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{{a|glossary|}}Something capable of being [[Ownership|owned]]. Not just held, but ''owned''. The bonus plan, as Ford Fairlane would say<ref>{{ford fairlane bonus plan}}</ref>. [[Possession]] and [[ownership]] are different things. [[Ownership]] implies you can keep it, [[pledge]] it, [[licence]] it, lease it, declare a [[trust]] over it — you can act as an economic [[rentier]] with respect to it. | {{a|glossary|}}Something capable of being [[Ownership|owned]]. Not just held, but ''owned''. The bonus plan, as Ford Fairlane would say<ref>{{ford fairlane bonus plan}}</ref>. [[Possession]] and [[ownership]] are different things. [[Ownership]] implies you can keep it, [[pledge]] it, [[licence]] it, lease it, declare a [[trust]] over it — you can act as an economic [[rentier]] with respect to it. | ||
There is [[real property]] (i.e., land), [[personal property]] (material, ownable stuff that ''isn’t'' land) and [[intellectual property]] (immaterial, ownable stuff. | |||
I know what you are thinking, and you’re right: ''weasel word alert''. “Material” and “ownable”. | |||
'''Material versus immaterial''': Being “material” usually involves some kind of extension into the physical realm of some sort: easy cases are things like bicycles, [[Stratocaster]]s or books, but some fairly intangible things count as material: non-[[cash]] [[financial asset]]s for very good example. And also books ''as things'' — paper, ink, binding and so on — are certainly items of personal property; the disembodied copyrightable text embedded in that physical [[substrate]] is not personal property; it is ''[[intellectual property]]''. | |||
'''Ownable''': This might seem a little circular, but to be property, something must be ''capable of being owned''. Most things are capable, in theory, or being owned: for real and personal property ownership means being able to give up [[possession]] of the item without surrendering [[legal title|title]] to it: I could lend you my [[Stratocaster]], or pledge it to you as security for my debts (I won’t, by the way, before you ask) but, until you enforce some security over it, it remains ''mine''. [[Cash]] is ''not'' property, since title passes by transfer, and no-one has a better claim to cash than the person in whose wallet it sits for the time being.<ref>Most money sits in a bank account, and one’s rights to a bank account, being ones claim for a payment of money by the bank, ''is'' a personal property right.</ref> In [[intellectual property]] since there is a threshold requirement of creativity, there is no [[copyright]] in simple data, so data cannot be owned “intellectual property”. | |||
===Short points=== | |||
*You can’t own [[data]] that doesn’t amount to [[intellectual property]]. | *You can’t own [[data]] that doesn’t amount to [[intellectual property]]. | ||
*You can’t own [[cash]], either.<ref>This is controversial but defendible view — not because your rights to [[cash]] are in some way attenuated compared to your rights over [[property]], but because [[cash]] is ''[[sui generis]]'': a special, otherworldly, elusive thing, not susceptible of mortal, human impulses like “[[ownership]]”.</ref> | *You can’t own [[cash]], either.<ref>This is controversial but defendible view — not because your rights to [[cash]] are in some way attenuated compared to your rights over [[property]], but because [[cash]] is ''[[sui generis]]'': a special, otherworldly, elusive thing, not susceptible of mortal, human impulses like “[[ownership]]”.</ref> | ||