Also known as: tangible personal properties · TPP · chattel
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Physical movable property that can be seen and touched. It is capable of possession and has value. It excludes real property, fixtures attached to land, and intangible assets such as stock certificates or contract rights.
Frankie reached into an open bin on a construction site and placed five marked power tools belonging to South Development into his zipped backpack. He carried the backpack thirty feet across the gravel lot before the site supervisor stopped him. The tools qualify as tangible personal property because they are physical items capable of possession and having value, satisfying the subject-matter element of common-law larceny.
Leo yanked a handheld payment terminal from Maya’s apron pocket at a crowded restaurant and walked onto the sidewalk. Maya immediately followed, twisted Leo’s arm, and recovered the device. The terminal is tangible personal property because it is a physical movable item that Maya possessed, supporting her privilege to use reasonable force in fresh pursuit to recapture it.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
After the decedent’s death, the personal representative demanded delivery of the decedent’s furniture and jewelry from the presumptively entitled heir. The representative determined that possession was necessary for proper administration and sale to pay unsecured creditors. The furniture and jewelry constitute tangible personal property that the representative may take into custody under the probate statute.
Tara Tran held a license to use specialized mining equipment coupled with an ownership interest in the equipment itself. She later conveyed both the ownership interest and the license to Threshold Capital. The license could be assigned only together with the tangible personal property interest in the equipment.
Trailblazer Airlines transferred title to aircraft repair parts located in State B while the parties negotiated the sale in State A. The court applied the local law of the state with the most significant relationship to the parts and the parties. Because the parts are tangible personal property classified as movables, the forum did not apply the choice-of-law rules of the selected state.
Tiffany Torres obtained possession of a valuable painting from Tori Taylor by misrepresenting that she would return it after photographing it for an appraisal. Tiffany then refused to surrender the painting. The painting is tangible personal property, and obtaining it by fraud constitutes a dispossession that subjects Tiffany to tort liability.
Tangible personal property consists of physical movable items that can be seen and touched. Real property includes land and permanent improvements attached to it. Once severed from the land and reduced to possession, items such as cut trees or harvested crops become tangible personal property.
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No. Stock certificates, bank passbooks, and similar financial instruments are intangible personal property even when physically located inside a building. Only items of a physical nature capable of being possessed qualify as tangible personal property.
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Common-law larceny requires a trespassory taking and carrying away of property capable of being possessed. Real property and fixtures cannot be the subject of larceny. Only tangible personal property satisfies the requirement that the item be movable and capable of manual possession.
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A personal representative may leave real property or tangible personal property with a presumptively entitled heir unless possession is necessary for administration. The representative must still take possession or control of other estate assets and may demand delivery of tangible personal property when administration requires it.
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…arranges means to learn of any direct attack upon his possessory or proprietary rights. Hence, libel of a ship, attachment of a chattel or entry upon real estate in the name of law may reasonably be expected to come promptly to the owner's attention. When the state within which the owner has located such property seizes it…