Property - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition property

Definition :

Property, an actionable claim against the tenants is undoubtedly a species of property which is assignable, State of Bihar v. Kameshwar Singh, AIR 1952 SC 252.

Comprises every form of tangible property, even intangible, including debts and chooses in action such as unpaid accumulation of wages, pension, cash grants, and constitutionally protected privy purse, See M.M. Pathak v. Union of India, AIR 1978 SC 802.

Decree is to be treated as property, Associated Hotels of India v. Jodha Mal Kuthiala, AIR 1950 Punj 201.

Every movable property is included in the ordinary connotation of the word 'property', Chunni Lal v. State, AIR 1968 Raj 70.

In commercial law this may carry its ordinary meaning of the subject-matter of ownership. But elsewhere, as in the sale of goods it may be used as a synonym for ownership and lesser rights in goods, Dictionary of Commercial Law by A.H. Hudson, (1983, Edn.).

In Entry 42, List III (Constitution of India) includes the power to legislate for acquisition of an undertaking. The expression 'property' in Entry 42, List III has a wide connotation; and it includes not only assets, but the organisation, liabilities and obligations of a going concern as a unit, Shri Krishna Gyanoday Sugar Ltd. v. State of Bihar, AIR 2003 SC 3436.

Property, in indicative and descriptive of every possible interest which a party can have, State of Manipur v. Nongthombam Ambu Singh, AIR 1957 Manipur 1.

Property, in its most general usage, it denotes ownership of the things owned, UNESCO Report, p. 549.

Property, includes 'shebaitship' which is recognised as property in Hindu Law; Angurbala v. Mullick v. Debabrata Mullick, AIR 1951 SC 293.

Includes not only assets, but the organisation, liabilities and obligations of a going concern as a unit. Undertaking of a banking company is property, R.C. Cooper v. Union of India, AIR 1970 SC 564: 1970 (2) SCC 248. (See also Constitution of India, Entry 42, List III)

Includes right to realise debt due to dissolved firm from third party, Baba Commercial Syndicate v. Chennamesetti, AIR 1986 AP 378.

Property, is a generic term for all that a person has dominion over; its two leading divisions are (1) real, and (2) personal; every possible interest which party can have, Stroud's Judicial Dictionary, Vol. 2, p. 2089.

Property, is a term of the widest import and subject to any limitation which the content may require, it signifies to any limitation which the context may require, it signifies every possible interest which a person can clearly hold or enjoy, Ahmed GH Ariff v. CWT, Calcutta, AIR 1971 SC 1691.

Property, is a term of wide amplitude and, in fact, is the sum of several interests, rights and obligations that arise because of the relation of persons inter se and relation of group of persons with the object or corpus of the property. Mere object of property, though it may be a source of economic gain or be a means of production is not the totality of the property, although it is the basic item that goes to make the same. Property thus in law, is both, corpus and capacity, Hirabai v. Babu Maniva Ingale, 1980 Bom CR 451.

Property, is extended to all those recognised types of interests which have the insignia or characteristics of proprietary right, Sidhjrabhai Sabbai v. State of Gujarat, AIR 1963 SC 540.

Property, is nothing more than the basis of a certain expectation, namely, the expectation of deriving thereafter certain advantage from a thing (which we are already said to possess) by reason of the relation in which we stand towards it, See Manathunainatha Desikar v. Sundaralingam, AIR 1971 Mad 1; Theory of Legislation, Vol. I, p. 143 by Bentham.

Property, is the sum of a bundle of rights and in the case of tangible property would include the right of possession, the right to enjoy, the right to destroy, the right to retain, the right to alienable and so on, Gurudutta Sharma v. State of Bihar, 1962 (2) SCC 292: 1962 (1) SCJ 382: AIR 1961 SC 1684.

Property, may denote the nature of the interest in goods and when used in this sense means title or ownership in a thing, Sunrise Associates v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi, (2006) 5 SCC 603.

Means (i) immovable property, (ii) movable property, (iii) any debt or any right to receive payment of money, whether secured or unsecured, (iv) receivable, whether existing or future; (v) intangible assets, being know-how, patent, copyright, trade mark, licence, franchise or any other business or commercial right of similar nature. [The Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002, s. 2(t)]

Means any property of assets or every description, whether corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible and includes deeds and instruments evidencing title to, or interest in, such property or assets, wherever located. [The Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002, s. 2(v)]

Means corporeal or incorporeal rights including money which is exchangeable in value capable of satisfying temporal needs of its owner, Chattar Lal v. Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, 1997 (1) WLC 560.

