Chapter 1: Overview

• Pages: 1-4
• Author: Robert Mullin

1

CHA PTER 1

OVERV IEW

1 INTRODUCTION

[1] Within New York City’s Brooklyn Museum may be found an ancient

text. Set on a single sheet of papyrus, the document is purported to be

the oldest existing condominium deed. Dating to 434 BC, it describes a

Roman apartment, its bound aries, and the method of sale.1 If true, this

record reaches deeper into history t han the languages of Mandarin,

English, or Hindi. However, the document may be comparatively re-

cent. If historical accounts are accurate, condominiums also existed in

Babylon and Chaldea, resting on the edge of recorded human history.

As a leading academic ha s referenced:

There is evidence that t his institution was e ndorsed in the ancient law

of Chaldea. A char ter dating from the same time of Ki ng Irmerum of

Sippar (2000 BC) documents the sa le of the lower storey of a house

to a third par ty as a tavern while the upper storey re mained the prop-

erty of the seller.2

1 Gary McKay, “Invention of t he Condo,” Ontario Ho me Builder (Summer 2021) at

27.

2 Cornelius Van Der Mer we, ed, European Condominium Law (Cambridge: Cam-

bridge Universit y Press, 2015) at 10.