Law Commons^™

Sharing And The City, Michele Finck, Sofia Ranchordas

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The sharing of public infrastructure, the exchange of small services, and the traditional "cup of sugar borrowed from the neighbor" are practices intrinsic to most urban agglomerations. In the digital age, these sharing initiatives are facilitated by online platforms such as Feastly, Peerby, and HomeExchange. These platforms allow city residents to share the idle capacity of some of their assets (e.g., clothing, tools, or a spare bedroom) with other residents living in close proximity to them, or with tourists looking for accommodation. While these practices can be justified by efficiency and sustainability concerns, some of them appear to be in …

Regulatory Takings And Ripeness In The Federal Courts, Gregory M. Stein

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Supreme Court held in 1987 that compensation is required automatically whenever a municipality takes property by regulation. The Court has also held repeatedly that federal courts cannot even hear such claims until the landowner meets a demanding ripeness test. Landowners are often unable to survive the protracted ripening period even though their claims might ultimately have proved to be valid. And the occasional municipality that loses a takings case may be liable for a huge award that reflects the lengthy ripening period. Federal courts have persistently refused to acknowledge this tension between takings law and takings procedure.

This Article …

An Economic And Political Policy Analysis Of Federal And State Laws Governing Foreign Ownership Of United States Real Estate, James R. Mason, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note surveys the complex scheme of federal and state laws addressing foreign ownership of United States real property that has developed over the course of the last two centuries, precipitated by several important events. The Note then critically analyzes the traditionally invoked economic and policy Justifications for regulating alien land ownership. The author concludes that sound economic principles militate against rather than in support of such regulation and that policy justifications, although representing valid concerns in some cases, have been used to produce overbroad regulations. The author suggests, therefore, a rethinking of the United States approach to alien land …

Exclusionary Zoning Practices: An Examination Of The Current Controversy, W. Harold Bigham, C. Dent Bostick

Vanderbilt Law Review

For the last 45 years the idea that local zoning administration is a highly desirable exercise of the state police power has become progressively more entrenched in urban thinking and planning. Although opponents of zoning have quarreled with details of administration or decried the failure of the Supreme Court to continuously oversee implementation of the zoning concept, they have assumed basic Euclidian zoning theory' to be beyond serious challenge. This assumption is no longer valid, for classic municipal zoning is on the firing line and its survival is by no means certain.