Introduction to the Law of Property - Einzelansicht

This course introduces students to the general framework of rules governing property rights in goods, land and intangibles in English law. The first part of the course is concerned with fundamental questions: (a) what distinguishes a property right from other rights, (b) what may be the subject-matter of a property right, and (c) what are the permissible ‘packages’ of rights that constitute a property ‘interest’? In varying depth, the course looks at the terminology, doctrines, and rules of other core building blocks of English property law as regards (1) the acquisition of property rights, (2) priority of interests, and (3) co-ownership.

The course takes a comprehensive look at property law across the range of ‘things’, while leaving some of the detail which is specific to certain forms of property to be addressed elsewhere: knowledge gained from this course thus provides a general underpinning for a number of other property-related courses, such as those on trusts, land law, and interests in goods. The course should help students to navigate safely through what at first may appear to be an arcane and complex conceptual jungle and to familiarise themselves with the distinctive tools of property law in the common law legal systems. The course highlights the surprising diversity of rules (in origin and in approach) within this field of private law, introduces students to the complications inherent in ‘rights in rights’, and illustrates how common law and equitable rules interact.

This course requires sufficient passive English language skills to follow the lectures. (Supporting written material will be made available on Moodle.) The assessment requires either active ability in reading and writing in English (with the assistance of a dictionary) or confidence in speaking and listening in English, depending on whether they choose to take a written or oral assessment.

Students may choose to take either a written or oral assessment for this course.

The written assessment will consist of a two-hour exam. Students will have an additional 15 minutes period for reading the exam paper. Bound printed English-German/German-English dictionaries (or equivalent for other languages) may be used in the assessment, provided they are not legal dictionaries and provided they are not annotated or marked.

Students taking the oral assessment will be examined individually and will be required to answer questions across the range of topics chosen by the student in advance. Questions will be designed to further a dialogue with the student. They will combine both open and closed questions and their exact form will depend on the student's level of knowledge and skills of legal analysis.

This course fulfils the requirement in §16(2) S. 1 Nr 3 ThürJAPO ('Sprachenschein'). It also forms part of the 'International Legal Studies' Certificate programme.