Q & A Session--Saturday December 10 at 1 PM

I have scheduled a Q & A session, before the mid-year exam, on Saturday December 10 at 1 PM in Room 113.

I hope this time works well for most of you.

My Sincere and Abject Apologies

I showed up today (Friday December 2) for an optional class review session. I showed up at 2:25 (thinking I was 10 minutes early for the session) only to discover that, since today is Friday rather than Thursday, I should have been there at 1:15.

I can't blame old age for this lapse on my part. I just got the days mixed up.

I was told that only a handful of you showed up. And that most of you did not have questions.

But still, I am very sorry I got the times mixed up.

But there is a real Q & A session scheduled for Saturday Dec. 10 at 1 PM in Room 113.

And I will be there.

Rick Duncan

Eleanor Rigby

The Gotham Times has an article on:

The Lonely Death of George Bell

 It reminds me of our class discussions of "all the lonely people," like Eleanor Rigby, who die intestate and without heirs.

Class Schedule

Just a reminder, as we discussed in class last week, there will be no Property class tomorrow (June 21 2016).

See you in class on Thursday.

Property Exam: Q & A Session

                              Oh, no! I didn't study the Law of Finders and First Possession!



I have scheduled an hour for a Q & A session on the day before the exam.

Time: Tuesday may 3 @ 12:30 to 1:30 PM
Place: Room 113

See you then.

Harriet Tubman

I am delighted that the Treasury has chosen Harriet Tubman--a gun-toting, free-exercise acting, lawbreaking-Christian-rescuer of fugitive slaves. This is a great tribute to a great woman and to a great tradition of religious conscience in the face of laws restricting conduct that is motivated by religious beliefs.

Looking Back on this Year's Property Class

Today is our last Property class.

As I think about this year drawing to a close, I just wanted to express my feelings about how this year's Property course has gone. I really appreciate how much enthusiasm you as a class have maintained as we journeyed together through 6 credit hours of Property Law. Not a class goes by without many of you raising your hand to participate in our discussion and  asking many excellent and thoughtful questions.

My teaching philosophy has always been to try to make even dry and boring material fun to discuss, without skimping on substance and depth of analysis. I also love to challenge the legal reasoning of judges, and lawyers, and legislators, and law professors such as those writing casebooks or the Restatements. I push hard against all legal arguments to help you understand that a legal argument is not over until it is over. And it's never over. As a class, you seem to enjoy that approach and to embrace it with thoughtfulness and joy.

So, anyway...thanks for a great year. I will see you one more time for our pre-final Q & A session..

Cheers, Rick Duncan

Q & A Session

I will try to schedule a Q & A session a day or two before our final examination.

Keep checking the blog for exact time (place will be Room 113 if I can get the room).

Spring 2016 Syllabus and Assignments

   Hannah Duncan Dances "Clara" in Nutcracker 2011

General Information
    This class will meet on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 1:15 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. Notice that this class meets for a full 60-minute hour.  Therefore, we will meet 35 times (as opposed to the 42-class sessions for a 50-minute class). This will require us to cancel seven (7) classes during the Semester without the need for make-up sessions. If it snows in Lincoln, call before coming to class because I will probably cancel class when the roads are bad.

Final Exam and Grading

    The final exam will be a 3-hour, closed-book exam.  It will be cumulative, based upon material covered in both Fall and Spring Semesters.  The final exam will be a combination of perhaps one or two medium to short essay questions, and objective questions.

    Your grade for the course will be based upon your performance on both the mid-term and the final exam.  The mid-term exam counts for 100 points (25%) and the final exam counts for 300 points (75%).

Class Attendance

    Class attendance is required.  I often use problems discussed in class as the clay from which I sculpt exam questions.

Office, Email and Course Blog

    My office is Room 220.  You are welcome to come by any time (Note: right before class is usually not the best time, since I am often busy with final class prep).
  
   My email address is:   rduncan2@unl.edu

    Please check the course blog regularly for class announcements and substantive content.  I will assume you have notice of anything posted on the course blog.  The blog address is: http://hoorayproperty.blogspot.com/

Required Texts:

1. Cribbet, Findley et al, Property: Cases and Materials (9th ed. 2008)(your "Casebook")
2. Stoebuck & Whitman, The Law of Property (3d ed. 2000) (your "Hornbook")


Assignments

Here is the list of assignments for Spring 2016. You are also responsible for material posted on the blog.

For our first class, read assignment I.(1) and then stay one assignment ahead for each class.

I. RLUIPA; Eminent Domain and the Takings Clause


1-2. Read Prof. Linder's Introduction to Takings Clause (link);Casebook p. 791-807: Public Use Requirement: Film: Poletown Lives!
3. U.S. v. Causby (casebook p. 730-738); Casebook p. 807-810 (Physical Takings and Loretto)
4. Regulatory Takings: Mahon (casebook p. 811-816); Penn Central (casebook p. 820-836)
5. Euclid (casebook p.753-763); First English (casebook p. 816-820); Keystone (Handout)
6. Lucas (casebook p. 836-849)
7. Nollan and Dolan (casebook p. 849-868)
8. Palazzolo (casebook p. 868-879); Tahoe-Sierra (link)
9. HORNE ET AL. v. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE  (link); casebook p. 879-881

RLUIPA (the Religious Land Use and Institutional Persons Act) is a recent Federal Civil Rights law that protects religious land use--i.e., it is a property law that protects the right of landowners to use their real property for the purpose of religious exercise. The Hobby Lobby case is not a land use case (it is a business property case however), but we will read it because it involves the Supreme Court's interpretation of the meaning of "substantial burden" which is a crucial part of the RLUIPA test).

