Property Fall Course Time and Location. Reading Materials. Grading. Assignments

Transcription

1 Property Fall 2016 Ilya Somin Professor of Law George Mason University School of Law Office: Rm. 322 Ph: Office Hours: Monday 4-6 PM, or by appointment. Course Time and Location Monday and Wednesday, 2:00-3:50 PM Room Reading Materials Textbooks: Jesse Dukeminier, Mark Krier, Gregory Alexander, Michael Schill and Lior Strahilevitz, Property, (Aspen, 2014), 8th ed. (listed as DK in syllabus); Robert Ellickson, Carol Rose, and Henry Smith, Perspectives on Property Law, (Aspen 2014), 4th ed. (listed as ERS ). Available at GMU Book Store and online. Cases marked as being on TWEN can be accessed from the class TWEN site, directly from the syllabus there. These cases can also be accessed on Westlaw and Lexis, if you prefer. Several other items on the reading list are available on TWEN, under the Course Materials heading. Grading Grades will be based on a combination of the final exam and class participation. Specifically, the course grade will be the final exam grade plus a bonus for good class participation worth up to as much as about one half of a letter grade on your final grade for the semester. The final exam will consist of essay questions and short identification questions. Further details of the final exam will be announced later in the semester. Class participation will be assessed on a combination of quantity and quality. Further details on class participation and final exam grading will be provided during the course of the semester. Assignments Although I will try to stick to the schedule, we may occasionally fall behind. In such an unfortunate event, we will begin the next class with the next case or other reading on the 1

2 syllabus, unless I say otherwise. The same procedure applies if we have a class cancellation due to inclement weather. Recording I hereby authorize students to record sessions of this class, so long as the recordings are not used for any commercial purpose. August 22: Introduction to Property Richard Posner, The Economic Theory of Property Rights, TWEN Margaret Jane Radin, Property and Personhood, ERS 6-15 Harold Demsetz, Toward a Theory of Property Rights DK August 24: Acquisition by Conquest and Capture Johnson v. M Intosh DK 4-18 Pierson v. Post DK Ghen v. Rich DK Keeble v. Hickeringill DK August 29: Acquisition by Creation/Tragedy of the Commons International News Service v. AP DK Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. DK Garrett Hardin, The Tragedy of the Commons, ERS Michael Heller & Rebecca Eisenberg, Can Patents Deter Innovation? The Anticommons in Biomedical Research, ERS August 31: Acquisition by Find Armory v. Delamirie DK Hannah v. Peel DK McAvoy v. Medina DK Notes: DK Popov v. Hayashi, 2002 WL (Cal. Superior Court 2002) (Westlaw/TWEN). September 7: Acquisition by Adverse Possession/Acquisition by Gift Background on Adverse Possession DK Mannillo v. Gorski DK Howard v. Kunto DK Newman v. Bost DK Gruen v. Gruen DK

3 September 12: The Right to Exclude/Theory of Property Rules Jacque v. Steenberg Homes DK State v. Shack DK Guido Calabresi & A. Douglas Melamed, Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability Rules: One View of the Cathedral, ERS September 14: Property Rights in the Body and Inalienability Rules Moore v. Regents of the Univ. of California DK Richard Epstein, Altruism and Valuable Consideration in Organ Transplantation, (Handout/TWEN). Leon Kass, Organs for Sale? Propriety, Property, and the Price of Progress. (Handout/TWEN) September 19: Estates and Fee Simple/Coase Theorem R.H. Coase, The Problem of Social Cost, ERS Robert Ellickson, Order Without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes. ERS History and origins of estates DK White v. Brown DK September 21: Life Estates and Defeasible Estates Baker v. Weedon DK Defeasible Estates DK Mahrenholtz v. Cty. Bd. of School Trustees DK September 26: Future Interests and Trusts/ Concurrent Interests I Future Interests DK Rule Against Perpetuities and its Reform DK , Trusts DK Jesse Dukeminier & James Krier, The Rise of the Perpetual Trust DK NOTE: The traditional rule against perpetuities will NOT be on the final exam. Background to concurrent interests DK September 28: Concurrent Interests II Riddle v. Harmon DK Delfino v. Vealencis DK Spiller v. Mackereth DK Swartzbaugh v. Sampson DK October 3: Landlord-Tenant Law I - Estates and Delivery of Possession 3