Means property and assets of every description, whether corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible and deeds and instruments evidencing title to, or interest in, such property or assets, and includes cash and bank account. [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967), s. 2(h)]

Includes any property over which or the profits of which any person has a disposing power which he may exercise for his own benefit. [Provincial Insolvency Act, 1920 (5 of 1920), s. 2 (1) (d)]

Includes in the case of a wife any property to which she is entitled for an estate in remainder or reversion or as a trustee, executrix or administratix; and the date of the death of the testator or intestate shall be deemed to be the time at which any such wife becomes entitled as executrix or administratix. [Divorce Act, 1869 (8 of 1869), s. 3 (10)]

Means property of any kind, whether movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, and includes any right or interest in such property. [Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 (45 of 1988), s. 2 (c)]

Means the general property in goods, and not merely a special property. [Sale of Goods Act, 1930 (3 of 1930), s. 2 (11)]

It means:

(i) immovable property;

(ii) movable property;

(iii) any debt or any right to receive payment of money, whether secured or unsecured;

(iv) receivables, whether existing or future;

(v) intangible assets, being know-how, patent, copy-right, trademark, licence, franchise or any other business or commercial right of similar nature. [Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (54 of 2002), s. 2 (1)]

Property in legal sense means an aggregate of rights which are guaranteed and protected by law. It extends to every species of valuable right and interest, more particularly, ownership and exclusive right to a thing, the right to dispose of the thing in every legal way, to possess it, to use it, and to exclude everyone else from interfering with it. The dominion or indefinite right of use or disposition which one may lawfully exercise over particular things or subjects is called property. The exclusive right of possessing, enjoying, and disposing of a thing is property in legal para-meters. Therefore, the word 'property' connotes everything which is subject of ownership, corporeal or incorporeal, tangible or intangible, visible or invisible, real or personal; everything that has an exchangeable value or which goes to make up wealth or estate or status, property, therefore, within the constitutional protection, denotes group of rights infering citizen's relation to physical thing, as right to possess, use and dispose of it in accordance with law. In Ramanatha Aiyar's The Law Lexicon, Reprint Edn., 1987, at p. 1031, it is stated that the property is the most comprehensive of all terms which can be used, inasmuch as it is indicative and descriptive of every possible interest which the party can have. The term property has a most extensive signification, and, according to its legal definition, consists in free use, enjoyment, and disposition by a person of all his acquisitions, without any control or diminution, save only by the laws of the land, Jilubhai Nanbhai Khachar v. State of Gujarat, AIR 1995 SC 142: (1995) Supp 1 SCC 596.

(ii) The word 'property' as used in s. 3(1) of the Hindu Women's Rights to Property Act, 1937 includes Shebaitship which is a recognized form of property under Hindu law and there is nothing in any of the provisions of the Hindu Women's Rights Property Act which excludes from the scope of operation of the Act succession to Shebaitship, Angurbala Mullick v. Debabrata Mullick, AIR 1951 SC 293 (297-299): (1951) SCR 1125.

(iii) The word 'property', as used in Article 19(1)(f) of the Constitution, should be given a liberal and wide connotation and should not be extended to those well recognised types of interest which have the insignia or characteristics of proprietary right, Commissioner v. Lakshmindra Thirtha Swamiar of Shirur Mutt, AIR 1954 SC 282: (1954) SCR 1005.

(iv) The word 'property' in the Insolvency Act is used in the widest possible sense which includes even property which may belong to or is vested in another but over which the insolvent has a disposing power which he may exercise for his own benefit, Mukti Lal Agarwala v. Trustees of the Provident Fund of the Tin Plate Co. of India Ltd., AIR 1956 SC 336: (1956) SCR 100.

(v) 'Property' is a term of the widest import, and subject to any limitation or the context might require, it signifies every possible interest which a person can acquire, hold and enjoy, J.K. Trust v. Commissioner of Income Tax, AIR 1957 SC 846 (849): (1958) SCR 65. [Income Tax Act, 1922, s. 4(3)(i)]

(vi) As a legal concept, 'property' is the sum of a bundle of rights and in the case of tangible property would include the right of possession, the right to enjoy, the right to destroy, the right to retain, the right to alienate and so on, Guru Datta Sharma v. State of Bihar, AIR 1961 SC 1684 (1697): (1962) 2 SCR 292.

(vii) The word 'property' is used in the Penal Code in a much wider sense than the expression movable property. There is no good reason to restrict the meaning of the word 'property' to movable property only when it is used without any qualification in s. 405 or in other sections of the Indian Penal Code, R.K. Dalmia v. Delhi Administration, AIR 1962 SC 1821 (1833): (1963) 1 SCR 253. [Penal Code, s. 405]

(viii) 'Property' is a term of the widest import and subject to any limitation which the context may require, it signifies every possible interest which a person can clearly hold or enjoy, Ahmed G.H. Ariff v. Commissioner of Wealth Tax, AIR 1971 SC 1691: (1969) 2 SCC 471: (1970) 2 SCR 19.

