Property law

Property law

Main article: Property law

A painting of the South Sea Bubble, one of the world's first ever speculations and crashes, led to strict regulation on share trading

Property law governs everything that people call 'theirs'. Real property, sometimes called 'real estate' refers to ownership of land and things attached to it.^[32] Personal property, refers to everything else; movable objects, such as computers and sandwiches, or intangible rights, such as stocks and shares. A right 'in rem' is a right to a specific piece of property. If an individual loses his computer and another finds it and it changes hands, a right in rem gives the individual the ability to take the computer from whoever has it. A right 'in personam' however is a right against one specific individual for something equivalent to the property in question. If an individual loses his computer and it passes hands, the right in personam allows the individual to claim the price of the computer from the thief (but not the actual computer, as this might now belong to someone else.) The classic civil law approach to property, propounded by Friedrich Carl von Savigny, is that it is a right good against the world. This contrasts to an obligation, like a contract or tort, which is a right good between individuals.^[33] Preferred in common law jurisdictions is an idea closer to an obligation; that the person who can show the best claim to a piece of property, against any contesting party, is the owner.^[34] The idea of property raises important philosophical and political issues. John Locke famously argued that our "lives, liberties and estates" are our property because we own our bodies and mix our labour with our surroundings.^[35] The idea of privately owned property is still contentious. French philosopher Pierre Proudhon once famously wrote, "property is theft".^[36]

Land law forms the basis for most kinds of property law, and is the most complex. It concerns mortgages, rental agreements, licences, covenants, easements and the statutory systems for registration of land. Regulations on the use of personal property fall under intellectual property, company law, trusts and commercial law.