In law, tangible property is property that can be touched, and includes both

real property In English common law, real property, real estate, immovable property or, solely in the US and Canada, realty, refers to parcels of land and any associated structures which are the property of a person. For a structure (also called an Land i ...

and

personal property Personal property is property that is movable. In common law systems, personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In civil law (legal system), civil law systems, personal property is often called movable property or movables—a ...

(or moveable property), and stands in distinction to intangible property. In

English law English law is the common law list of national legal systems, legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly English criminal law, criminal law and Civil law (common law), civil law, each branch having its own Courts of England and Wales, ...

and some Commonwealth legal systems, items of tangible property are referred to as ''choses in possession'' (or a ''chose in possession'' in the singular). However, some property, despite being physical in nature, is classified in many legal systems as intangible property rather than tangible property because the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

s associated with the physical item are of far greater significance than the physical properties. Principally, these are documentary intangibles. For example, a

promissory note A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a legal instrument (more particularly, a financing instrument and a debt instrument), in which one party (the ''maker'' or ''issuer'') promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of ...

is a piece of paper that can be touched, but the real significance is not the physical paper, but the legal rights which the paper confers, and hence the promissory note is defined by the legal

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money Loan, borrowed or otherwise withheld from another party, the creditor. Debt may be owed by a sovereign state or country, local government, company, or an individual. Co ...

rather than the physical attributes. A unique category of property is

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...

, which in some legal systems is treated as tangible property and in others as intangible property. Whilst most countries legal tender is expressed in the form of intangible property ("The

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...

of Country X hereby promises to pay to the bearer on demand...."), in practice

banknote A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commerc ...

s are now rarely ever redeemed in any country, which has led to banknotes and coins being classified as tangible property in most modern legal systems.

Owning tangible property: rights and responsibilities

As a tangible property owner, certain rights and responsibilities come with the territory. The right to use, occupy, sell, rent, mortgage, or give away your property is present. Changes can also be made like renovating, rebuilding or developing the property. These rights are not limitless, however, as local regulations like building codes, zoning laws, and homeowner’s association rules still apply.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tangible Property Property law Legal terminology fr:Tangible