4 Types of Leasehold Estates DK The Lease DK Garner v. Gerrish DK Hannan v. Dush DK October 5: Landlord-Tenant Law II - Discrimination and sublet/assignment Fair Housing legislation DK Texas Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, 135 S.Ct (2015) TWEN Ernst v. Conditt DK Kendall v. Ernest Pestana, Inc. DK October 11 (Tuesday observing Monday schedule): Landlord-Tenant Law III - Landlord Remedies and Tenants Rights Berg v. Wiley DK Sommer v. Kridel DK Landlord Remedies DK October 12: Tenant Rights/Statute of Frauds Hilder v. St. Peter DK Do Rent Controls Work? The Economist, Aug. 30, 2015, available at Jake Blumgart, In Defense of Rent Control, Pacific Standard, Apr. 1, 2015, available at Land Transactions DK (briefly skim ) The Statute of Frauds DK October 17: The Contract of Sale Hickey v. Green DK Lohmeyer v. Bower DK Stambovsky v. Ackley DK Lempke v. Dagenais DK October 19: The Deed The Deed DK Brown v. Lober DK Frimberger v. Anzelloti DK Sweeney, Admin. v. Sweeney DK October 24: Mortgages Introduction to Mortgages DK

5 Murphy v. Financial Development Corp. DK Bean v. Walker DK The Mortgage Crisis and the Great Recession DK John H. Makin, A Government Failure, Not a Market Failure, Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2009, available at John Atlas and Peter Dreier, The Conservative Origins of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis, American Prospect, Dec. 18, 2007, available at e_crisis October 26: Recording Systems/Easements I Introduction to Recording DK Types of Recording Acts DK Guillette v. Daly Dry Wall DK Historical Background of Easements DK Willard v. First Church of Christ, Scientist DK October 31: Easements II Licenses DK 820 Holbrook v. Taylor DK Van Sandt v. Royster DK Othen v. Rosier DK Brown v. Voss DK November 2: Real Covenants and Servitudes Covenants Running with the Land DK Tulk v. Moxhay DK Sanborn v. McLean DK Neponsit Property Owners Association v. Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank DK Shelley v. Kraemer DK November 7: Common Interest Communities Common Interest Communities DK Richard Epstein, Of Covenants and Constitutions, ERS Nahrstedt v. Lakeside Village Condominium DK Mulligan v. Panther Valley Property Owners Assn. DK November 9: Land Use Controls History of zoning DK Euclid v. Amber Realty DK

6 Structure of zoning laws DK Northwestern Distributors, Inc. v. Zoning Hearing Bd. DK November 14: Flexibility in Zoning/Exclusionary Zoning Variances and Special Exceptions DK Commons v. Westwood Zoning Bd. DK Cope v. Town of Brunswick DK Edward Glaeser and Joseph Gyourko, Zoning s Steep Price, ERS William Fischel, Homevoters, Municipal, Corporate Governance, and the Benefit View of the Property Tax ERS November 16: Takings I - Public Use The Power of Eminent Domain DK Berman v. Parker, 348 U.S. 26 (1954) (TWEN). Wendell Pritchett, The Public Menace of Blight: Urban Renewal and the Private Uses of Eminent Domain ERS City of Oakland v. Oakland Raiders, 646 P.2d 835 (Cal. 1982) (TWEN) November 21: Takings I - Public Use (Continued) Kelo v. City of New London DK Ilya Somin, Lessons from a Little Pink House, 10 Years Later Wall Street Journal, June , available at (copy title of article into Google if you have trouble getting access). David Barron, Eminent Domain is Dead! Long Live Eminent Domain! Boston Globe, Mar. 16, 2006, available at City of Norwood v. Horney, 853 N.E.2d 1115 (Ohio 2006) (read only). November 28: Takings II: What is a Taking?/ Discussion of Final Exam Physical Occupations and Regulatory Takings DK Loretto v. Teleprompter DK Pennsylvania Coal v. Mahon DK Frank Michelman, Property, Utility, and Fairness: Comments on the Ethical Foundations of Just Compensation Law, ERS November 30: Takings II/Conclusion End of Class Penn Central Transp. Co. v. City of New York DK Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council DK Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency DK Remedies for Takings Violations DK