Right in Rem, Historical in Europe

A right in rem is a right availing against persons generally, and is a right to forbearances. The duty-bearers are indeterminate. Only a few of them can ever be specifically known. Any one in the State may become a duty-bearer. For example, a man’s right to personal security, his right of dominion over land and cattle owned by him, his right to a patent for an invention granted him by the government, are rights in rem. A man’s right of ownership over a tract of land or a movable is a typical right in rem. He has a right of dominion over specific matter and a right against men generally that they forbear to interfere with it. From this typical example the class, rights in rem, extends to other rights more or less similar. In this classification of law a right in rem denotes not only full ownership, but lesser rights into which the full right may be split, e. g., it includes an easement, a leasehold, a reversion, a lien.

It includes a man’s rights of dominion over himself and over other men. It includes also a patent for an invention, a copyright, a right to a trade-mark. In these cases there is no specific matter, inanimate or living, over which dominion is exercised, but there is a right against men generally that they forbear to interfere with a certain class of acts by the right-holder, similar to those he would exercise over specific matter. A right in personam is a right availing against a specified individual or individuals, and is a right either to acts or to forbearances. For example, a promisee’s right against a promisor to have the latter perform his contract is a primary right in personam. All rights to remedies for violated rights in rem are rights in personam.

See Also

• Rights and the Law Classification, Historical
• Law Classification, Historical
• Patents
• Abandon, Historical 3
• Historical Overview of Property
• Abandon, Historical 2
• Cooperative Patent Classification
• Right or Abandonment in Marine Insurance, Historical
• About the Origins and Sources of International Law, Historical