787 



PROPERTY. 



PROPERTY. 



798 



wheel is used ; and for this reason also it is preferred for vessels of 

 heavy burden and deep immersion. 



In a well proportioned vessel, provided with a screw-propeller oJ 

 the best form and mechanical conditions, there is very little slip or 

 loss of the velocity attained by the screw itself ; and it may be con- 

 sidered to range between 10 and 30 per cent. There is, however, a 

 greater loss of the power developed by the engine in screw steamers 

 than in paddle boats, in consequence of the friction and of the passive 

 resistances to be overcome. This fact renders the use of the screw- 

 propeller inadvisable on board vessels which trust mainly to their 

 steam power ; because it renders necessary the transport of a larger 

 quantity of coal. Under ordinary circumstances it seems, however, 

 that in cases where the paddle-wheels are kept at their normal 

 immersion, and they are so proportioned as not to give an unnecessary 

 amount of slip, they possess a slight mechanical advantage over the 

 screw, for the purposes of propulsion. When the vessel is brought too 

 deep in the water, or when the action of the sea disturbs the working 

 conditions of the wheels, or when a side wind depresses one wheel 

 whilst it leaves the other with an insufficient immersion, the advantage 

 is inifavour of the screw-propeller. Perhaps the screw interferes 

 more with the steering properties of a ship than the paddle-wheels do ; 

 because when it ceases to be in motion its blades form a species of 

 fan which intercepts the stream of water which would otherwise strike 

 the rudder. The greater facility with which the screw-propeller can 

 be adapted to the combination of steam and sail power more than 

 compensates for this occasional inconvenience, which after all ceases to 

 be felt when the ship is in the hands of an able seaman. The screw 

 18 least advantageous against head winds. 



The majority of the screws used in the merchant service are made of 

 cast iron, and they are cast solid. In the Royal Navy they are often made 

 of brass ; and on some occasions they are even forged of wrought iron. 

 A very great number of modifications of their forms has been proposed, 

 both for the purpose of obviating the loss of power occasioned by the 

 slip, and of preventing the interference with the action of the rudder. 

 Feathering screws, movable screws, converging blades, screws with a 

 pitch increasing at their extremities, corrugated screws, Griffith's screw, 

 with a circular boss upon the shaft, Seattle's screw, placed behind the 

 rudder, lifting screws, and other contrivances, literally too numerous 

 to mention, testify at least to the earnest character of the efforts made 

 to remedy the inconveniences, real or imaginary, of a mechanical agent 

 of such importance. Hitherto the results attained by these modi- 

 fications have been far from satisfactory, and for ordinary traffic at 

 least the screw is made upon nearly the same principles as it was in 

 the earlier essays. It may perhaps be fair here to state that much of 

 the merit of overcoming the difficulties attending the application of 

 the screw-propeller was due to the late Mr. Brunei, on the occasion of 

 the construction of the Great Britain ; and he, in conjunction with 

 Mr. Scott Russell, subsequently tried an experiment on a larger scale, 

 in the application of both paddle and screw propulsion in the Great 

 Eastern with what commercial success remains yet to be seen. 



(The best treatises in English upon the subject of steam propulsion 

 in its differoit forms are Tredgold on the Steam-Engine and its 

 Supplements Hann and CJenner on the Stcam-Entjine ; Bourne, on the 

 Sei-eic-Propel/ir, and hi* Treatite on the Steam-Enyine.) 



PROPERTY is derived, probably through the French language, 

 from the 1-atin word Projirietcu, which is used by Gaius (ii. 89) as 

 equivalent to ownership (dominium), and is opposed to poiscaio. [POS- 

 SESSION.] The etymology of the word propriftai (propriut) suggests 

 the notion of a thing being a man's own, which general notion is 

 contained in every definition of property. Blackstone (ii. 1) defines 

 " the right of property " to be " that sole and despotic dominion which 

 one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in 

 total exclusion of the right of any other individual in the universe." A 

 foreign writer defines ownership or property to be "the right to deal 

 with a corporeal thing according to a man's pleasure, and to the 

 exclusion of all other persons." 



This definition excludes incorporeal things, which however are con- 

 1 objects of property in our law, aud were also considered as 

 objects of property in the Roman law, under the general name of jura, 

 or jura in re; they were considered as detached parw of ownership, 

 and so opposed to dominium, a word which represented the totality of 

 the rights of ownership. (Savigny, ' Das Recht des Besitzes,' 5th ed., 

 This definition also describes property as consisting in a 



p. 166.) 



right, by which word right is meant "a le;ial power to operate on a 

 thing, by which it is essentially distinguished from the mere possession 

 of the thing, or the physical power to operate upon it. Consequently 

 such a right is not established by the possession of the thing; and it is 

 ost, when the possession of the thing is lost. Such a right can 

 also be enforced by him who possesses the right by an aclio in rem, 

 against every person who possesses the thing, or disputes his right to 

 it. (Mackeldey, Lehrbuch des heutigen Rom. Rechts,' ii., pp. 1-36.) 

 This definition, which is characterised by a precision and accuracy 

 which are altogether wanting in that of Blackstone, is here adopted. 