(ix) Following the principles laid down in the Tilkayat, AIR 1963 SC 1638: (1964) 1 SCR 561 and Raja Birakishore, AIR 1964 SC 1501: (1964) 7 SCR 32 cases, Supreme Court was unable to endorse the view that the office of hereditary trusteeship is property within Article 19(1)(f) or any other article of the Constitution. Even if it was held that the rights in question constituted 'property' their regulation by the relevant provisions of the Act would undoubtedly be protected by Article 19(5), Kakinada Annadana Samajam v. Commissioner of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments, AIR 1971 SC 891: (1970) 3 SCC 359: (1971) 2 SCR 878.

(x) The statutory rights of claimants to compensa-tion, which crystallize on assessment and verifica-tion of claims, are separate rights to property of each claimant covered by the wide definition of 'property' in s. 6 of the Transfer of Property Act; Union of India v. Iqbal Singh, AIR 1976 SC 211: (1976) 1 SCC 570: (1976) 2 SCR 988.

(xi) The word 'property' has been defined in the Century Dictionary, which is an encyclopedic lexicon of the English language, as follows: the right to the use of enjoyment or the beneficial right of disposal of anything that can be the subject of ownership; ownership, estate; especially ownership of tangible things; anything that may be exclusively possessed and enjoyed, Nrisingha Murari Chakraborty v. State of West Bengal, AIR 1977 SC 1174: (1977) 3 SCC 7: (1977) 3 SCR 521.

(xii) The word 'property' means right to receive compensation for acquisition of lands under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894; Khorshed Shapoor v. Asst. Controller of Estate Duty, AIR 1980 SC 775: (1980) 2 SCC 1: (1980) 2 SCR 315.

(xiii) Any legal right which can be enforced through a court is a right in the nature of property within the meaning of Article 31; Delhi Cloth and General Mills Co. Ltd. v. Rajasthan State Electricity Board, AIR 1986 SC 1126: (1986) 2 SCC 431: (1986) 1 SCR 633.

The word shall include any movable property, money or valuable security. [Police Act, 1861 (5 of 1961), s. 1]

Proprietor of a new or original design,--

(i) where the author of the design, for good consideration, executes the work for some other person, means the person for whom the design is so executed.

(ii) where any person acquires the design or the right to apply the design to any article, either exclusively of any other person or otherwise, means, in the respect and to the extent in and to which the design or right has been so acquired, the person by whom the design or right is so acquired; and

(iii) in any other case, means the author of the design; and where the property in or the right to apply, the design has devolved from the original proprietor upon any other person, includes that other person. [Designs Act, 2000 (16 of 2000), s. 2 (j)]

Means any property or assets of every description, whether corporeal or incorporeal, movable tangible or intangible and includes deeds and instruments evidencing title to, or interest in, such property or assets, whatever located. [Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 (15 of 2003), s. 2(1) (v)]

Property, means tangible property capable of being forcibly destroyed and does not includes an easement of customary right, see Rudraraju Ramaraju v. Emperor, AIR 1930 Mad 973; Sumitra v. Dhannu, AIR 1952 Nag 193.

Property, means the highest right a man can have to anything, being that right which one has to lands or tenements, goods or chattels which does not depend on another's courtesy. It includes ownership, estates and interest in corporeal things, and also rights such as trademarks, copyrights, patents and even rights in 'personam' capable of transfer or transmission, such as debts, and signifies a beneficial right to or a thing considered as having a money value, especially with reference to transfer or succession, and to their capacity of being injured, R.C. Cooper v. Union of India, (1970) 1 SCC 248: AIR 1970 SC 564.

Property, the communicated order of assessment, received by an assessee, is property since it is of great importance, to an assessee, as containing a computation, of his total assessable income and, as a determination, of his tax liability, Ishwarlal v. State of Maharashtra, (1969) 1 ITJ 216: (1969) 1 SWCR 394: AIR 1969 SC 40: 1969 (1) SCJ 16: 1969 Cr LJ 271.

Property is of three sorts: absolute, qualified, and possessory.

Property in realty is acquired by entry, conveyance, descent, or devise; and in personalty, by many ways, but most usually by gift, bequest, or bargain and sale. Under the (English) Law of Property Act, 1925, s. 205, 'Property' includes anything in action and any interest in real or personal property. There must be a definite interest, a mere expectancy as distinguished from a conditional interest is not a subject of property.

Consult Williams on Real Property; Williams on Personal Property.

Means the land, the multi-storeyed building, all improvements and structures thereon, and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging thereto, and all articles of personal property intended for use in connection therewith. [Delhi Apartment Ownership Act, 1986 (58 of 1986), s. 3(x)]

Means property and assets of every description, whether corporeal or incorporeal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible and deeds and instruments evidencing title to, or interest in, such property or assets and includes bank account. [Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (15 of 2002), s. 2(1)(d)]

The right of sole management of a temple carrying no beneficial enjoyment of any property does not amount to property, Raja Bira Kishore Deb v. State of Orissa, AIR 1964 SC 1501.

The right to get pension is property, Deo Kinandan Prasad v. State of Bihar, (1971) 2 SCC 330: AIR 1971 SC 1409.