The area of law that governs the different forms of ownership in real property (land as distinct from personal or movable possessions) and in personal property, within the common law legal system is called property law. The civil law system divides movable and immovable property. Unlike movable property that generally corresponds to personal property, immovable property corresponds to real estate or real property, and the associated rights and obligations thereon.
All property law is underlain by the concept, idea or philosophy of property. In some jurisdictions, historically all property was owned by the monarch and it devolved through feudal land tenure or other feudal systems of loyalty and fealty.
 Property rights are rights over things enforceable against other persons. And by contrast, contractual rights are rights enforceable against particular persons. Nevertheless, as property rights may arise from a contract, consequently there is an overlap between the two systems of rights. Thus, in relation to the sale of land, for instance, two sets of legal relationships exist alongside one another: the personal right to sue for damages on the contract, and the proprietary right exercisable over the thing.
But a separate difference is obvious where rights granted are inadequately considerable to confer on the non-owner a definable interest right in the thing. The license is the clearest example of these rights. But even if licenses are created by a binding contract, they do not give rise to proprietary interests.
A great deal of historical continuity and technical terminology characterize property law. However, the basic difference in common law systems is between real property (land) and personal property (chattels).
The principles governing the devolution of real property and personal property on intestacy were quite different before the mid-19th century. In spite of that fact that this dichotomy does not have the same meaning anymore, the distinction is still fundamental. This is because of the necessary differences between the two categories. As land is immovable, therefore the rules that govern its use must be different. A further reason for the distinction is that legislation is often drafted employing the traditional terminology.
However, the separation of land and chattels is defined as not satisfactory for categorizing the principles of property law. But this is since it concentrates attention not on the proprietary interests themselves but on the objects of those interests. Furthermore, in the case of fixtures, chattels which are affixed to or placed on land may become part of the land.
There are two types of real property:
1) corporeal hereditaments - tangible real property (land);
2) incorporeal hereditaments - intangible real property such as an easement of way.
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