 By property, then, is here understood only that which the positive law 

 of a country recognises as property, and for the protection or recovery 

 of which it gives a remedy by legal forms against every person who 

 Invades the property, or has the possession of it. 

 Aiutin observes (' An Outline of a Course of Lectures on General 



Jurisprudence ') that " dominion, property, or ownership is a name 

 liable to objection. For, first, it may import that the right in question 

 is a right of unmeasured duration, as well as indicate the indefinite 

 tent of the purposes to which the entitled person may turn the 

 subject. Secondly, it often signifies property, with the meaning 

 wherein property is distinguished from the right of possession [POS- 

 SESSION.] Thirdly, dominion, as taken with one of its significations is 

 exactly co-extensive with jus in rem, and applies to every right that is 

 not jits in personam." The first sense of the word property is expounded 

 by determining, as hereafter explained, the quantity and quality of an 

 sstate as understood in English law. As to the second, possession is of 

 itself no right, but a bare fact, and its relation to rights in rem is the 

 same as the physical to the legal power to operate on a thing. The 

 doctrine of possession is therefore distinct from and should precede 

 the doctrine of property. [POSSESSION.] The third sense of property 

 has reference to the legal modes of obtaining the possession of a thing 

 in which a man can prove that he has property and a present right to 



A complete view of property, as recognised by any given system of 

 law, would embrace the following heads, which it would be necessary 

 to exhaust, in order that the view should be complete. It would 

 embrace an enumeration of all the kinds or classes of things which arc 

 objects- of property : the exposition of the greatest amount of power 

 over such things as are objects of property, which a man can legally 

 exercise and connected with this, the different parts or portions into 

 which the totality of the right of property may be divided, or con- 

 ceived to be divided : the modes in which property is legally trans- 

 ferred from one person to another that is, acquired and lost : the 

 capacity of particular classes of persons to acquire and transfer property 

 as above understood ; or, to take the other view of this division, au 

 enumeration of persons who labour under legal incapacities as to the 

 acquisition and loss of property. 



The following general outline of property is adapted to the English 

 system of Law ; it may be filled up by references to other articles in 

 this work, or to treatises : 



I. The kinds or classes of things which are objects of property. 



The general division is into Things Real and Things Personal, the 

 incidents to which are so different in the system of English law that 

 they must be separately considered. 



Things Real are comprehended under the terms of Lands, Tenements, * 

 and Hereditaments. The word hereditaments is the most compre- 

 hensive of these terms, because it comprehends every thing which 

 may be an object of inheritance, both things real and also some 

 personal things, such as heirlooms, which are objects of inheritance. 



Hereditaments are divided into Things Corporeal and Incorporeal. 

 A Corporeal Hereditament is land, in the legal sense of the term. An 

 Incorporeal Hereditament is defined by Blackstone to be "a right 

 issuing out of a thing corporate (corporeal), whether real or personal, 

 or concerning or annexed to, or exercisable within the same." Perhaps 

 the definition is not quite exact, and it would not be easy to make an 

 exact definition. The Things Incorporeal of the English law correspond 

 in their general character to the res incorporates of the Roman law, one 

 distinguishing character of which is that they are incapable of tradition 

 or delivery (Gaius, ii. 28) : the ret corporales of the Roman law are 

 things which are capable of tradition, whether moveable, as a horse, or 

 immoveable, as a house. The incorporeal hereditaments enumerated 

 by Blackstone are, advowsons, tithes, commons, ways, offices, dignities, 

 franchises, corodies or pensions, annuities, and rents. 



2. The greatest amount of power over such things as are objects of 

 property which a man can legally exercise. 



To this head belongs the English doctrine of Tenure, or the various 

 ways in which land is said to be held. Though this was a much more 

 important part of English law than it now is, it is still of importance ; 

 for tenure always exists wherever there is the relation of landlord and 

 tenant. As all land in the kingdom is held mediately or immediately 

 of the crown, it follows that a man cannot have a property in land 

 which shall not be subject to this right of the crown. He cannot 

 operate upon his property in land in any way so as to destroy this 

 right ; and consequently the utmost amount of property in land which 

 a man can have is limited. The interest which a man can have in any 

 land, tenement, or hereditament, is called an Estate ; and this word 

 comprises the greatest amount of power and enjoyment, both as to 

 time and manner, which a man can legally have over aud in any of the, 

 three things just enumerated, as well as the smallest legal amount of 

 such power and enjoyment : it also comprises, under the notion of 

 tune, the determination of the period when his power and enjoyment 

 shall commence, as well as when they shall cease. Lands, tenements, 

 nd hereditaments then being objects of property, a man may either 

 have the most complete property in such things wlu'ch is legally 

 allowed, or he may have the least property in them which the law 

 allows ; and both this complete and this limited property is expressed 

 by the word estate. An estate in a thing is property in a thing, and 

 property in a thing is legally considered to be capable of division into 

 iefineable parts, called estates, each of which estates has its defineable 

 legal incidents. With reference to an estate, the time during which 

 ihe right of enjoyment continues is usually expressed by the term 

 quantity of estate. The manner in which the enjoyment is to be exer- 

 cised during tb,js time is often expressed by the term quality of estate : 



