Law Commons^™

The Tragedy Of The Anticommons: Property In The Transition From Marx To Markets, Michael A. Heller

Articles

Why are many storefronts in Moscow empty, while street kiosks in front are full of goods? In this Article, Professor Heller develops a theory of anticommons property to help explain the puzzle of empty storefronts and full kiosks. Anticommons property can be understood as the mirror image of commons property. By definition, in a commons, multiple owners are each endowed with the privilege to use a given resource, and no one has the right to exclude another When too many owners hold such privileges of use, the resource is prone to overuse - a tragedy of the commons. Depleted fisheries …

Agenda: Water Organizations In A Changing West, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Water Organizations in a Changing West (Summer Conference, June 14-16)

Conference organizers, faculty and/or moderators included University of Colorado School of Law professors Lawrence J. MacDonnell, David H. Getches and James N. Corbridge, Jr.

Water organizations in the western United States range from small, traditional acequia associations to large metropolitan water suppliers. What do these vastly different kinds of organizations have in common? All are feeling the pressures of change in the region--growing urban populations, environmental concerns, and calls for public participation.

This year's summer program will examine how water organizations are adapting to these pressures for change. Speakers drawn from urban, agricultural, and community organizations will share their experiences …

New Legislative Approaches, Larry Morandi

Water Organizations in a Changing West (Summer Conference, June 14-16)

14 pages.

The (Unlikely) Death Of Property, James E. Krier

Articles

Is property dead? Thomas Grey has argued that it is.' If he is right, we have an answer to the principal question of this symposium panel, which asks whether regulation and property are allies or enemies. If Professor Grey is right, they are neitherbecause property no longer exists. If he is wrong (as I believe he partly is), then, I argue, regulation and property are allies and enemies alike, and will remain so.

Arcata Sports Complex Project, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

The City of Arcata is developing a sports complex, including playing fields and structures, on its property lying south and west of 7th and Union Streets. Prior to the commencement of construction, an archaeological investigation was performed to determine the extent and significance of a previously-identified prehistoric site. In addition to artifacts associated with the prehistoric time period, historic artifacts were also encountered. To assist in the evaluation of these artifacts, research of the historic component of the property was undertaken. This report discusses the historic environment and land use, land ownerships, biographical information on some of the families associated …

Wyoming’S New Instream Flow Law, Gordon W. Fassett

Instream Flow Protection in the Western United States: A Practical Symposium (March 31-April 1)

28 pages.

Contains references.

An Update On The Legal Chameleon: Florida's Homestead Exemption And Restrictions, Donna Litman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Beers-Ely House, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

It was during Bertha Averell's ownership that the house was remodeled with Craftsman features. The tax assessment for 1924 shows an increase in assessed value for improvements which could indicate the new construction.

The Ely-Ioelu family ownership spanned more than forty years. Paul and Anna Ely were well-known Arcata residents who owned the Varsity Sweet Shop/Restaurant on the east side of the Plaza from 1945 until 1968. They lived in the house until their daughter and her husband purchased it in 1965.

Alford-Nielson House, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

Chain of title for original lot on Main Street in downtown Ferndale.

Kentucky Law Survey: Property, Carolyn S. Bratt

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Law students, and probably practitioners, are often perplexed by the multitude of topics covered under the rubric of property law. Unfortunately, this Survey article does nothing to dispel the impression of property law as a hodgepodge of unrelated topics. This Survey of recent decisions in Kentucky discusses topics ranging literally from "a" to "z"-adverse possession to zoning.

Privately Held Conservation Servitudes: A Policy Analysis In The Context Of In Gross Real Covenants And Easements, Gerald Korngold

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

The Moore House, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

The Moore House is recommended for Historic designation for its turn-of-the-century architecture, its visual qualities important to three neighboring houses of historic/architectural significance, and its restoration potential.

The Fleckenstein-Newton House, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

The Fleckenstein-Newton House and Barn are recommended for Historic designation for their historic qualities and potential for restoration. Although the house fails to fit any particular architectural style and has been somewhat altered, it, nonetheless, exhibits some interesting decorative features and, very importantly, has a decided historic quality which complements other houses on the block. The barn, quite handsome and very important to the character of the area, also deserves Historic designation.

Prior Appropriation Doctrine As A Cause Of Premature Water Development, Stephen F. Williams

New Sources of Water for Energy Development and Growth: Interbasin Transfers: A Short Course (Summer Conference, June 7-10)

35 pages.

Contains footnotes and references.

Reflections Of Arcata History: Eighty Years Of Architecture, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

Reports on an abundance of houses throughout Arcata. Information includes construction dates, owner history, architectural data and location.

Men And Things: The Liberal Bias Against Property, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

When a property teacher sets out to learn about the human facts in his subject—if, for instance, he wants to learn about the behavioral aspects of the law of the dead (wills, trusts, future interests and death taxation)—he will be discouraged by the fact that psychological literature has a great deal to say about sex, and even quite a bit about death, but almost nothing about property.

There are a couple of metaphysical essays by Jean-Paul Sartre, and, from the founders of psychoanalysis, the theory that our concern about property begins at the potty chair. But for the most part …

Rights Of Finders, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

Much of the confusion and uncertainty in the law regarding the topic indicated above is due to a failure to distinguish between several types of situations and to appreciate the applicability of certain fundamental principles. The words "lost" and "find" are used in such widely varying senses that the all too common method of reaching a conclusion by first applying a name to a thing or situation has in this particular field led to special difficulty.

