common law concept of "property" refers to the right and interest that a person has in an object, which extends beyond ownership and possession to include the lawful, unrestricted right of use, enjoyment, and disposal of the object. (15) In contemporary jurisprudence, "property" refers to the various incorporeal ownership rights in a res, such as the right to possess, to enjoy the income from it, to alienate, or to recover ownership from one who has improperly obtained title to the res, as well as to the actual physical object of these rights. (16)

Footnotes

1. R.S.W.W., Inc. v. City of Keego Harbor, 397 F.3d 427, 2005 FED App. 0065P (6th Cir. 2005).
2. Solomon v. Solomon, 383 Md. 176, 857 A.2d 1109 (2004).
3. U.S. v. General
4. Motors Corporation, 323 U.S. 373, 65 S. Ct. 357, 89 L. Ed. 311, 156 A.L.R. 390 (1945); Howlett v. Doglio, 402 Ill. 311, 83 N.E.2d 708, 6 A.L.R.2d 790 (1949).
5. South Carolina Dept. of Highways and Public Transp. v. Balcome, 289 S.C. 243, 345 S.E.2d 762 (Ct. App. 1986); Sammons v. American Auto. Ass'n, 912 P.2d 1103 (Wyo. 1996).
6. Matter of Valuation Proceedings Under Sections 303(c) and 306 of Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973, 445 F. Supp. 994 (Regional Rail Reorg. Ct. 1977); U.S. v. General Motors Corporation, 323 U.S. 373, 65 S. Ct. 357, 89 L. Ed. 311, 156 A.L.R. 390 (1945) (used accurately, "property" denotes the group of rights inhering in the citizen's relation to the physical thing, as the right to possess, use, and dispose of it).
7. Howlett v. Doglio, 402 Ill. 311, 83 N.E.2d 708, 6 A.L.R.2d 790 (1949); City of Akron v. Chapman, 160 Ohio St. 382, 52 Ohio Op. 242, 116 N.E.2d 697, 42 A.L.R.2d 1140 (1953).
8. Dolan v. City of Tigard, 512 U.S. 374, 114 S. Ct. 2309, 129 L. Ed. 2d 304 (1994); Novelty Crystal Corp. v. PSA Institutional Partners, L.P., 49 A.D.3d 113, 850 N.Y.S.2d 497 (2d Dep't 2008).
9. People v. Tapia, 129 Cal. App. 4th 1153, 29 Cal. Rptr. 3d 158 (2d Dist. 2005).
10. LT-WR, L.L.C. v. California Coastal Com'n, 152 Cal. App. 4th 770, 60 Cal. Rptr. 3d 417 (2d Dist. 2007), as modified, (June 21, 2007).
11. Sammons v. American Auto. Ass'n, 912 P.2d 1103 (Wyo. 1996).
12. Washington Medical Center, Inc. v. U. S., 211 Ct. Cl. 145, 545 F.2d 116 (1976).
13. Am. Jur. 2d, Constitutional Law §§ 581 to 588; Am. Jur. 2d, Eminent Domain § 88.
14. Nashville, C. & St. L. Ry. v. Wallace, 288 U.S. 249, 53 S. Ct. 345, 77 L. Ed. 730, 87 A.L.R. 1191 (1933); State St. Furniture Co. v. Armour & Co., 345 Ill. 160, 177 N.E. 702, 76 A.L.R. 1298 (1931).
15. Delaware v. New York, 507 U.S. 490, 113 S. Ct. 1550, 123 L. Ed. 2d 211 (1993) (law that creates property necessarily defines the legal relationships under which certain parties, or debtors, must discharge obligations to other parties or creditors); Webb's Fabulous Pharmacies, Inc. v. Beckwith, 449 U.S. 155, 101 S. Ct. 446, 66 L. Ed. 2d 358 (1980); Rural Gas, Inc. v. North Cent. Kansas Production Credit Corp., 243 Kan. 109, 755 P.2d 529, 6 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d 827 (1988).
16. Reese v. Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 177 Md. App. 102, 934 A.2d 1009 (2007).
17. First Charter Land Corp. v. Fitzgerald, 643 F.2d 1011 (4th Cir. 1981).

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