Civil Engineering Technology - Real Property PDF

Real property
Real property is a legal term encompassing real estate and ownership interests in real
estate (immovable property). It is a type of property differentiated from personal
property.
This article discusses the ownership of land using the interpretation of real property as a
legal term used in Anglo-American common law jurisdictions. Other legal geopolitical
systems of government have different legal interpretations concerning the ownership of
land. Terminology varies in these systems, as well: for instance, heritable property in
Scotland; immovable property in Canada, United States, India, Malta, Cyprus, most of
Europe including Russia, also South America, Malaysia, South Africa, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, and many other countries and continents; and immobilier in France.
Historical background
History of the word
In law, the word real means relating to a thing (from Latin res, matter or thing), as
distinguished from a person. Thus the law broadly distinguishes between [real property]
(land and anything affixed to it) and [personal property] (everything else, e.g., clothing,
furniture, money). The conceptual difference was between immovable property, which
would transfer title along with the land, and movable property, which a person would
retain title to. (The word is not derived from the notion of land having historically been
"royal" property. The word royal — and its Spanish cognate real — come from the
unrelated Latin word rex, meaning king.)
In modern legal systems derived from English common law, classification of property as
Copyright © 2006. Global Media. All rights reserved.
real or personal may vary somewhat according to jurisdiction or, even within
jurisdictions, according to purpose, as in defining whether and how the property may be
taxed.
British interpretation
WARNING: The following text was originally obtained from the 1911 edition of
Encyclopædia Britannica. While it has been modified by various editors, it may not be
Gray, Kevin. Civil Engineering Technology, Global Media, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uniofmindanao-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3011060.
Created from uniofmindanao-ebooks on 2018-07-10 01:39:58.
entirely accurate according to a strict interpretation of applicable law today, especially
after the major reforms in the 1925 legislation. (In 1911 the encyclopedia was a British
publication and heavily weighted to a British interpretation of information in that day.)
Land Relationship to Owner
Real property is not just the ownership of property and buildings, it includes many legal
relationships between owners of immovable property (real estate) that are purely
conceptual such as the easement, where a neighboring property may have some right on
your property, right-of-way, or the right to pass over a property, and incorporeal
heridiments such as profit a prendre. Real property can also be held in various ways. In
some jurisdictions real property is held absolutely, in England it may still be considered
to be carved out of Crown's ownership of all property in the realm. Such distinctions are
important in terms of the law of escheat or when property reverts to the state because it
lacks an owner or has been abandoned.
Definitions
An important area of real immovable property are the definitions of estates in land. These
are various interests that may limit the ownership rights one has over the land. The most
common and perhaps most absolute type of estate is the fee simple which signifies that
the owner has the right to dispose of the property as she/he sees fit. Other estates include
the life estate where the owner's rights to the property cease at their death and fee tail
estates where the property at the time of death passes to the heirs of the body (i.e.
children, grandchildren, descendants) of the owner of the estate before he died.
Estate law
Estates may also be held jointly as joint tenants with rights of survivorship or as tenants
in common. The difference in these two types of joint ownership of an estate in land is
basically the inheritability of the estate. In joint tenancy (or in marriage this is sometimes
called tenancy of the entirety) the surviving tenant (or tenants) become the sole owner (or
owners) of the estate. Nothing passes to the heirs of the deceased tenant. In some
jurisdictions the magic words "with right of survivorship" must be used or the tenancy
will assumed to be tenants in common. Tenants in common will have a heritable portion
of the estate in proportion to their ownership interest which is presumed to be equal
amongst tenants unless otherwise stated in the transfer deed. There are other types of
estates in land that are used to prevent the alienation of land (also used in the law of
trusts). Generally these are called future interests, an example being the rule against
perpetuities. See also the Rule in Shelley's Case.
Real property may not only be owned it may be leased in which the possession of the
property is given to the tenant for a limited period of time. Such leases are also called
estates such as an estate for years, a periodic tenancy or an estate at will.
Real property may also be owned jointly through the device of the condominium or
cooperative.
Economic aspects of real property
Because real immovable property is essential for industry or other activity requiring a lot
of fixed physical capital, economics is very concerned with real immovable property and
rules regarding its valuation and disposition, and obligations accrueing to its owners. In
economic terms, real property consists of some natural capital (or land, one of the factors
of production especially in agriculture), and infrastructural capital (the buildings, water
and power lines, and other improvements necessary to make immovable property useful
for some human purpose). Other fixed physical assets, indistinguishable economically
from infrastructure, such as machines, may be stored on immovable property and may
require natural or infrastructural attributes (such as running water for a turbine or an
isolated location to allow loud noise emissions) hard to duplicate even nearby.
U.S. interpretation
In the United States, each state has its own real immovable property law. All states
except Louisiana rely on variations of common law for the basis of their real immovable
property laws. Louisiana's laws are derived from Napoleonic Code but have adopted
some of the common law terms over the years.
Types of ownership interests
Real property (immovable property) can refer to the real estate itself, or to various types
of ownership interests in real estate, including:
• Fee simple or freehold: The most common interest or right in real estate and
provides the owner the right to use the real estate for any lawful purpose and sell
the interest when and to whom the owner wishes.
• Life estate: An interest in real estate (immovable property) which is granted to a

life tenant until that person dies. During the life estate, the life tenant has the right
to use the real estate for any lawful purpose, but may not sell the interest.
• Estate for years: Similar to a life estate but term is a specified number of years.
• Leasehold: The right to possess and use real estate (immovable property)
pursuant to the terms of a lease.
• Reversion: The right to possess the fee interest in real estate (immovable
property) after the expiration of a life estate, estate for years, or leasehold.
• Concurrent or co-tenancy: The ownership of an interest in real property

(immovable property) by more than one party. Rights of any single party may be
limited in various ways depending on the jurisdiction and type of concurrency.
Note that it is possible for a property deed (the legal document used to transfer title) to
further restrict these general ownership rights.

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Real property

Land Relationship to Owner

Economic aspects of real property

• Life estate: An interest in real estate (immovable property) which is granted to a

• Concurrent or co-tenancy: The ownership of an interest in real property

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