keys + a radical shift

I spent most of today studying property law. If there is one thing that I have learned about studying it is this: studying will make you think about things completely unrelated to your final exams. It's true.

So my mind drifted from the basic principles of property: co-ownership, indefeasibility, contingent and vested interests, modern rule of perpetuities (please don't ask me to explain how that works), easements, covenants, profit a prendre, finders, bailees, etc. to thinking about keys. Yes. Keys. It all comes down to the basics: who has the keys? And if nobody has them, where are they?

From my thinking about keys, I drifted back into trying to understand how an exchange of possession works. And I found this random fact: back in who-really-knows-when in England, when someone gave possession of their land to someone else, they handed the new owner a clump of dirt and a piece of a branch from a tree. They then walked around the perimeter of the property. After their walk, the previous owner of land had to immediately leave the property. No staying for a friendly beer afterwards. It was all meant to symbolize that an exchange had happened. How bizarre. Can you imagine, if you went to buy a house and instead of receiving keys and signing a mortgage, you got a clump of dirt and a twig and had to walk around the rim of the property with the previous owner? But, that's how things were done.

So, returning to my studies... I went to the roots of aboriginal rights and aboriginal title. The legal framework around property rights has been shifting significantly in B.C. Slowly but surely, the law is adapting to recognize that (re)emerging concepts of who owns the land and who possesses the land may be radically different from an old way of thinking. I believe that we are in the midst of a shift. There is more about this that I want to write. And I will. But for now, I need to find my keys and go home...