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| Property law |
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| Part of the common law series |
| Types |
| Acquisition |
| Estates in land |
| Conveyancing |
| Future use control |
| Nonpossessory interest |
| Related topics |
| Other common law areas |
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Higher category: Law and Common law |
The bundle of rights is a metaphor to explain the complexities of property ownership.[1] Law school professors of introductory property law courses frequently use this conceptualization to describe "full" property ownership as a partition of various entitlements of different stakeholders.[2]
The concept originated with Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld in 1913, although he himself never used the phrase "bundle of rights".[3] It was further developed and propagated to a broader audience in the form of the first Restatement of Property (published in five volumes between 1936 and 1944), because the Restatement's first reporter, Harry Bigelow, was a fan of Hohfeld's ideas.[3]
The bundle of rights is commonly taught in first-year property courses in law schools in the United States to explain how property can simultaneously be "owned" by multiple parties. Before it was developed, the idea of property was seen in terms of dominion over a thing, as in the ability of the owner to place restrictions on others from interfering with the owner's property. The "bundle of rights," however, implies rules specifying, proscribing, or authorizing actions on the part of the owner.[4]
Ownership of land is a much more complex proposition than simply acquiring all the rights to it. It is useful to imagine a bundle of rights that can be separated and reassembled. A "bundle of sticks" – in which each stick represents an individual right – is a common analogy made for the bundle of rights. Any property owner possesses a set of "sticks" related directly to the land.[5]
For example, perfection of a mechanic's lien takes some, but not all, rights out of the bundle held by the owner. Extinguishing that lien returns those rights or "sticks" to the bundle held by the owner. In the United States (and under common law) the fullest possible title to real estate is called "fee simple absolute." Even the US federal government's ownership of land is restricted in some ways by state property law.
- ^ Baron, Jane B. (2014), "Rescuing the Bundle-of-Rights Metaphor in Property Law", University of Cincinnati Law Review, vol. 82, no. 1, University of Cincinnati College of Law Scholarship and Publications, pp. 57–101.
- ^ Ellickson, Robert C. (2011), "Two Cheers for the Bundle-of-Sticks Metaphor, Three Cheers for Merrill and Smith" (PDF), Econ Journal Watch, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 215–222.
- ^ a b Merrill, Thomas W.; Smith, Henry E. (January 2014). "Why Restate the Bundle?: The Disintegration of the Restatement of Property". Brooklyn Law Review. 79 (2): 681–708.
- ^ Klein, Daniel B. and John Robinson. "Property: A Bundle of Rights? Prologue to the Property Symposium," Econ Journal Watch 8(3): 193-204, Sept 2011.[1]
- ^ E.g., United States v. Craft, 535 U.S. 274, 278, 152 L.Ed. 2d 437, 446, 122 S.Ct. 1414, 1420 (2002) (describing the "bundle of sticks" as a "collection of individual rights which, in certain combinations, constitute property").