Legal Jargon

Right in Rem and Right in Personam:

Word : Right in Rem

Meaning : The term “rem” means world.

A right in rem means right against whole world at large. It is also called as real right.

Example: I have a house. The people of the world have a duty not to interfere with my possession. Nobody has right to disturb my possession and enjoyment.

Word : Right in Personam

Meaning : The term means “directed toward a particular person”

It is also called as “personal right”

Example: I let my house to Z-tenant. I have a right to receive rent from my tenant. This right to receive rent is a right in personam. The rest of the world is not concerned with this right.

Judicial Pronouncement:

Example of Right in rem and personam:

The term “property” derives three different Meanings:

  1. In its widest sense “property” includes all a person’s legal rights, of whatever description. A man’s property is all that is his in law.

  2. In a second or narrower sense, “property” includes not all a person’s rights, but only his proprietary as opposed to his personal rights.

  3. In a third application, the term includes not even all proprietary rights, but only those which are both proprietary and ‘in rem’.

The former constitute his estate or property, while the latter constitute his status or personal condition. In this sense a man’s land, cattle, shares, and the debts due to him are his property; but not his life or liberty or reputation.

The law of property is the law of proprietary ‘in rem’, the law of proprietary rights ‘in personam’ being distinguished from it as the law of obligations.

Held in The Jupiter General Insurance Co. … vs Rajagopalan and Anr. on 20 June, 1951

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