movable property

The General Clauses Act defines movable property negatively: it is property of every description except immovable property. Immovable property includes land, benefits arising out of land, and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth.

The Transfer of Property Act adds that immovable property does not include standing timber, growing crops or grass; these are treated as movable. The distinction decides which law governs a transfer (the Sale of Goods Act applies to goods, the TP Act mainly to immovables), whether registration is compulsory, and which criminal offences apply, since theft can be committed only of movable property.

Example

Standing timber agreed to be cut and sold is movable property, so the sale needs no registration.

In Indian law

• Section 3(36), General Clauses Act, 1897; s.3, Transfer of Property Act, 1882
• Section 2(21), BNS (old s.22 IPC): movable property

See also

immovable property · sale of goods · theft

Read more in the study notes

• Rule of law and droit administratif (Administrative Law)
• Government contracts and state liability: the administrative-law angle (Administrative Law)
• Promissory estoppel, legitimate expectation and proportionality (Administrative Law)
• Lok Adalats and Permanent Lok Adalats (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Principal steps in arbitration and interim measures (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Bank: definition, kinds of banks and their functions (Banking Law)