This lesson provides an introductory overview of the distinction between real property and personal property, including the historic origins of the distinction, the consequences of attaching things to land and severing things from land, the significance of fixtures, and examples of intangible property classified as real or personal property.
This lesson teaches about the law of bailments, i.e., the law that controls the rights and duties of a possessor of tangible personal property (goods) who is not the owner.
This lesson addresses inter vivos gifts of property, focusing primarily on personal property (but with a brief discussion of inter vivos gifts of land). The lesson explores the function of the various requirements (donative intent, delivery, and acceptance) for a valid inter vivos gift and the policies implicated by the law of gifts. The lesson includes a wide variety of problems designed to test student understanding of the rules governing inter vivos gifts.
This lesson follows up and builds upon the material in the lesson on Inter Vivos Gifts, but focuses instead upon transfers at death or in anticipation of death.
This lesson covers the law governing the rights of finders of personal property which is generally covered near the beginning of a Property course in law school. It addresses the possibility that the personal property might be lost, mislaid or abandoned because the true owner is unknown.
This lesson provides an introductory overview of adverse possession.
This lesson introduces the student to the doctrine and processes involved in interpreting state and federal statutes. Statutes are a critical part of every substantive area of the law, so this is important background for every student, legal professional, lawyer and judge.
This lesson focuses on the "open and notorious" element of the common law adverse possession standard. This lesson and its accompanying questions should help students understand the following: the rationale behind the "open and notorious" requirement; how courts have applied the "open and notorious" requirement in a variety of different factual settings, including boundary line encroachments, subsurface rights, and "open lands" (large, unenclosed parcels of land not presently suitable for cultivation or development); and how the "open and notorious" requirement relates to the other elements of the common law adverse possession rule.
This lesson focuses upon the concept of "color of title" and the role that it plays in the resolution of adverse possession disputes. The lesson should assist students in understanding: the distinction between claims of possession with color of title and without color of title; the significance of color of title as a basis (in some states) for shortening the statutory period for adverse possession; and the significance of color of title as a prerequisite for a claim of title by constructive adverse possession.
This lesson focuses upon the requirements that claims of adverse possession must be exclusive, continuous (without interruption), and that the possessor must satisfy all elements of the adverse possession standard for the applicable statutory period.
This lesson focuses upon the requirement that an adverse possession claim must be based upon possession that is sufficiently "hostile" and "under claim of right." This lesson addresses the following topics: the rationale behind the "hostile/under claim of right" requirement and how it relates to the other elements of the common law adverse possession rule; the significance of "permission to occupy land" under adverse possession doctrine, and how to distinguish between permissive and hostile claims; and the legal standards by which differing courts have evaluated the hostility of a possessor’s claim, either by reference to the possessor’s actions (objectively), or state of mind (subjectively).
This lesson concludes the set of lessons on adverse possession with a series of review questions (including true-false, multiple choice, and essay questions) to test overall student understanding of the various elements of the adverse possession standard, as explored in the earlier lessons. This lesson may prove most helpful to students when reviewing the doctrine of adverse possession as part of their exam preparation.