Chattels personal distinction between tangible choses

Chattels personal = distinction between tangible (choses in possession) and intangible (choses in action)
Chattels Personal
Chose in Possession v Chose in Action
R v Hawcroft [2009] ACTSC 145
 Accused was charged under the Crimes Act 1900 (ACT) s 89 with 230 counts of theft of sums of
money after she misappropriated proceeds of a trust fund which she was trustee
 Her council argued that the property of beneficiaries she had stolen was a chose in action , not a
sum of money, it was actually the debt the bank owed
 The court upheld that it was a chose in action and was acquitted
Kingdom v Western Australia [2012] WASCA 74
 Supreme Court overturned above decision in Australia
 Trustee bought herself a house, and court of appeal convicted her stating that it was money
Property
Personal
Property
Chattels real
Chattels real
personal
Chattels
personal
tangible
Choses in
posession:
tangible
intangible
Choses in
action:
intangible
intangibles
Pure
intangibles
intangibles
Documentary
intangibles

Unicomb v Official Trustee in Bankruptcy 99 FCR 1
 Before being discharged from bankruptcy (anything that comes into your hand goes to bank),
building society demutualised
 Did this decision create any property in hands of bankrupt?
 Held: not sufficient to vest any enforceable chose of action against the applicant, only when shares
were issued at a later date
Pure Intangibles or Documentary Intangibles
Documentary intangibles: title to goods, payment of money, negotiable securities
Pure intangibles: debts, goodwill and intellectual property
Personal Property can be held at law or in equity
Fundamentals of Personal Property:
Ownership and Possession
 Transfer of possession of personal property without a corresponding transfer of ownership may
create a bailment, OR if purpose of transfer is to use property by way of security, creates a pledge
 Ownership without possession will allow a creditor to retake (repossess) an asset if the person who
has possession becomes bankrupt
 Transfer of ownership without a transfer of possession gives the possessor rights over the goods
which may end up with the owner losing their ownership
Ownership
 Doctrine of tenures does not apply to goods
 Legal title to goods is indivisible but more than one legal title can exist (two people exactly at the
same time, true owner (stronger) v possessor (measured))
o Gatward v Alley (1940) A good title consists in having legal rights against the whole world,
possession is enforceable except against true owner
Possession
 Good root of title against whole world except true owner
 Forms basis of some security interests such as pledges, liens and bailees
 Possession often is the element that decides who owns “found” property
 Given full protection of law
 Important element in making a gift
 Applies only in the case of physical property (that which is capable of possession). Purely
intangible property cannot be physically possessed
 Possession/right to possession is a precondition for granting of some remedies (conversion)
 Possession in Fact v Possession in Law
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