Property Law Glossary

Question 1

Absolute Estate

Answer 1

Estates without any strings attached. E.g. To ‘A’ for life

Question 2

Adverse Possession

Answer 2

arises when an action against a trespasser to recover possession is not instituted during the statutory period allowed for such an action (20 yrs usually). After that time, the squatter gains legal title.

Question 3

Allodial Title

Answer 3

a real property ownership system where the real property is owned free and clear of any superior landlord.

Question 4

Animus Possidendi

Answer 4

the intention to possess

Question 5

Artificial Person

Answer 5

A legal entity that has the same rights as the natural person (e.g. Corporations, the State)

Question 6

Bailee

Answer 6

Receives the temporary transfer of personalty from a bailor

Question 7

Bailment

Answer 7

A temporary transfer of personalty under which the good of a bailor is handed over to a bailee

Question 8

Bailor

Answer 8

Owner who hands personalty to a bailee for their temporary possession

Question 9

Chattel

Answer 9

tangible physically owned property. Is a subset of personal property but is not real property (e.g. a book, or a car)

Question 10

Common Property

Answer 10

The right not be excluded (e.g. Air, public parks, First Nations reserves, tenants in common, open access resources)

Question 11

Conditions

Answer 11

Allow the creator of an estate to control how an estate will be used in the future. Two kinds: 1) Forfeiture (when x happens, grantee loses estate), and 2) Eligibility (x event must happen before grantee can receive estate)

Question 12

Constructive Delivery

Answer 12

words or gestures which change character of the donee’s custody or possession

Question 13

Constructive Possession

Answer 13

someone does not have actual possession of an item or property, but has the intent and capability to maintain control and dominion over that item or property

Question 14

Contingent Interest

Answer 14

where vesting is delayed pending the occurrence of some condition precedent, the happening of which is not inevitable

Question 15

Conversion

Answer 15

doing some act to convert an object under the guise of being a true owner

Question 16

Cy-Pre’s Power

Answer 16

part of the inherent jurisdiction of a superior court to supervise and reform charitable trusts. If the testator is found to have had a general charitable intent, the court can rewrite the trust in a manner as close to that intention as possible.

Question 17

Defeasible Interest

Answer 17

an interest that may be brought to a premature end on the occurrence of a specified event.

Question 18

Determinable Interest

Answer 18

A claim on property, real or personal, that will begin at some point in the future. A future interest allows the grantor to retain the right to use that property until that specified date.

Question 19

Detinue

Answer 19

wrongfully withholding something, even if you don’t claim to be the owner of it.

Question 20

Devisee

Answer 20

a person who receives a gift of real property by a will. The distinction between gifts of real property and personal property are actually blurred, so terms like beneficiary or legatee cover those receiving any gift by a will.

Question 21

Easement

Answer 21

A right of use over the property of another. The easement was normally for the benefit of adjoining lands, no matter who the owner was (an easement appurtenant), rather than for the benefit of a specific individual (easement in gross).

Question 22

Escheat

Answer 22

The power of a state to acquire title to property for which there is no owner. Takes place due to lack of any person with a valid interest in a property upon the death of the prior owner.

Question 23

Essentialism

Answer 23

Must have all elements of a definition satisfied before you can succeed in labelling something

Question 24

Fee Simple

Answer 24

The greatest possible estate in land, wherein the owner has the right to use it, exclusively possess it, commit waste upon it, dispose of it by deed or will, and take its fruits. A fee simple represents absolute ownership of land, and therefore the owner may do whatever he or she chooses with the land. It may also be of an indefinite duration.

Question 25

Fee Tail

Answer 25

An estate in land subject to a restriction regarding inheritance (e.g. male or female heirs only, children of a specified spouse, direct heirs, etc…)

Question 26

Inchoate

Answer 26

Imperfect, partial, unfinished. Begun, but not completed; as in a contract not executed by all of the parties.

Question 27

Intestate

Answer 27

The description of a person who dies without making a valid will or the reference made to this condition.

Question 28

Inter Vivos

Answer 28

Between living persons, such as gifts inter vivos, a gift made by one living person to another.

Question 29

Joint Tenancy

Answer 29

is a special form of ownership by two or more persons of the same property. The individuals, who are called joint tenants, share equal ownership of the property and have the equal, undivided right to keep or dispose of the property. Joint tenancy creates a right of survivorship. This right provides that if any one of the joint tenants dies, the remainder of the property is transferred to the surviving joint tenant(s).

Question 30

Jus Tertii

Answer 30

The right of a third party. A tenant or bailee or another in possession of property, who pleads that the title is in some person other than that person’s landlord or bailor, is said to set up a jus tertii.

Question 31

Lease

Answer 31

Grant of exclusive possession giving rise to an estate in land. A lease gives the tenant a right to exclusive possession of a leased property and the right to exclude all other persons, including the landlord.

Question 32

License

Answer 32

A contractual right to enter onto land of another for a specified purpose; constituting a defence to an action in trespass.

Question 33

Life Estate

Answer 33

An estate whose duration is limited to the life of the holding party, or some other person.

