Property
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 323 U.S. 373 - United States v. General Motors Corp. · 1945Most cited · 1,794 citing opinions
[The term 'property'] may have been employed in a more accurate sense to denote the group of rights inhering in the citizen's relation to the physical thing, as the right to possess, use and dispose of it. ... [I]t deals with what lawyers term the individual's 'interest' in the thing in question. The constitutional provision is addressed to every sort of interest the citizen may possess.
How the Supreme Court has restated “Property”
Each Supreme Court definition of “Property,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “Property”
Court decisions citing the 12 opinions that defined “Property” — 5,687 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 12 definitions, chronological · 1830–1947
- ORIGINAL
The term 'property,' as applied to lands, comprehends every species of title inchoate or complete. It is supposed to embrace those rights which lie in contract; those which are executory; as well as those which are executed. In this respect the relation of the inhabitants to their government is not changed. The new government takes the place of that which has passed away.
treaty cession
in the term 'property' was comprehended every species of title, inchoate or perfect, embracing those rights which lie in contracts; those which are executory, as well as those which are executed. In this respect the relation of the inhabitants to their government is not changed. The new government takes the place of that which has passed away.
under Louisiana Cession Treaty
By the term property, as applied to lands, all titles are embraced, legal or equitable, perfect or imperfect. It comprehends every species of title, inchoate or complete. It is supposed to embrace those rights which are executory as well as those which are executed.
The word 'propiedad' used in the Spanish text is defined by Escriche as the right to enjoy and dispose freely of one's things in so far as the laws do not prohibit it.
propiedad
The legal conception of property is of rights. When you attempt to limit them by wrongs, you venture a solecism. If you declare a right is subject to a wrong, you confound the meaning of both. ... The tangibility of property is in its uses, and that the uses by one owner of his property may be limited by the wrongful use of another owner of his is a contradiction.
legal conception
At most it denotes something subject to ownership, transfer, or exclusive possession and enjoyment, which may be brought within the dominion and control of a court through some recognized process. This is certainly the full extent of the word's meaning as employed in ordinary speech and business, and the same significance attaches to it in many carefully prepared writings.
in bankruptcy
leases, conferring upon the lessee the exclusive possession of the deposits and the valuable right of removing and reducing the ore to ownership, created a very real and substantial interest therein. And there can be no doubt that such an interest is property.
lessee's interest in mines
Property' is a word of very broad meaning, and, when used without qualification, expressly made or plainly implied, it reasonably may be construed to include obligations, rights, and other intangibles as well as physical things.
The privilege of use is only one attribute, among many, of the bundle of privileges that make up property or ownership.
The terms 'property,' 'transfer,' 'gift', and 'indirectly' are used in the broadest sense; the term 'property' reaching every species of right or interest protected by the laws and having an exchangeable value.
gift tax
property' is the physical thing which is a subject of ownership, or that it is the aggregate of the owner's rights to control and dispose of that thing
tax law