Definition
Ratable property is property that is subject to rating or assessment — that is, property which, by its legal character and nature, may be appraised and assigned a taxable value for purposes of local taxation or levy. The term operates as a threshold classification: before a taxing authority can impose a rate upon property, the property must first qualify as ratable. Property that falls outside this classification — whether by statutory exemption, constitutional protection, or its inherent character — cannot lawfully be assessed under a rating scheme.
The concept is closely tied to property taxation systems inherited from English local government law, where "rates" were periodic assessments levied against occupiers or owners of property within a jurisdiction to fund local public services. Ratable property was the universe of property against which those rates could properly be imposed.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Ratable" means capable of being rated, estimated, or appraised; also used to mean proportional or pro-rated.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Ratable" is defined as capable of being rated or set at a certain value; also, proportional, as in "ratable shares."
The common meaning of "ratable" as simply proportional or pro-rated overlaps with but does not capture the legal meaning. In property law contexts, ratable property is not merely property that can be proportionally divided — it is property that qualifies for inclusion in the tax base subject to assessment. The proportionality sense of the word appears in related tax contexts (ratable distribution, ratable share), which can cause confusion when researchers encounter "ratable" in different legal instruments.
Common Confusion
"Ratable property" is sometimes conflated with "taxable property," but the terms are not interchangeable in all systems. Property may be taxable under an income or transfer tax regime without being ratable under a local rating scheme. Conversely, historical English rating law created categories of ratable hereditaments that had no direct analog in American property tax classifications. Researchers working across English and American sources should not assume the terms map onto each other without examining the governing statutory framework.
Why It Matters in Research
This term presents two research traps that are easy to miss.
First, the term is a product of English local taxation law and travels imperfectly into American legal materials. Nineteenth-century American courts and legislatures used the term, but its meaning was shaped by the English rating system — a system American jurisdictions adapted rather than adopted wholesale. When you encounter "ratable property" in an American case or statute from the 1800s, check whether the court is drawing on English rating law precedent or working within a distinct state statutory framework. The answer will affect how you read the holding.
Second, the definition in Bouvier — "property in its quality and nature capable of being rated" — sounds circular but is doing real work. The phrase "in its quality and nature" signals that ratability is not merely a matter of statutory designation; it was understood to be a question of the inherent character of the property. This distinction matters for historical research into property exemptions, particularly for intangible property, government property, and property held by charitable or religious institutions. Courts frequently had to determine whether certain property was ratable in its nature before reaching the question of exemption.
Researchers tracking the evolution of intellectual property as taxable personal property should note the tension: intangible property, including early forms of intellectual property rights, sat uneasily within rating frameworks designed around physical occupation and possession. Whether a patent or copyright interest constituted ratable property was a live question in both English and American jurisdictions. The encyclopedia entry on intellectual property as personal property provides useful framing for understanding how these assets eventually gained recognized status within property classification systems.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary defines ratable property as "property in its quality and nature capable of being rated, i.e. appraised, assessed." The citation to 10 B. & S. 823 points to English Queen's Bench authority (Best & Smith's Reports), and 16 R.I. 240 reflects American reception of the concept. Bouvier's definition is characteristically compact and does not explain the rating system context that gives the term its practical meaning — a gap that requires researchers to supplement Bouvier with English local government law sources when tracing the doctrine historically.
Bouvier does not address jurisdictional variation in what property qualifies as ratable, nor does it engage with the growing complexity around intangible and incorporeal property that was actively litigated throughout the nineteenth century. Researchers relying solely on Bouvier for this term will have the threshold definition but will need primary sources to understand how courts applied it.
Jurisdictional Note
The term appears most frequently in English law and in American jurisdictions whose property tax statutes used rating terminology — particularly in New England states and those with strong English common law inheritance. Modern American property tax law generally uses "taxable property" or "assessable property" rather than "ratable property," so the term in contemporary American materials most often signals either a historical document or a statutory borrowing from older frameworks.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
The Law Mind Property Law Encyclopedia — Personal Property: Intellectual Property as Personal Property (Overview): Relevant for understanding how intangible property interests came to be recognized within property classification systems that originally centered on physical, ratable assets.