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Overview of Property Law

• Property law governs ownership of real and personal property, including intellectual property, and can be exchanged through contract law.

• The concept of property underlies all property law, and historically, property was owned by the monarch and devolved through feudal land tenure or other feudal systems.

• Property rights are non-legally recognized or documented property rights known as informal property rights and can vary among local residents.

• Five general justifications have been given for private property rights, while arguments in favor of limiting private property rights have also been raised.

• John Locke asserted the right of an individual to own one part of the world and claimed that the object becomes the property of that person when a person works on it.

• Property rights are rights over things enforceable against all other persons, while contractual rights are rights enforceable against particular persons.

• Property rights are also distinguished from personal rights, and personal rights and property rights have different legal relationships.

• The division of land and chattels has been criticized as being unsatisfactory as a basis for categorizing the principles of property law.

• The concept of possession developed from a legal system whose principal concern was to avoid civil disorder, and a person in possession of land or goods, even as a wrongdoer, is entitled to take action against anyone interfering with the possession.

• The most common method of acquiring an interest in property is as the result of a consensual transaction with the previous owner, for example, a sale, a gift, or through inheritance, while non-consensual transfers include cases of death, bankruptcy, or court judgments.

• Tax sales and eminent domain are processes by which individuals can be forcibly deprived of their private property, and the state uses eminent domain power to buy out private property from individuals for public use.

• Property law is characterised by a great deal of historical continuity and technical terminology, and the basic distinction in common law systems is between real property (land) and personal property (chattels).Overview of Property Law

• Meeting regulatory standards and building codes is necessary to construct property and failure to do so can result in legal fines, destruction of property, inability to receive building permits, and increased liability.

• KELO V. NEW LONDON (04-108) 545 U.S. 469 (2005) was a case that expanded the eminent domain power of the state, allowing private property to be condemned and transferred to a private company.

• The term "legal successor" refers to a legally established successor of property rights or liabilities in terms of debt.

• The regulation of leases has changed over time with the growth of cities and consumerism, leading to the need for assessment of residential tenancy laws in terms of protection they provide to tenants.

• Ownership of property has some limitations, such as citizenship and competency of maintaining property.

• Group ownership of property, also known as co-tenancy or concurrent ownership, is common and includes joint tenancy, tenancy in common, and tenancy by the entirety, each with their own characteristics.

• Corporations are legal non-human entities that are entitled to property rights and are the majority owners of property, created under incorporation statutes.

• The state can have different roles concerning property, including facilitator, protector, and owner, with the federal government owning roughly 28% of the land in the United States.

• Communist ideals oppose private property laws and advocate for full state/public ownership of property, although Marxist-Leninist societies have forms of private property laws.

• Private property ownership can be limited by the state through zoning laws, eminent domain, and other regulations.

• Property can be subject to taxes, including property taxes and inheritance taxes.

• Property law varies across different jurisdictions.