Leasehold Estate. Mortgages and Liens. Easements and Licenses. Mineral Rights and Similar Interests

Leasehold Estate. If the owner gives temporary possession and use of her property to another in return for the payment of rent or something else of value, by means of a written agreement called a lease, the party to whom possession of the property is given acquires a leasehold interest or leasehold estate. In such a case, the landowner is called the lessor and the person to whom the property is rented is called the lessee or tenant. The term, or time, of the lease may be weeks, months, or years.

Mortgages and Liens. A "lien" is a charge or encumbrance on property to secure the payment of a debt or the performance of some act. There are many other types of liens: a tax lien, a judgment lien, a mechanic's lien, etc. The procedure for enforcing a lien is called foreclosure. Frequently, property will be subject to many liens. In such cases, when one lienholder sues to foreclose, all lienholders are notified and their claims dealt with in the same suit. This process is called "marshalling of liens". Some liens, for example tax liens, have statutory priority.

Easements and Licenses. An easement is formal permission, granted in writing by deed or similar document, to use another's property. Easements are commonly granted to utility companies to install and maintain water, sewer, etc. gas, across private property. A license is informal permission to use another's property, e.g. to use a path across an owner's property.

Mineral Rights and Similar Interests. An owner might lease the mineral rights to her property to an oil exploration company in return for a flat payment when the lease is signed, plus a royalty of, for example, one-eighth of the value of any oil or natural gas brought to the surface.

Rights of the Minors

Minors in General. Under the law, minors are treated differently from adults in many situations. Certain rights may not apply to minors in quite the same way as they apply to adults. Very young children are not criminally liable, and older children are accorded dif­ferent treatment from adults for criminal acts.

Apart from the criminal law, minors may be subject to more, and different, controls on their behavior than adults. Minors must have parental permission to do certain things. Although minors can own property, it is often necessary that a guardian hold and manage such property. The right of minors to enter into contracts is limited. The ability of minors, I especially very young children, to act as witnesses in court is limited.

Constitutional Rights of Minors. With a few major exceptions, minors have the same constitutional rights as adults. Minors do not have complete freedom of speech and as-1 sembly under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Minors cannot freely keep and bear arms. Searches and seizures which would be unconstitutional if they in-1 volved an adult may be constitutional when they involve a juvenile. A minor does not have the right of jury trial in juvenile proceedings.

Contractual Rights of Minors. With some exceptions, minors do not have full rights to enter into contracts. If a minor does enter into a contract with an adult, the contract may be canceled or honored at the minor's option. Finally, there are some situations where a minor can enter into a binding contract and not have the right of cancellation. These situa­tions generally involve contracts for "necessaries". As stated above, necessaries are gener­ally defined as food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. The minor's parents may be held liable on contracts for necessaries.

ДОДАТОК 2

TEXTS FOR SUPPLEMENTERY READING

TEXT 1 FROM THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH LAW

ASSIGNMENTS

The British present legal system began, for all practical purposes, in the reign of Henry II (1154-89). When he came to the throne justice was for the most part administered in local courts, i.e. by local lords to their tenants in the feudal courts, and by the County Sheriffs, often sitting with Earl and the Bishop, in the courts of the Shires and Hundreds. They administered the Law in their respective areas and decided the cases which came before them on the basis of local custom. Many of these customary rules of law were the same or similar in all parts of the country.

The Curia Regis existed as a central royal court but was the feudal court for those hig-ranking persons who were tenants-in-chief of the King, and not a general court open to all. Henry II took steps to ensure that royal justice would be open to all. In the Assizes of Clarendon (1166) and Northampton (1176) he provided that there should be 12 men in every country to be responsible for presenting to the sheriff those suspected of serious crimes. The accused were brought before certain royal officials who travelled the country from time to time looking after the King's affairs, a system known as the General Eyre. Thus royal and more uniform justice began to come to the country as a whole.