Dictionary Definition
chattel n : personal as opposed to real property;
any tangible movable property (furniture or domestic animals or a
car etc) [syn: personal
chattel]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- /ˈtæt.əl/, /"tS
Extensive Definition
Personal property is a type of
property. In the
common
law systems personal property may also be called chattels or
personalty. It is distinguished from real
property, or real estate.
In the civil
law systems personal property is often called movable property
or movables - any property that can be moved from one location to
another. This term is in distinction with immovable
property or immovables, such as land and
buildings.
Personal property may be
classified in a variety of ways. Tangible personal property refers
to any type of property that can generally be moved (i.e., it is
not attached to real property or land), touched or felt. These
generally include items such as furniture, clothing, jewelry, art,
writings, or household goods. In some cases, there can be formal
title documents that show the ownership and transfer rights of that
property after a person's death (for example, motor vehicles,
boats, etc.) In many cases, however, tangible personal property
will not be "titled" in an owner's name and is presumed to be
whatever property he or she was in possession of at the time of his
or her death.
Intangible personal property
or "intangibles" refers to personal property that cannot be
actually "moved" touched or felt, but instead represents something
of value such as negotiable
instruments, securities,
goods,
and intangible
assets including chose
in action.
Accountants also distinguish
personal property from real property because personal property can
be depreciated faster
than improvements (while land is not depreciable at all). It is an
owner's right to get tax benefits for chattel, and there are
businesses that specialize in appraising personal property, or
chattel.
The distinction between these
types of property is significant for a variety of reasons. Usually
one's rights on movables are more attenuated than one's rights on
immovables (or real property). The statutes
of limitations or prescriptive
periods are usually shorter when dealing with personal or
movable property. Real property rights are usually enforceable for
a much longer period of time and in most jurisdictions real estate
and immovables are registered in government-sanctioned land
registers. In some jurisdictions, rights (such as a lien or other security interest)
can be registered against personal or movable
property.
In the common law it is
possible to place a mortgage upon real property.
Such mortgage requires payment or the owner of the mortgage can
seek foreclosure.
Personal property can often be secured with similar kind of device,
variously called a chattel
mortgage, trust receipt, or security
interest. In the United States, Article 9 of the Uniform
Commercial Code governs the creation and enforcement of
security interests in most (but not all) types of personal
property.
There is no similar
institution to the mortgage in the civil law, however a hypothec is a device to secure
real
rights against property. These real rights follow the property
along with the ownership. In the common law a lien also remains on
the property and it is not extinguished by alienation of the
property; liens may be real or equitable.
Many jurisdictions levy a
personal property
tax, an annual tax on the privilege of owning or possessing
personal property within the boundaries of the jurisdiction.
Automobile and boat registration fees are a subset of this tax.
Most household goods are exempt as long as they are kept or used
within the household; the tax usually becomes a problem when the
taxing authority discovers that expensive personal property like
art is being regularly stored outside of the
household.
Personal vs Private property
In political/economic theory, notably anarchism and communism, the distinction between private and personal property is extremely important. They are separated by a blurry boundary, which items of property constitute which is open to debate.- Personal property is part of your person and includes property from which you have the right to exclude others (e.g TVs, Cars, clothes etc).
- Private property is a social relationship, not a relationship between person and thing according to Marx (e.g factories, mines, dams, infrastructure etc). In capitalism there is no distinction between personal and private property.
See also
References
chattel in Arabic:
منقول
chattel in German:
Fahrnis
chattel in Estonian:
Vallasasi
chattel in Spanish: Bien
mueble
chattel in French: Propriété
personnelle
chattel in Korean: 동산
(재산)
chattel in Japanese:
動産
chattel in Simple English:
Personal property
chattel in Finnish:
Irtaimisto
chattel in Swedish:
Lösöre
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
acquest, belongings, bondmaid, bondman, bondslave, bondsman, bondswoman, captive, chattel slave, chattels, churl, concubine, debt slave,
effects, estate and
effects, galley slave, goods, havings, helot, hereditament, holdings, homager, incorporeal
hereditament, lares and penates, liege, liege man, liege subject,
movables, odalisque, peon, possessions, properties, property, serf, servant, slave, subject, theow, things, thrall, vassal, villein