Also known as: immobilia · immobilium · immobilize · immobilized · immobilizing · immobilization · immovables · immovable property
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Property that cannot be moved from place to place. It encompasses land and any interests or things legally regarded as part of the land.
Liam, general manager of Harvest Ridge Cooperative, executed and recorded a deed conveying a strip of the co-op's farm acreage to PrairieGrow Agribusiness to satisfy his personal gambling debt. The transfer was unauthorized by the board. Because the acreage constitutes immobilis, the conveyance satisfies the elements of theft by unlawful transfer of immovable property of another.
Southern Stores negotiated a ground lease for a shopping center parcel located in State B. When it later sought to assign the leasehold without consent, Birch Retail invoked State B statutes limiting transfers. The leasehold interest is immobilis, so choice-of-law analysis focuses on the state with the most significant relationship to the thing and the parties.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Noon Solar acquired perpetual easements across ranchland in State W through an agreement negotiated in State D. Valerie later purchased the ranch and challenged the easements under State W alienability rules. Because the easements burden immobilis, the factors in section 6 are evaluated to identify the state of most significant relationship to the land and the parties.
Nova Garage took a mortgage on dealership land in State B to secure a floorplan loan governed by State A law. Black Motor held an earlier mortgage on the same parcel. The land is immobilis, so the reference is to the law of the situs state, including its choice-of-law rules, to reach the same result a court of that state would reach.
Mr. Feenstra unilaterally executed a mortgage on the couple's jointly owned home without Mrs. Feenstra's consent. The home is immobilis. Mrs. Feenstra challenged the statutory scheme allowing one spouse to encumber the community immovable without the other's joinder.
Police searched a car for evidence after arresting its occupants. The car is movable property rather than immobilis, so different jurisdictional and search rules apply than those governing interests in land.
No. The offense is complete upon an unauthorized transfer of title or an interest in the immovable property when done with purpose to benefit oneself or another not entitled to it. Recording a deed that conveys the land or grants an easement satisfies the transfer element.
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The interests of the parties in immobilis are determined by the law of the state with the most significant relationship to the thing and the parties under the factors in section 6. For immovables the reference is ordinarily to the law of the situs, including its choice-of-law rules.
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Parties enter property transactions with forethought and often consult counsel. They expect specific legal consequences to follow from a given transaction. Absent strong countervailing considerations, those expectations should not be disappointed.
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Yes. An easement is a nonpossessory interest in land. Granting a perpetual easement therefore constitutes a transfer of an interest in immobilis that can support theft liability when done unlawfully and with the requisite purpose.
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…itself in need of shipping whilst ships flying the flags of nations overrun by Hitler, as well as belligerent merchantmen, were immobilized in American harbors where they had taken refuge, President Roosevelt did not assume that it was in his power to seize such foreign vessels to make up our own deficit. He informed Congress:…