Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf
STUVIA 2024/2025
Property general study
the first to bring a fugacious resource into possession and control owns the resource. - ✔✔standard
rule of fugacious resources
1. private property: if the fugacious resource was obtained on priv prop, then it is the property of the
owner.
2. difficult to possess fugacious resources: a custom may apply to determine ownership of this limited
type of fugacious resource (ex. whales).
3. wrongful interference: wrongful interference with their efforts is considered an actionable
interference (especially interference with trade).
4. domesticated animals: not fugacious resources (same with animus revertendi). - ✔✔exceptions to
the standard rule of fugacious resources (4)
a finder has a better title to lost property against the whole world except the true owner or prior
possessors. - ✔✔acquisition by find (general principle)
1. lost property: a finder of lost property has better title than all but the true owner and prior
possessors.
2. mislaid property: a finder of mislaid property has no title; title goes to the owner of the locus in quo
%
pending reappearance of the true owner.
3. abandoned property: a finder of abandoned property has full title. - ✔✔3 part rule of finders
1. continuous for a statutory period
2. exclusive and actual
3. open and notorious
4. "hostile" and under "claim of right" - ✔✔Elements of Adverse Possession (4)
usually means "used as continuously as owners tend to do for that type of property." -
✔✔"continuous" meaning under AP
tacking time with an immediate predecessor might be permitted in order to reach the statutory period.
-particularly if there is privity of contract with the prior possessor. - ✔✔"tacking" (for statutory period
in AP)
exclusive = the adverse possessor excludes others just as a true owner would.
actual: some jxs require certain activities for entry to become "actual" through cultivation,
improvement, enclosure. - ✔✔"exclusive" and "actual" (AP #2)
stuvia
Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf
,Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf
STUVIA 2024/2025
-some jxs do not consider small intrusions open and notorious unless the owner had actual
knowledge of the intrusion
-if the encroachment is small enough, but the hardship to remove the encroachment is great enough,
it may be settled through payment to the OG landowner. - ✔✔"open" and "notorious" (AP #3)
1. Majority: state of mind is irrelevant; entry onto another's land is sufficient for establishing hostility
under AP
2. minority: good faith/mistaken mental state required.
3. "maine" rule: bad faith/knowing mental state required. - ✔✔"hostile" state of mind required at
entry: (AP #4)
COLOR of title: refers to a claim founded on a written instrument or a judgement or decree that is for
some reason defective and invalid.
CLAIM of title: a claim to land with the hostility required for AP. Hostility means an interest in the land
as if you were the true owner, against the true owner. - ✔✔Color of title versus claim of title (AP extra
requirement in some jx)
No. - ✔✔Does AP run against Life Estates?
%
a cause of action accrues when an original owner first knew or should have reasonably known of the
location of the chattel and the identity of the possessor of the chattel. - ✔✔Rule of discovery (chattel
property)
inter vivos and causa mortis - ✔✔two types of gifts
an irrevocable transfer of possession in life.
-present and immediate intent to transfer. - ✔✔gift inter vivos
delivery + intent + acceptance + donor's expectation of imminent death from a specific perceived
peril. - ✔✔causa mortis
a donor can revoke a gift causa mortis before death AND if the donor does not die of the specific
imminent peril (and some courts add: but dies from something else) the gift is automatically revoked. -
✔✔Exception to the causa mortis rule
1. donor must INTEND to make a present transfer of an existing interest in the property.
2. donor must DELIVER possession to the donee with the manifested intention to make a gift;
constrictive or symbolic delivery may be permitted if manual delivery is not practical.
3. ACCEPTANCE by the donee. - ✔✔three requirements to make a gift of personal property:
stuvia
Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf
, Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf
STUVIA 2024/2025
if an object can be handed over, it must be. - ✔✔general rule of gifting
handing over a key or some object that will open up access to the subject matter of the gift.
Adequate when:
-the evidence of donative intent is concrete and undisputed.
-there is every indication that the donor intended to make a present transfer of the subject matter of
the gift.
-the steps taken by the donor to effect such a transfer must have been deemed by the donor as
sufficient to pass the donor's interest to the donee. - ✔✔constructive delivery
handing over something symbolic of the property given (ex. a paper reading the gift). - ✔✔symbolic
delivery
yes.
courts should consider: whether the maker intended gift to have no effect until after the maker's
death, or whether he intended it to transfer some present interest. - ✔✔is present delivery possible in
remainder interests?
%
the donor's intent - ✔✔acquisition by creation comes down to...
the right to exclude is recognized as fundamental to full ownership of the bundle of sticks; but those
rights are relative and not absolute. - ✔✔the right to exclude
-necessity: private or public, may justify entry onto the land of another (ex. gov workers accessing
farm workers on farm prop) - ✔✔exception to the right to exclude
generally the law disfavors unlimited/total restraints on alienation, as courts will declare them void
against public policy. the right to sell is almost absolute, but the law permits reasonable restraints on
alienation. - ✔✔the right to alienate/transfer
1. intent to abandon to the world.
2. affirmative voluntary act of abandonment.
3. subsequent appropriation by new party with intent to own. - ✔✔3 elements to the law of
abandonment
personal property can be abandoned, but real property cannot (because land cannot be transferred
orally) - ✔✔Can all types of property be abandoned?
stuvia
Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf
STUVIA 2024/2025
Property general study
the first to bring a fugacious resource into possession and control owns the resource. - ✔✔standard
rule of fugacious resources
1. private property: if the fugacious resource was obtained on priv prop, then it is the property of the
owner.
