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Property Law and Real Estate

Real property

Michael A Wolf

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Taking Regulatory Takings Personally: The Perils Of (Mis)Reasoning By Analogy, Michael Wolf Nov 2014

Taking Regulatory Takings Personally: The Perils Of (Mis)Reasoning By Analogy, Michael Wolf

Michael A Wolf

This Article includes four parts: (1) a defense of the real property/personal property distinction for a post-deconstructionist legal world, (2) a review of difficulties common law courts have encountered when applying real property concepts to disputes over money and personalty, (3) an exploration of the "rhetorical mismatch" typified by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's opinion in Eastern Enterprises, and (4) a respectful request for judges to resist the temptation to collapse categories and instead to maintain, or even erect, meaningful distinctions.


Conservation Easements And The "Term Creep" Problem, Michael Allan Wolf Nov 2014

Conservation Easements And The "Term Creep" Problem, Michael Allan Wolf

Michael A Wolf

This Essay first discusses the “term creep” problem that has long plagued the Anglo-American common law of real property, that is, the tendency of common law courts (and in turn commentators and legislators) to use the same label to describe two or more conceptually discrete, though related, concepts. The confusion between easements of the “traditional” and “conservation” varieties is just one in a long line of situations in which the decision to allow often significantly dissimilar concepts to share the same name has led to unfortunate consequences. The second part of the Essay explains the substantive nature of the hybrids …