Legal Definitions - quoad mobilia

quoad mobilia is a historical Latin legal phrase that translates to "with regard to movable property."

In legal contexts, property is broadly categorized into two main types:

• Real property (also known as immovable property) refers to land and anything permanently attached to it, such as buildings, fences, or trees.
• Personal property (also known as movable property) includes everything else – items that can be moved, such as furniture, vehicles, livestock, money, or goods.

Historically, the distinction between movable and immovable property was crucial because different laws, customs, and legal procedures often applied to each. When a legal document, statute, or discussion used the phrase quoad mobilia, it was specifically directing attention to rules or considerations that applied solely to items that could be moved, rather than to land or structures.

Here are some examples illustrating how this concept might have been applied:

• Imagine a medieval will where a wealthy merchant bequeathed his estate. The will might have specific provisions for how his urban properties and country estates (immovable property) were to be inherited by his eldest son. However, it might then include a separate clause stating, "quoad mobilia, all my trading goods, ships' cargo, and personal coin shall be divided equally among my younger children."

  This example demonstrates how the phrase would have been used to clearly delineate which part of the inheritance – the movable assets – was subject to a different distribution rule than the immovable land and buildings.

• Consider a historical legal dispute over a debt. A creditor might seek to recover money owed by seizing the debtor's assets. A local ordinance or a court judgment might specify that "quoad mobilia, the bailiff is authorized to seize and sell the debtor's farm implements, harvested crops, and livestock to satisfy the debt."

  Here, quoad mobilia clarifies that the legal authority to seize property for debt repayment specifically applies to the debtor's movable possessions, distinguishing them from any land or buildings the debtor might own, which might be subject to different, often more complex, seizure or foreclosure procedures.