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Transfer of Property · Unit 1

General Principles of Transfer

Unit 1 of Transfer of Property (syllabus: Module I — meaning of property; movable and immovable; definitions; what may be transferred; competence; transfer for an unborn person; rule against perpetuity; vested and contingent interests; conditional transfers; election; apportionment; ostensible owner; feeding the grant by estoppel; lis pendens; fraudulent transfer; part performance; attestation). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.

What this unit covers

  • What is immovable property, when the Act only says what it is not?
  • When is a right over another's land a profit a prendre, and why does it matter?
  • When does machinery embedded in the earth become immovable property?
  • When is a person fixed with notice of a fact he did not actually know?
  • Can a transfer of a bare chance of succession ever be made good?
  • When is a condition restraining alienation void, and when does it bind?
  • How far may property be tied up for those not yet born?
  • Is an interest vested or contingent, and how does a court decide?
  • When must the owner of property elect between confirming a transfer and keeping his own?
  • What is the effect of a transfer made while a suit about the property is pending?
  • When does part performance protect a transferee who has no registered conveyance?

Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.

Provisions

Leading cases

Full case summaries

Exam questions on this unit

In this paper