1 / 11

Property I Professor Donald J. Kochan

Property I Professor Donald J. Kochan. Class 4. Today’s Readings. Acquisition By Find Pages 97-116 Armory v. Delamirie Hannah v. Peel McAvoy v. Medina Bailments Principal/Agent Issues. Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers?. What is the meaning of possession versus absolute ownership?

arella
Download Presentation

Property I Professor Donald J. Kochan

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Property IProfessor Donald J. Kochan Class 4

  2. Today’s Readings • Acquisition By Find • Pages 97-116 • Armory v. Delamirie • Hannah v. Peel • McAvoy v. Medina • Bailments • Principal/Agent Issues

  3. Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers? • What is the meaning of possession versus absolute ownership? • What is the difference between lost and abandoned? • What is the priority between a finder and a “true owner”? • Why does possession create “favored” status? • What presumptions should the law recognize for the possessor/occupier? • How do time and improvements and reasonable investment-backed expectations matter?

  4. Armory v. Delamirie • Chimney Sweep/Jewel Case • Finding does not create absolute ownership • Priority against “all but the rightful [true] owner” • Know causes of action – e.g. what is “trover”; what is “replevin”?

  5. Bailments • What is a Bailment? (Did you take my advice to read the footnotes??) • Why is the property “held” not a “find”? Why is the property involved not lost, mislaid, or abandoned? BUT when does it become so characterized? • What is a Bailor, and their rights and responsibilities? • What is a Bailee, and their rights and responsibilities? • Consider examples – coat check, valet, parking garages, lockers, tow trucks, moving companies, etc. • Consider in light of the possession/ownership distinction • See past exam for question on this subject

  6. Hannah v. Peel • The brooch/property requisitioned for the quartering of troops case • Prior Possession Issues – What is necessary to establish the same? • Does prior knowledge of existence matter? • When one acquires real property do they then “possess” and “own” everything attached? • Lost or Not Lost?

  7. McAvoy v. Medina • The Pocket-book/Shopowner case • Who is the finder – who is the possessor – who has priority? Agency issues and attachment and territorial issues • Social Policy protecting true owners – leaving property in place where they might discover it when lost or mislaid • Discoverability – Lost & Found policies

  8. Mislaid, Lost, or Abandoned • Characterization relates to intent of true owners • Protection of true owners dominates formation of laws • Owner relinquishment of rights – by purpose or time (consider also later re adverse possession) • Know that some statutory laws create schemes for conversion of property rights away from true owner to finder • Salvage issues/reward issues

  9. Employer/EmployeePrincipal/Agent Issues • South Staffordshire Water Co. v. Sharman • The “Pool” Boy • Limited Purpose Issues • “Attachment” of chattels to the land • Embedded to the land • Earth to Sky • Duties of Public Officer finders

  10. Acquisition by Find in the Recent News:The Contractor and the Money in the Wall • http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/12/whatever_happened_to_the_fight.html • http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,449114,00.html • http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27608773/ • http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/02/woman_whose_contractor_found_c.html

  11. Concluding Thoughts • What are the rights of the possessor vis-à-vis the rest of the world? • What are the rights of the true owner? • Given the importance of certainty that stimulates investment and improvement of property, when and how do we decide to give the finder not merely possession but also absolute ownership, if ever?

More Related