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RDG
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You
wrote, "Thus, in most cases property rights is a response as defined by
Birks. However, at the same time it must be recognised that a pre-existing
equitable interest may also act as causative factor as demonstrated by Foskett
v. McKeown."
I am not acquainted with Prof. Birks' definition; but,
on their plain, meaning I believe your sentences to have the support of
this passage in Co. Litt. at 345b, "'Right' Jus sive rectum(1) (which
Littleton often useth) signifieth properly, and specially in writs and
pleadings, when an estate is turned to a right, as by discontinuance,
disseisen, &c ... Title, properly, (as some say) is, when a man hath a
lawfull cause of entry into lands whereof another is seised, for the which
he can have no action, as title of condition, title of mortmaine, &c.
... But legally this word (Title) includeth a right also, as you shall
perceive in many places in Littleton: and title is the more generall word;
for every right is a title, but every right is not such a right for which
an action lieth; and therefore Titulus est justa causa possidendi quod
nostrum est(2), and signifieth the means whereby a man cometh to land
, as his title is by fine, feoffment, &c."
I understand Coke to be defining "right" as something
to be declared or enforced by the court (or, indeed, as a right to sue
or a cause of action) on proof of "title", so that until the "title" be
challenged by some wrong doing, actual or fictitious (including collusive,
as by fine), so as to give a claimant locus standi and the court jurisdiction,
there would be no "right" but only "title".
________
1. "Jus" and "rectum" are the two Latin expressions which
may be translated as "right" in the sense in which Coke is using that
word.
2. The Latin means, "Title is the lawful cause of possessing
what is ours." In my submission, this embodies the distinction between
"title" and "property", which Chalmers implicitly drew in the Sale of
Goods Act 1893 and which (rather than any of the reasoning in the House
of Lords or the Court of Appeal) is the true explanation of the decision
in National Employers Insurance v. Jones [1990] 1 A.C. 24. <== Previous message Back to index Next message ==> |
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