PROPERTY AND LAW

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 226, 18 May 1932, Page 3

PROPERTY AND LAW

USEFUL POINTS SOME LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE RIGHTS OF AN OWNER. SECURING TITLE. A man's property is what lie owns to do what lie likes with. Legally property carries certain rights. The rights to possession, the right of exclusive enjoyment, and the right of free use. An owner may exclude all others from sharing in the enjoyment of his property. The right of free use involves the right of the owner to do what he likes with his property, and this embraees the important privilege of disposing of it as be wills. Common sense and public policy have eompelled society to restrict these rights, the restriction depending on the ltind of property. Land is classed as real property, while moveable things like horses, motor cars, and almost evefything else, are called personal property. These are the two paramount divisions of property. The origin of the terms is buried in legal history, but the distinction is still important. Real property must he transferred hy a document signed and sealed, and ■the doemnents of transfer to successive owners prove the title of the present owner. Personal property fcan be transferred by simply delivering the article. Can't Qwn It! It is impossible to oivn real property in the strict sense, hecause Wiliiam the ,Gonqueror estahlished the land law, that in theory all land helongs to the King, who grants to his subjeets estates in the land. In this sense, the word "estate" means an interest in land held from the King. As a resnlt of this theory, it is always possible for the Crown to take back or resume its land. The power to do so has, of course, been restricted hy Acts of Parliament, making it neeessary for the Government to compensate holders of resumed land. The Crown never had power to take personal property compulsorily, hecause this was owned in the strict isense hy subjeets, and was never affected hy the fudal idea of tenure from the King. In these days of State intcrference, this distinction is practically extinct. Parliament is supreme, and by a special Act can empower the Government to take personal property, as seen recently in the cass of the Flour Acquisition Act in New South Wales. There is no real distinction bctween public and private property. The method of acquisition is diifcrent. A State acquires land hy conquest oy settlement. A private person acquires it by grant from the Crown, representing the State, or hy purchase and proper transfer from someone who has obtained such a grant. According to the modern con - ception, public property is the pro ■ perty of all members of the community, as it is not vested in the Crown as feudal overlord, but as the repr-, •sentative of the people. The Crown, Too. The ownership of the Crown as such representative, in the ahsence of i special license hy Act of Parliament, is suhject to the same restrictions j.e private ownership. The right of exclusive enjoyment involved in the idea of ownership is restricted in many ways. The hest examples in country districts, where rights in persons other than the owners of land hava been acquired. For instance, rights of way, includ* ing a right to drive sbeep over another man's land hy a definite track, or the right to water cattle on another man's land. These rights are 'acqnired by having heen exercised without objection for a long time, iiow fixed at 20 years. The right of free use, also involved in the idea of ownership, has many obvious restrictions. ilt is fundamental in our idea of organissd society that, although a man can do what he likes with his own property, like liberty, it cannot he used so as to interfere with another man's se.curity or property. Thus, one cannot huild a factory in a residentir.l area and pour smoke over other men's homes. The ci'cation of excessive noises, and, in fact, any other nuisance, is forbidden, as proprietors of carnivals and owners of noisy sideshows have discovered. In this respect there is no difference hetween public and private ownership; without a special Act of Parliament neither the Crown nor its departments can create nuisances from workshops or any other source upon its land. There is also no difference in this eonnection hetween real and personal property. I cannot drive my moteo car or use my gun or do numberle.is other things with my property m such manner as to intjerfere with someone else's enjoyment of his property. Apart from ohtaining title to lanc by a grant from the Crown or by purchase or gift from the holder of such a grant, title thereto may he asquired hy prescription; that is, hy occupying the land without any original right uninterrupftedly for a number of years.