2 Concept of Property

Definitions to master:• Austin: property is "a right, unlimited in point of disposition, over a determinate thing" — the widest right of dominion.• Salmond: corporeal property consists of "rights in rem over material things" property in its wider sense embraces all a person's rights in rem, whether over material things (land, goods) or immaterial objects (copyright, goodwill).• Bentham: property is "nothing but the basis of expectation" — the legally guaranteed belief that one will derive advantages from a thing.Three conceptual points:1. Property is a bundle of rights. Ownership is conventionally decomposed into usus (use), usus fructus (fruits/income), abusus (consumption/destruction/transfer) — and modernly into the "bundle of sticks" possession, use, management, income, capital (transfer), security (pledging), residuary character. Because it is a bundle, sticks can be separated without destroying ownership: a lease detaches use; a mortgage detaches security; an easement detaches a slice of use — all carve the full ownership.2. Property is a right in rem. It avails against the world at large — everyone is under a duty not to interfere. This distinguishes property rights from contractual claims (rights in personam) — a distinction of enormous practical consequence in priority disputes: if Kanchha sells land to Sita (in personam) but transfers title to Hari (in rem), Hari's title generally prevails.3. Property is legally constructed, not natural. The Constitution of…