2. difficult to possess fugacious resources: a custom may apply to determine ownership of this limited
type of fugacious resource (ex. whales).
3. wrongful interference: wrongful interference with their efforts is considered an actionable
interference (especially interference with trade).
4. domesticated animals: not fugacious resources (same with animus revertendi). - ✔✔exceptions to
the standard rule of fugacious resources (4)
a finder has a better title to lost property against the whole world except the true owner or prior
possessors. - ✔✔acquisition by find (general principle)
1. lost property: a finder of lost property has better title than all but the true owner and prior
possessors.
2. mislaid property: a finder of mislaid property has no title; title goes to the owner of the locus in quo
%
pending reappearance of the true owner.
3. abandoned property: a finder of abandoned property has full title. - ✔✔3 part rule of finders
1. continuous for a statutory period
2. exclusive and actual
3. open and notorious
4. "hostile" and under "claim of right" - ✔✔Elements of Adverse Possession (4)
usually means "used as continuously as owners tend to do for that type of property." -
✔✔"continuous" meaning under AP
tacking time with an immediate predecessor might be permitted in order to reach the statutory period.
-particularly if there is privity of contract with the prior possessor. - ✔✔"tacking" (for statutory period
in AP)
exclusive = the adverse possessor excludes others just as a true owner would.
actual: some jxs require certain activities for entry to become "actual" through cultivation,
improvement, enclosure. - ✔✔"exclusive" and "actual" (AP #2)
stuvia
Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf
,Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf
STUVIA 2024/2025
-some jxs do not consider small intrusions open and notorious unless the owner had actual
knowledge of the intrusion
-if the encroachment is small enough, but the hardship to remove the encroachment is great enough,
it may be settled through payment to the OG landowner. - ✔✔"open" and "notorious" (AP #3)
1. Majority: state of mind is irrelevant; entry onto another's land is sufficient for establishing hostility
under AP
2. minority: good faith/mistaken mental state required.
3. "maine" rule: bad faith/knowing mental state required. - ✔✔"hostile" state of mind required at
entry: (AP #4)
COLOR of title: refers to a claim founded on a written instrument or a judgement or decree that is for
some reason defective and invalid.
CLAIM of title: a claim to land with the hostility required for AP. Hostility means an interest in the land
as if you were the true owner, against the true owner. - ✔✔Color of title versus claim of title (AP extra
requirement in some jx)
No. - ✔✔Does AP run against Life Estates?
%
a cause of action accrues when an original owner first knew or should have reasonably known of the
location of the chattel and the identity of the possessor of the chattel. - ✔✔Rule of discovery (chattel
property)
inter vivos and causa mortis - ✔✔two types of gifts
an irrevocable transfer of possession in life.
-present and immediate intent to transfer. - ✔✔gift inter vivos
delivery + intent + acceptance + donor's expectation of imminent death from a specific perceived
peril. - ✔✔causa mortis
a donor can revoke a gift causa mortis before death AND if the donor does not die of the specific
imminent peril (and some courts add: but dies from something else) the gift is automatically revoked. -
✔✔Exception to the causa mortis rule
1. donor must INTEND to make a present transfer of an existing interest in the property.
2. donor must DELIVER possession to the donee with the manifested intention to make a gift;
constrictive or symbolic delivery may be permitted if manual delivery is not practical.
3. ACCEPTANCE by the donee. - ✔✔three requirements to make a gift of personal property:
stuvia
Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf
, Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf
STUVIA 2024/2025
if an object can be handed over, it must be. - ✔✔general rule of gifting
handing over a key or some object that will open up access to the subject matter of the gift.
Adequate when:
-the evidence of donative intent is concrete and undisputed.
-there is every indication that the donor intended to make a present transfer of the subject matter of
the gift.
-the steps taken by the donor to effect such a transfer must have been deemed by the donor as
sufficient to pass the donor's interest to the donee. - ✔✔constructive delivery
handing over something symbolic of the property given (ex. a paper reading the gift). - ✔✔symbolic
delivery
yes.
courts should consider: whether the maker intended gift to have no effect until after the maker's
death, or whether he intended it to transfer some present interest. - ✔✔is present delivery possible in
remainder interests?
%
the donor's intent - ✔✔acquisition by creation comes down to...
the right to exclude is recognized as fundamental to full ownership of the bundle of sticks; but those
rights are relative and not absolute. - ✔✔the right to exclude
-necessity: private or public, may justify entry onto the land of another (ex. gov workers accessing
farm workers on farm prop) - ✔✔exception to the right to exclude
generally the law disfavors unlimited/total restraints on alienation, as courts will declare them void
against public policy. the right to sell is almost absolute, but the law permits reasonable restraints on
alienation. - ✔✔the right to alienate/transfer
1. intent to abandon to the world.
2. affirmative voluntary act of abandonment.
3. subsequent appropriation by new party with intent to own. - ✔✔3 elements to the law of
abandonment
personal property can be abandoned, but real property cannot (because land cannot be transferred
orally) - ✔✔Can all types of property be abandoned?
stuvia
Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf Property general study.pdf
