2.1 What is Property

Property一般译为"财产",通常的理解是指某一具体的物,又可以分为不动产（Real property）和动产（Personal

property）,这种划分来源于普通法早期的诉讼程序, 在此诉讼程序中,有两种诉讼,一为"真实的诉讼"（Real

action）,处理土地为他人不当占有的案子,这时土地可以返回给合法的所有人,另一种为"个人的诉讼"（Personal

action）,处理土地以外的的财产纠纷,这时所有人只能获得金钱赔偿,不得要求返还原物。

关于动产,英文有"Chattels"和"Personal property"两种不同的表述,现在,人们一改早期普遍使用的"Chattels",而广泛地采用"Personal

property".动产又可以分为两类:有形动产（Tangible personal property）和无形动产（

Intangible personal property

Types of property）,前者指能够看到、摸得到的有体财产,而后者则指看不到、摸不到的无体财产,如股份,银行账号,人寿保险等。

Note:According to Black's

Law Dictionary, property is defined as:

"That which is peculiar or proper to any person； that which

belongs exclusively to one. An aggregate of rights which are

guaranteed and protected by the government. Property extends

to every species of valuable right and interest……the right

to

posses it, use it, and to exclude every one else from interfering

with it."

问题:下面哪些不是财产？

a） Military Retirement

b） Earning Capacity

c） Accrued Goodwill of Medical Practice

d） Law Degree

答案:都不是

2.2 Philosophies

财产和财产权是什么？不同的法学家和法学派（Philosophies）有不同的观点,以下就是几个有代表性的观点:

Posner（波斯纳）:（1）财产权是天赋的（Property

rights are "natural"）；（2）没有财产权,财产就不能被有效地利用（Without

property rights, there is no incentive to use property efficiently.）；（3）普遍性（Universality）、排他性（Exclusivity）和可转让性（Transferability）是财产权的三大要素（Three

Elements）。

Bentham （边沁）:Property是一种"能够从物当中获得一种利益的期待"（basis

for expectation）。

Cohen（科恩）:财产权必须要考虑到下列因素:政府、契约、管制、价值（Property

merges by imperceptible degrees into government, contract, force

& value）。

Locke（洛克）:劳动创造财产（Labor creates

property）。

Note:

关于边沁和波斯纳之观点比较,请参见下列注释:

Comparing Bentham to Posner

（1） Anomalies under Bentham: Under the Posner theory, property

is something that has value, not just what is legally defined

as property as under Bentham, but from what people hold as having

value. There are several cases of items treated as property

without law, such as illegal drugs, territories for marketing

such, boyfriends and girlfriends. Here no property right exists

but people treat it as such either by enforcement of societal

values or by fear of retaliation.

（2） Anomalies under Posner: Transferability frequently measures

more how much a person wants something, we being non-rational

operators, than how efficiently we will do so. Transferability

of some items actually induces inefficiencies, such as those

which are merit based. If you could transfer law school admissions,

you would be measuring who wanted it the most, or who could

pay the most for it, and not who could best utilize it.

2.3 Attributes of Ownership

大陆法系的法律以所有权（Ownership）为基础来分析财产和财产权,宣称"一物一权",美国财产法不像大陆法系那样强调财产的所有权,它重视的是财产权中各种不同的利益和所有权的分割情况（Attributes

of Ownership）,这些利益常常是指:

e） 占有权——Possession （right to have, hold, & keep）

f） 排他权——Exclusion （right to exclude others）

g） 处置权——Disposition （right to alienate）

h） 使用权——Use （right to employ the property as desired）

i） 受益权——Benefit （right to profits realized through property's

use）

j） 破坏权——Destruction （right to destroy property）

2.4 Origins of Property

一个人如何获得一件物品的财产权呢？财产权的最原始取得（Origins of Property）是如何实现的呢？按照洛克的观点（Lockean

view）:财产是通过劳动和努力来取得的（Property is acquired through investment

of labor and effort）,关于财产的取得（Acquisition）,这里还有一条重要的原则: First

in time, first in right（时间在先,则权利在先）。例如在美国:Indians have right

to land, they were here first

Note:如果想在美国买房子或土地,就要查询其所有权的链锁（Chain of title）,这个链锁可以追溯到该财产的原始取得之时,如果这个链锁的记录有问题,那你购买该财产就不安全,别的人可能对所有权提出争议,这个情况我们以后会详细讨论。