Firethorn

I wanted to thank you all for the Firethorn Golf Shirt. I will get lots of use out of it when teaching the law of covenants.

Different classes have different personalities, and I have enjoyed your group a lot, because as a class you have a great collective sense of humor and enjoy a good laugh. Perhaps my favorite quotation from literature is Rafael Sabatini's description of Scaramouche (and, unknowingly, of me): "He was born with the gift of laughter, and a sense that the world was mad." That will be on my tombstone some day.

I am sure it cost you all much more than I am used to spending on my wardrobe. In fact, one of my recent purchases was a knit shirt I purchased at Kohls off the 90% off clearance rack (plus a coupon for another 15% off that already reduced price). I think I paid $2.25 for the shirt including tax.

My daughter Hannah, who is always trying to get me to do a wardrobe makeover, will be thrilled when she sees the Firethorn shirt.

Cheers, Rick Duncan

Mankind and Property: A Little Perspective As the Course Nears its Conclusion

Photo by Hannah Grace Duncan

Seven Ages of Man in Relation to Property


First Age: A child sees the earth

Second Age: He wants it

Third Age: He hustles to get it

Fourth Age: He decides to be satisfied with about half of it

Fifth Age: He would be satisfied with less than half of it

Sixth Age: He’s now content to possess a two-by-six foot section of it

Seventh Age: He gets it

(Source: I can't remember where I discovered this, but I think the author was unknown. I take no credit for this powerful insight other than title by occupancy)

Whoops! Schedule Update

I thought we had only two weeks of class left, but we actually have three. This is good news because we will not have to rush through the material.

Here is our schedule for the next three weeks:

Week One

Wednesday April 9: Snow v. Van Dam; Casebook p. 69-76; 587-595; Moore v. City of East Cleveland (Handout 9A)

Thursday April 10: Casebook p. 595-608

Friday April 11: Finish up covenant material

Week Two

Wednesday April 16 & Thursday April 17: Landlord/Tenant Material (Assignment 25)

Friday April 18: I will try to answer your questions as you prepare for the final exam

Week Three: No Class (the last three of our seven scheduled "no class" sessions). You should use this time to study for finals!

"Property Law in the Lord of the Rings"

From the Volokh Conspiracy. Here is an excerpt:

In addition to the primary property dispute over the ownership of the Ring,there are several other conflicts over property in the Lord of the Rings, such as the claim of Rohan's neighbors that the Riders wrongfully disposessed them of their land, the conflicting claims to ownership of Moria as between the Dwarves and the Balrog, and Aragorn's claims to inherit the lands and other property of his ancestor Isildur. The chapter on "The Scouring of the Shire" with its scathing portrayal of Saruman's "Gatherers and Sharers" and Saruman's nationalization of industry is a thinly veiled attack on socialism. None of this is to say that Tolkien was some kind of libertarian. He hated modern industry and capitalism. But he did have a conservative traditionalist's attachment to private property, and it comes through in the book at many points.