Ownership

The exclusive right to use, possess, and dispose of property, subject only to the rights of persons having a particular interest and to any restrictions on the owner’s rights imposed by agreement with or by an act of third parties or by operation of law. Ownership may be corporeal, i.e., of a material thing, which may be movable or immovable, or incorporeal, i.e., of something intangible, such as of a copyright or patent. Ownership involves the enjoyment of some rights over the property [Law, p. 250]. Rights over property, including rights of possession, exclusive enjoyment, destruction, etc. In UK common law, land cannot be owned outright, as all land belongs to the Crown and is held in tenure by the ‘owner’. However, an owner of an estate in land in fee simple is an outright owner to all intents and purposes. In general, ownership can be split between different persons. For example, a trustee has legal ownership of trust property, but the beneficiary has equitable or beneficial ownership [Law, p. 246]. The collection of rights gives a person control over a thing. Absolute ownership involves the exclusive right to possess, use and manage a thing, the right to income derived from allowing others to use the thing, the right to the capital value of the thing, the right to security against expropriation of the thing, the power to transmit the thing by sale, gift or bequest, and the lack of any term on the possession of these rights [Mann, p. 252]. Three critical concepts in property law. The broadest is ownership, which implies rights against the world, including the right to property disposal. In law, ‘ownership’ is used for personal property but generally not for real property (land). Under the doctrine of estates, an owner is an owner of an estate in land (freehold or leasehold estate or some other proprietary interest) rather than the land owner [Mann, p. 230].

Sources:

Law, J. (2016). A Dictionary Business and Management (6 ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Law, J. (2022). A Dictionary of Law (10 ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Mann, T. (2017). Australian Law Dictionary (3 ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.