Property Law

Abstract

Private property rights apparently exist in all societies (Becker 1980, 198–200; Hobhouse 1922, 11), but they vary greatly from society to society. Property law is fundamental to society and the other fields of common law, because it specifies the forms of, and control over, wealth in a society. It thus provides one set of rights with which the other legal fields are concerned (Epstein 1982, 49). Indeed, some social theories attempt to analyze all rights as forms of property rights. Contract law concerns the transfer of property and benefits of services. Freedom to transfer property, which did not widely exist in feudal society, may have been a precursor of freedom of contract (Atiyah 1979, 727). Much of tort law concerns damages to property, and part of the criminal law, such as theft and fraud, concerns security of property.