Rohinton Mistry on Law vs. Justice

I am re-reading one of the finest contemporary novels ever written--Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance--and I just came across this great quote about the law. One of the novel's character's, a lawyer named Mr. Valmik, says this:

"One of the drawback's of my profession is the total lack of humour. The Law is a grim, unsmiling thing. Not Justice, though. Justice is witty and whimsical and kind and caring." (Id. at 556)

See y'all in a couple of weeks!

HOA: "No political speech please! This is an exclusive development!"

From How Appealing:

"Court Upholds Curbs on Signs in New Jersey": The New York Times on Friday will contain an article that begins, "In a ruling that could have implications far beyond New Jersey, the State Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the right of homeowners' associations to restrict the posting of political signs and other forms of constitutionally protected speech,as long as the restrictions are not 'unreasonable or oppressive.'"
You can access today's ruling of the Supreme Court of New Jersey at this link.

Query? Why isn't it always unreasonable for a HOA to restrict a homeowner's constitutionally protected expression on her own property?

Spring Assignments

Another Update (3-26-07)

Notice there is a new assignment--Assignment 25--added below

Update

Notice I just changed the list of assignments for our coverage of Easements. Basically, I shortened Assignment 18 a little bit. I haven't covered Easements for quite a few years, and I decided to include them this year to make sure you at least know what they are. But the semester is winding down, and we can't afford much more than 3 or 4 classes on Easements. Hopefully, none of you have read so far ahead as to be affected by this change. We won't get to Assignment 18 until next week.

Here are the assignments for Spring Semester. Please stay one full assignment ahead for each day of class.

I. Takings

1. U.S. v. Causby (casebook p. 669-677); Prof. Linder's Introduction to Takings (link)
2. Mahon (casebook p. 745-749); Penn Central (casebook p. 754-769)
3. First English (casebook p. 749-754); Keystone (Handout 8)
4. Euclid and Nectow (casebook p. 693-706)
5. Loretto and Lucas (casebook p. 769-784)
6. Nollan and Dolan (casebook p. 784-803)
7. Palazzolo (casebook p. 803-814); Tahoe-Sierra (link); casebook p. 814-815
Note: Although I am not assigning any part of the Cunningham Hornbook that deals with Takings (I think Supreme Court cases speak best for themselves), if you are interested in additional analysis, many of these cases and issues are discussed from p.524-545 of the Hornbook. As always, when reading secondary sources, read them only to the extent that they help you understand issues we discuss in class. To the extent that they raise additional issues, be careful that this "extra knowledge" does not confuse you. You are only responsible for assigned readings and issues we discuss in class or on the blog.

II. The Recording System

8. Casebook p. 1069-1086; Handout 9
9. Casebook p. 1086-1098
10. Casebook p. 1098-1107
11. Casebook p. 1107-1119
12. Casebook p. 1119-1127

III. Adverse Possession

13. Casebook p.1213-1226; Hornbook p. 853-860
14. Casebook p. 1226-1235; p. 1243-1252: Hornbook p. 860-869;898-905

IV. Easements, Etc.

15. Casebook p. 492-506; Hornbook p.434-444
16. Casebook p. 506-513
17. Casebook p. 514-525; Hornbook p. 444-451
18. Casebook p. 526-539: Hornbook p. 451-458

V. Real Covenants and Equitable Servitudes

19. Casebook p. 553-563
20. Casebook p. 563-571
21. Casebook p. 571-577
22. Casebook p. 577-587
23. Casebook p. 69-76; 587-595; Moore v. City of East Cleveland (Handout 9A)
24. Casebook p. 595-608
The relevant material in the Hornbook for Covenants and Equitable Servitudes is found at pages 469-514. I expect you to read these pages, but I have not assigned specific readings for specific classes. Read the relevant sections in chunks, to help you understand the cases as we read them. You might want to read this material through once quickly at the beginning of this unit, and then re-read the material more carefully as it relates to the cases we are discussing for each class.

VI. Landlord and Tenant: A Brief Introduction (with emphasis on Nebraska Law)

25. Hornbook sections 6.13 to 6.24; Nebraska Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (Handout to be distributed)(read through the Act generally, but pay particular attention to sections 76-1416, -1418,-1419,-1421,-1426,-1427,-1437 and -1439). We will spend two class hours on this assignment.

You can find Handout 8 and a general course information memo in the magazine racks (the handout racks) on the South Side of the Library on the Second Floor.

Law Prof rapper on YouTube

Yo, check it out.

He's better than Sanjaya! No?

Class Schedule

Update: Our last required class cancellation will take place on Friday April 6 (see revised schedule below). Some of you have plans to go home that weekend, and this seems to be the best use of our last class cancellation. We will meet for the last week of classes (April 18,19 & 20) and my plan right now is to briefly cover Landlord-Tenant basics on the 18th & 19th and have a question & answer session on the 20th for your questions relating to the final exam (scheduled for April 23).

As you know, our schedule calls for 35 classes of 60 minutes each (instead of 42 classes of 50 minutes each), which means that 7 classes must be cancelled. Just so you know, I will be out of town a couple of times in April so we will not meet on the following days:

April 4
April 5
April 6
April 11
April 12
April 13

"Is Property Protected from Government Retaliation?"

Jonathan Adler has an interesting post at the Volokh Conspiracy about a property case currently before SCOTUS.

It is worth reading.