Rights Of Finders, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

Much of the confusion and uncertainty in the law regarding the topic indicated above is due to a failure to distinguish between several types of situations and to appreciate the applicability of certain fundamental principles. The words "lost" and "find" are used in such widely varying senses that the all too common method of reaching a conclusion by first applying a name to a thing or situation has in this particular field led to special difficulty.

Perpetuity Statutes, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

THE common law of perpetuities is one of the most interesting examples of almost pure judicial legislation. De Donis, The Statutes of Uses and of Wills, but gave wider scope to the development by the courts of rules of law to thwart the attempt of the great landowners to tie up their landed estates in their families in perpetuity. One body of rules to this end limited restraints upon alienation, another the creation of future interests vesting at too remote a period. Restriction of restraints upon alienation, and the rule against perpetuities, these two were developed for the same end, …

Escheat - How State Acquires Title, Edwin C. Goddard

Articles

Escheat is of feudal origin, and properly applied only to land which on failure of heirs or for certain other reasons, "fell in" to the lord under whom it had been held. Personal property without an owner, as bona vacantia, became the property of the crown. In re Bond [1901] 1 Ch. 15. In the United States escheat is used more broadly, but usually arises when the owner of property dies intestate without heirs. Our alienage laws have generally removed disabilities of aliens to take, but in some jurisdictions there may still be escheat because of alienage, see 5 MICH. …

Acquirement Of Title By A Willful Trespasser And Compensation For The Trespassee, Joseph H. Drake

Articles

The interaction of the basic maxim of substantive law, that no man may be deprived of his property without his consent, and the correlative maxim of adjective law, that the courts will give exact compensation for property taken or destroyed, together with the more or less mechanical rules of damages depending upon the form of action used, have in their outcome gone far toward justifying the somewhat grandiloquent utterance of our legal forbears of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, that the "Common Law is the perfection of human wisdom." The final stage in this development is shown in the late …

The Right To Divert Water To Non-Riparian Land, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

Though at one time in England there may have been some doubt as to the character of a riparian owner's rights in the waters of the stream, it must be considered as definitely settled by a series of cases that the doctrine of reasonable use by all the proprietors on the stream is the rule of the common law, and that the matter of priority of use or appropriation is, under that system, immaterial, unless, of course, a question of prescriptive right is involved. Wright v. Howard, 1 Sim. & S. 190; Mason v. Hill, 3 B. & Ad. 304, …

Possession Under Mistake As Adverse Possession, Ralph W. Aigler

Articles

In Wissinger v. Reed et al., 125 Pac. lO3O (Aug. 24, 1912) the Supreme Court of Washington held that actual possession of land for the statutory period would confer title upon the occupant, although the possession was under a mistaken belief of ownership. While the doctrine that title to real property may be acquired by adverse possession has been firmly established in English and American law for a great many years, no little difficulty and confusion have arisen in determining what possession is adverse, especially where the actual possession upon which the claim of title is based has been under …

The Lien Or Equitable Theory Of The Mortgage--Some Generalizations, Edgar N. Durfee

Articles

The question is--What is the nature of the rights of a real property mortgagee in those jurisdictions which adopt the lien or equitable theory3 of the mortgage? In one sense this question calls for a full statement of the law of mortgages but that, of course, is not the sense in which the writer puts it. He means by it to put a broader and more scientific question--a question, be it at once confessed, of jurisprudence--yet a question which has an important bearing on, if it is not in fact conclusive of, several specific problems in the law, which will …

The Struggle For A Perpetuity, John R. Rood

Articles

It is natural for us moderns to conceive of the right to alienate as an inseparable incident of ownership, since we have known no other condition; and in the modern books and decisions the subject is generally disposed of with the curt statement as if it were a truism. It is believed that to such as are not familiar with the history of that doctrine a review of the struggle through centuries, by which it was finally established on its present firm foundation, would not be devoid of interest.

Does The Power To Alienate In Fee Simple Defeat An Executory Devise?, Bradley M. Thompson

Articles

Under the common law one who held an estate in lands in fee simple absolute was the sole owner of such lands, and his right to enjoy the estate and exercise all the powers and privileges incident thereto could not be restricted by the devisor or grantor. The rights and privileges incident to an estate in fee simple constituted the estate-they were all essential, they were its bone, sinew and blood, and in the absence of any one of them the estate was regarded as less than a fee simple. Among those essential rights were the right of possession, the …

The Right Of A Bona Fide Occupant Of Land To Compensation For His Improvements, Henry W. Rogers

Articles

It may be observed, in the first place, that the civil law afforded protection to the bona fide occupant of land, who had made useful or permanent improvements on the land, believing himself to be the true owner. The civil law never permitted one who was in the possession of land in good faith, to be turned out of his possession by the rightful owner, without any compensation for the additional value he has given to the soil by the improvements he had made; but it allowed him to off-set the value of his improvements to the extent, at least, …

Title To Lands Under Fresh Water Lakes And Ponds, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

In the Northwestern States there are innumerable lakes and ponds, which are largely resorted to for pleasure, and for the opportunities they furnish for the taking of game and fish. The scenery about them is, in most cases, picturesque and inviting, and they become favorite locations for residence. On some the navigation is valuable for business purposes; others are navigated for pleasure only. In surveying the public domain for the purposes of sale, the government caused all that were too large to be embraced within a single subdivision of a section, to be meandered at the water line, and the …