Personal Property Law

Sarah Worthington is Professor of Law at the London School of Economics.

Part 1 Introduction: defining personal property - types of property, what is property?, types of property rights, the legal significance of property, the political and social significance of property. Part 2 Interests in personal property: ownership and possession - ownership, possession, interests in property and title to property, bailment, acquisition of ownership and possessory interests, utilising interests in property; security interests - pledges, possessory liens, mortgages, equitable charges, floating charges, practical security arrangements, retention of title ("romalpa") clauses, "quistclose" trusts, the future of security. Part 3 Transfers of interests in personal property: consensual transfers of interests in property - property which cannot be dealt with - "nemo dat" and other rules, fraud and non-compliance with statutory requirements, gifts - general issues, gifts of tangible property (choses in possession), gifts of intangible property (choses in action), gifts of future property, conditional gifts, gifts which may be recalled, sale of goods, sales of choses in action, sale of future property - choses in action and choses in possession, flawed contracts to transfer property, policy considerations; transfers of interests in property by operation of law: intestate succession, revesting of legal title transferred under a contract voidable at common law, automatic and presumed resulting trusts, resulting trusts which effect restitution for unjust enrichment, constructive trusts - general issues, equitable liens - general issues, constructive trusts and agreements for the transfer of property, proprietary estoppel, constructive trusts arising on breach of obligation, the possibility of "remedial" constructive trust, subrogation, policy considerations. Part 4 Persistence and protection of interests in property: persistence of interests in property - title conflicts and priority disputes, tracing and claiming - conceptual issues, tracing - the common law rules, tracing - the equitable rules; protection of interests in property - remedies in tort, remedies in contract, remedies in unjust enrichment, remedies in bailment, remedies in equity, limitation periods. Part 5 Conclusions: future horizons - the boundary between personal and proprietary rights, the need for a concept of property, the future.