Characteristics of proprietary interests

In this chapter, we outline the distinctive features of property interests and how they differ from non-proprietary interests in things. Most of these points come up again in other chapters (some of them in more detail): the object of this chapter is to draw together some recurrent themes.

General enforceability

We saw in Chapter 2 that the essential characteristic that distinguishes proprietary interests in things from non-proprietary interests is their range of enforceability. A non-proprietary interest is essentially bilateral: generally only one other person is under a duty correlative to the right held by the right holder. A proprietary interest, on the other hand, is generally enforceable: if I hold a property right, everyone in the world (or, in the case of some types of right, everyone in the world except a privileged class) has a correlative duty. The classic illustration of the general enforceability principle is provided by the decision in Hill v. Tupper, extracted below, where the court held that, where a canal company which had (among its other rights in the canal) an exclusive right to put pleasure boats for hire on the canal, transferred that right to Hill, Hill became entitled to prevent the canal company from also putting boats on the canal for hire, but was not entitled to prevent Tupper, a stranger, from doing so.