Q what do you understand by ownership? What are the various kinds of ownership recognised by law. discuss.
Q short note on ownership:
Q what is ownership and kinds of ownership?
Ownership denotes the relation between a person and an object forming the subject-matter of ownership. The literal meaning of the term “own” is “to have or hold a thing”. One who holds a thing as his own is called owner and will have the right of ownership over it. Therefore, the term ownership literary means “legitimate and absolute right of a person over a thing or an object having title”. In the legal sense the term ownership carries the meaning of right over a thing to the exclusion of all other persons. Concept of ownership began when people started planting tree, cultivating lands and constructing buildings. They began think in term of “Mine” that is called ownership. The ideal of ownership followed the idea of possession. It consists in a complex of rights all of which being rights in rem are good against all the world. However, owner’s rights are not absolute, they may be restricted by adverse dominant interest of an encumbrancer or the possessor.
Features / characterisits of ownership: (elements)
- Right to possession: the owner has a right to possess the thing he owns. It is not necessarily the case that he is in possession of the thing. In this case the owner still has an interest in the thing and a right to repossession on termination of the impediment.
- Right of use and of enjoyment: the owner has right and liberty to use and enjoy the thing as he likes.
- Right of consumption, alienation or even destruction: the owner has a right to consume, alienate or destroy the thing over which he has ownership.
- Indeterminate duration: it has the charactersistic of being indeterminate in duration. All other non-owners in possession have interest which are determinable at a point of time.
- Residuary nature: ownership has a residuary character in the sense that even after all the lesser rights, have been given away the residuary right vest in the owner
Subject matter of ownership: the subject matter of ownership is “owning of things” in the sense of both owning of material objects and also rights. The thing which forms the subject matter of ownership will depend upon the rules of a given system of law.
Modes of acquisition of ownership:
1. Original acquisition: means an acquisition of a property or estate which has never been the property of another.
2. By Transfer: ownership of a property is transferred from one person to another
3. By Succession: It belongs to the family Law and after someone’s death property passes to his legal heirs and they become owner by succession
4. By Prescription: It belongs to property Law. It means continued occupation by someone over a thing from a long period
Kinds of ownership:
- Corporeal and incorporeal ownership:
Corporeal Ownership is of a material objects. Corporeal things are those things which are touchable things e.g. ownership of house, car etc.
Incorporeal Ownership is of immaterial things. Incorporeal things are those things which are untouchable e.g. ownership of copyright, ownership of trademark etc.
- Sole ownership and co-ownership:
Two or more person may at the same time have ownership of the same thing vested in them. But so soon as each of the of the two co-owner begin to own a part of the thing instead of the whole of it, the co-ownership has been dissolved into ownership by the process known as partition.
Sole ownership is such ownership where only a one person is owner of a property at a time.
Coownership involves the undivided integrity of what is owned. In the case of co-owners the title of the one is rendered consistent with that of the other by the existence of reciprocal obligations of restricted use and enjoyment. Co-ownership may assume different forms by virtue of the different incidents attached to it by law.
- Common ownership: in this ownership on the death of a co-owner his right will vest in his successors by law of inheritance.
- Joint ownership: in this the right will vest in the surviving co-owner by right of survivorship or jus accreascendi.
- Trust and beneficial ownership:
A trust is an instance of duplicate ownership where the powers of management and rights of enjoyment are separated. The trust property is owned by two persons at the same time, the trustee and the beneficiary. Trustee is an agent who has the power and duty of administering property of another person. Beneficiary is the owner in law. Generally speaking, trusts arise to protect the rights and interest of persons who are incapable of effectively protecting them. It may also arise without any intention. Trust come to an end where both the interests vest in one person.
- Legal and equitable ownership:
Historically, legal ownership is that which had its origin in the rule of common law in England
Equitable ownership is that which proceeds from rules of equity divergent from the common law.
It is to be noted that whenever the legal estate is in one man and the equitable estate in another, there is a trust. A legal owner is always a trustee for the equitable owner.
- Vested and contingent ownership:
Ownership is vested when the owners title is already perfect. Om this case he owns the right absolutely. The investitive fact from which he derives the right is complete in all its part
Ownership is contingent when his title is yet imperfect, but is capable of being perfect on the fulfilment of some condtion. in this case he owns it merely conditionally. The investitive fact is incomplete in it. contingent ownership is based not upon the mere possibility of future acquisition, but upon the present existence of an incomplete title. There are two conditions on which contingent ownership depends, which are:
- Condition precedent
- Condition subsequent