10. RLUIPA Handouts 8, 8A and 8B; Hobby Lobby (Link)


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. Exclusionary Zoning

11. Casebook p. 883-896
12. Casebook p. 897-914



III. The Recording System

13. Casebook p. 1129-1144; Handout 9
14. Casebook p. 1144-1158
15. Casebook p. 1158-1169
16. Casebook p. 1169-1180
17. Casebook p. 1180-1188

I am not "assigning" the Hornbook's coverage of the recording system, but you may wish to read the coverage on pages 869-923 for some helpful background discussion.


IV. Adverse Possession

18. Casebook p.168-191; Hornbook p. 853-869; 898-905


V. Easements, Etc.

19. Casebook p. 559-571; Hornbook p.434-444
20. Casebook p. 571-589; Hornbook p. 444-451
21. Casebook p. 589-593: Hornbook p. 451-469


VI . Real Covenants and Equitable Servitudes

22. Casebook p. 617-628
23.Casebook p. 628-636
24. Casebook p. 636-642
25. Casebook p. 642-652




26. Casebook p. 91-98; 652-661; Re-read Moore case (casebook p. 894-896)
27. Casebook p. 662-672

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. 

Class Cancelled Wednesday March 2

My flight home just got cancelled. I am stuck in Kentuck.

So, no class tomorrow Wednesday  March 2.

Justice Scalia

Justice Scalia R.I.P.

I am brokenhearted by the death of Justice Scalia. He was the greatest Justice of my generation, maybe of all time.

If you have a chance to read something this week, here is a link to an interview with Nino.

Super Bowl Jublia Commercial

I hope you all thought of Nollan & Dolan and "rough proportionality" when you saw the Jublia commercial during the Super Bowl yesterday.

Jublia yes, amputation no (the cure is not proportional to the disease).

Horne v. Dept of Agriculture--Physical Takings of Personal Property

When the government physically takes personal property--such as a person's raisin crop--is this a taking that requires just comepnsation?

From SCOTUSblog:

Holding: The Fifth Amendment requires the government to pay just compensation when it takes personal property, just as when it takes real property. In this case, any net proceeds the raisin growers receive from the sale of the reserve raisins goes to the amount of compensation they have received for that taking; it does not mean the raisins have not been appropriated for government use. Nor can the government make raisin growers relinquish their property without just compensation as a condition of selling their raisins in interstate commerce.

The per se rule of Loretto (a physical taking is a taking no matter how small) applies both to real property (such as an apartment building) and personal property (such as raisins or corn or automobiles).

"The Government has a categorical duty to pay just compensation wjhen it takes your car, just as when it takes your home." Majority opinion at 5. Chief Justice Roberts says this principle goes back "at least 800 years to Magna Carta, which specifically protected agricultural crops from uncompensated takings." Id.

May the government condition your privilege to participate in the raisin market on your willingness to transfer 47% of your crop to the government? May the government condition your right to participate in the landlord-tenant rental market on your willingness to allow the cable tv company to run its cables on your building?

Answer no. "'Let them sell wine'" is probably not much more comforting to raisin growers than similar laws have been to others throughout history." Id. at 12. The government can regulate the raisin industry, but it may not require raisin producers to transfer title to part of their crop as a condition to participating in the free market for raisins. This is a physical taking, not an exaction that will be upheld so longs as proportional.

{Ask yourselves is this case more like Lorretto or more like Nollan/Dolan?}

Handout Available

The Keystone Coal case handout is now available in the handout racks outside the South Faculty office suite.

For Wednesday Jan. 20

We will finish Assignment 3 and move into Assignment 4 (Mahon and Penn Central).

The Absent-minded Professor Thanks You

Again, I wanted to thank you for being so graceful in response to my mixing-up our early-scheduled class today.

As a small token of my appreciation, I will offer you an opportunity to choose two of the eight classes we are required to cancel this semester (due to our 60-minute classes and today's double class: 7 plus 1 equals 8).

Think about which two Fridays you would like to have off, and I will take a vote tomorrow and honor your choices.

Detroit in Ruins

By the way, after studying Poletown some of you may be interested in this post from the PropertyProf blog about the ruins of Detroit:

Detroit in Ruins

Not the most cheerful way to ring in the new year, but the Guardian just published a series of provocative photographs of decaying cultural landmarks in Detroit.  A bitter reminder that Detroit's problems started long before the current economic troubles.  You can find the photos here.
Tanya Marsh

Those pictures of Detroit's ruined landmarks is worth viewing.

Thursday Jan. 14--Let's Play Two!

Tomorrow, Thursday Jan 14, we will have a double session of Property (from 12:15 to 2:15) in order to view a wonderful documentary on economic development takings such as in the Kelo case.

So tomorrow:

Room 113 from 12:15 to 2:15.