Property law is still one of the fundamental branches of law， and real estate is a significant branch of law practice. In fact， one of the major developments in our system， if you take the long view， is the relative decline of real property law. In medieval England， it would have only been a slight exaggeration to say that land law was the law of the land. When Blackstone published his Comm entaries midway through the 18th century， one whole volume was devoted to land law. A modern Blackstonewould shrink thetopic to a fraction of this bulk—5 or 10percent， at most， of the total law.
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Googleout and explore the basic distinction between common law systems and civil law systems on“property”.
Basic Categories of Property
Property has at least two meanings. First， it is a thing of value which can be owned and used in exchange. In the legal sense， however， it means a bundle of rights in something of value.
Property rights are the rights over things enforceable against all other persons. By contrast， contractual rights are rights enforceable against particular persons. Property rights， however， may arise from a contract， so there is an overlap between the two systems of rights. Property rights are also distinguished from personal rights， which are the rights that a person has over his or her own body and personality.
Several classes of property are recognized by the property law. These classes generally determine which particular body of law will govern the ownership， transfer， taxation and financing of the property. The major categories of property are real property， personal property， and intellectual property.
Real property is land and things immovably attached to the land. The basic test for identifying real property is whether a tangible thing is movable in a practical sense. A house can be moved， but because it requires a great effort to do so， the law views it as immobile. Similarly， something permanently attached to a house， such as an under-thecounter dishwasher， is viewed as immobile， and is therefore real property.
Owners of realty do not all have the same ownership powers. For example， some owners cannot will away their ownership. Ownership powers are determined by the estate in land that an owner receives. The major freehold estates are fee simple absolute estates， conditional estates， life estates and future interest estates. Leasehold estates include tenancy for years， tenancy at will， periodic tenancy and tenancy at sufferance.
A fee simple absolute estate is an estate with all the ownership powers. The owner of the estate exercises all the powers allowed by law， so there can be no other estate in the same land. Most buyers of homes， farmland and commercial property purchase the fee simple absolute estate.
A conditional estate makes ownership conditional on some act or event. For instance， A， the owner of a fee simple absolute estate， may sell and convey the estate to B，“only as long as no garage is built on the premises”. In this example， if a garage is built， ownership would revert back to A. The buyer， B， owns a conditional estate.
A life estate is ownership for a time limited by the length of a human life. So the owner exercises all the ownership powers except the right to convey permanent ownership.
A future interest estate grants the owner possession of the realty when a life or conditional estate terminates.
When the owner of a freehold estate transfers to another the right to temporarily possess the realty， the landlord-tenant relationship is formed. There are 4 kinds of leasehold estates， with different rights attached.
A tenancy for years lasts for some fixed period of time. A tenancy at will describes any leasehold where either the landlord or the tenant may terminate the tenancy at any time on reasonable notice. A periodic tenancy is an estate that exists for some period of time determined by the term of the payment of rent. A tenancy at sufferance exists when a tenant remains in possession of property after the expiration of his lease， and until the landlord acts to eject the tenant from the property.
Personal property， or personalty， on the other hand， is something that is both tangible and mobile. Cars， ships， shoes， suits， and watches are tangible and mobile. Thus they are personal property.