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PERSONAL PROPERTY
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See also:PERSONAL See also:PROPERTY , one See also:branch of the See also:main See also:division of the See also:English See also:law of property, the other being " real property." The division of property into real and personal represents in a See also:great measure the division into immovable and movable incidentally recognized in See also:Roman law and generally adopted since. " Things personal," according to See also:Blackstone, " are goods, See also:money, and all other movables which may attend the owner's See also:person wherever he thinks proper to go " (See also:Comm. ii. 16). This See also:identification of things personal with movables, though logical in theory, does not, as will be seen, perfectly See also:express the English law, owing to the somewhat anomalous position of chattels real. In See also:England real property is supposed to be See also:superior in dignity to personal property, which was originally of little importance from a legal point of view. This view is the result of feudal ideas, and had no See also:place in the Roman See also:system, in which immovables and movables were dealt with as far as possible in the same manner, and descended according to the same rules. The main See also:differences between real and personal property which still exist in England are these. (I) In real property there can be nothing more than limited ownership; there can be no See also:estate properly so called in personal property, and it may be held in See also:complete ownership. There is nothing corresponding to an estate-tail in personal property; words which in real property would create an estate-tail will give an See also:absolute See also:interest in personalty. A See also:life-interest may, however, be given in personalty, except in articles quae ipso usu consumuntur. Limitations of personal property, equally with those of real property, fall within the See also:rule against perpetuities. (2) Personal property is not subject to various incidents of real property, such as See also:rent, See also:dower or See also:escheat. (3) On the See also:death of the owner intestate real property descends to the See also:heir; personal property is divided according to the See also:Statute of Distributions. (4) Real property as a See also:general rule must be transferred by See also:deed; personal property does not need so See also:solemn a mode of See also:transfer. (5) Contracts See also:relating to real property must be in See also:writing by the Statute of Frauds, 29 See also:Car. II. c. 3, s. 4; contracts relating to personal property need only be in writing when it is expressly so provided by statute, as, for instance, in the cases falling under s. 17 of the Statute of Frauds. (6) A will of lands need not be proved, but a will of personalty or of personal and real property together must be proved in See also:order to give a See also:title to those claiming under it. (7) Devises of real estate fall as a rule within the See also:Mortmain Acts (see CHARITY AND CHARITIES; See also:CORPORATION); bequests of personal property, other than chattels real, are not within the See also:act. (8) Mortgages of real property need not generally be registered; mortgages of personal property for the most See also:part require See also:registration under the Bills of See also:Sale Acts (see See also:PLEDGE, and See also:BILL OF SALE). Personal estate is divided in English law into chattels real and chattels personal; the latter are again divided into choses in See also:possession and choses in See also:action (see See also:CHATTEL; See also:CHOSE). Interest in personal property may be either absolute or qualified. The latter See also:case is illustrated by animals ferae naturae, in which property is only coextensive with detention. Personal property may be acquired by occupancy (including the accessio, commixtio, and confusio of Roman law), by invention, as patent and copy-right, or by transfer, either by the act of the law (as in See also:bankruptcy,See also:judgment and See also:intestacy), or by the act of the party (as in See also:gift, See also:contract and will). There are several cases in which, by statute or otherwise, property is taken out of the class of real or personal to which it seems naturally to belong. By the operation of the equitable See also:doctrine of See also:conversion money directed to be employed in the See also:purchase of See also:land, or land directed to be turned into money, is in general regarded as that See also:species of property into which it is directed to be converted. An example of property prima facie real which is treated as personal is an estate pur autre See also:vie, which, since 14 Geo. II. c. 20, s. 9, 1740–1741 (now replaced by the See also:Wills Act 1837, s. 6) is distributable as personal property in the See also:absence of a See also:special occupant. Examples of property prima facie personal which is treated as real are See also:fixtures, heirlooms, such as deeds and See also:family portraits, and shares in some of the older companies, as the New See also:River See also:Company, which are real estate by statute. In See also:ordinary cases shares in companies are personal property, unless the shareholders have individually some interest in the land as land. The terms heritable and movable of Scots law to a great extent correspond with the real and personal of English law. The main points of difference are these. (1) Leases are heritable as to the See also:succession to the lessee, unless the destination expressly exclude heirs, but are movable as to the See also:fisk. (2) Money due on mortgages and securities on land is personalty in England. At See also:common law in See also:Scotland debts secured on heritable property are themselves heritable. But by the Titles to Land Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1868, s. 117, heritable securities are movable as far as regards the succession of the creditor, unless executors are expressly excluded. They still, however, remain heritable quoad fiscum, as between See also:husband and wife, in computing See also:legitim, and as far as regards the succession of the debtor. (3) Up to 1868 the heir of heritage succeeded to certain movable goods called heirship movables, which See also:bore a strong likeness to the heirlooms of English law. This right of the heir was abolished by the act of 1868, s. 16o. (4) Annuities, as having tractum futuri ternporis, are heritable, and an See also:obligation to pay them falls upon the heir of the deceased (See also:Watson, Law Dict. s.v. " Annuities "). The law in the See also:United States agrees in most respects with that of England. Heirlooms are unknown, one See also:reason being, no doubt, that the importance of title-deeds is much less than it is in England, owing to the operation of the Registration Acts. See also:Long terms in some states have annexed to them the properties of See also:freehold estates. In some states estates pur autre vie descend like real property; in others an estate pur autrg vie is deemed a freehold only during the life of the grantee; after his death it becomes a chattel real. In yet other states the heir has a scintilla of interest as special occupant (See also:Kent, Comm. iv. 27). In some states railway See also:rolling-stock is considered as purely personal, in others it has been held to be a fixture, and so to partake of the nature of real property. Shares in some of the See also:early See also:American corporations were, like New River shares in England, made real estate by statute, as in the case of the Cape See also:Sable Company in See also:Maryland (See also:Schouler, Law of Personal Property, i.). In See also:Louisiana animals employed in husbandry are, and slaves were, regarded as immovables. Pews in churches are generally real property, but in some states they are made personal property by statute. The See also:assignment of choses in action is generally permitted, and is in most states regulated by statute. (J. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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