654 Ownership; property defined

The ownership of a thing is the right of one or more persons to possess and use it to the exclusion of others. In this Code, the thing of which there may be ownership is called property.

655 Things subject to ownership

There may be ownership of all inanimate things which are capable of appropriation or of manual delivery; of all domestic animals; of all obligations; of such products of labor or skill as the composition of an author, the good will of a business, trade marks and signs, and of rights created or granted by statute.

656 Ownership of wild animals

Animals wild by nature are the subjects of ownership, while living, only when on the land of the person claiming them, or when tamed, or taken and held in possession, or disabled and immediately pursued.

657 Classification of property

Property is either:

l. Real or immovable; or,

2. Personal or movable.

658 Real property defined

Real or immovable property consists of:

l. Land;

2. That which is affixed to land;

3. That which is incidental or appurtenant to land;

4. That which is immovable by law; except that for the purposes of sale, emblements, industrial growing crops and things attached to or forming part of the land, which are agreed to be severed before sale or under the contract of sale, shall be treated as goods and be governed by the provisions of the title of this code regulating the sales of goods.

659 Land defined

Land is the material of the earth, whatever may be the ingredients of which it is composed, whether soil, rock, or other substance, and includes free or occupied space for an indefinite distance upwards as well as downwards, subject to limitations upon the use of airspace imposed, and rights in the use of airspace granted, by law.

660 Fixtures defined

A thing is deemed to be affixed to land when it is attached to it by roots, as in the case of trees, vines, or shrubs; or imbedded in it, as in the case of walls; or permanently resting upon it, as in the case of buildings; or permanently attached to what is thus permanent, as by means of cement, plaster, nails, bolts, or screws; except that for the purposes of sale, emblements, industrial growing crops and things attached to or forming part of the land, which are agreed to be severed before sale or under the contract of sale, shall be treated as goods and be governed by the provisions of the title of this code regulating the sales of goods.

662 Appurtenances to land

A thing is deemed to be incidental or appurtenant to land when it is by right used with the land for its benefit, as in the case of a way, or watercourse, or of a passage for light, air, or heat from or across the land of another.

663 Personal property defined

Every kind of property that is not real is personal.

17 Words and phrases; included meanings; signature by mark, formalities; interpretations and definitions

(a) Words used in this code in the present tense include the future as well as the present; words used in the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter; the singular number includes the plural and the plural the singular; the word “person” includes a corporation as well as a natural person; the word “county” includes “city and county”; writing includes printing and typewriting; oath includes affirmation or declaration; and every mode of oral statement, under oath or affirmation, is embraced by the term “testify,” and every written one in the term “depose”; signature or subscription includes mark, when the person cannot write, his or her name being written near it by a person who writes his or her own name as a witness; provided, that when a signature is by mark it must, in order that the same may be acknowledged or may serve as the signature to any sworn statement, be witnessed by two persons who must subscribe their own names as witness thereto.

(b) The following words have in this code the signification attached to them in this section, unless otherwise apparent from the context: 

(1) The word “property” includes both real and personal property. 

(2) The words “real property” are coextensive with lands, tenements, and hereditaments. 

(3) The words “personal property” include money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. 

(4) The word “month” means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. 

(5) The word “will” includes codicil. 

(6) The word “writ” signifies an order or precept in writing, issued in the name of the people, or of a court or judicial officer, and the word “process” signifies a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. 

(7) The word “state,” when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words “United States” may include the district and territories. 

(8) The word “section,” whenever hereinafter employed, refers to a section of this code, unless some other code or statute is expressly mentioned. 

(9) The word “affinity,” when applied to the marriage relation, signifies the connection existing in consequence of marriage, between each of the married persons and the blood relatives of the other. 

(10) The word “sheriff” shall include “marshal.”