Separation and Abstraction in Property Transfers

Book excerpt: This book argues that there are three dividing lines regarding modes and consequences of property transfers which should not be conflated by comparative lawyers, namely, intent alone versus intent plus, unitary approach versus separatist approach, and causality versus abstraction. Unlike Chinese law, English law takes a non-unified approach not only in the stage of transfer but also in the stage of restitution, where the consequence in relation to the property right transferred under a flawed underlying basis can be purely causal, purely abstract, and abstract in common law but causal in equity. Nevertheless, abstraction is normatively more justifiable than causality.