Do You Own The Space Above Your House?

Classical Roman law held that real estate ownership included the land beneath and the sky above a piece of property. That doctrine has been tested over and over through history.

Beginning with the 1797 decision in State v. David (Mr. David was indicted in Delaware for stealing two barrels of herrings after the barrels were found buried on his land) and continuing for the next hundred years, the American legal system maintained that landowners’ rights extend over a tract of space that stretches from the center of the earth out into the atmosphere. Sometimes this space is described as a straight column with dimensions that match the property’s surface-level boundary lines. The column sometimes began at a theoretical point at the very center of the earth, continues through the surface of the earth and upward into the sky. Other times, it was described as being shaped like an inverted pyramid. The tip is at the center of the earth and the space widens to meet the property’s surface boundary lines.

Ah, but that was before the invention of the airplane. See how that development affected property rights over the years, here.