Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

tdscanuck t1_j9w2yt6 wrote

Reply to comment by ukAdamR in ELI5 what is ownership? by No-Eggplant-5396

Adding on for OP, the key with co-ownership is that the "legal person" involved in the ownership is a legal entity made up of *both* the co-owners. There's a contract underneath that lays out the terms of how the co-owners do things. If one co-owner tries to sell the property without the permission of the others 1) they've breached the ownership contract, and the other owners can retaliate and 2) the legal entity that owns the property (which is *all* the co-owners) hasn't agreed to sell it...one co-owner, by themselves, isn't the legal entity that owns the property so they have no right to sell it.

2

furtherdimensions t1_j9w3b4e wrote

>one co-owner, by themselves, isn't the legal entity that owns the property so they have no right to sell it.

But they can sell their ownership stake IN it, which can result in all sorts of weird and wacky legal shenanigans.

3

tdscanuck t1_j9w3v14 wrote

Good point. Which is why the mechanics of co-ownership agreements are so important, and so complicated, regardless of what thing they're owning. There are *so* many ways it can get screwed up and so many eventualities that might not be fully covered by any agreement.

1

ukAdamR t1_j9w49xz wrote

Very true, and a big example of this happening are company shares being exchanged literally millions of times every trading day of stock markets worldwide.

Much of the key legal rights fall within having a majority of control. E.g. if you own 51% of a company then you would typically have a controlling share of it, opening possibilities of rights more significant to the remaining minority co-owners.

Ownership of any proportion all revolves around what the greatest power is both willing and capable of enforcing towards the particular property, asset, or "thing". Different kinds of "things" get different rules and these rules can change at any time.

1