Real Estate & Property Law

Humbach's Estates and Future Interests Tutorials

Posted on September 16, 2009
From John A. Humbach at Pace: Free Online Tutorials: Estate System and Basic Future Interests for first year Property Many regard the estate system and basic future interests as intricate and tedious. Indeed, for many law students these subjects are....

Schliecher on The City as a Law and Economic Subject

Posted on September 16, 2009
David Schleicher (George Mason) has posted The City as a Law and Economic Subject on SSRN. Here's the abstract: Local government law has fallen behind the times. Over the past two decades, economists have developed a deep understanding of 'agglomeration...

Treasury Relaxes CMBS Restructuring Rules

Posted on September 16, 2009
In my previous post on the looming commercial real estate crisis, I promised to blog in more detail about Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) loans. I had not planned to do so today, but the Treasury Department has made the subject...

De Soto Documentary and Blog Contest

Posted on September 15, 2009
Over at Marginal Revolution, Alex Tabarrok notes an upcoming PBS documentary featuring Hernando de Soto, whose ideas are of great interest to many PropertyProfs. Free To Choose Media is sponsoring a contest tied to the documentary for a blog post...

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Dead Towns

Posted on September 15, 2009
The NY Times had an interesting story on Treece, Kansas, where the residents are pushing to be bought out by the EPA. Both Treece and a neighboring town were highly poluted by the mining industry. The neighboring town of Picher,...

Food Policy is a Land Use Policy

Posted on September 15, 2009
Michael Pollan, the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma," contributed an opinion piece to The New York Times this week that linked the federal government's subsidies of commodity crops to the health insurance debate. An excerpt: "[S]o far, food system reform...

Tracing the History of a Neighborhood

Posted on September 13, 2009
I just finished a piece for the Indiana Historical Society magazine about the Brightwood neighborhood in Indianapolis and one family that called it home for over seventy years. The exercise of researching the history of the neighborhood has been time-consuming,...

Unclean Hands Defeat Equitable Reformation of Deed

Posted on September 11, 2009
A recent case handed down in Indiana demonstrates that equitable property doctrines are still alive and well in the common law: Hardy v. Hardy, 910 N.E.2d 851 (Ind. Ct. App. 2009). Father owned 80 acres of farmland in Cass County,...

Lehavi on the Standards of Property

Posted on September 07, 2009
Amnon Lehavi (Interdisciplinary Center Herzliyah - Radzyner School of Law) has posted The Standards of Property on SSRN. Here's the abstract: Much scholarly attention has been paid recently to the optimal design of legal norms as constituting either clear-cut ?rules?...

Sometimes Fences Make Bad Neighbors

Posted on September 07, 2009
There was an interesting story in the New York Times a few days ago about a dispute between two neighboring landowners and the town of Westport, Connecticut over a stone wall. Albert and Susan Hancock built the wall in 2005...

The Looming Commercial Real Estate Crisis

Posted on September 04, 2009
I would like to begin my blogging by setting up a discussion about the commercial real estate industry, the looming crisis, and what this all means for property law. In a nutshell, the problem is this: (1) Over the past...

Greetings PropertyProfs!

Posted on September 04, 2009
Ben, thank you for the gracious introduction and the opportunity to blog with you! As Ben mentioned, I am in the AALS pool this year as an aspiring PropertyProf. Never fear, I will not bore you with my experiences in...

Guest Blogger Tanya Marsh

Posted on September 03, 2009
I'm delighted that Tanya Marsh is going to be joining us for a guest stint. Tanya teaches at the Kelley School of Business at IU/Bloomington, and as an adjunct at IU School of Law in Indianapolis. Tanya also has a...

Nagle on Cell Phone Towers as Visual Pollution

Posted on September 02, 2009
John Copeland Nagle (Notre Dame) has posted Cell Phone Towers as Visual Pollution on SSRN. Here's the abstract: Cell phone towers are just the most recent target of visual pollution complaints. The term visual pollution has been used by courts,...

Barnes on Property and Natural Resources

Posted on August 28, 2009
Richard Alan Barnes (University of Hull) has posted Property Rights and Natural Resources on SSRN. Here's the abstract: The use of private property rights to regulate natural resources is a controversial topic because it touches upon two critical issues: the...

Stop the Beach Links

Posted on August 27, 2009
For those interested in following the Stop the Beach judicial takings case, the Petitioner's merits brief, and a bunch of amicus briefs, are available online. I'll have more to say after the Respondents' brief is in. Also, there is a...

Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference

Posted on August 26, 2009
This year's Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference will be held at William & Mary on October 16-17. This year's honoree is Richard Pipes. Ben Barros [Comments are held for approval, so there will be some delay in posting]

Ruhl and Craig on Governance Institutions for Estuaries and Coasts

Posted on August 26, 2009
J. B. Ruhl and Robin Kundis Craig (Florida State) have posted New Sustainable Governance Institutions for Estuaries and Coasts on SSRN. Here's the abstract: The central point of inquiry in this chapter - how to design sustainable governance institutions for...

Ruhl and Craig on Governance Institutions for Estuaries and Coasts

Posted on August 26, 2009
J. B. Ruhl and Robin Kundis Craig (Florida State) have posted New Sustainable Governance Institutions for Estuaries and Coasts on SSRN. Here's the abstract: The central point of inquiry in this chapter - how to design sustainable governance institutions for...

Kent on Impact Fees as Takings

Posted on August 25, 2009
Michael B. Kent Jr. (John Marshall/Atlanta) has posted Theoretical Tension and Doctrinal Discord: Analyzing Development Impact Fees as Takings on SSRN. Here's the abstract: One of the lingering questions about the law of regulatory takings concerns the proper scope and...

Kent on Impact Fees as Takings

Posted on August 25, 2009
Michael B. Kent Jr. (John Marshall/Atlanta) has posted Theoretical Tension and Doctrinal Discord: Analyzing Development Impact Fees as Takings on SSRN. Here's the abstract: One of the lingering questions about the law of regulatory takings concerns the proper scope and...

McLaughlin & Machlis on Conservation Easements

Posted on August 25, 2009
Nancy A. McLaughlin (Utah) and Mark Benjamin Machlis have posted Protecting the Public Interest and Investment in Conservation: A Response to Professor Korngold's Critique of Conservation Easements on SSRN. Here's the abstract: Many who have questioned the use of conservation...

Fennell and Roin on Controlling Residential Stakes

Posted on August 20, 2009
Lee Anne Fennell and Julie Roin (Chicago) have posted Controlling Residential Stakes on SSRN. Here's the abstract: Local communities often suffer when residents have too small a stake in their homes ? a point underscored by recent rashes of foreclosures...

Lavine on Transparency and Accountability in New York's Industrial Development Agencies

Posted on August 20, 2009
Amy Lavine (Albany) has posted Getting Past the Prisoners' Dilemma: Transparency and Accountability Reforms to Improve New York's Industrial Development Agencies on SSRN. Here's the abstract: This paper discusses the pros and cons of New York's Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs),...

PropertyProf Wanted @ Indiana/Indianapolis

Posted on August 20, 2009
INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW-INDIANAPOLIS invites applications from entry-level and experienced candidates for tenure-track and tenured appointments beginning in the 2010-2011 academic year. The law school seeks colleagues with distinguished academic records who are committed to excellence in teaching, scholarship,...

PropertyProf Wanted @ Drake

Posted on August 20, 2009
DRAKE LAW SCHOOL seeks applications for a tenure-track position commencing in the 2010-11 academic year, pending final budget approval. We are interested in both entry-level and experienced candidates. Teaching needs tentatively include Property and related courses, but candidates with strong...

Mossoff on IP and the Administrative State

Posted on August 19, 2009
Adam Mossoff (George Mason) has posted The Use and Abuse of IP at the Birth of the Administrative State on SSRN. Here's the abstract: Courts and commentators have long maintained that intellectual property law and the administrative state developed as...

PropertyProf Wanted @ Gonzaga

Posted on August 19, 2009
Gonzaga University School of Law seeks applicants for two tenure-track positions. Areas of teaching need include, but are not limited to, Intellectual Property, Property, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Family Law, and Torts. Applicants should have an outstanding academic record, law...

Lee Fennell's The Unbounded Home

Posted on August 18, 2009
Yale University Press has just released Lee Fennell's book The Unbounded Home. Here's the publisher's description: The Unbounded Home grapples with a core metropolitan reality -- that the value and meaning of a home extend beyond its property lines to...

Saxer on RLUIPA's Application to Building Codes and Aesthetic Regulation

Posted on August 18, 2009
Shelley Ross Saxer (Pepperdine) has posted Assessing RLUIPA's Application to Building Codes and Aesthetic Land Use Regulation on SSRN. Here's the abstract: This article presents the author?s argument that building codes and aesthetic or historical land use regulations should be...

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