History of Property

	Revision 9 . . (edit) October 27, 2001 9:54 pm by Tsja
	Revision 8 . . August 27, 2001 4:26 pm by (logged).111.140.xxx
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Difference (from prior major revision) (minor diff, author diff)

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Property rights in common law countries, e.g. the United States, are usually thought of as a bundle of rights. Traditionally, they are: (1) control over use, (2) right to benefits of property (e.g. mining royalities, farm royalties, etc.), and to (3) transfer or sell. Sometimes a fourth is listed, the right to exclude others, e.g. non-owners.

Property rights in common law countries, e.g. the United States, are usually thought of as a bundle of rights. Traditionally, they are: (1) control over use, (2) right to benefits of property (e.g. mining royalities, farm royalties, etc.), and to (3) transfer or sell. Sometimes a fourth is listed, the right to exclude others, e.g. non-owners.

Changed: 9c9,13

In common law, property is divided into two main classes:

Types of Property Most legal systems distinguish between different types of property, especially between land and all other forms of property. They also often distinguish between tangible and intangible property as well. In common law, property is divided into:

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Personal property in turn can be divided into tangible property (such as cars, clothing, animals) and intangible or abstract property (stocks, bonds, bank deposits, derivatives, options, futures, patents, copyrights, trademarks, etc.), which includes intellectual property (though some disagree with the use of the term intellectual property).

Personal property in turn is divided into tangible property (such as cars, clothing, animals) and intangible or abstract property (stocks, bonds, bank deposits, derivatives, options, futures, patents, copyrights, trademarks, etc.), which includes intellectual property (though some disagree with the use of the term intellectual property). What can be property? Not everything can be property; only those things which others can economically be excluded from can be considered property. Thus the air and the water in the sea belong to no one; though once stored in bottles or tanks, they can be considered property. Traditionally many things existed that did not legally have an owner, such as commons (land belonging to everyone). But over centuries and millennia law in all societies has tended to develop towards reducing the number of things not having clear owners. This enables better protection of scarce resources, due to the tragedy of the commons. But there are many things today which still do not have owners: seawater, the seafloor (though due to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, some of it can now be considered in some ways property), celestial bodies, land in Antarctica.

Added: 14a25

The human body is also often not considered something capable of being legally property of anyone.

Added: 15a27

In many ancient legal systems (e.g. early Roman law), religious sites (e.g. temples) were considered property of the God or Gods they were devoted to. However, religious pluralism makes it more convenient to have religious sites owned by the religious body that runs them.