ABSTRACT

Land law, or the law of real property, as it is often called, is concerned with the rights and liabilities which arise in respect of immovable property. In its legal sense, ‘land’ includes not just the soil and things growing naturally on it, but any buildings and fixtures erected thereon. It is a peculiar feature of land that, being immovable and indestructible, it is normally subject to a wide variety of rights, obligations and interests which would not normally affect pure personalty. If X is the owner of a gold watch, it is unlikely that any person other than X will have any right or interest in the watch, nor will X be restricted in his enjoyment of the watch; he may simply use it until it wears out, or until he decides to give it away to someone else. Similarly, if X is the owner of a car, the only other ‘person’ who is likely to have any right or interest in the car is the finance company (if it has been bought on hire purchase), and X’s only obligation in relation to the car will be to insure it, license it, and drive it with due care. On the other hand, if X is the ‘owner’ of land, there will invariably be several other persons having rights over the land, and he will be burdened with a number of restrictions and obligations (called ‘incumbrances’) in respect of it. For instance, it is likely that he will have mortgaged it to a bank as security for the loan of the purchase money; that a neighbour, Y, will have a right to run his drains under part of it and to have access over a pathway on it; that the land will be burdened by restrictive covenants prohibiting X and his successors from, for example, subdividing the land or using it for a trade or business; and, if the land is let to a tenant, X will be excluded from possession until expiry of the lease. Furthermore, the ‘ownership’ of the land may be fragmented. For instance, X may have inherited the land under the will or intestacy of a deceased relative in common with his two brothers, P and Q, so that the land will be ‘co-owned’ by all three, who will have equal rights to enjoy it. Lastly, X, as ‘owner’, will be subject to town and country planning legislation, which will require him to seek planning permission to develop the land; and to revenue laws, requiring payment of rates and taxes.