Land Law-

property

a bundle of rights relating to something,
- the extent and nature of these rights dictate the extent and nature of one’s property

real property

term used to describe the rights held in freehold in relation to land, or things attached to land
- defined by application of the maxim superficies solo credit, or, "that which is attached to the land becomes part of the land"

personal property

rights in relation to things and leasehold rights (known as ‘chattels real’) in relation to land and things attached to land

tangible rights

described as corporeal, or rights with physical substance

intangible rights

described as incorporeal, or rights without physical substance
- can allow for a right of physical exercise over the land of another (e.g. right of way)

ownership

the owner of something is the person who acquires the right to control the thing that is owned
- two relationship: with the thing owned, with the rest of the world in relation to the thing owned

possession

the right to use and enjoy the thing being possessed

land (LCLRA)

(a) any estate or interest in or over land, whether corporeal or incorporeal,

(b) mines, minerals and other substances in the substratum below the surface, whether

or not owned in horizontal, vertical or other layers apart from the surface of the

land,

(c) land covered by water,

(d) buildings or structures of any kind on land and any part of them, whether the division is made horizontally, vertically or in any other way,

(e) the airspace above the surface of land or above any building or structure on land which is capable of being or was previously occupied by a building or structure and any part of such airspace, whether the division is made horizontally, vertically or in any other way,

(1) any part of land.

title

one’s legal ‘entitlement’ to property
- the collection of documents used within a conveyancing process In this way title can be taken to mean the collection of documents used within a conveyancing process to make out the vendor's entitlement to transact in the proposed manner and to show the extent to which any third parties might have rights in relation to the land.

tenure

the basis upon which one person might be said to hold land from- or ‘under’ another

estate

the length of time for which someone will be said to have rights in relation to land

feudalism

a matrix of military and legal relationships that existed within the nobility of the Middle Ages and were concerned, in particular, with how military and legal obligations were bound up with landowning, landholding and the transfer of land.

alienation

the technical term used for transfer of rights over land

freehold estate LCLRA

means fee simple in possession and includes:
determinable fee, fee simple subject to a right of entry or re-entry, fee simple subject to power of revocation, annuity or other payment, or a right of residence which is not an exclusive right over the whole land

core characteristic of freehold estate

it is free from obligations and ties

determinable fee simple

is a transfer of a freehold estate that is made subject to the continuation of some state of affairs (until, while, for as long as)

a determinable fee simple reverts to grantor?

automatically, when the state of affairs comes to an end

Corrigan v Corrigan

determinable fee. determining event needs to be clear. 

conditional fee simple

grant of fee subject to condition precedent or subsequent

conditional fee simple, grantor

can re-take possession if condition not fulfilled

conditional fee simple does not

automatically revert to grantor

in conditional fee simple the law leans in favour of

conditions subsequent

why does the law lean in favour of conditions subsequent?

freedom of alienation

what are the limits on conditions in conditional fee simple?

alienability, certainty, public policy

Re McDonnell

property transferred subject to condition that child behaved well and didn’t transfer land outside of family. restriction on alienability, condition found void.

Re Dunne

passing of property not to Meredith family. void- public policy and uncertainty

Re Burke’s Estate

void for uncertainty, residency requirement. conditions of religion invalid. 

life estate (no longer valid)

a grant to the right to enjoy piece of land for duration of a person’s life. now only equitable.

fee tail (no longer valid)

designed to provide that the land stayed in the same family

if you draft attempting to create fee tail

it will be converted into fee simple

hybrid estates

contain features of freehold and leasehold estates

leases for lives perpetually renewable

creates fee simple in favour of grantee

essentially indefinite, could renew lives

leases for lives combined with term of years

grant of freehold estate but subject to a landlord tenant relationship

converted to fee simple

fee farm grants

abolished prospectively, converted into fee simple