Australian property law

Australian Property Law is the term that collectively refers to the system of laws regulating and prioritising the rights, interests and responsibilities of individuals in relation to "things". These things are a form of "property" or "right" to possession or ownership of an object. The law orders or prioritises rights and classifies property as either real and tangible, such as land, or intangible, such as the right of an author to their literary works or personal but tangible, such as a book or a pencil. The scope of what constitutes a thing capable of being classified as property and when an individual or body corporate gains priority of interest over a thing has in legal scholarship been heavily debated on a philosophical level.

Land Law

Land is the predominant focus of Western property law, particularly Australian property law. Legal developments in this field outweigh the development of other forms of property law, this is primarily due to the high value of land in comparison to other forms of property, such as chattels. Each state in Australia has a different regime for the regulation and bureaucratisation of land. It is a largely statute based area of the law but can still be influenced by the common law and principles that originate from Australia's history as a colony of the United Kingdom, where land and estate law developed through the ambit of feudalism. Property law is enabling in that it creates a system for evidencing, recognizing and transferring title to land, facilitating its use as an economic instrument. Other legal instruments in property law that facilitate the private and commercial dealing of land include the mortgage, lease, covenant and easement.

Table of Equivalent Legislation

The table above lists the core legislation in each jurisdiction of Australia regulating interests in land law in relation to property (negotiable instruments) and the scheme of registration (title).

ee also

*Strata title
*Torrens title
*Australian Property Legislation
*Native title