Law Commons^™

Taking The Oceanfront Lot, Josh Eagle

Faculty Publications

Oceanfront landowners and states share a property boundary located between the wet and dry parts of the shore. This legal coastline is different from an ordinary land boundary. First, on sandy beaches, the line is constantly in flux, and it cannot be marked except momentarily. Without the help of a surveyor and a court, neither the landowner nor a citizen walking down the beach has the ability to know exactly where the line lies. This uncertainty means that, as a practical matter, ownership of some part of the beach is effectively shared. Second, the common law establishes that the owner …

The Validity Of Restraints On Alienation In An Oil And Gas Lease, Luke Meier, Rory Ryan

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Taking Patents, Gregory Dolin, Irena D. Manta

Washington and Lee Law Review

The America Invents Act (AIA) was widely hailed as a remedy to the excessive number of patents that the Patent & Trademark Office issued, and especially ones that would later turn out to be invalid. In its efforts to eradicate “patent trolls” and fend off other ills, however, the AIA introduced serious constitutional problems that this Article brings to the fore. We argue that the AIA’s new “second-look” mechanisms in the form of Inter Partes Review (IPR) and Covered Business Method Review (CBMR) have greatly altered the scope of vested patent rights by modifying the boundaries of existing patents. The …

Can Siri 10.0 Buy Your Home? The Legal And Policy Based Implications Of Artificial Intelligent Robots Owning Real Property, David Marc Rothenberg

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

This Article addresses whether strong artificial intelligent robots (“AI”) should receive real property rights. More than a resource, real property promotes self-respect to natural persons such as human beings. Because of this distinction, this Article argues for limited real property rights for AIs. In developing this proposition, it examines three hypotheticals of a strong AI robot in various forms of real property ownership. The first hypothetical determines whether an AI could work as an agent in real property transactions. As robots currently act as agents in various capacities, the groundwork exists for an AI to enter this role. The second …

Where Kafka Reigns: A Call For Metamorphosis In Unlawful Detainer Law, John Campbell

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This story reflects a new reality in which nonjudicial foreclosure, combined with draconian unlawful detainer laws, concretizes the injuries associated with wrongful foreclosure, degrades the perceived legitimacy of the courts, and suppresses valid claims of wrongful foreclosure. Indeed, this very scenario happens regularly in a variety of states. This story is a very real tale of how homeowners are harmed by a foreclosure process that has largely escaped scholarly review. Rooted in the belief that sunshine is a powerful disinfectant, this Article aims to shed light on states that hogtie homeowners and makes a normative argument that such a process …

On Black South Africans, Black Americans, And Black West Indians: Some Thoughts On We Want What’S Ours, Eleanor Marie Lawrence Brown

Michigan Law Review

Most modern constitutions have eminent domain provisions that mandate just compensation for forced deprivations of land and require such deprivations to be for a public use or public purpose. The Takings Clause is a classic example of such a provision. The takings literature is essentially focused on outlining the outer boundaries within which the state can take property from an owner. But there are other takings that have been deemed “extraordinary”; in such circumstances, the state takes away property without just compensation and simultaneously makes a point about a person or a group’s standing in the community of citizens.

The Use Of Eminent Domain For Economic Development In Baltimore, Maryland: Ten Years After Kelo, Elva E. Tillman

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Conservation Easements And The Valuation Conundrum, Nancy Mclaughlin

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

For more than fifty years, taxpayers have been able to claim a federal charitable income tax deduction under Internal Revenue Code § 170(h) for the donation of a conservation easement or a façade easement. For just as long, the deduction has been subject to abuse, including valuation abuse. Dismayed by the expenditure of significant judicial and administrative resources to combat abuse in the easement donation context, the Treasury Department recently proposed reforms, including reforms to address valuation abuse. The reforms were proposed in somewhat of an analytical vacuum, however, because there has been no comprehensive analysis of the easement valuation …

Trends In Green Leasing: From The Early Days To Today, Richard J. Sobelsohn

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Appraising 9/11: 'Sacred' Value And Heritage In Neoliberal Times, Mateo Taussig-Rubbo

Journal Articles

On September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 — one of the four airplanes hijacked that day — crashed into a vacant parcel of land in rural Pennsylvania, killing all on board. For many, including family members of those killed in the attack and the Park Service that now manages the national memorial at the site, the former strip mine was transformed into ‘sacred’ ground. Unable to settle on a price with the landowner, in 2009 the government took the property through eminent domain. Focusing on the ongoing effort in United States of America v. 275.81 Acres of Land to …

Examining The Feasibility Of Implementing A Deconstruction Nonprofit In East St. Louis, Il, David M. Hoag Jr.

