Definitions of Property in English Law - Essay Example

For instance, the Law of Property Act 1925 classifies property in terms of real and personal property, rather than defining it1. Therefore, the most common definition of property is derived from the case laws that emphasize the rights owned or enjoyed by a person that owns the property. This is the position in the holding of National Westminster Bank v. Ainsworth, where the House of Lords held that the right to a property must be definable, identifiable by third parties, capable in its assumption by third parties as well as have a certain level of degree of permanence or stability.

2 This implies that property entails the idea of possession and control of particular rights by an individual. In England, there property may be defined into either private or public property. However, the common position is that property may be defined into the rights of a person with respect to a thing. In common law, which is practiced in England, this may be rights over real property, which is land, as well as personal property, which refers to the chattels. Within this classification, there may be the real property, which refers to the corporeal hereditaments that are the tangible real property and the incorporeal hereditaments that are intangible.

The personal property on the other hand refers to any property that is tangible or intangible but excludes land3. One can only obtain the personal property through possession of a property interest on the property that excludes others. Similarly, the property may be obtained when an owner involuntarily parts possession of it through loss or abandoning it. The person to whom the property is transferred may also obtain it through confusion and accession as well as bailment. A person may also acquire the personal property as a bona fide purchaser for value.