TITLE 47 PROPERTY CHAPTER 47-01 GENERAL PROVISIONS 47-01-01. Ownership defined

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

47-01-02. Property - Classification

Property is: 1. Real or immovable; or 2

Personal or movable

47-01-03. Real property defined

Real or immovable property consists of: 1

2

Land; 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; That which is incidental or appurtenant to land; and That which is immovable by law

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4

47-01-04. Land defined

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

47-01-05. Fixtures defined

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 means of cement, plaster, nails, bolts, or screws

47-01-06. Appurtenances defined

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, cars, blacksmith shops, mills, and all other machinery or tools used in working or developing a mine are deemed affixed to the mine

47-01-07. Personal property defined

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

47-01-08. What may be subject to ownership

There may be ownership of the following: 1

2

3

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All inanimate things which are capable of appropriation or of manual delivery

All domestic animals

All obligations

Such products of labor or skill as the composition of an author, the good will of a business, trademarks, signs, and of rights created or granted by statute

Animals, wild by nature, only when on the land of the person claiming them, or when tamed, taken and held in possession, or disabled and immediately pursued

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Page No. 1 47-01-09. Public or private ownership - All property subject to

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

owner

47-01-10. State ownership - Property appropriated or dedicated - Property having no 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

47-01-11. Private ownership - Persons qualified - Citizen - Alien

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

47-01-12. Scope of ownership - Above and below surface

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

47-01-13. Ownership of land includes water

Repealed by S.L. 1963, ch. 419, ยง 7

47-01-14. Land below high water mark - Regulated by federal or state law

Repealed by S.L. 1995, ch. 435, ยง 2

47-01-15. Banks and beds of streams - Boundary of ownership

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 all cases when the opposite banks of any stream not navigable belong to different persons, the stream and the bed thereof shall become common to both

47-01-16. Road or street - Boundary of ownership

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

trunk

47-01-17. Tree occupying lands of adjacent owner - Ownership determined from 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

47-01-18. Lateral and adjacent support

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 care and skill, taking precautions to sustain the land of the other, and giving previous reasonable notice to the other of the intention to make such excavations

47-01-19. Boundaries - Obligation of coterminous owners

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

47-01-20. Extent of ownership - Products and accessions

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

Page No. 2 47-01-21. Methods by which property may be acquired

Property may be acquired by: 1. Occupancy; Accession; 2

3

Transfer; 4. Will; or 5

Succession

47-01-22. Temporary easements to contain fixed termination date

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 temporary easement, which date shall not be more than five years from the date of the easement

47-01-23. Landowner immunity - Use and condition of roads

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 or contributes to the claim

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