Four Different Kinds of Property
Property in the legal sense is attains with anything or by something, whether on a physical level or as an aspect of that thing. It is not necessarily confined to the real world but includes the intangible and the abstract as well. While some people may perceive property to be tangible or even personified in form, it can also be abstracted and found in forms that cannot be categorized as such. Some examples include business shares and benefits, patents, copyrights, inventions and trademarks.
Property rights are actually limited by law, unlike civil law that allows for more latitude in defining and regulating the ownership of property. In civil law, there are certain formalities and restrictions that must be followed before claiming and transferring ownership of a certain piece of property. Civil laws do not specify who has the initial right to the property, as opposed to private property ownership which can be passed down from parents to their children, uncles or aunties. There is also no way of avoiding conflicts and disputes when claiming ownership of something; this is why in most cases, it is better for individuals to rely on their own legal expertise rather than taking matters into their own hands and engage in a property transfer transaction without the necessary legal know-how. The purchase, sale and transfer of property is not just a matter of land ownership; it can also be related to other forms of exchanges, like interests in investments, shares, property rights and so on.
Property rights can differ from one person to another, and this is especially true with respect to intangible forms of property. For example, an individual can have the right to use the property, while another individual can claim exclusive possession of it through a simple decedent’s deed. In the case of physical property, ownership is given according to the legal rights and privileges that an individual has been accorded through the instrumentum mandamus or through inheritance, so that if there are any defects in the transfer process, it can be rectified at will.
Property in abstract in a legal sense can be defined as the rights and privileges associated with the ownership of a thing, and as such, it is relatively easy to comprehend. However, it is much more complicated to understand when talking about an abstract property, especially one that does not have anything to do with physical resources. The most common type of abstract property is the right to enjoy a protected status, which can either be in the form of income, gain, loss, or a combination of these, against another individual, including his dependents. This right is known as ‘Privileges of Privilege’ in legal terms, and in essence, it allows an individual to enjoy certain benefits even without any tangible assets to back them up.
Another common form of abstract property is ‘Immunities’. Like privileges, immunities allow an individual to enjoy certain benefits against the claims of others. These include privileges against personal injury, actions by third parties against the owner of the property, as well as against any claim of wrong or damage to the property. This is the basis of’Property Law’ in most European countries.
A third kind of property is that of ‘cession’. Acession is a legal right to use property against the interests of another individual. This right is sometimes referred to as ‘Exclusive Right of Occupation’, and is sometimes used in different legal contexts to describe the right to occupy a property without having to pay for it. For instance, a person who occupies a piece of land can set up a dairy farm on the land, but will not be able to access the dairy cow unless he has access to a legal tort or property ladder.
A fourth legal form of property is tenancy. This refers to the transfer of legal rights from one individual to another. In simple terms, tenancy means that a person has the legal right to occupy a certain property until another individual transfers the ownership of that property to himself. This is most often seen in cases where two individuals share ownership of a piece of property. For instance, if two neighbours own a house and lease it to each other, they have the right to occupy the house to the other one leave it, after which the new owner can occupy the vacant house.
Finally, the last kind of property is ‘cumulative interest’. This means that a person is permitted to benefit by owning certain types of property without paying any rent for it. This is one of the oldest and most common forms of property ownership and is used frequently in Spain. In United Kingdom, landlords hold the record of the cumulative interest in certain kinds of property.