OWNERSHIP

UNIT- 3
 Meaning and Nature of Ownership
• Ownership denotes the relation between a person and an object forming the
subject-matter of his ownership.
• It consists in a complex of rights, all of which are rights in rem, being good against
all the world and not merely against specific persons.
• Though in certain situations some of these rights may be absent, the normal case
of ownership can be expected to exhibit the following incidents-
• 1. the owner will have a right to possess the thing which he owns.
• He may not necessarily have possession for he may have been wrongfully
deprived of it or may have voluntarily divested himself of it. If A's watch is stolen
by B, the latter has possession but the former remains the owner with an
immediate right to possession.
 Cont.…
• If he lends his watch for hire to C. A now has neither possession nor
an immediate right to possess.
• 2. The. owner normally has the right to use and enjoy the thing
owned: the right to manage it, i.e., the right to decide how it shall be
used; and the right to the income from it.
• Whereas the right to possess is a right in the strict sense, these rights
are in fact liberties : the owner has a liberty to use the thing, i.e. he I
under no duty not to use it, in contrast with others who are under a
duty not to use or interfere with it.
 Cont.…
• 3. The owner has the right to consume, destroy or alienate the thing. The
rights to consume and destroy are straightforward liberties.
• The right to alienate, i.e. the right to transfer his rights over the object to
another, involves the existence of a power.
• 4. Ownership has the characteristic of being indeterminate in duration.
• The interest of a bailee or lessee comes to an end when the period of hire
or of the lease determines; the owners interest is perpetual, being
determined neither by any set point nor by the owner's death, because the
property owned can descend to the owner's heir or next-of-kin, and if he
had sold the property prior to his death, then the new owner’s interest
would continue unaffected by the previous owner's death.
 Cont.…
• 5. Ownership has a residuary character. If, for example a landowner
gives a lease of his property to A, an easement to B and sonic other
right such as a profit to C.
• His ownership now consists of the residual rights i.e. the rights
remaining when all these lesser rights have been given away.
• The subject-matter of ownership:
• The prime subject-matter of ownership consists of material objects
such as land and chattels.
• But ownership is by no means limited to things of this category.
 Cont.…
• A man's wealth may consist not only of his land and goods, but of
such things as shares in companies, patents, copyrights etc.
• Types of Ownership:
• 1. Sole ownership and co-ownership; 2. Trust and beneficial
ownership; 3. Legal and equitable ownership; 4. Vested and
contingent ownership
• 1. Sole ownership and co-ownership: As a general rule a thing is
owned by one person only at a time, but duplicate ownership is
perfectly possible. Two or more persons may at the same time have
ownership of the same thing vested in them. E.g. Partners in a
business.
 Cont.…
• Co-ownership involves the undivided integrity of what is owned.
• 2. Trust and beneficial ownership: A trust is a very important and
curious instance of duplicate ownership which allows for the
separation of the powers of management and the rights of
enjoyment.
• Trust property is that which is owned by two persons at the same
time, the relation between the two owners being such that one of
them is under an obligation to use his ownership for the benefit of
the other.
• The former is called the trustee, and his ownership is trust ownership
the latter is called the beneficiary, and his is beneficial ownership.
 Cont.…
• 3. Legal and equitable ownership: One person may be the legal and
another the equitable owner of the same thing or the same right at the
same time.
• Legal ownership is that which has its origin in the rules of the common law,
while equitable ownership is that which proceeds from rules of equity
divergent from the common law and recognized by the Court of Chancery.
• 4. Vested and contingent ownership: Ownership is either vested or
contingent. It is vested when the owner's title is already perfect; it is
contingent when his title is as yet imperfect, but is capable of becoming
perfect on the fulfilment of some condition. In the former case the
ownership is absolute; in the latter it is merely conditional.