This section is from the book "Handbook On The Law Of Real Property", by Earl P. Hopkins. Also available from Amazon: Handbook on the law of real property.
The word "land" is often used as practically synonymous with "realty," and as such it includes not only the soil, but everything attached to it or growing or imbedded in it,18 extending upward
13 Cooley, Tax'n, pp. 270. 275; Stim. Am. St. Law, arts. 33, 35. 14 2 Bl. Comm. 16.
15 2 Bl. Comm. 16; Potter, J., in Canfield v. Ford, 28 Barb. (N. Y.) 336; Hosmer, C. J., in Mitchell v. Warner, 5 Conn. 518. See post, p. 26. 16 Id.
17 Strong v. White, 19 Conn. 238; Dickey, J., in Ohio & M. R. Co. v. Weber, 96 111. 448; Penniman v. French, 17 Pick. (Mass.) 404. But see 2 Bl. Comm. 15.
18 2 Bl. Comm. 17; Barnett v. Johnson, 15 N. J. Eq. 481; Field v. Barling, 149 111. 556, 37 N. E. 850; Ruggles, J., in Mott v. Palmer, 1 N. Y. 5G4, 569; Isham v. Morgan, 9 Conn. 374. Cf. In re Department of Public Parks, 60 Hun, 576, 14 N. Y. Supp. 347.
Indefinitely and downward to the center of the earth, as is ex-pressed by the phrase "Cujus est solum ejus est usque ad coelum usque ad orcum." l9 Therefore an owner of land may cut off the limbs of trees which hang over his boundary line without committing a tort.20 An exception to the rule is seen in the case of the ownership of realty by horizontal divisions, so that one per-son may own the surface and another have the right to the minerals which are under the surface.21 In a more limited sense, land means the soil of the earth, the water upon it, and the minerals, fossils, etc., imbedded in it.22 Those things, like buildings, which are generally included in the meaning of the term "land," will be discussed separately.
 
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