Business Law Chapters 7 and 8

Gift

a voluntary transfer of property without consideration or compensation.

Rights to Airspace

Whoever owns the soil owns up to the sky.

Easement

an interest in land created by agreement that permits one person to make use of another's estate. (This is an estate rather than just permission)

Freehold estate

an interest in land that has an uncertain duration.

Nuisance

an interference with the use and enjoyment of one's land

Fixture

an object that was once personal property but that has become so affixed to land or structures that it is considered legally a part of the real property.

reversion

arises whenever the estate transferred has a duration less than that originally owned by the transferor.

Variance

authority to carry on a nonconforming use.

personal property is

movable

license

permission, revocable at the will of the owner, to make use of the owner's land.

Ways to acquire Personal Property

1. Purchase 2. Possession 3. Finding lost or misplaced property 4.Gift 5. Accession 6. Confusion

Licensee

A nontrespasser who comes onto the land without being invited, or if invited, comes for purposes unconnected with any business conducted on the premises

environmental impact statement

A statement required of most federal agencies that assesses whether the agency's activities will significantly impact the environment. The statement must (1) detail the environmental impact of the proposed action, (2) list any unavoidable adverse impacts should the action be taken, (3) consider alternatives to the proposed action, (4) compare short-term and long-term consequences, and (5) describe irreversible commitments of resources.

attractive nuisance

A thing or attraction on land that is attractive to small children and represents a distinct hazard to their health or wellbeing 1. The child must have been injured by a structure or other artificial condition. 2. The possessor of the land (not necessarily the owner) must have known or should have known that young children would be likely to trespass. 3. The possessor must have known or should have known that the artificial condition exists and that it posed an unreasonable risk of serious injury. 4. The child must have been too young to appreciate the danger that the artificial condition posed. 5. The risk to the child must have far outweighed the utility of the artificial condition to the possessor. 6. The possessor did not exercise reasonable care in protecting the child or eliminating the danger.

Life estate.

An estate measured by the life of a person

Invitee

One who has been invited onto the land, usually, though not necessarily, for a business purpose of potential economic benefit to the owner or occupier of the premises.

Fee simple absolute

The most extensive set of rights that can be conveyed in real property

Rights to the Depths

The owner of the surface has the right to the oil, gas, and minerals below it, although this right can be severed and sold separately.

remainder interest

The real property interest that remains after the life estate interest or other interest subject to defeasance.

Affirmative Easement

gives a landowner the right to use the land of another

Real property is

immovable

Causa mortis gift

made by someone contemplating death in the near future.

Inter vivos gift

one made between living persons without conditions attached

Leasehold estate

one whose termination date is usually known.

Negative Easement

prohibits the landowner from using his land in ways that would affect the holder of the easement. (a solar panel owner would want to obtain negative easements from neighbors, prohibiting them from building structures that might block sunlight)

Accession

something that is added to what one already possesses.

Intangible Property

something without physical reality that entitles the owner to certain benefits; stocks, bonds, and intellectual property would be common examples

Public property

that which is owned by any branch of government

Private property

that which is owned by anyone else, including a corporation.

Tangible Property

that which physically exists, like a building, a popsicle stand, a hair dryer, or a steamroller

A gift is not valid if

the donor maintains power over the goods (Gives the donee access to a bank vault that the donor ALSO has control of and access to)

Possession or physical control must usually be understood as

the power to exclude others from using the object.

Trespass

the wrongful physical invasion of or entry upon land possessed by another.

Future Estates

An estate that is owned now but cannot be used or enjoyed now.

Fee simple defeasible

Any transfer specifying that the ownership will terminate upon a specific happening

Easement appurtenant

Benefits the owner of adjacent land

Tort law is used to regulate land use in two ways

(1) The owner may become liable for certain activities carried out on the real estate that affect others beyond the real estate. (2) The owner may be liable to persons who, upon entering the real estate, are injured.

Tenant's property must meet these requirements:

(1) They must be installed for the requisite purposes of carrying on the trade or business or the farming or agricultural pursuits or for making the home more comfortable, (2) they must be removable without causing substantial damage to the landlord's property, and (3) they must be removed before the tenant turns over possession of the premises to the landlord. Again, any debatable points can be resolved in advance by specifying them in the written lease.

Types of visitors to land

(1) social guests (people you invite to your home for a party); (2) a salesman, not invited by the owner, who wishes to sell something to the owner or occupier of the property; and (3) persons visiting a building for a purpose not connected with the business on the land

To make an effective gift...

(1) the donor must deliver a deed or object to the donee; (2) the donor must actually intend to make a gift, and (3) the donee must accept

Lost property that an owner has failed to claim goes to the owner of the real estate it was found on if:

(1) the finder was a trespasser, (2) the goods are found in a private place (3) the goods are buried, or (4) the goods are misplaced rather than lost.

Personal property becomes a fixture after these steps

1. Annexation (Is it affixed to the property?) 2. Adaption (is the object adapted by the use or enjoyment of the property?) 3. Intention (Did the person installing it intend for it to be a permanent fixture?)

tenant's fixtures

Fixtures added to a rental property that become the property of the owner (the tenant keeps these) Includes: (1) trade fixtures—articles placed on the premises to enable the tenant to carry on his or her trade or business in the rented premises; (2) agricultural fixtures—devices installed to carry on farming activities (e.g., milling plants and silos); (3) domestic fixtures—items that make a tenant's personal life more comfortable (carpeting, screens, doors, washing machines, bookshelves, and the like).

dominant tenement

Land that benefits from an easement

servient tenement

Land that is burdened by an easement

Rights to Water

Riparian: land owner may use the naturally occurring water on his land (can drink from the stream, but cannot divert it to water his crops) Prior appropriation: Most beneficial use of the waterway takes precedence

confusion

When personal property is intermingled, negligently or intentionally, with the personal property of others. A common example is the intermingling of grain in a silo. (The grain cannot be told apart. Branded cattle, however, cannot be confused.) In the case of willful confusion of goods, many courts hold that the wrongdoer forfeits all his property unless he can identify his particular property.

Dower

a right to a percentage (often one-third) of the property of her husband when he dies

Zoning

a technique by which a city or other municipality regulates the type of activity to be permitted in geographical areas within its boundaries.