All Capstone Projects

Background: According to an environmental justice case study by Kozol (2005), East St. Louis is considered the country's most distressed city. It has suffered from environmental and economic misfortunes for several decades. Many residents of the city have left due to the economic conditions of the city, which resulted in a loss of tax base. According to Hou (2010), the loss of tax base has had a severe impact on the community; the city that once had flourishing parks, streets, and businesses has now become blighted with condemned, abandoned, and foreclosed structures. Poor maintenance and neglect has led to decay …

Large-Scale Land Acquisitions And Applying A Gender Lens To Supply Chain Reform, Mina Manuchehri

Washington International Law Journal

In recent years, multinational corporations, in particular food and beverage companies, have committed to “zero tolerance for land grabs” throughout their supply chains. To achieve this end, companies have also committed to international legal norms, including Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Although these commitments were unprecedented, no company explicitly requires the consideration of women’s use of and rights to land when remedying land grabs or acquiring land. To guarantee that women are included and consulted throughout land acquisition processes, companies should explicitly require the application of a …

Stop The Reach: Solving The Judicial Takings Problem By Objectively Defining Property, Steven C. Begakis

Notre Dame Law Review

The future of judicial takings may rest on the ability of the Court to define property in a robust and objective way. Property has essential characteristics that make it easily identifiable, the most significant of which are the rights to exclude and use. However, even when a property right does not fit within a neat categorical definition, should that right have a long, well established pedigree in state court precedent, that property right is similarly within the capacity of the reviewing court to identify. And once it is determined that, prior to the judgment, the petitioners possessed a clearly defined …

Once More Unto The Breach: An Analysis Of Legal, Technological, And Policy Issues Involving Data Breach Notification Statutes, Dana J. Lesemann

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

This Article addresses the legal, technological, and policy issues surrounding U.S. data breach notification statutes and recommends steps that state and federal regulatory agencies should take to improve and harmonize those statutes. Part I of this Article provides background on the data breaches that gave rise to the enactment of notification statutes. Part II addresses the varying definitions of "personal information" in the state statutes-the data that is protected by the statute and whose breach must be revealed to consumers. Part III analyzes how states define the data breach itself, particularly whether states rely on a strict liability standard, on …

Virtual Property, Real Concerns, Nelson Dacunha

Akron Intellectual Property Journal

The status of digital property protection, especially in virtual worlds, is uncertain to say the least. These are the issues that I will review in this note.

In section II, I will discuss the foundations of virtual worlds and their growth from pre-computer roots to present day sprawling universes. This background will provide a foundation for novices in the virtual world realm and an anchor for the important role that these games play in the lives of not only young Americans, but people of all ages and nationalities around the world.

Part III will discuss the critical characteristics of virtual …

How Localism's Rationales Limit New Urbanism's Success And What New Regionalism Can Do About It, Timothy Polmateet

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Brooding Omnipresence Of Regulatory Takings: Urban Origins And Effects, Michael Allan Wolf

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Putting Exclusionary Zoning In Its Place: Affordable Housing And Geographical Scale, Christopher Serkin, Leslie Wellington

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Whither Workforce Housing?, Matthew J. Parlow

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The last forty years have marked a dynamic era in affordable housing. During this time, affordable housing shifted from being largely government-owned to privately-owned, though certainly supported by government efforts. This evolution thus marked a distinct switch from a supply-side approach to a demand-side approach to affordable housing. As states and localities adapted to this paradigm shift, some high-priced metropolitan regions discovered that their housing markets were squeezing out middle-income service workers, such as police officers and teachers. In response, many localities—and some states—adopted various laws and policies to spur the creation of workforce housing: that is, moderately-priced housing that …

