Kommentar |
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. |