Real Estate Transactions
Owning Real Property
v Property rights in our property system are not absolute.
Ø We have some but not others. Gov’t has the right to take our property away
§ It’s ours but if the gov;t wants it can take it away from us. But in our country it must compensate us
Ø To own a piece of land
§ You have the unfettered right to lease the property, the right to possess, to occupy if you haven’t leased it or if it is not a wetland, the right to build on some of it if it is not wetlands and if zoning allow. The right to use” definition expands to Right to exploit. You may have the right to use w/o the right to sell
Ø John Locke
§ The source of property rights is Gd. We moved away from Gd’s gift to the father and mother of mankind b/c of LABOR.
· Population increasesàeconomic developmentsàcreation of money in event you sowed more than you could eat à property gets it value from our workàLocke says labor makes the difference. The value of land comes 90% from the amount we laboràIf you want to get the fruit of the earth you need to work for it.
¨ Without money men had no reason to enlarge our possessions instead of killing eachother for land like we originally did, men agree to a disproportionate and unequal distribution of earths possessions, by working for money.
Ø Source of property rights: a lot of killing!
§ Samaria changed history of world 10,000 yrs ago: developed Irrigation, possibly learned from Chinese – a system to grow more food than they needed to eat. Creations of farms lead to agricultural system, starting bringing water from Euphrates/tigris to their farms. To get the water there and improve the soil, labor was required
· Now not everyone had to spend their lives growing food à could do other things à new specializations à This creates cities and farm
· farmers needed a way to protect the farms, their property rights against morators and herds There was a need for boundariesà needed fence and knowledge that they could keep the farm in one place.
¨ in order for farmer to exist, you needed property rights à then needed someone to enforce them à then and today property rights existed b/c there was someone to enforce them.
Ø Philosopher, politician, conservative ideologue, talk show host
Ø If no one holds off the visigoth’s, whatever we own we might not for very long.
· Wars and prejudices evolved from all of this [Cane and abel]. We killed enough people to claim certain lands as our own
¨ What gave spain to the Spanish was a lot of killing by the visigoth’s of the romans, who lost their property rights. For centuries migrations and waves of people b/w east and west killed people and in the process destroyed property rights
§ Spain, with Columbus, proved what property rights really were by sending over conquistadors and laying claim to land by killing indigenous.
¨ The source of property rights was a lot of killing
Ø Violence is The system of property under which we could possibly exist and possibly the descendents of those people could be in abject poverty today while we enjoy the fruits of their grandparents labor
v Justification of private property
Ø Saint Thomas Aquinas
§ The source of all property is Gd as well, and at that very moment Adam and Eve owned the same amount. Gd gave it to them in common. With Cane and Abel, each of these people may all own it in common too
§ despite the fact that Gd gives the earth to all man kind in common, it is a good thing b/c all man kind benefits from the labor.
Ø Locke and Aquinas say Collective responsibility sometimes doesn’t work – that if you don’t let someone be responsible for himself, nothing will happen when everyone owns everything b/c no one will do anything.
§ society needed boundaries, rules for whether individually or tribally land was owned, like in the bible, where Land divided bw 12 tribes. Each tribal territory divided among the families to make it work.
· Very strong theory that if an individual or very small group is responsible for a specific task, the task will be done
Ø Prodhoun: disagreed with Locke and Acquinas based on character he saw with many landowners in his day.
§ If you give them dominion over something to do whatever they want,
Edward becomes interested in godwin. Edward and Normans ousts godwin. Normans got to be earl’s and dukes. Edward puts godwin’s wife into convent and returns to prayer as the powerful one. Godwin regains his power. They strike dealà wife released from conventà both die, godwins son Harold
· when Edward was in power, he promised Englands throne to William duke of Normandy. 1066 king of Norway also interested in conquering England. Harold figures that Norwegians will attack first and decisively defeats à William attacks from Normandy and defeats Harold à Process of English CL begins to grow
§ Norwegian Vikings entered Normandy. Their main occupation was pillaging, raiding to bring back things of value à Norman system evolves, imported into england and evolves into the manorial system underlying CL we inherited.
Ø Manorial system: system anglo-saxon Norman society built and defended itself.
§ Saxons and danes had established a system through Germanic tribes that invaded england in earlier periods. 2 principal economic elements in mind [Food and protection. Neither of which was easy to come by then] Needed boundaries and property, and boundaries depend on protection.
· elements making up society: Bosses who were warriors, farmers as craftsman, and the church provided more than just spiritual entity.
William of Normandy: For food, divided up land to lordsàgrew crop and divided land among farmers à Deal: lords governed big parcels of land and King W got food for all his dependents, and knights protection à Each lord had many landowners under him, who provide food and knights to the second level [lords] à Lowest bigshots of pyramid were knights, the basic unit of all of this. He controlled the manor and basic