Question 34

Livery of Seisen

Answer 34

A ceremony in medieval times, in which the grantor and the grantee stood together on the land to be conveyed; effects the transfer of land from one party to another.

Question 35

Numerus Clausus

Answer 35

The idea that the common law, like the civil law, provides for a limited number of forms of partial property rights that can be created with relative ease and makes it difficult to enforce rights that differ from these accepted forms.

Question 36

Ownership

Answer 36

comprised of rights, liabilities, and duties a subject has over an object.

Question 37

Particular Estate

Answer 37

The first estate in a series of successive estates or an estate which is carved our of a larger. A “particle” of the whole.

Question 38

Pedal Possession

Answer 38

Generally, a form of adverse possession that is created through the actual presence and use of another person on someone’s land. You have to establish that you were “physically there” and using the land to request possessory title. (in contrast to constructive possession)

Question 39

Personal Property

Answer 39

Owned property that is not real property (land)

Question 40

Possession

Answer 40

Primarily a factual conclusion of a state of affairs: physical control of land or objects

Question 41

Possessory Title

Answer 41

a title to property which is not evidenced by the registered chain of title

Question 42

Primogeniture

Answer 42

an ancient rule from feudal England that the oldest son would inherit the entire estate of the parents (or nearest ancestor), and, if no male heir, the daughters would then receive the property in equal shares.

Question 43

Profit à Prendre

Answer 43

enables a person to take part of the soil or produce of land that someone else owns. It is a right to take from the land.

Question 44

Real Property

Answer 44

Property is land or realty

Question 45

Recaption

Answer 45

Entering the land of another to recover the chattel wrongfully taken or withheld, without the assistance of the legal process.

Question 46

Reception

Answer 46

English law transplanted into Canadian territory. Colonial legislatures could adopt laws of England as of a certain date. All English statutes that were deemed “suitable” for the colonial context were adopted; could be amended or repealed later.

Question 47

Right of Re-entry

Answer 47

the legal right to resume possession of the estate (a right that was reserved when a former possession was parted with).

Question 48

Residuary Legatee

Answer 48

the party who is entitled to all other granted estate that is not specifically named to other parties

Question 49

Reverter, possibility of

Answer 49

The interest retained by a grantor after transferring a determinable fee (one that will automatically end on a specified event,such as “to Mary until her thirtieth birthday
or marriage,whichever comes first) or an estate in fee simple conditional (available in only some
jurisdictions, it says that a gift to A “and the heirs of his body”retains a possibility of reverter in the
grantor because A might never have any heirs of his body).

Question 50

Right of Survivorship

Answer 50

the power of the successor successors of a deceased individual to acquire property of that individual upon his or her death.

Question 51

Seisin

Answer 51

The possession of land; describes the special nature of the possessory entitlement of an “owner” to land or real property (Not all persons “in possession” of land had seisin. E.g. the leaseholder or tenant). Functions as a bridge between doctrine of tenure and doctrine of estates.

Question 52

Settlor

Answer 52

is a person who settles property on trust law for the benefit of beneficiaries.

Question 53

Symbolic Delivery

Answer 53

Delivery of token which represents larger chattel or bulky collection of chattels.

Question 54

Tenancy in Common

Answer 54

a specific type of concurrent, or simultaneous, ownership of real property by two or more parties. All tenants in common hold an individual, undivided ownership interest in the property. This means that each party has the right to alienate, or transfer the ownership of, her ownership interest. This can be done by deed, will, or other conveyance. Unlike “joint tenancy” there is no “right of survivorship” if one of the tenants in common dies, and each interest may be separately sold, mortgaged or willed to another.

Question 55

Tenement

Answer 55

A comprehensive legal term for any type of property of a permanent nature - including land, houses, etc… as well the rights attaching thereto, such as a right to collect rent

Question 56

Tenure

Answer 56

In feudal law, the principal mode or system by which a person held land from a superior in exchange for the rendition of service and loyalty to the grantor.

Question 57

Tesate

Answer 57

One who dies leaving a valid will, of the description of this status.

Question 58

Testator

Answer 58

A person who has written and executed a last will and testament that is in effect at the time of his/her death. It is any “person who makes a will”.

Question 59

Trover

Answer 59

One of the old common-law Forms of Action; a legal remedy for conversion, or the wrongful appropriation of the plaintiff’s Personal Property.

Question 60

Trespass

Answer 60

An unlawful intrusion that interferes with one’s personal property.

Question 61

Trust

Answer 61

Is the relationship which arises whenever a person (the trustee) is compelled in equity to hold property, whether real or personal, and whether by legal or equitable title, for the benefit of some persons (of whom he may be one, and who are termed beneficiaries) or for some object permitted by law, in such a way that the real benefit of the property accrues, not to the trustees, but to the beneficiaries or other objects of the trust.

Question 62

Usufructuary

Answer 62

Holder of a dismembered real right. The legal right of using and enjoying the fruits or profits or something belonging to another.

Question 63

Vested in Interest

Answer 63

refers to an interest that stands ready to fall into possession as soon as all preceding interests have determined naturally.

Question 64

Vested in possession

Answer 64

an interest that is presently being enjoyed.