Australian property law

Australian Property Law is 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.

Property legislation in all states is grounded upon the Torrens principle of registration of title. This means that each state has a central register of all land in the state that that the register also shows the 'owner' of the land. This system was devised to reduce the amount of fraud relating to land due to falsification of title deeds. It does so with 'ownership' of the land being confirmed only upon registration of the property. That is, "it is not a system of registration of title but a system of title by registration". [1] This gives a purchaser "greater assurance, indeed certainty, of title". [2] The principle of 'indefeasibility' of title - where a right has been entered on the register, it cannot be defeated by later rights except in certain circumstances - further protects the Torrens title holder. [3] Still a small residue of Old System Land remains and efforts are underway to convert this to Torrens title. The Torrens system also provides for registration of other entitlements to land such as a mortgage, by which land is used to secure a loan.

Table of Equivalents

State or Territory of Australia Legislation regarding property Legislation regarding Title
New South Wales Real Property Act 1900[4] Conveyancing Act 1919[5]
Victoria Property Law Act 1958[6] Sale of Land Act 1962[7]
Australian Capital Territory Civil Law (Property) Act 2006[8] Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003[9]
Queensland Property Law Act 1974[10] Land Titles Act 1994[11]
Northern Territory Law of Property Act[12] Land Title Act[13]
South Australia Law of Property Act 1936[14] Real Property Act 1886[15]
Tasmania Conveyancing and Law of Property Act 1884[16] Land Titles Act 1980[17]
Western Australia Property Law Act 1969[18] Transfer of Land Act 1893[19]

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).

Goods and chattels

Australia's law in relation to goods and chattels (items which are not land or intellectual property) relatively closely follows that of the United Kingdom. See Personal Property.

Intellectual property

Australia again closely follows the English traditions for Intellectual Property. Australia is a signatory of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and operates a system of automatic copyright (See article Australian copyright law. Other areas of Australian Intellectual property include Patents, Designs and plant breeders rights. See Intellectual Property

References

  1. ↑ Bahr v Nicolay [No 2] (1988) 164 CLR 604, 613
  2. ↑ Black v Garnock (2007) 230 CLR 438, 461
  3. ↑ Breskvar v Wall [1971] HCA 70
  4. ↑ "Real Property Act 1900 (NSW)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  5. ↑ "Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  6. ↑ "Property Law Act 1958 (Vic)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  7. ↑ "Sale of Land Act 1962 (Vic)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  8. ↑ "Civil Law (Property) Act 2006 (ACT)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  9. ↑ "Civil Law (Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003 (ACT)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  10. ↑ "Property Law Act 1974 (Qld)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  11. ↑ "Land Titles Act 1994 (Qld)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "Law of Property Act (NT)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  13. ↑ "Land Title Act (NT)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  14. ↑ "Law of Property Act 1936 (SA)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  15. ↑ "Real Property Act 1886 (SA)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  16. ↑ "Conveyancing and Law of Property Act 1884 (Tas)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  17. ↑ "Land Titles Act 1980 (Tas)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  18. ↑ "Property Law Act 1969 (WA)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  19. ↑ "Transfer of Land Act 1893 (WA)". Retrieved 31 July 2016.

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