Famous Cases
In this famous 1805 case involving a fox, the court ruled that mere pursuit of a wild animal does not confer ownership; actual capture or "occupancy" is required.
What is Pierson v. Post?
This baseline property principle, translated as "one cannot give that which one does not have," means a buyer's rights usually cannot exceed the seller’s.
What is nemo dat quod non habet?
The California Supreme Court ruled in this 1990 case that a patient does not have a property interest in his excised cells sufficient to support a claim for the tort of conversion.
What is Moore v. Regents of the University of California?
Described as the "largest package of ownership rights," this estate is indefinite in duration and has no natural end.
What is the fee simple absolute?
This 1971 New Jersey case famously declared that "property rights serve human values" and limited a farmer's right to exclude government and legal services from reaching migrant workers.
What is State v. Shack?
This 1997 Wisconsin case upheld $100,000 in punitive damages against a company that intentionally drove across a couple's land to deliver a mobile home despite being denied permission.
What is Jacque v. Steenberg Homes, Inc.?
This common-law rule allows a landowner to pump oil or gas from their own well even if it drains from beneath a neighbor's property.
What is the rule of capture?
This 2012 Ninth Circuit case determined that compensating donors for blood stem cells collected via the "apheresis method" did not violate the National Organ Transplant Act.
What is Flynn v. Holder?
This specific future interest is retained by a grantor following a fee simple subject to condition subsequent and requires the grantor to take action to regain possession.
What is a right of entry (or power of termination)?
At common law, this type of waiver of the right to exclude is typically created by contract and is generally revocable at the will of the owner.
What is a license?
This landmark 1848 English case established that restrictive covenants can be enforced in equity against subsequent purchasers who take the land with notice of the restriction.
What is Tulk v. Moxhay?
This principle assigns ownership of a "minor" resource to the owner of a "prominent" resource, such as assigning ownership of a calf to the owner of the cow.
What is the principle of accession?
This academic theory by Margaret Jane Radin distinguishes between property "bound up with a person" (like a home) and property held "purely instrumentally" (like a commercial asset).
What is property and personhood?
This type of future interest is created in an "ascertained person" and is not subject to any condition precedent other than the end of a prior estate.
What is a vested remainder?
This legal relationship occurs when an owner—the bailor—transfers temporary possession of personal property to another—the bailee—for a specific purpose.
What is a bailment?
This 1982 New Jersey case held that a casino cannot exclude a "renowned teacher" of blackjack for the sole reason that he was a card counter.
Uston v. Resorts International Hotel, Inc.?
This metaphor describes property as a collection of distinct rights that can be added to or subtracted from depending on context and policy.
What is the "bundle of rights"?
According to this "thesis" proposed by J.E. Penner, an item can only be an object of property if it is thought of as separate and distinct from its owner.
What is the separation thesis?
This common law rule, aimed at limiting "dead-hand control," invalidates interests that are not guaranteed to "vest" within "lives in being plus 21 years."
What is the Rule Against Perpetuities?
This legal defense allowed the plaintiff in Ploof v. Putnam to tie his boat to another’s dock during a violent storm without being a trespasser.
What is necessity?
In this 1918 case, the Supreme Court protected "hot news" as quasi-property, ruling it was unfair competition for one agency to copy another’s bulletins.
What is International News Service v. Associated Press?
This legal doctrine describes a situation where a resource is open to all and is eventually depleted or overused because individuals act in their own self-interest.
What is the Tragedy of the Commons?
This type of interest, often used by celebrities, protects against the unauthorized commercial appropriation of a person's name, likeness, or even their distinctive voice.
What is the right of publicity?
This type of concurrent ownership features a right of survivorship and traditionally requires the four "unities" of time, title, interest, and possession.
What is a joint tenancy?
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held in the MacKenzie case that, unlike personal property, this type of property cannot be abandoned as a matter of law.
What is real property?