Criminal Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

Criminal Law - Essay Example istorically, in some areas, property was owned by the monarch and it devolved through feudal land tenure or other feudal systems of loyalty and fealty. Though the Napoleonic code was among the first government acts of modern times to introduce the notion of absolute ownership into statute, protection of personal property rights was present in more feudalist forms in the common law courts of medieval and early modern England. Property – Definition Blacks Law Dictionary states that "in the strict legal sense, [property is] an aggregate of rights which are guaranteed and protected by the government" and that the term "includes not only ownership and possession but also the right of use and enjoyment for lawful purposes." On the contrary, Barrons Law Dictionary classifies property as "ones exclusive right to possess, use, and dispose of a thing" [ . . . ] "as well as the object, benefit, or prerogative which constitutes the subject matter of that right." Divisions Property law can be divided into personal and real property. Real property concerns itself with rights in rem, or relating to land. Personal property concerns itself with rights in personam, or relating to chattels. Using contemporary descriptions, property has been depicted as oscillating between competing models of property as a fact, property as a right, and property as a responsibility. Declared ownership in and of itself is insufficient to constitute property in a legal sense. Rather, the idea of property arises where one can have his/her right to land or chattels respected and enforced by a court of law. Therefore, to possess good title (and thus enforceable rights) on property one must acquire it legitimately, according to the laws of the jurisdiction in which one seeks enforcement. Real property does not just talk of the ownership of property and buildings — it also involves several legal relationships between owners of immovable property (real estate) that are basically conceptual