Title 47, Property

The ownership of a thing shall mean the right of one or more persons to possess and use it to the exclusion of others. In this code the thing of which there may be ownership is called property.

Property is: 1. Real or immovable; or 2. Personal or movable.

Real or immovable property consists of: 1. Land; 2. That which is affixed to land, including manufactured homes as defined in section 41-09-02 with respect to which the requirements of subsection 6 of section 47-10-27 have been satisfied; 3. That which is incidental or appurtenan…

Land is the solid material of the earth, whatever may be the ingredients of which it is composed, whether soil, rock, or other substance.

A thing is deemed to be affixed to land when it is attached to it by roots, as in the case of trees, vines, or shrubs, or imbedded in it, as in the case of walls, or permanently resting upon it, as in the case of buildings, or permanently attached to what is thus permanent, as by…

A thing is deemed to be incidental or appurtenant to land when it by right is used with the land for its benefit, as in the case of a way or watercourse, or of a passage for light, air, or heat from or across the land of another. Sluice boxes, flumes, hose, pipes, railway tracks,…

Personal property shall mean and include every kind of property that is not real.

There may be ownership of the following: 1. All inanimate things which are capable of appropriation or of manual delivery. 2. All domestic animals. 3. All obligations. 4. Such products of labor or skill as the composition of an author, the good will of a business, trademarks, sig…

All property in this state has an owner, whether that owner is the United States or the state, and the property public, or the owner an individual, and the property private. The state also may hold property as a private proprietor.

The state is the owner of all property lawfully appropriated or dedicated to its own use and of all property of which there is no other owner.

Except as provided in chapter 47-10.1, any person, whether citizen or alien, may take, hold, and dispose of property, real or personal, within this state.

The owner of land in fee has the right to the surface and to everything permanently situated beneath or above it.

Except when the grant under which the land is held indicates a different intent, the owner of the upland, when it borders on a navigable lake or stream, takes to the edge of the lake or stream at low water mark. All navigable rivers shall remain and be deemed public highways. In …

An owner of land bounded by a road or street is presumed to own to the center of the way, but the contrary may be shown.

Trees whose trunks stand wholly upon the land of one owner belong exclusively to that owner although their roots grow into the land of another. Trees whose trunks stand partly on the land of two or more coterminous owners belong to them in common.

Each coterminous owner is entitled to the lateral and adjacent support which that owner's land receives from the adjoining land, subject to the right of the owner of the adjoining land to make proper and usual excavations on the same for purposes of construction on using ordinary…

Coterminous owners are mutually bound to maintain equally the boundaries and monuments between them.

The owner of a thing also owns all its products and accessions.

Property may be acquired by: 1. Occupancy; 2. Accession; 3. Transfer; 4. Will; or 5. Succession.

Whenever a temporary easement is acquired by the state or any of its agencies, departments, or institutions, or any political subdivision of the state in connection with highway or road construction or for any other purpose, a fixed date of termination shall be stated in such tem…

A landowner may not be held liable for a claim resulting from the use or condition of a road across the landowner's property unless the landowner is primarily and directly responsible for the construction and maintenance of the road or an affirmative act of the landowner causes o…

The ownership of property is: 1. Absolute; or 2. Qualified.

The ownership of property is absolute when a single person has the absolute dominion over it and may use it or dispose of it according to that person's pleasure, subject only to general laws.

The ownership of property is qualified: 1. When it is shared with one or more persons; 2. When the time of enjoyment is deferred or limited; or 3. When the use is restricted.

The ownership of property by a single person is designated as a sole or concurrent ownership.

The ownership of property by several persons is either: 1. Of joint interests; 2. Of partnership interests; or 3. Of interests in common.

A joint interest is one owned by several persons in equal shares by a title created by a single will or transfer, when expressly declared in the will or transfer to be a joint tenancy, or when granted or devised to executors or trustees as joint tenants.

A partnership interest is one owned by several persons in partnership for partnership purposes.

An interest in common is one owned by several persons not in joint ownership or partnership. Every interest created in favor of several persons in their own right is an interest in common, unless acquired by them in partnership for partnership purposes, or unless declared in its …

In respect to the time of enjoyment an interest in property is: 1. Present or future; and 2. Perpetual or limited.

A present interest means that the owner is entitled to the immediate possession of the property.

A future interest means that the owner is entitled to the possession of the property only at a future period.

A perpetual interest has a duration equal to that of the property.

A limited interest has a duration less than that of the property.

The delivery of the grant, where a limitation, condition, or future interest is created by grant, and the death of the testator, when it is created by will, is to be deemed the time of the creation of the limitation, condition, or interest within the meaning of the laws of this s…

A future interest is either vested or contingent. It is vested when there is a person in being who would have a right, defeasible or indefeasible, to the immediate possession of the property upon the ceasing of the intermediate or precedent interest. It is contingent while the pe…

Two or more future interests may be created to take effect in the alternative so that if the first in order fails to vest, the next in succession shall be substituted for it and take effect accordingly.

A future interest is not void merely because of the improbability of the contingency on which it is limited to take effect.

Future interests pass by succession, will, and transfer in the same manner as present interests.

When a future interest is limited to successors, heirs, issue, or children, posthumous children are entitled to take in the same manner as if living at the death of their parent.

A mere possibility, such as the expectancy of an heir apparent, is not to be deemed an interest of any kind.

No future interest in property is recognized by the law, except such as is defined in this title.

The time when the enjoyment of property is to begin or end may be determined by computation or made to depend on events. In the latter case, the enjoyment is said to be upon condition.

Conditions are precedent or subsequent. The former fix the beginning, the latter the ending of the right.

If a condition precedent requires the performance of an act wrong in itself, the instrument containing it is so far void, and the right cannot exist. If it requires the performance of an act not wrong of itself, but otherwise unlawful, the instrument takes effect and the conditio…

Conditions imposing restraints upon marriage, except upon the marriage of a minor, or of the widow of the person by whom the condition is imposed, are void. This does not affect limitations when the intent was not to forbid marriage but only to give the use until marriage.

Conditions restraining alienation, when repugnant to the interest created, are void.

1. A contingent property interest is invalid unless: a. When the interest is created, it is certain to vest or terminate no later than twenty-one years after the death of an individual then alive; or b. The interest either vests or terminates within ninety years after its creatio…

1. Except as provided in subsections 2 and 3 of this section and in subsection 1 of section 47-02-27.5, the time of creation of a contingent property interest or a power of appointment is determined under general principles of property law. 2. For purposes of sections 47-02-27.1 …

Upon the petition of an interested person, a court shall reform a disposition in the manner that most closely approximates the transferor's manifested plan of distribution and is within the ninety years allowed under subdivision b of subsection 1 of section 47-02-27.1, subdivisio…