We explain what property law is and what its characteristics are. Also, examples of application of this right.
What is property rights?
He property right either property domain It is the direct and immediate legal capacity that a person has with respect to a specific object or property, which allows them to dispose of them freely within the framework established by law.
In other words, it is the power that legal subjects have over objects and properties to do with them whatever they want, without violating the law or causing harm to third parties.
The right of property applies to all objects susceptible to appropriation, which is determined by three main characteristics:
- Let them be useful, because if they were not, their appropriation would not make sense;
- Let them be limited, because if they were infinite there would be no need to appropriate them;
- That they can be occupied or possessed, since otherwise there would be no way to act on the power of the right of property over them.
Similarly, it is considered that the right of full ownership gives the possessor three powers over the object or property in question, which are use (ius utendi), enjoyment (ius fruendi) and enjoy (ius abutendi), a distinction that was born in Roman Law during medieval times:
- Ius utendi The owner has the right to use the thing as he pleases, in accordance with his interests and the social function it has, as long as it does not violate the law or cause injury to other owners.
- Ius fruendi The owner has the right to take advantage of the thing, of the fruits that it generates directly or indirectly, or that remains after its use.
- Ius abutendi The owner has the right to dispose of the thing as he wishes, whether to destroy it, sell it, abandon it, rent it, etc., as long as it does not go against its social function and does not violate any third party rights or any legal ordinance.
See also: Usufruct
Characteristics of property law
Property rights are considered to exist in the following ways:
- Moral Since appropriation is reflexive and not instinctive.
- Perpetual Since it will last until the good exists.
- Exclusive Since there can only be one owner of the thing at a time.
- Limited Since it can be restricted by the common good, by the needs of others or by law.
- Perfect Since the owner can defend his ownership of the thing even through the proportionate exercise of force.
Examples of property law
The right of property can be seen in cases such as the purchase or sale of a house given that there will necessarily be a sole and exclusive owner who puts it up for sale and a new sole and exclusive owner who agrees to pay for it. Once the transaction is completed, the property will have been transferred from one person to another, but the house will never have stopped belonging to someone.
Another example would be a farm in which there are numerous fruit trees. These are, along with everything planted on the land, the exclusive property of the owner, as will the fruits that said trees produce, and which the owner may dispose of as he pleases: selling them, giving them away or letting them rot.
Examples of property
There are different ways to classify a property in accordance with what is established by this branch of law, such as:
- Classification by subject We can talk about private property (when it belongs to an individual), public (when it belongs to the State), individual (if it belongs to a single owner), private collective (when it belongs to a private community) or public collective (when it belongs to everyone). and is administered by a public entity or organization).
- For example: A park is collective public property, while a farm is individual private property, and the assets of a private company are private collective assets.
- Classification by nature There are movable properties (they can be moved from place to place), immovable property (they cannot be transported without damaging them), corporeal property (that which can be perceived by the senses) and incorporeal property (that which is constituted by mere rights, is abstract).
- For example: A car is personal property, a house is real property, both have tangible property. While the owner of a credit has incorporeal property.
