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Comment by yardie | Hacker News Reader

Property rights in the US are particularly funny. You don’t own as much as you think you do. The land deed you have is a 2D plot of land. There are also mineral rights, air rights, and raparian rights. That last one is the rights to collect water in your land. Most likely there is a water management authority who owns the rain water in your property. Unless your deed specifically states you own mineral rights a mining company can dig or drill right under your land.

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In every jurisdiction I’m aware of minerals run with the land absent specific conveyance/reservation severing the estate.

I think this may depend on jurisdiction.

I was told that I own my land and everything up to “the sky”. Granted, for practical purposes this means that if a neighbors tree over hangs my plat I have the right to trim it up across my property line.

Any legal beagles able to chime in?

For the US, there's no such thing as private property rights to airspace, and all the laws controlling airspace are exclusively federal. There can be temporary and permanent flight restrictions for events or protected areas, and there are restrictions about flying too close to buildings when operating manned aircraft that don't apply to drones (the opposite, in fact, you can fly at higher altitudes if you are close to a building). Now you can get busted for flying in an unsafe manner, harassment, or any number of privacy violations, but not trespassing.

To make matters confusing, there are "air rights," but those have to do with zoning and how tall a building can be made. Nothing to do with flying.

You don't own anything if the government can confiscate it for failing to make indefinite recurrent payments on it.

As long as you pay property tax your property is really owned by Uncle Sam.

There are parts of the country where you can buy unincorporated land. But most people don't want to live there. You are responsible for building and maintaining your own roads, pumping your own water and treat sewage. Police, fire, and public schools are a monthly fee. And if you don't pay and change your mind it's a retroactive charge.

It's the kind of living only the most dedicated can afford to do. Everyone else simply pays city/county taxes and assume the problem is going to get sorted.

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