Legal Definition and Related Resources of Chattel

(Norman Fr.) Goods of any kind; every species of property, movable or immovable, which is less than a freehold. In the grand coustumier of Normandy it is described as a mere movable, but is set in opposition to a fief or feud; so that not only goods, but whatever was not a feud or fee, were accounted chattels, and it is in this latter sense that our law adopts it. 2 Bl. Comm. 385. Blackstone says that the word “chattels” is derived from the Latin word “catalla,” which in a secondary sense was applied to all movables in general. 19 111. 584. The word “chattels” is a more comprehensive term than “goods,” and includes animate as well as inanimate property, such as slaves, horses, cattle, while “goods” does not include such property. 19 111. 584. Real chattels are interests which are annexed to or concern real estate, as, a lease for years of land; and the duration of the lease is immaterial, whether it be for one or a thousand years, provided there be a certainty about it, and a reversion or remainder in some other person. A lease to continue until a certain sum of money can be raised out of thfe rents is of the same description; and so in fact will be found toi be any other interest in real estate whose duration is limited to a time certain beyond which it cannot subsist, and which is, therefore, something less than a freehold. Personal chattels are properly things movable, which may be carried about by the owner, such as animals, household stuff, money, jewels, corn, garments, and everything else that can be put in motion, and transferred from one place to another, and the incorporeal hereditaments that grow out of movables. 2 Kent, Comm. 340; Co. Litt. 48a; 4 Coke, 6; 5 Mass. 419; 1 N. H. 350; Story, Eq. Jur. §§ 1021, 1040. See “Personal Property.”

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This definition of Chattel is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

Vocabularies (Semantic Web Information)

noun

• asset
• belonging
• commodity
• effect
• equipment
• fortune
• holding
• movable article of property
• movables
• personal effect
• personalty
• possession
• property
• resource
• trapping
• valuable
• Associated Concepts: action to recover a chattel
• chattel interest
• chattel mortgage
• chattel trust
• chattels real
• conveyance of a chattel
• household chattels
• lien upon a chattel
• personal chattels
• personal property foreign phrases: Catalla juste possessa amitti non possunt
• Chattels justly possessed cannot be lost
• Catalla reputantur inter minima in lege
• Chattels are considered in law of lesser importance

Chattel in the Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims

Things personal include not only things movable, but something more: the whole of which is comprehended under the general name of “chattels”, which Coke says is a French word signifying goods – from the technical Latin catalla, which meant, primarily, beasts of husbandry, and, secondarily, all movables in general. In Normandy, a chattel stood opposed to a fief or feud. 2 Bl. Com. 385-86. any species of property not real estate or freehold. 2 Kent, 312.

Note: This legal definition of Chattel in the Dictionary of Law (English and American Jurisprudence) is from 1893.

Resources

See Also

Chattel in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of chattel.

Resources

See Also

• Law Enforcement Officer
• Police Officer
• Law Enforcement Agency

Further Reading

• chattel in A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (Oxford University Press)
• chattel in the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement
• A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis

English Legal System: Chattel

In the context of the English law, A Dictionary of Law provides the following legal concept of Chattel :

Any property other than freehold land (Compare real property). Leasehold interests in land are called chattels real, because they bear characteristics of both real and personal property. Tangible goods are called chattels personal. The definition of “personal chattels” in the Administration of Estates Act 1925, for the purposes of succession on intestacy, excludes chattels used for business purposes at the intestate’s death, money, and securities for money.

Concept of Chattel in the context of Real Property

A short definition of Chattel: Personal property.

Concept of Chattel in the context of Real Property

A short definition of Chattel: Personal property.