Digital Commons Network^™

Free And Green: A New Approach To Environmental Protection, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Most Americans consider themselves environmentalists, yet most experts are dissatisfied with existing environmental regulations, which are both inefficient and inequitable. Worse, many don't serve environmental goals. This article outlines an alternative approach to environmental policy based on market institutions and property rights rather than central-planning and bureaucratic control. The aim is both to improve environmental protection and lessen the costs ? Economic and otherwise ? Of achieving environmental goals. It seeks to ensure that Americans' environmental values are advanced without sacrificing the individual liberties the American government was created to protect.

The problem with current regulatory approaches is not merely …

Summary Of In Re Resort At Summerlin Litigation, 122 Nev. Adv. Op. 15, 127 P.3d 1076, Bryan Lindsey

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal and cross-appeal from a district court order granting a holder of a deed of trust priority over holders of mechanic’s liens but denying deed of trust holder’s request for costs.

Summary Of Int’L Fidelity Ins. Co. V. State Of Nevada, 122 Nev. Adv. Op. 5, 126 P.3d 1133, Leanne Hoskins

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The proceeding before the Court was a jurisdictional screening of eight consolidated appeals from district court orders denying motions to remit surety bonds. The Court held that it lacked jurisdiction to hear an appeal from any order entered in an ancillary bond proceeding and dismissed the appeals.

Land Titling: A Mode Of Privatization With The Potential To Deepen Democracy, Bernadette Atuahene

All Faculty Scholarship

Land titling is a form of privatization in that public assets are transferred to private families and individuals. This is unlike other forms of privatization, however, because there is a systematic diffusion of economic and decision making power down to indigent populations rather than out of the country or up to its local elites. In light of this uniqueness, the question I will grapple with in this Article is, can property ownership, achieved through land titling programs, bolster democracy? First, using Peru as an example, I explain the context that necessitated the creation of land titling and the process by …

The Presumption Of Undue Influence Resurrected: He Said/She Said Is Back, Christine Manolakas

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Property And Television, John G. Sprankling

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

Property rights are-in large part-based on societal expectations. What shapes those expectations? One factor is television, our culture's most important medium of communication. The modern "reality show" may be particularly powerful in affecting the attitudes of viewers because it presents a model of "real life" behavior. This essay is the first legal scholarship to explore the relationship between television and property rights. It focuses on Survivor, the CBS program that chronicles the lives of "castaways" trying to survive in a tropical wilderness, where property is both scarce and vital. Survivor is a "reality show"-and one of the most successful programs …

Democratizing Credit: Examining The Structural Inequities Of Subprime Lending, Cassandra Jones Havard

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article critiques the current regime of mortgage lending, which favors economic subordination. Minorities and low-and moderate income persons, regardless of their creditworthiness, are receiving higher loan rates. This is due to three market phenomena- the dominance of sub-prime lenders in the market in which prime lenders are more restricted to lend, the segmentation of the market so that certain products are offered to certain consumers, and the liquidity of the secondary market, which encourages lenders to make loans that are easily sold, but which may be inappropriately and impermissibly priced. Only by incorporating some transparency into the process will …

Kelo V. City Of New London: Supreme Court Refuses To Hamstring Local Governments, James C. Smith

Popular Media

The Court's decision last term in Kelo v. City of New London, 125 S.Ct. 2655 (2005), has drawn heavy fire, most of it unmerited. By the narrowest of margins, the Court held that the city could take single-family homes to develop an office park and to provide parking or retail services for visitors to an existing state park and marina. Many observers thought the Court would take this opportunity to display its "conservative" activism by reining in the power of eminent domain. After all, the Court has grown increasingly protective of property rights during the past two decades. See …

It's Not About The Fox: The Untold History Of Pierson V. Post, Bethany Berger

Faculty Articles and Papers

For generations, Pierson v. Post, the famous fox case, has introduced students to the study of property law. Two hundred years after the case was decided, this Article examines the history of the case to show both how it fits into the American ideology of property, and how the facts behind the dispute challenge that ideology. Pierson is a canonical case because it replicates a central myth of American property law, that we start with a world in which no one has rights to anything and the fundamental problem is how best to convert it to absolute individual ownership. The …

Treading On Hallowed Ground: Implications For Property Law And Critical Theory Of Land Associated With Human Death And Burial, Mary Clark

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Beyond Worship: The Religious Land Use And Institutionalized Persons Act Of 2000 And Religious Institutions' Auxiliary Uses, Sara C. Bronin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Religious institutions have long offered their congregants services that go beyond worship. Particularly in the last two decades, they have begun expanding far beyond their traditional offerings to a wider and more diverse array of auxiliary uses - non-worship uses that are affiliated with a religious institution. (One type of large religious institution, the megachurch, is fast gaining members by offering schools, community centers, dining facilities, even movie theaters and gymnasiums.) Government has long granted special protections to the worship uses of religious institutions. A recent federal law - the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) …

The Just And The Wild, Laura S. Underkuffler

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Adopting Restatement Mortgage Subrogation Principles: Saving Billions Of Dollars For Refinancing Homeowners, Dale A. Whitman, Grant S. Nelson

Faculty Publications

In eras of declining interest rates, millions of residential mortgage loans may be refinanced. When this occurs, it is customary for the refinancing lender to require a title examination and a new mortgagee's title insurance policy. This requirement is expensive, usually costing several hundred dollars or more, and the cost is invariably paid by the borrower. This Article proposes that in the vast majority of refinancings this expense can be substantially reduced or even eliminated. This result can be achieved through proper understanding, adoption, and use of the doctrine of equitable mortgage subrogation articulated in the Restatement (Third) of Property: …

Adverse Possession By Tenants In Common: Preciado V Wilde, 2006, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article discusses a California case which held that a tenant in common’s exclusive use of property was insufficient to establish adverse possession or an ouster.

