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Adverse Possession, Private-Zoning Waiver & Desuetude: Abandonment & Recapture Of Property And Liberty Interests, Scott A. Shepard
Adverse Possession, Private-Zoning Waiver & Desuetude: Abandonment & Recapture Of Property And Liberty Interests, Scott A. Shepard
Scott A. Shepard
Adverse-possession doctrine labors under a pair of disabilities: a hesitancy by theorists to embrace the abandonment-and-recapture principle that informs the doctrine, and a substantial unwillingness of governments to abandon an antiquated and outmoded maxim shielding them from the doctrine’s important work. Removing these disabilities will allow a series of positive outcomes. First, it will demonstrate that all would-be adverse possessors, not just those acting “in good faith” or with possessory intent, should enjoy the fruits of the doctrine. Second, it will provide valuable additional means by which the public may monitor the performance of government employees, and additional discipline to …
The Unbearable Cost Of Skipping The Check: Property Rights, Takings Compensation & Ecological Protection In The Western Water Law Context, Scott A. Shepard
The Unbearable Cost Of Skipping The Check: Property Rights, Takings Compensation & Ecological Protection In The Western Water Law Context, Scott A. Shepard
Scott A. Shepard
Western-state non-riparian water-law regimes remain legally vital and highly useful in the age of increased scarcity and ecological concern. Claims that the property rights central to these regimes can be revoked without Fifth-Amendment takings implications – as a result of applying various doctrines or of limitations inherent in the rights as granted – are historically and legally unsound, and doctrinally unwise. Declaring water rights non-compensable would require accepting a maxim of legal interpretation that could not be limited to the water-rights (or even property-rights) context, and would render all constitutional guarantees liable to negation without constitutional process. Moreover, such a …