Table of Contents
CIVIL LAW...............................................................................................................................................1
LECTURE 1...........................................................................................................................................1
LECTURE 2:.........................................................................................................................................5
COMPARATIVE:.............................................................................................................................14
LECTURE 3.........................................................................................................................................15
COMMON LAW.....................................................................................................................................23
LECTURE 4.........................................................................................................................................23
LAND.............................................................................................................................................23
GOODS..........................................................................................................................................26
GENERAL...............................................................................................................................................27
LECTURE 5.........................................................................................................................................27
LECTURE 6.........................................................................................................................................32
LECTURE 7.........................................................................................................................................33
CIVIL LAW
LECTURE 1
371 BC ‘without effective protection of the citizens right to property it will be difficult to attract
and accumulate valuable capital’(Confucian thinker)
1690 ‘the reason why men enter into society is the preservation of the property’(John Locke)
1840 ‘property is theft’(Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Anarchism)
1844 ‘private property has made us so stupid and one-sided that an object is only ours when
we have it’ (Karl Marx, Communism)
Protection of property and protection of human liberty are considered interrelated
1. What is property law
Law that deals with the entitlement to property object, land, intellectual & personal
property, rights to performance by another party (claims) all fall under this exist
because scarcity of objects and the need to hold on to them
Divergence between legal systems
Historically caused by diff in approaches with regards to property law
2. How has property law in France, Germany, and England been developed?
FRANCE GERMANY E&W
Property law historically has German civil code of 1900 is E&W have no Civil Codes
been part of patrimonial based on Roman Law. Its (so no code of property law)
law (patrimony: the content is similar to French and is an amalgam of
complete body of assets law, but is quite a bit statutory and judge-made
and debts a person has), it stricter distinction rules. There is a distinction
is based in the French civil between the law of between real property (law
1
, code of 1804 and has a property and the law of relating to land) and
focus on land, because it obligations Right of personal property (law
developed from the Feudal ownership (is restricted to relating to things)
regime to the current French only corporeal objects) but
Civil Code (Cciv) is described in para. 903
ownership art 544 Cciv BGB
types of property rights
(limited enumeration) are
described in article 543
Cciv
The BGB is a very abstract Real property has a feudal
and theoretical system that structure, even though the
is not always in line with content today bears little
reality. German law strictly trace of that system.
adheres to Numerus
clausus, but the courts are
also developing alternative
property rights.
Personal property has little
statutory intervention and its
law is mostly gleaned from
cases
Be careful: personal
property is different from
personal right
Common law has numerus
clauses, however, has no
concept of “ownership” but
rather deals with rights in
possession.
The final difference is “trust”
which is a product of the
jurisdiction called ‘equity’ is
a device by which rights,
either personal or
proprietary, can be held for
the benefit of other persons
or certain purposes this
does not fall into the
category of in rem or in
personam and are best
thought of as a class of their
own.
3. what are the pitfalls when comparing property law systems?
A pitfall when comparing property law systems is the usage of English
terminology to describe civil-law concepts (ex. What constitutes ‘property law’).
2
CIVIL LAW...............................................................................................................................................1
LECTURE 1...........................................................................................................................................1
LECTURE 2:.........................................................................................................................................5
COMPARATIVE:.............................................................................................................................14
LECTURE 3.........................................................................................................................................15
COMMON LAW.....................................................................................................................................23
LECTURE 4.........................................................................................................................................23
LAND.............................................................................................................................................23
GOODS..........................................................................................................................................26
GENERAL...............................................................................................................................................27
LECTURE 5.........................................................................................................................................27
LECTURE 6.........................................................................................................................................32
LECTURE 7.........................................................................................................................................33
CIVIL LAW
LECTURE 1
371 BC ‘without effective protection of the citizens right to property it will be difficult to attract
and accumulate valuable capital’(Confucian thinker)
1690 ‘the reason why men enter into society is the preservation of the property’(John Locke)
1840 ‘property is theft’(Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Anarchism)
1844 ‘private property has made us so stupid and one-sided that an object is only ours when
we have it’ (Karl Marx, Communism)
Protection of property and protection of human liberty are considered interrelated
1. What is property law
Law that deals with the entitlement to property object, land, intellectual & personal
property, rights to performance by another party (claims) all fall under this exist
because scarcity of objects and the need to hold on to them
Divergence between legal systems
Historically caused by diff in approaches with regards to property law
2. How has property law in France, Germany, and England been developed?
FRANCE GERMANY E&W
Property law historically has German civil code of 1900 is E&W have no Civil Codes
been part of patrimonial based on Roman Law. Its (so no code of property law)
law (patrimony: the content is similar to French and is an amalgam of
complete body of assets law, but is quite a bit statutory and judge-made
and debts a person has), it stricter distinction rules. There is a distinction
is based in the French civil between the law of between real property (law
1
, code of 1804 and has a property and the law of relating to land) and
focus on land, because it obligations Right of personal property (law
developed from the Feudal ownership (is restricted to relating to things)
regime to the current French only corporeal objects) but
Civil Code (Cciv) is described in para. 903
ownership art 544 Cciv BGB
types of property rights
(limited enumeration) are
described in article 543
Cciv
The BGB is a very abstract Real property has a feudal
and theoretical system that structure, even though the
is not always in line with content today bears little
reality. German law strictly trace of that system.
adheres to Numerus
clausus, but the courts are
also developing alternative
property rights.
Personal property has little
statutory intervention and its
law is mostly gleaned from
cases
Be careful: personal
property is different from
personal right
Common law has numerus
clauses, however, has no
concept of “ownership” but
rather deals with rights in
possession.
The final difference is “trust”
which is a product of the
jurisdiction called ‘equity’ is
a device by which rights,
either personal or
proprietary, can be held for
the benefit of other persons
or certain purposes this
does not fall into the
category of in rem or in
personam and are best
thought of as a class of their
own.
3. what are the pitfalls when comparing property law systems?
A pitfall when comparing property law systems is the usage of English
terminology to describe civil-law concepts (ex. What constitutes ‘property law’).
2
