Chapter 77 Question 068

Someone has illegally occupied a piece of land for at least ten years, why does the law recognize this person's ownership of the land? (Pailana Lee) In New York State, a person who has continued to occupy the same property for an extended period of time is entitled to claim legal title to the land, even if someone else originally paid for the land.Why would the law reward infringers in this way? Such laws are called squatters rights, or statute of limitations laws.They serve a simple economic principle that it is not in the interest of the community as a whole that valuable real estate sits idle.Sometimes, owners of valuable properties disappear without a trace, and there are no heirs.Others have long neglected their own industry.By recognizing the rights of squatters, the law encouraged homeowners to make better use of their property, or to sell it.Due to the long waiting time, the statute of limitations does not pose any threat to the interests of legal owners.After all, properties left unattended for long periods of time have little economic value to the legal owner.

The difficulty of enforcing property rights helps us understand why certain ways of managing resources are more efficient than others.