in possession consists in title and possession to personal property being in the same person. A chose in action consists in a thing of which one has the title but not the possession. In a large sense, a chose in action may be considered not only as a right to recover possession, but a right to damages, whether growing out of the commission of a tort, an omission of a duty, or a breach of contract. A sells a horse to B and takes B's note for the purchase price. The note is a chose in action. An action at law may be necessary to recover the value.

1. Kinds of Ownership. When the ownership rests in one person he is said to be the sole owner, but the ownership may be in several persons. If all have an equal share and the titles are the same, the estate is that of joint tenancy, and under the old common law the right of survivorship applies; that is, the interest of one at his death passes to the remaining joint owners, rather than to his heirs or representatives. If the tenants merely hold the same possession, but the interests are not equal, or arise from different sources of title, it is tenancy in common. Upon the death of a tenant in common his interest descends to his heirs or representatives.

2. Limitations Placed Upon Ownership. While a person may own property to the exclusion of all others, there are yet certain limitations that will now be considered.

First. The owner is not at liberty to use his property in such a way as to injure another.

Second. The state or government reserves the right to take a part of a person's property for the support of the state and for the improvement of public institutions. This is the right of taxation.

Third. The state has the right to control the use of property under certain limitations and in some cases to take the property even to the extent of destroying it. This is known as police power.

Fourth. A person's property is liable to be taken by direction of the court for the payment of his debts. His just debts must

be paid―he cannot give away his property and thereby defraud his creditors. However, one who makes a bona fide purchase will be protected in his title to the goods, or land, as the case may be.

Fifth. Sovereignty implies the power to order and direct for the best interests of the community. Therefore, the state has power to dispossess a person of the ownership of property and convert it to the use of the public. When property is so taken the state is bound to pay to the owner a fair compensation. This is exercising the "right of eminent domain."

Property consists of those things which one holds by just right to the exclusion of others. It includes also the right of transfer or conveyance. Property is of two kinds, personal and real.

Personal property is such as attends the person and is easily moved from place to place. It is subdivided into choses in action and in possession.

A chose in action consists in a thing of which one has the right or title but not the possession.

A chose in possession consists in a thing of which both the title and possession are held by the same person.

Real property includes all such property as is fixed or immovable in its nature.

Property which partakes in its nature of the qualities of both real and personal is called mixed property.

Ownership is sole or several when held by only one person; when held by two or more persons it is joint.

At the common law, if the tenants held by the same interest, time, title, and possession, a joint tenancy arose; but if by the same possession merely, a tenancy in common.

There are several limitations placed on the ownership of property. It may not be so used as to injure another; it is subject to the right of taxation, police power, payment for debts, and eminent domain.

11. QUESTIONS

What is property? Give examples. How many elements are necessary? Name them.

Trace the development of property rights. Name the classes of property. Define personal property; real property; mixed property. Give several examples of each. Give illustrations of property changing from one class to the other.

Name the classes of personal property. What is the basis for this classification? Give several examples of each. Give several examples of choses in action and then illustrate the separation of these. Name the kinds of ownership. Define each. What is the right of survivorship?

Has one an absolute or a relative ownership in his property? Explain the limitations of one's ownership. Point out a difference between the police power of a state and its power of eminent domain.

12. Constitutions. During the colonial times, the laws in force in this country were the laws of England, now forming the greater part of our common law. During the Revolutionary War the Articles of Confederation were in force, and to a certain extent suspended the English laws. After independence was secured, a general government was established and the United States Constitution was adopted, enumerating and defining the government's rights and powers and modifying the English common law in so far as it was not suited to our changed condition. The people of each colony organized as a state by framing and adopting a constitution. The United States and each state made new rules and laws and changed old ones, thereby modifying the common law, yet never entirely doing away with it. In fact, it may be said that the old common law spreads over the entire country like a net, and if, perchance, a wrongdoer should escape all federal or state law, he would be caught in the meshes of the common law, the foundation of our whole legal system.

The United States secures the enforcement of rights and the punishment of transgressors by the law and rules found in the Constitution, Congressional enactments, and in the common law. Each state secures the same power from the state constitution, from state legislative enactments, as well as from the common law, being also at the same time under the protecting influence of the United States Constitution and Federal statutes.

The fundamental legal principle is to allow citizens to do everything except what is forbidden; a despotic government allows its citizens to do only what is prescribed and denies all else.

When we wish to know the law on a particular point, we examine the authorities, law books, to see if the thing in question is prohibited, and if so, we are forbidden to do it; if no prohibition is found, the performing of it is perfectly legal and lawful. The reverse would be the rule under a despotism. Some of our laws trace their source back to the old Roman, or Civil law. The Civil Law is the foundation of the law of Louisiana.

The relationship of the laws from the several sources is such that if there is a conflict between any two, the one higher in the scale will prevail and the lower must cease to operate. This relationship was early determined by the Supreme Court of the United States in the celebrated case of Marbury v. Madison:

"The original and supreme will (the people) organizes and assigns to different departments their respective powers. The powers of the legislature are defined and limited. That these limits may not be forgotten the Constitution is written. To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing, if these limits may at any time be passed by those intended to be restrained? Certainly all those who have framed written constitutions contemplate them as the fundamental paramount law of the nation, and consequently the theme of every such government must be that an act of the legislature repugnant to the constitution is void. It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. If a law be in opposition to the Constitution, the court must either decide the case conformably to the law, disregarding the Constitution, or conformably to the Constitution, disregarding the law. The court must determine which of the conflicting rules governs the case. This is the very essence of the judicial duty. The courts cannot close their eyes to the Constitution and see only the law. This doctrine would subvert the very foundation of all written constitutions. It would be giving to the legislature a practical and real omnipotence with the same breath which professes to restrict their powers within narrow limits. It is prescribing limits, and declaring that these limits may be passed at pleasure.”

This decision establishes the fact that the Supreme Court of the United States has the power to annul a law passed by Congress; that is, if the law contravenes the principles of the Con