Nature and Classification of Land and Rights in Land
What the exam tests
This domain asks you to classify an item as land, a fixture or a chattel; to distinguish legal and equitable interests; and to identify estates and rights that can exist in land. The examiner rewards precise property vocabulary, not lay descriptions.
Core rules
- Land at common law includes the surface, buildings, minerals beneath, and airspace only to the height necessary for ordinary use.
- A fixture is a chattel that has become part of the land. The tests are degree and mode of annexation and the purpose of annexation. A heavy item resting by gravity may still be a fixture if the purpose is permanent improvement; a temporary item bolted down may remain a chattel.
- Legal estates are limited: usually fee simple and term of years. Equitable interests include beneficiary interests under a trust, estate contracts, and restrictive covenants.
- Corporeal hereditaments are tangible (land, buildings); incorporeal hereditaments are intangible rights (easements, profits).
- Rights in land may be legal or equitable; only legal interests bind a purchaser at law, while equitable interests bind except a bona fide purchaser for value without notice.
Worked example
A seller sells a farm and leaves a large greenhouse bolted to concrete foundations, plus pots and a tractor. The greenhouse is a fixture: it is annexed by bolts and foundations and the purpose is permanent use of the land. The pots and tractor remain chattels because they rest on their own weight and are not integral to the land’s use. The buyer takes the greenhouse; the seller may remove the chattels.
Traps
Treating the label “fixture” as decisive; ignoring purpose of annexation; confusing an equitable interest with a legal estate; assuming ownership of all airspace.