Condo Pet Policies And The Fair Housing Act: Dubois V Association Of Apartment Owners, 2006, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article discusses a Ninth Circuit case where plaintiffs unsuccessfully claimed violation of the Fair Housing Act because the homeowners association had never refused to make the requested accommodation.

Equitable Subrogation Award Among Coowners: Kenney V U.S., 2006, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article discusses a California case which held calculated an equitable subrogation award following sale of a home by crediting all joint tenant’s mortgage payments against net proceeds before dividing the balance into equal shares.

Identity Theft And Foreclosure Surpluses: Ctc Real Estate Servs. V Lepe, 2006, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article discusses a California case which held that an identity theft victim in whose name a mortgage was obtained may recover the undistributed surplus proceeds that remained after its foreclosure sale.

Posting Property And Prescriptive Easements: Aaron V Dunham, 2006, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article discusses a California case which court held that posting of permission-to-pass signs by a lessee, who was not landowner’s authorized agent, was ineffective to stop the neighbor’s prescriptive easement claim.

What Happens When The Sky Does Fall In?, Roger Bernhardt

Publications

This article discusses the uncertainty in commercial lease situations where the roof requires complete replacement, and neither party is obliged to do so.

Eminent Domain Legislation Post-Kelo: A State Of The States, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

In Kelo v. City of New London, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the use of eminent domain for economic development is a permissible“public use” under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The decision proved controversial, as many feared that it would benefit large corporations at the expense of individual homeowners and local communities. Shortly thereafter, numerous states introduced legislation limiting the use of eminent domain.This article surveys those state initiatives that have been signed into law following the Court’s decision in Kelo.

"We Shall Not Be Moved": Urban Communities, Eminent Domain And The Socioeconomics Of Just Compensation, James J. Kelly

Journal Articles

If eminent domain is to serve true community development, statutory reforms must limit its propensity to abuse while still preserving its effectiveness. The first part of this article offers a normative legal theory of eminent domain as constrained by both the availability of alternative means of achieving public objectives and the inability of some condemnees to be made whole by cash compensation. The consideration of the land needs of both the condemnor and the condemnee is crucial to the respective evaluations of public use and just compensation as limitations on eminent domain. In the context of urban redevelopment, the theory …

Review Of Optional Law: The Structure Of Legal Entitlements, Omri Ben-Shahar

Reviews

The concept of "property rights" plays a prominent role in economic theory. Economists have been studying how property rights emerged as a system of allocation, replacing regimes of open access and lack of legal order. Property rights are regularly viewed by economists as the primary policy tool to control the incentives to invest in new assets (e.g., in information) and to maintain existing assets (e.g., fisheries) when contracts are incomplete. Property rights are the endowments that individuals exchange in a market economy, the equity that investors trade in financial markets. Property rights are a basic building block in economics.

Fear And Loathing: Combating Speculation In Local Communities, Ngai Pindell

Scholarly Works

Local governments commonly respond to economic and social pressures on property by using their legal power to regulate land uses. These local entities enact regulations that limit property development and use to maintain attractive communities and orderly growth. This Article argues that government entities should employ their expansive land use powers to limit investor speculation in local markets by restricting the resale of residential housing for three years. Investor speculation, and the upward pressure it places on housing prices, threatens the availability of affordable housing as well as the development of stable neighborhoods. Government regulation of investor speculation mirrors existing, …

Unique Property: A Supplemental Annotated Bibliography, Nancy Levit

Faculty Works

This bibliography covers law review articles and supplemental A.L.R. entries published after 2002. For literature published from 1997-2002, see Nancy Levit & Robert RM. Verchick, Unique Property: An Annotated Bibliography, 18 J. Am. Acad. Matrim. Law. 589 (2004). A.L.R. entries, the titles of which are usually self-explanatory, are cited, but not annotated. Similarly, articles that concern only a single case or a single state are cited, but not annotated.

The American Transformation Of Waste Doctrine: A Pluralist Interpretation, Jedediah Purdy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Just And The Wild, Laura S. Underkuffler

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Locational Justice: Race, Class, And The Grassroots Protest Of Property Takings, Judith E. Koons

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Potential Impact Of Aboriginal Title On Aquaculture Policy, Diana Ginn

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This chapter discusses the potential impact of aboriginal property rights on the development of aquaculture policy by considering whether such rights could provide a basis for First Nation peoples to participate in aquaculture or to manage the participation of others in this industry. The purpose of the chapter is to describe the relevant law as it now stands, to identify issues that have not yet been decided and to consider how the courts might approach such issues in the future.

A Principled Approach To Property Rights In Canadian Aquaculture, Phillip Saunders, Richard Finn

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The 1995 Federal Aquaculture Development Strategy summarized some of the difficulties facing aquaculture development in a federal state such as Canada, where the jurisdictional entitlements relevant to this “new” (or at least newly significant) industry are by no means clear:

Aquaculture is a formidable policy challenge. As a new industry, it straddles the line between fishing and farming, cuts across significant regional differences and is placed in a context involving the participation of municipal, provincial/territorial and federal governments.

Propertization, Contract, Competition, And Communication: Law's Struggle To Adapt To The Transformative Powers Of The Internet, David R. Barnhizer

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This Symposium focuses in part on the ideas of Margaret Radin as a point of departure for the various contributions. A key part of the analysis includes the process she calls propertization in the context of intellectual property rules and the Internet. The approach taken in this introductory essay is twofold. The first part presents some key points raised by the Symposium contributors. Of course, that overview is necessarily incomplete, because the contributions represent a rich group of analyses about vital concerns relating to how our legal system should respond to the challenge of the Internet and information systems through …