Property Rights and Legal Descriptions

What is a property right? 

According to "The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics," property rights are "the exclusive authority to determine how a resource is used, whether that resource is owned by government or by individuals." 

This may sounds simple enough, but property rights are much more complex than they seem. You have to worry land rights, mineral rights, water rights, air rights, and so much more. Property rights affect what you can do with your property, what you can't do with your property, and what others can do with your property. 

In the video The Power of Property Rights, Professor Tom W. Bell of Chapman University School of Law does a fantastic job of explaining property rights and how they affect society as a whole and as individuals. Basically he "explains that property rights allow people to live together in peace, prosperity, and freedom. They prevent conflicts over scarce resources, encourage productive labor, and discourage waste," and I completely agree with him. When it isn't clear who own certain property, it isn't in anyone's interest to preserve and protect it which leads to neglect and waste. Such is the case with many foreclosed homes. This video gives a clear picture of why property rights are so important.

Next topic, legal descriptions. What are they? 

Legal descriptions is a way to define or accurately pinpoint where a particular piece of property is located. There are different kinds of legal descriptions. Right is an example of a Metes-and-Bounds Description. 

Metes= Distance used in description

Bounds= directions of boundaries enclosing a piece of land

Another type of legal description is the Rectangular Survey System. This system includes principal meridians (running north and south) and baselines (running east and west). The picture to the left shows all the principal meridians and base lines in the United States. Sections and townships are two other terms associated with this type of legal description. Townships are 6 square miles consisting of 36 sections (640 acres in each section). This type of description can get a bit confusing. Visit How To Read Legal Descriptions to get a better understanding of how to read different legal descriptions as well as tons of examples of each!