Therefore, of necessity, we look to the law for practical and actual guidance in all that relates to the ownership and transfer of property. § 3. Real Property Property is divided into real and personal. Real property consists of lands and the buildings and structures upon land. All other things that can be owned are classed as "personal property." Broadly, real property is immovable and personal property is movable. For reasons based on the feudal system, the ownership of land came to be esteemed in law more highly, and as conferring more dignity upon the holder, than the same or greater value in goods, wares, or merchandise. For reasons relating to the same feudal system, the laws relative to the transfer or inheritance of real estate are dif-. ferent from, and much more formal than, those governing the transfer of personal property. tures. Real property includes not only land but things personally attached to land, as ice, growing trees, buildings, and strucWhen a piece of personal property, as a steam boiler, is permanently attached to real property, it becomes realty and thereafter goes with the land. It is a principle firmly established that the law of the state wherein real estate is situated controls and governs its descent and transfer. No state can legislate as to how lands in other states shall be inherited or conveyed. § 4. Personal Property "Personal property" or "personalty" is a broad term and includes all property that is not realty. Goods, wares, and merchandise, money, notes, and corporate stock, are all personal property. Ice, coal, ore, sand, clay, gravel, and trees, all Clarke v. Clarke, 176 U. S. 186. become personal property when severed and separated from the soil. On the other hand, wood, glass, metal, brick, and other building materials, all become real property when permanently attached to the soil or to any structure attached to the soil. The owner of personal property has the right to possess, to use, and to enjoy it (so long as he injures no one else), to sell it or to give it away at will, subject only to his debts, to taxation, and to the state's right of eminent domain and the exercise of the police power. § 5. Moneys Money on hand or in the bank, because of its portability, because it can be used to satisfy all debts and obligations, and because it can be exchanged for any other desired real or personal property, is the most esteemed form of personalty. Money is the medium of exchange. Whatever performs this function, does this work, is money, no matter what it is made of." In modern business the function of money is widely extended by the use of instruments of credit, notes, checks, and bills of exchange that largely take the place of cash in trade. Notes: 1. Money should always be deposited in a bank. 2. A custodian should never mix with his own money other funds of which he has the keeping. 3. The funds of another should always be separately deposited in the name of the depositor as agent, executor, or trustee. § 6. Instruments of Credit Checks, notes, bills of exchange, and acceptances are generally termed "negotiable instruments." Legally they are not money but are classed as "choses in action." (See § 9.) They are also termed "instruments of credit." Their use in business is extensive, and every business man should be well posted on the laws relating to their use. The statutory law relating to negotiable instruments has been made uniform throughout the United States.9 § 7. Stocks and Bonds Most estates of any size consist largely of stocks in corporations and bonds issued by corporations. These are collectively termed "securities." Men who are engaged in business generally use the corporate form of organization, and their interests in the enterprise are shown by certificates evidencing how much their investments total. Others not actively engaged in business invest their surplus wealth in stocks or bonds of corporations that declare dividends on their stock and pay interest on their bonds. Technically, certificates of stock represent an investment, while bonds represent money loaned. Stocks are personal property even though the entire capital of the corporation issuing the certificates is invested in land. Today a vast proportion of the existing wealth of the country is represented by stocks and bonds. The law on this subject is part of every banker's and broker's business equipment. It is necessary also for all who are custodians of the estates of others.10 § 8. Goods and Chattels These are the tangible things which men buy and which must be inventoried and sold when the owner dies, unless specifically disposed of by will. Raw material bought to be For a condensed work on the subject, based on the Uniform Negotiable Instruments Law, see Tompkins, The Law of Commercial Paper, 1912. For a lawyer's standard text, see Daniels, Negotiable Instruments (6th ed.), in 2 volumes. 10 Conyngton, Corporate Organization and Management, treats the subject from a business man's point of view. Cook on Corporations (7th ed.), in 5 volumes, is a lawyer's standard text. From the investment point of view, the following are desir able: Lough, Business Finance; Dewing, The Financial Policy of Corporations. manufactured, and wares and merchandise bought to sell again, are generally assets that can be sold with some moderate deduction from their cost. Household goods, automobiles, live stock, and the like, in ordinary times are always sold for less than they cost. All machines depreciate rapidly and hence sell second-hand at low prices. Some men of special tastes are able to buy books, coins, stamps, pictures, and other works of art, and sometimes live stock of fine breeds, so that on sale they show handsome gains. When Robert Hoe, the famous maker of printing presses, died, his collection of rare books sold for $1,932,056.60 and gave his heirs a considerable profit over their cost. When rare and beautiful things have been gathered together, the best disposition of them, if the owner can avail himself of it, is to leave them to those who will care for them. and to whom he is bound by ties of blood or of friendship. In many cases, however, no specific disposition is made and they must then be sold and the money apportioned. A sale of personal treasures to strangers is always distressing. § 9. Choses in Action This is a legal phrase meaning claims that can be made the basis of an action at law. They are rights and are intangible property. A bond calling for the payment to the registered owner or to bearer of $1,000 is a chose in action. Any contract right of this nature survives, and a man's executor or administrator can sue upon it. An injury to the person, a libel, or a personal wrong, on the other hand, might give the immediate party injured a right to sue, but it would not be a chose in action and would die with him and his executor could not sue upon it. "Choses in action" is a broad term and includes all instruments of credit, stocks, bonds, contracts, accounts, claims, and every right of action that can be assigned or inherited. § 10. Effect of Death on Property It is not easy to conceive of a society without law. If such existed, when a man died those immediately about him would take possession of whatever things he owned. There would likely be contention and disorder. Soon some customs of inheritance would become necessary to preserve the peace and avoid strife. It is probable that our laws of descent and distribution of today had their origin in time so remote that we have no records concerning it. The general theory of all these customs that grew into laws was that a man's immediate family, his wife and children, have the best claim. The laws of all our states are to this effect. Later, the feudal law introduced its own rules as to the inheritance of lands and real property. The law of primogeniture as it exists in England, by which the eldest son inherits the landed estates to the exclusion of younger sons and all daughters, is glaringly unjust, but it exists today although the reason for the rule has ceased for centuries. The rules of descent and distribution vary in different parts of the world, and there is some variance in the different states of the Union. (See § 12.) Most of them distinguish between the descent of realty and the distribution of personalty, but it should be noted that this distinction is arbitrarily made by statute. There would seem to be no valid reason why a man's heirs and the proportions allotted to a man's heirs should not be the same whether he owned exclusively either real estate or personalty. The custom of making wills grew up gradually and became law. Now it has become statute or written law instead of custom crystallized into law. In every state the right te make wills is given by laws enacted by the legislature. These laws prescribe how long a man may control his estate after he dies, how much he may leave to charity, how far he may disinherit his children, and what rights of husband or of wife may not |