Rightful dominion over external objects; ownership; the unrestricted and exdusive right to a thing; the right to dispose of the substance of a thing in every legal way, to possess it to use it and to exclude every one else from Interfering with it. Mackeld. Rom. Law, | 265. Property
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Rightful dominion over external objects; ownership; the unrestricted and exdusive right to a thing; the right to dispose of the substance of a thing in every legal way, to possess it to use it and to exclude every one else from Interfering with it. Mackeld. Rom. Law, | 265. Property is the highest' right a man can have to anything; being used for that right which one has to lands or tenements, goods or chattels, which noway depends on another man's cour¬tesy. Jackson ex dem. Pearson v. Housei, 17 Johns. 281, 283. A right imparting to the owner a power of indefinite user, capable of being transmitted to universal successors by way of descent, and imparting to the owner the power of disposi-tion, from himself and his successors per uni-versitatem, and from all other persons who have a spes succcssianis under any existing conces¬sion or disposition, in favor of such person or series of persons as he may choose, with the like capacities and powers as he had himself, and under such conditions as the municipal or par¬ticular law allows to be annexed to the disposi¬tions of private persons. Aust. Jur. (Campbell's Ed.) | 1103. The right of property is that sole and despotic dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in total exclusion of the right of any other individual in the universe. It consists in the free use, en¬joyment and disposal of all a person's acquisi¬tions, without any control or diminution save only by the laws of the land. 1 Bl. Comm. 138; 2 Bl. Comm. 2, 15. The word is also commonly used to denote any external object over which the right of property is exercised. In this sense it is a very wide term, and includes every class of acquisitions which a man can own or have an interest in. See Scranton v. Wheeler, 179 U. S. 141, 21 Sup. Ct 48, 45 L. Ed. 126; Law¬rence v. Hennessey, 165 Mo. 659, 65 S. W. 717; Boston & L. R. Corp. v. Salem & L. R. Co., 2 Gray (Mass.), 35; National Tel. News Co. v. Western Union Tel. Co., 119 Fed. 294, 56 C. C. A. 198, 60 L. R. A. 805; Hamilton v. Rathbone, 175 U. S. 414, 20 Sup. Ct. 155, 44 L. Ed. 219; Stanton v. Lewis, 26 Conn. 449; Wilson v. Ward Lumber Co. (C. C.) 67 Fed. 674. —Absolute property. In respect to chattels personal property is said to be "absolute" where a man has, solely and exclusively, tbe right and also the occupation of any movable chattels, so that they cannot be transferred from him, or cease to be his, without his own act or default. 2 Bl. Comm. 389. In the law of wills, a bequest or devise "to be the absolute property" of the beneficiary, may pass a title in fee simple. My¬ers v. Anderson, 1 Strob. Eq. (S. C.) 344, 47 Am. Dec 537; Fackler v. Berry, 93 Va. 565, 25 S. E 887, 57 Am. St. Rep. 819. Or it may mean that the property is to be held free from any limitation or condition or free from any control or disposition on the part of others. Wilson v. White, 133 Ind. 614, 33 N. E. 361, 19 I* R. A. 581; Williams v. Vancleave, 7 T. B. Mon. (Ky.) 388, 393.—Common prop* erty. A term sometimes applied to lands owned by a municipal corporation and held in trust for the common use of the inhabitants. Comp. Laws N. Miex. 1897, § 2184. Also property owned jointly by husband and wife under the community system. See COMMUNITY.—Com¬munity property. See COMMUNITY.—Gan-anoial property. See that title.—General property. The right and property in a thing enjoyed by the general owner. See OWN¬ER.—Literary property. See LITERARY.— Mixed property. Property which is per¬sonal in Its essential nature, but is invested by the law with certain of the characteristics ana features of real property. Heirlooms, tomb¬stones, monuments in a church, and title-deeds to an estate are of this nature. 2 Bl. Comm. 428 ; 3 Barn. & Adol. 174; 4 Bing. 106: Mil¬ler v. Worrall, 62 N. J. Eq. 776, 48 Atl. 586, 90 Am. St. Rep. 480; Minot v. Thompson, 106 Mass. 585.—Personal property. Property of a personal or movable nature, as opposed to property of a local or immovable character, (such as land or houses,) the latter being called "real property." This term is also applied to the, right or interest less than a freehold which a man has in realty. Boyd v. Selma, 96 Ala. 144, 11 South. 393, 16 L. R. A. 729; Adams v. Hackett, 7 Cal. 203; Stief v. Hart, 1 N. Y. 24; Bellows v. Allen, 22 Vt 108? In re Bruckman's Estate, 195 Pa. 363, 45 Atl. 1078; Atlanta v. Chattanooga Foundry & Pipe Co., (C. C.) 101 Fed. 907. That kind of property which usually consists of things temporary and movable, but includes all subjects of property not of a freehold nature, nor descendible to the heirs at law. 2 Kent, Comm. 340. Personal prop¬erty is divisible into (1) corporeal personal prop¬erty, which includes movable and tangible things, such as animals, ships, furniture, mer¬chandise, etc.; and (2) incorporeal personal property, which consists of such rights as per¬sonal annuities, stocks, shares, patents, and copy-rights. Sweet.—Private property, as pro¬tected from being taken for public uses, is such property as belongs absolutely to an individ-ual, and of which he has the exclusive right of disposition; property of a specific, fixed and tangible nature, capable of being had in pos¬session and transmitted to another, such as houses, lands, and chattels. Homochitto Riv¬er Com'rs v. Withers, 29 Miss. 21. 64 Am. Dec. 126; Scranton v. Wheeler, 179 U. S. 141, 21 Sup. Ct. 48, 45 L. Ed. 126.—Property tax. In English law, this is understood to be an in-come tax payable in respect to landed property. In America, it is a tax imposed on property, whether real or personal, as distinguished from poll taxes, and taxes on successions, transfers, and occupations, and from license taxes. See Garrett v. St. Louis, 25 Mo. 510, 69 Am. Dec. 475; In re Swift's Estate, 137 N. Y. 77, 32 N. E. 1096. 18 L. R. A. 709; Rohr v. Gray, 80 Md. 274, 30 Atl. 632.—Public property. This term is commonly used as a designation of those things which are public* juris, (q. v.,) and therefore considered as being owned by "the public," the entire state or community, and not restricted to the dominion of a private person. It may also apply to any subject of property owned by a state, nation, or municipal corpora¬tion as such.—Qualified property. Property in chattels which is not In its nature perma¬nent but may at some times subsist and not at other times; such for example, as the prop¬erty a man may have in wild animals which he has caught and keeps,' and which are his only so long as he retains possession of them. 2 Bl. Comm. 389.—Real property. A general term for lands, tenements, and hereditaments.;, prop¬erty which, on the death of the owner intestate, passes to his heir. Real property is either cor-poreal or incorporeal See Code N. Y. § 462.— Separate property. The separate property of a married woman is that which she owns in her own right, which is liable only for her own debts, and which she can incumber and dispose of at her own wilL—Special property. Prop¬erty of a qualified, temporary, or limited nature; as distinguished from absolute, general, or un¬conditional property. Such is the property of a bailee in the article bailed, of a sheriff in goods temporarily in his hands under a levy, of the finder of lost goods while looking for the owner, of a person, In wild animals which he has caught. Stief v. Hart, 1 N. Y. 24; Moul-ton v. Witherell, 52 Me. 242; Eisendrath v. Knauer, 64 111. 402; Phelps v. People, 72 N* Y. 357.
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