Changes Spark Interest In Sustainable Urban Places: But How Do We Identify And Support Them?, John R. Nolon

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Saving Mount Laurel?, Roderick M. Hills

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

New Challenges For Urban Areas Facing Flood Risks, Debbie M. Chizewer, A Dan Tarlock

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Rebirth Of The Neighborhood, J. Peter Byrne

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Palazzolo V. Rhode Island: The Supreme Court’S Expansion Of Subsequent Owner's Rights Under The Takings Clause, Leon D. Lazer

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Surviving The Borrower: Assumption, Modification, And Access To Mortgage Information After A Death Or Divorce, Sarah Bolling Mancini, Alys Cohen

Pepperdine Law Review

The death of a borrower too often brings the surviving spouse or other heirs to the brink of foreclosure. Transfer of the marital home to a non-borrower spouse through divorce may lead to the same problems. Mortgage servicers tell these successor homeowners that because they are not the borrower on the loan, they are not entitled to any information about the mortgage secured by their home and cannot apply for a loan modification, even if they are struggling with the payments. In fact, successors have a right to information, the right to assume liability for the loan, and the right …

Resolving Conflicts Over Scarce Resources: Private Versus Shared Ownership, W.C. Bunting

Marquette Law Review

This Article models private ownership as a conflict resolution mechanism and contends that for the Coase Theorem, as narrowly defined in this Article, to be consistent, private ownership must yield the Pareto- optimal use of scarce resources among all feasible conflict resolution mechanisms. Conflict over a scarce resource may be better resolved, however, by eliminating the possibility of private ownership and “forcing” disputing parties to share ownership of the contested resource. A corollary to the Coase Theorem is introduced which states: In the absence of transaction costs, the distribution of private and shared ownership is efficient. Further, assuming transaction costs …

Conservation Easements As A Way To Preserve Wisconsin’S Farmland: Why Wisconsin Should Adopt A Transferable Tax Credit Program, Jennifer E. Krueger

Marquette Law Review

Conservation easements are a tool landowners can use to protect their land and preserve it for generations to come. Given the new emphasis society places on preserving the environment, many states have enacted some form of a conservation easement program where landowners who encumber their property with a conservation easement can receive a benefit for doing so. Wisconsin and Virginia are two states with this type of program. Wisconsin’s conservation easement program allows a landowner to donate his land and the state pays him the difference in the market value. Virginia’s program, on the other hand, allows a landowner to …

Location, Location, Mis-Location: How Local Land Use Restrictions Are Dulling Halfway Housing's Criminal Rehabilitation Potentia, Michael J. Mcgowan

Student Scholarship

Part I of this Article begins with a brief historical explanation of halfway houses as a model of criminal rehabilitation. Part II addresses why recidivism rates provide the most appropriate metric gauging halfway houses' success and how they apparently have failed to improve recidivism rates. Part III then delves into the body of scholarship that explains how an individual's likelihood of landing back behind bars is to some extent demonstrably tied to their location, meaning their surrounding cultural, economic, and criminogenic environment. Part IV discusses the sparse data on the sorts of neighborhoods where halfway houses ultimately end up and …

Panel 1: Probate Issues, Post-­Obergefell V. Hodges, Susan Tate, Charlie Yovino, Denise Vanlanduyt, Lori Surmay, Sonja R. West

Working in the Public Interest Conferences

No abstract provided.

Two Hundred Years Of Spite, Nadav Shoked

Northwestern University Law Review

Spite’s role in property law is garnering much academic attention. Yet spite remains strikingly misunderstood. Commentators partaking in the reinvigorated debate over property rights’ nature often point at the law’s prohibition on spiteful uses of property by owners as indicating that property law is sensitive to individuals’ goals and attitudes when distributing powers. This assertion draws on a long line of judicial, legislative, and scholarly pronouncements to the effect that the prohibition on spite is an intent-based, subjective test banning acts whose motivation is malicious. This Article illustrates that this perception is deeply flawed—descriptively and normatively. Exploring the forgotten history …