Private ownership in land is a recognized right among all civilized governments and people. Titles are derived originally from the government,* which continues to be the paramount owner of the land under the doctrine of eminent domain, and which holds title to all unclaimed and undeveloped lands. The title to the lands in the United States was acquired from Great Britain by the treaty of peace, from France, Spain and other countries by either purchase or conquest. The title of the European nations to this immense territorial domain, which passed to the United States was founded upon their discovery and conquest. By the customary European law of nations discovery gave title to the soil subject to the right of occupancy by the natives. The United States, therefore, derived its title to all the lands within our borders, subject to the right of occupancy or use by the Indians. The millions of square miles of our vast undeveloped plains and forests were called government lands and this land the Government has parceled out and sold at the minimum price of $1.25 per acre, or donated to individuals or corporations for various considerations. The "chain of title" then begins with

Titles the Government and runs down through the various holders who have taken it either through purchase or descent, to the present holder in fee simple, or claimant of the land.

♦In a monarchical government they are derived from the king.

Under the homestead law of 1862 a settler was permitted to acquire title to 160 acres of Government land gratis under certain restrictions by cultivating it five years.

The ownership of real property "in fee simple" excludes all qualifications and restrictions as to the persons who may inherit it as heirs, thus distinguishing it from a "fee tail." It is the largest possible estate a man can have, being absolute in perpetuity. It is where lands are given to a man and to his heirs absolutely without any restrictions or limitations put upon the estate. The word "simple" in the compound word "fee-simple" adds no meaning to the word "fee" standing by itself. The "fee tail" is an inheritable estate which can descend to certain classes of heirs only. It is necessary that they should be "heirs of the body" or "blood heirs." The theory of a "fee tail" estate was derived from the old Roman system restricting estates.

Having extinguished the Indian title by treaty or otherwise, the next step was to survey the land into ranges, townships and sections by means of lines running north and south, and east and west, but not including navigable streams or any land especially reserved, such as Indian Reservations and National Parks. Townships are six miles square and contain thirty-six sections of six hundred and forty acres, each section being one mile square. These sections are divided into halves, quarters and eighths. The ranges, townships and sections are numbered in regular order, and hence by knowing the number of each we have a brief and accurate description of the tract. Salt springs and lead mines were specifically reserved to the United States, in all government land, our fathers probably supposing these constituted the only mineral wealth worth reserving. One section in every township, numbered sixteen, was reserved for the purposes of education.

When a town or village is laid out, all the land included within its limits is platted, upon a map, accurately drawn, which is kept in the offices of the town or city. Anyone who owns land within the limits of the town or city may sub-divide it into lots by having it surveyed by a competent surveyor, which survey must be acknowledged by himself and the surveyor before a notary, and a true plat with such acknowledgment filed with the County Recorder. One who subdivides land usually names the subdivision after himself and thereafter in describing any lot or parcel of the land the description must include, in addition to the number of the , township, section, and part of section, the name of the subdivision, number of block and lot. A subdivision may be subdivided again and this is a re-subdivision, or a lot may be divided into two or more lots and these are called sub-lots. A legal description of a sub-lot may then read somewhat as follows: Sub-lot three of lot thirty in Brown's resubdivision of the south twenty acres of the East one-half of the West one-half of the Southwest quarter, section eight, township thirty-nine, range fourteen East of the Third Principal Meridian, Cook County, Illinois.

Land values depend upon innumerable conditions, and as the conditions change the values are liable to change also. Farming land is chiefly valuable on account of its fertility and other favorable conditions for raising produce, its nearness to market, transportation facilities, etc. City lots are dependent for their value chiefly upon location, those in the center of trade being the most valuable. As cities grow older and increase in business and population, the pressure for desirable lots in good locations grows heavier and prices advance. Improvements upon land, however, are constantly deteriorating from age and use and this acts as an offset in a degree against the advance in the land values. In large cities, for instance New York and Chicago, substantial improvements are frequently destroyed and modern ones of greater height erected. The invention of the modern "skyscraper" has made possible the carrying up of buildings to practically an unlimited height, surpassing the renting space afforded in buildings of the old type and construction several fold, but not necessitating an increase in the size of the land. The cost of maintenance and the expense in the operation of these new buildings are proportionately less than in the old. All this, of course, has a tendency to greatly increase the land values of this character of property.

Values of property are largely determined by the rents or income, if it is improved, and, if unimproved, what income it may be made to produce. The stability of property also affects its value,-the question whether the conditions of location, etc., will warrant a continuation of income. This is determined by its accessibility to transportation, etc., the properties in centers of great population being of the highest value and receding in value from those centers as their accessibility becomes less. The law of supply and demand regulates to a large extent the value of real property the same as personal property. Property obtains an abnormal value frequently from overconfidence due from various causes, that are sometimes not warranted by the stability of the community or its industries. In growing towns and cities, all classes of real property are more or less in a transient state, changing as the character of localities change. Thus residence property deteriorates materially in the event of the removal of residents to new and popular locations. As a result properties sometimes a distance of eight or ten miles from centers of activity are more valuable than intermediate property. Business property then being the most staple and producing the greatest income, has, of course, the highest value, and being in demand is purchased to earn on the lowest percentage of income. Sometimes these properties are purchased to net the investor as low as four per cent. per annum.