Property is everywhere around you. Wherever you go in the United States, the part of Earth you’re on is the property of some person, entity, or government. If you look around you, almost everything you see is property — and it’s not just the land. Almost everything visible and tangible is property, except for the people themselves. Even some things you can’t see are property. Property law touches all of it. Property law is about your relationship to all those things around you. It determines what you can do with those things and what you can stop other people from doing with those things. It governs how you acquire a right to possess and use a thing and exclude others from it. It directs how you can give that right to others. You may be very familiar with property but not so familiar with property law. I wrote this book to help you understand those legal rules that are shaping the world around you in so many ways.