Law in Society
Ms. Baumgartner
What is your definition
of property?
1. Define property
2. Identify the classifications of property
Neerow won $20 million from the GA lottery. When he
received the actual $13 million (after taxes) he went on a
spending spree. He had a lot of plastic surgery—including
a face lift. Then, he bought a condo in Florida, a new car
(which he wrecked right away), clothes he never even wore,
a mink coat for a friend and a large yacht. The next year, he
threw wild parties including a New Year’s Eve party with 50
new friends. While living his new lifestyle, Neerow totally
neglected his business—where he employed 10 people.
The business almost reached the point of bankruptcy.
Should he be stopped from spending his money?
Why/Why Not?
 Property includes tangible & intangible things
 Tangible – books, clothing, jewelry, cars
 Intangible – secret formula of Coca Cola,
copyright of textbook, patents for inventions
 Property – the rights and interests we recognize in
one another in tangible and intangible things
 Read What’s Your Verdict on page 285
 Jon rented a house in Beach Haven, NJ for a couple of
weeks after he finished writing his new book. He
looked forward to relaxing and getting away from
everything during that period.
 Did Jon acquire property under that lease?
YES—because he
acquired possession for
2 weeks by renting the
house
 Property can be classified as real or personal
 Real property – rights & interests in land, buildings, &
those things permanently affixed to them (fixtures)
 Includes the surface of the earth and water/minerals below
the surface. Also can include airspace above land. Also
includes buildings and anything permanently attached to
buildings.
 Personal property – rights and interests in anything that
is not real property; tangible or intangible
 Tangible has physical form
 Intangible does not have physical form
 EX: intellectual property
 Intellectual property
 Intangible property created in your mind
 Copyright
 Trademarks
 Patents
 Trade secrets
 Copyright – protects the expression of a creative
work, such as the work of an author, artist, or
composer
 Songs, books, computer programs, architectural
plans, etc.
 To be copyrighted, the expression must be fixed
(so others understand) and original (unique)
 Damages ($$) may be collected for infringement
(unauthorized copying, sale, display, or
performance of a copyright protected work)
 Can you identify the following trademarks?
 Under the federal copyright law, not all infringements
are penalized
 FAIR USE—very limited use of copyrighted works by
critics, researchers, news reporters and teachers.
 EX: an author quoting a paragraph from another
author’s book and citing it
 EX: a teacher making a fair amount of copies of
worksheets
 Trademark - A word, mark, symbol, or device by which the
products of a particular manufacturer or the commodities
of a particular merchant can be distinguished from those of
others
 EX: KODAK (includes name of owner and product)
 Service Mark – a unique word, mark or symbol that
identifies a service instead of a product
 Patent – the grant of exclusive right to make, use, import,
sell, and offer a novel or new, non-obvious, useful product
or process
 EX: a unique chair or table
 Trade secret – commercially valuable information that the
owner must keep secret (the secret formula for Coke)
Answer questions #1-6, 8-9
1. State the different ways of acquiring property
2. Differentiate the various ways of holding
ownership to property
On a long trip to an away game, the five starters of the
Tigerettes basketball team were talking about their
MP3 players. Andrea bought hers with earnings from
her job at a local animal shelter. Bridget received hers
as a birthday gift. Caren inherited hers from a very hip
aunt who recently passed away. Darlene, a computer
geek, made her own. Elena found hers on the street
and, after months of trying, had been unable to find
the owner.
Did each of the teammates have the same rights to her
MP3 player—regardless how she got it?
All had same ownership
rights except Elena—she
only had rights of a
FINDER (possession and
use only)
 Real or personal property is acquired most commonly
by contract, gift, or inheritance
 Acquiring ownership by contract – people acquire most
of their property by purchasing it
 Acquiring ownership by gift – must contain 3
elements….
 intent to transfer ownership (cannot just promise to give
someone something)
 delivery of the product (shift of possession from 1 to another)
 Constructive Delivery: having a symbol of a gift in place of the
delivery of the item (keys instead of a car)
 acceptance of the gift/product (accept by not
rejecting in a certain amount of time)
 Acquiring ownership by inheritance
 Acquiring ownership by Accession
 The right of an owner of property and to all that
property produces to increase their property
 EX: farm crops and offspring of animals belong to
landowner.
 EX: when a new hard drive is installed in a computer, it
becomes part of the computer
 Acquiring ownership by Finding
 Anyone who loses property has the right to recover it




from the finder
You must prove true ownership
The finder must return the item if he/she knows who
the owner is or be guilty of theft
Some laws say the finder must try to locate the property
owner (post an ad in the newspaper, craigslist, etc.)
If owner is unknown, finder may keep item until true
owner appears
 Lost property: created when the owner does not know
when/where it disappeared
 Mislaid property: placed somewhere intentionally but forgot
where it was put. If you remember later, you still have right.
 Acquiring Ownership by Occupancy
 Means acquiring by taking possession of personal
property that belongs to no one else
 Property abandoned or thrown away by another
 In this case, the finder becomes the owner
 EX: picking up sea shells on the beach
Beth and Maureen inherited a 12-acre piece of land from
their parents. Beth moved onto the property and
Marureen stayed in her former home. Beth decided
Maureen could have the back 6 acres and she would
keep the front 6 acres.
CAN BETH KEEP MAUREEN FROM THE PART OF
LAND THAT SHE CALLED DIBS ON?
No, she has no right to
exclude Maureen from the
front 6 acres unless they
legally divide the property
in court
 There are 2 basic ways to own property – in
severalty or by co-ownership
 Ownership in severalty – exists when 1 person
owns all of the personal or real property
involved; most common form of ownership for
personal property
 Co-ownership – exists when 2 or more persons
have ownership rights in the same property
 All forms of co-ownership have 2 things in
common:
 All co-owners have equal rights of possession
 Right of partition – allows any co-owner to legally
begin dividing the property among co-owners
 The co-ownership of the same property
 Includes the RIGHT OF SURVIVORSHIP
 Means that if one joint owner dies, the remaining owner
still retains their ownership over the whole property
 The parts owned by people may be equal or unequal
and there is no right of survivorship
 If a tenant in common dies, their ownership passes
along to their beneficiaries in their will
 Co-ownership between a husband and wife
 Can only be entered into by married couples
 One tenant cannot sell the property without spouse’s
consent
 If they divorce or separate, it changes to tenancy in
common and those rules begin to apply
 In some states, all property acquired by husband and
wife during marriage is called community property
 Each spouse owns ½ interest in shared property
 While both spouses are alive, both must consent to
selling the property
 Owner of a property can not use it in illegal manner
 Cannot injure another
 Buildings must be safe for all who live/own
 Answer questions #1-11
on your own (page 295)
 Chapter 16 Assessment
Vocab #1-14, 27, 28, 30,
32, 33, 39
 Chapter Review
Worksheets