Property law is law governing the ownership of property, and the transfer of that property. Property laws specifically deal with the concepts of real property and personal property, which are kept distinct from one another in terms of how the property law treats them. Real property is immovable property, such as land, buildings, and other edifices. Personal property, on the other hand, is movable property, such as personal possessions which are easily exchanged, for example. Property law is in general centered on individual property rights and the protection of those rights. Specifically, then, property laws are designed to ensure that an individual who owns a given object has full rights to do with that object as he or she pleases, assuming that doing so will not harm either another individual or another individual's property. Property law is primarily oriented outwardly, towards the forms of property which were mentioned above, as one's rights to one's own body are considered personal rights, instead of property rights. Property laws also govern the rights of a property owner in giving that property to another, and the rights of individuals to lay claim to a given piece of property after particular arrangements have been reached.
Property law of the modern world is complicated even further by the developing
body known as intellectual property law, which deals with one's property over
ideas and concepts which might not have any kind of physical instantiation.
Intellectual property laws are becoming ever more important to the functioning
of the world and the world economy as the Internet becomes more prevalent in
societies across the face of the earth.
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