Movable Property

• Author: Stephen G.A. Pitel; Nicholas S. Rafferty
• Pages: 347-358

CHAPTER

18

MOVABLE

PROPERTY

A.

INTRODUCTION

Chapters

16

and

17

explained

the

nature

of

property

in

the

conflict

of

laws

and

rules

for

immovable

property.

This

chapter

covers

rules

for

mov



able

property,

sometimes

referred

to

as

“

movables.

”

For

movable

property

there

are

no

special

rules

about

jurisdiction

and

recognition

and

enforce



ment.

The

central

issue

is

choice

of

law,

to

determine

what

law

governs

the

issue

of

ownership

of

movable

property.

This

issue

arises

in

many

different

contexts,

including

the

finding

of

property,

gifts,

transfers

pur



suant

to

contract,

and

disposition

on

death.

The

last

of

these

contexts

is

considered

separately

in

Chapter

19.

The

focus

of

this

chapter

is

on

inter

vivos

transfers

—

transfers

made

when

the

transferor

is

alive

—

of

mov



able

property.

When

property

is

transferred

under

a

contract,

the

contract

will

often

be

silent

on

issues

of

ownership,

particularly

the

question

of

when

ownership

of

the

property

passes

between

the

parties.

The

contract

could

contain

express

language

on

this

issue

but

most

contracts

do

not.

So

in

those

cases,

the

law

of

contract

will

govern

many

aspects

of

the

transfer

but

the

law

of

movable

property

will

govern

the

issue

of

owner



ship.

Some

commentators

have

suggested

that

this

separation

of

issues

is

unhelpful

because

it

could

lead

to

different

but

highly

related

aspects

of

a

single

transfer

being

governed

by

different,

and

potentially

con



flicting,

applicable

laws.

Although

the

common

law

separates

contract

and

property

issues,

in

a

wholly

domestic

case

one

would

expect

those

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