112 



CHAPTER I. 



PRELIMINARY MATTERS. 



Section I. — Value of Pkoperty Generally. 



Property means an object which serves for the satisfaction 

 of a requirement. The degree of utility of a property hidicates 

 its value. 



The value of property may present itself in various ways : — 

 A piece of property may possess value, because it can be used 

 for a certain purpose (as articles of food), or for the pro- 

 duction of another kind or class of property (as a set of 

 carpenters' tools, or raw materials). 



Again, the value of a property may be general or special ; 

 the former is that, which a property has in the open market ; 

 the latter is that, which it has for a particular person (as a 

 piece of land situated in the middle of another estate), or 

 under special circumstances (as a loaf of bread in a famine- 

 stricken district). 



By the price of a property is understood the amount of 

 another class of property, which is offered for it in exchange ; 

 the ordinary means of exchange is money. 



The value of property can be ascertained in various ways, 

 of which four must be mentioned : — 



(1.) The exj^ectation rahie, by which is understood the 

 present net value of all yields, which a property may 

 be able to give ; it is determined by discounting to the 

 present time all incomes derivable from the property, 

 and deducting from them the present value of all 

 expenses necessary for the realisation of the incomes. 

 (2.) The cost value, or the total outlay on the acquisition, 

 or production, of a property. 



