how absolute rights can be created transferred and extinguished 4 The Dutch Civil Code recognises the following absolute rights: ownership, servitudes, emphyteusis, superficies, right of apartment(condominium), pledge and mortgage. 25 Generally speaking, these rights can also be found in other civil law systems. In the civil law, ownership is the most absolute right and it cannot be fragmented only one person can be the owner, no distinction between legal and economic ownership is accepted In order to justify the binding nature of absolute rights against third parties, these parties must be informed about those rights. With regard to movables, information is provided by possession. She who possesses an object is at an d vantage when she claims to be the owner, as her right of ownership will be presumed nformation can also be given through registration. An important example is the land registry The numerus clausus doctrine is characteristic of the post-feudal civil law systems However, the feudal system still is the basis for property law in England and countries with property law systems which are historically based on English law such as the United States It will, for that reason, come as no surprise that the numerus clausus doctrine, even the concept of numerus clausus as such, was hardly ever discussed in English and American legal literature. This seems to be changing. In 1993 Gordley pointed out that, at least from an American perspective, the conceptual differences between civil and common property law are no longer fundamental 27 In a very interesting, recent, exchange of views, Hansmann and Kraakman 28 have debated with Merrill and Smith29 whether the numerus clausus doctrine also exists, albeit perhaps implicitly, in American property law. They all seem to agree that in American common law standardisation has taken place, which in its final result comes clos to the civil law numerus clausus. merrill and Smith distinguish the following categories of common law property rights. 30 In regard to estates in land, they distinguish the following five possessory interests: fee simple absolute, defeasible fee simple, fee tail, life estate and lease Also with respect to land, they d istinguish the following five concurrent interests: tenancy in common, joint tenancy, marital property, trusts and condominiums, cooperatives and time shares. Concerning land finally, the next four basic forms of non-possessory interests are distinguished: easements, real covenants, equitable servitudes and profits. With respect to See, for Dutch law, Asser-Mijnssen-De Haan, Goederenrecht Algemeen Goederenrecht(Deventer: W.E.J. Tjeenk Willink, 2001), nos. 31, 39 and 24 1 f Of course, borderline cases exist. Lease, e.g, although a contract, hascertain features which make it a quasi-absolute right for civil lawyers. The lessee is protected in her lease rights and bound by her duties arising from the lease against a transferee of the lessor Absolute rights are a lso recognised outside the Civil Code. An example are intellectual property rights It is remarkable that Th. W. Merrill and H.E. Smith in their article Optimal Standardization in the Law of Property: The Numerus Clausus Principle, 110 Yale Law Journal (2000), 1 ff, at p. 6, include American property law among the postfeudal' legal systems. If they mean that the feudal system as a system of government does not apply in the United States, they-obviously-are correct. English feudalconcepts are however, still the roots of American property law J. Gordley, Common law und civil law. Eine uberholte Unterscheidung,, 3 Zeitschrift fuir Century: Some Unfinished Business, 88 California Law Review(2000), 1817 ff, esp. pp 1859/entieth Europaisches Privatrecht(1993),498 ff, especially pp 510 ff.; idem, The Common Law in the Tv H Hansmann and R Kraakman, Property, Contract and Verification: The Numerus Clausus Problem andtheDivisibilityofRightstobefoundatshttp://www.ssrm.com/sn/index.htmp>(searcHterm:numerus clausus), the paper is forthcoming in a special issue of the Journalof legal Studies on property rights Merrill and Smith, Optimal Standardization,, 110 Yale Law Journal (2000), 1 ff. Ibid. pp. 12 ff.how absolute rights can be created, transferred and extinguished.24 The Dutch Civil Code recognises the following absolute rights: ownership, servitudes, emphyteusis, superficies, right of apartment (condominium), pledge and mortgage.25 Generally speaking, these rights can also be found in other civil law systems. In the civil law, ownership is the most absolute right and it cannot be fragmented: only one person can be the owner, no distinction between legal and economic ownership is accepted. In order to justify the binding nature of absolute rights against third parties, these parties must be informed about those rights. With regard to movables, information is provided by possession. She who possesses an object is at an advantage when she claims to be the owner, as her right of ownership will be presumed. Information can also be given through registration. An important example is the land registry. The numerus clausus doctrine is characteristic of the post-feudal civil law systems. However, the feudal system still is the basis for property law in England and countries with property law systems which are historically based on English law such as the United States.26 It will, for that reason, come as no surprise that the numerus clausus doctrine, even the concept of numerus clausus as such, was hardly ever discussed in English and American legal literature. This seems to be changing. In 1993 Gordley pointed out that, at least from an American perspective, the conceptual differences between civil and common property law are no longer fundamental.27 In a very interesting, recent, exchange of views, Hansmann and Kraakman28 have debated with Merrill and Smith29 whether the numerus clausus doctrine also exists, albeit perhaps implicitly, in American property law. They all seem to agree that in American common law standardisation has taken place, which in its final result comes close to the civil law numerus clausus. Merrill and Smith distinguish the following categories of common law property rights.30 In regard to estates in land, they distinguish the following five possessory interests: fee simple absolute, defeasible fee simple, fee tail, life estate and lease. Also with respect to land, they distinguish the following five concurrent interests: tenancy in common, joint tenancy, marital property, trusts and condominiums, cooperatives and time￾shares. Concerning land, finally, the next four basic forms of non-possessory interests are distinguished: easements, real covenants, equitable servitudes and profits. With respect to 24 See, for Dutch law, Asser-Mijnssen-De Haan, Goederenrecht. Algemeen Goederenrecht (Deventer: W.E.J. Tjeenk Willink, 2001), nos. 31, 39 and 241 f. Of course, borderline cases exist. Lease, e.g., although a contract, has certain features which make it a quasi-absolute right for civil lawyers. The lessee is protected in her lease rights and bound by her duties arising from the lease against a transferee of the lessor. 25 Absolute rights are also recognised outside the Civil Code. An example are intellectual property rights. 26 It is remarkable that Th.W. Merrill and H.E. Smith in their article ‘Optimal Standardization in the Law of Property: The Numerus Clausus Principle’, 110 Yale Law Journal (2000), 1 ff., at p. 6, include American property law among the ‘postfeudal’ legal systems. If they mean that the feudal system as a system of government does not apply in the United States, they - obviously - are correct. English feudal concepts are, however, still the roots of American property law. 27 J. Gordley, ‘Common law und civil law. Eine überholte Unterscheidung’, 3 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht (1993), 498 ff., especially pp. 510 ff.; idem, ‘The Common Law in the Twentieth Century: Some Unfinished Business’, 88 California Law Review (2000), 1817 ff., esp. pp. 1859 ff. 28 H. Hansmann and R. Kraakman, Property, Contract and Verification: The Numerus Clausus Problem and the Divisibility of Rights, to be found at <http://www.ssrn.com/lsn/index.html> (search term: numerus clausus); the paper is forthcoming in a special issue of the Journal of Legal Studies on property rights. 29 Merrill and Smith, ‘Optimal Standardization’, 110 Yale Law Journal (2000), 1 ff.. 30 Ibid., pp. 12 ff