First Principles of Business Law

3. Property rights in chattels

3.4.1. Original acquisition of ownership 

In the previous section of this module, we considered the transfer of ownership in chattels from one person to another.

Now we turn to the question how ownership of chattels might be acquired for the first time, when there is no previous owner from whom to receive a transfer of title. This is called 'original acquisition' because the rights of ownership are created and acquired for the first time.

How ownership rights are created over previously unowned things is important in the context of business law because it is a circumstance that is often encountered, for example, when new things are manufactured, or when things such as raw materials are inseparably mixed together.

The examples in this section will illustrate the different possibilities and the rules that apply.