Property Law and Real Estate Commons^™

The Street View Of Property, Vanessa Casado-Pérez

Faculty Scholarship

Parking on public streets is scarce. The current allocation system for parking spots based on rule of capture coupled with low parking fees creates a tragedy of the commons scenario. The misallocation of parking has consequences for commerce, for access to public spaces, and for pollution and congestion. Municipalities have not widely adopted the solution that economists propose to solve this scarcity problem: increase the price. Politics aside, the reluctance of municipalities to do so may be explained by the unique nature of public property as reflected in well-rooted legal and societal constraints. This unique nature helps explain, for example, …

Property-As-Society, Timothy M. Mulvaney

Faculty Scholarship

Modern regulatory takings disputes present a key battleground for competing conceptions of property. This Article offers the following account of the three leading theories: a libertarian view sees property as creating a sphere of individual freedom and control (property-as-liberty); a pecuniary view sees property as a tool of economic investment (property-as-investment); and a progressive view sees property as serving a wide range of evolving communal values that include, but are not limited to, those advanced under both the libertarian and pecuniary conceptions (property-as-society). Against this backdrop, the Article offers two contentions. First, on normative grounds, it asserts that the conception …

The Cycles Of Defense Acquisition Reform And What Comes Next, Andrew Hunter

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Many aspects of war and national defense appear to run in cycles. Indeed, the identification and explanation of these cycles is a favorite pastime of military scholars. Historians and political scientists characterize war as alternating cycles of offensive and defensive dominance. The idea of cyclicality may in fact be hardwired into academic discussions and understandings of war. For example, early war theorist Carl von Clausewitz described an ever-changing character of war undergirded by war’s fundamentally unchanging nature. Because the dominant theoretical understanding of war is that it holds a mixture of both fixed and constantly evolving elements, our concept of …

Things Invisible To See: State Action & Private Property, Joseph William Singer, Isaac Saidel-Goley

Texas A&M Law Review

This Article revisits the state action doctrine, a judicial invention that shields “private” or “non-governmental” discrimination from constitutional scrutiny. Traditionally, this doctrine has applied to discrimination even in places of public accommodation, like restaurants, hotels, and grocery stores. Born of overt racial discrimination, the doctrine has inflicted substantial injustice throughout its inglorious history, and courts have continuously struggled in vain to coherently apply the doctrine. Yet, the United States Supreme Court has not fully insulated “private” or “horizontal” relations among persons from constitutional scrutiny. The cases in which it has applied constitutional norms to non-governmental actors should be celebrated rather …

Disseisin, Doubt, And Debate: Adverse Possession Scholarship In The United States (1881-1986), John Lovett

Texas A&M Law Review

Property law scholars in the United States have discussed the doctrine of adverse possession for more than a century. Indeed, ever since American property law scholars began to write property law treatises, formalize property law courses in modern law schools, publish property specific articles in law reviews, and publish property law case books, adverse possession has served as a staple of property law discourse. This Article examines how property law scholars think about and discuss adverse possession. It explores how adverse possession talk has changed—and not changed—over time. In other words, this Article examines both the substance and rhetoric of …

A Clean Slate For Texas Foster Youth: Policy Recommendations On Preventing And Resolving Identity Theft For Youth In Foster Care, Madison Howard Churchman

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Article will compare how Texas and other states implement this federal law differently and then discuss how Texas can improve its flawed system to better protect children negatively affected by identity theft. Section II of this Article will introduce and explain M.D. v. Abbott and the changes in Texas foster care on the horizon as a result of this case. Section III will introduce and delve into the issue of identity theft in foster youth as a whole, and it will tell the story of one foster youth who faced the results of identity theft. Finally, the Section breaks …

Rainwater Harvesting In Colorado And The Quandary Of A Taking, Stephen N. Bretsen

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Although rainwater harvesting would appear to be a win-win solution to the problem of developing new sources of water, implementing rainwater harvesting in the American West has been fraught with tensions that have pitted rural farmers and other agricultural interests against urban and suburban homeowners. The water law of the western states is based on the prior appropriation doctrine, which creates a “first in time, first in right” system of water rights tied to when a user diverts surface water for beneficial use. Since water rights are property rights, state statutes and regulations that “go too far” in affecting them …

Old Water Becoming New Again: Reuse Of Treated Wastewater Effluent In Texas, Howard S. Slobodin, Hope C. Shelton

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

The reuse of treated wastewater effluent for municipal supply is not a new idea in Texas, having been contemplated for at least sixty years. However, its importance has grown in recent decades as traditional surface water sources have become fully subscribed. Reuse is recognized as a significant source of future supply for Texas in the 2017 Texas State Water Plan.1 The law related to reuse is, however, still very much a developing subject. Recent administrative actions and judicial decisions have better defined the contours of the entitlements necessary to reuse effluent discharged to state-owned water courses.2 In the midst of …

The Comparable Properties Standard: A Windfall For The Wealthy, A Shortfall For The Poor, Timothy R. Macgorman

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

The Texas Constitution mandates that taxation shall be equal and uniform, and that property shall be appraised at market value for the purposes of ad valorem property taxation. While valuation methodology is crucial to property owners in such a context, the “Comparable Properties Standard” embodied in Sections 41.43(b)(3) and 42.26(a)(3) of the Texas Tax Code appears to allow wealthy property owners to unconstitutionally manipulate the appraised value of their property for ad valorem taxation purposes and shift their tax burden to other taxpayers. Unless the Texas legislature enacts a mandatory sales price disclosure statute, or directly amends or repeals the …

What If? Using Medicare Regulations To Control And Commercialize Rainwater Harvesting, C. Trey Scott

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Article will examine how rainwater harvesting in Texas would look if applied to a structure for rainwater governance similar to the structure of Medicare governance. Section II addresses the reasons why rainwater harvesting must be considered a necessity. Next, Section III will provide an overview of the applicable Medicare regulations that will later be reappropriated and rewritten for rainwater harvesting. Section IV will apply the discussed Medicare structure to rainwater harvesting. Finally, Section V will provide a closing answer to what if we applied the Medicare structure to rainwater harvesting.

New Water For Water Dispute Resolution, Rhett B. Larson

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Water scarcity often leads to water disputes. New water supplies—such as bulk water imports, desalination, cloud seeding, or increased stream flows from improved forest management—can mitigate water scarcity and thus help avoid water disputes. However, new water supplies can also aggravate water disputes if not developed in concert with legal reforms. This Article evaluates the role of new water in two cases of water disputes in arid regions and proposes legal reforms to promote new water as a means of water dispute resolution. The first case is the adjudication of water rights in the Gila River basin in Arizona. Improved …

Poke´Mon Go: Emerging Liability Arising From Virtual Trespass For Augmented Reality Applications, Travis Alley

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Article focuses on various types of trespass and the challenges that augmented reality technology presents to the parties involved. Section II lays out a broad overview of augmented reality, its history, and the concept of Pok ´emon Go. Section III addresses evolution trespass law in the United States and how it is applied in cases of physical and electronic intrusions. Section III also discusses nuisance briefly, as it can often interrelate to trespass theories. Section IV then analyzes how courts might interpret trespass laws for augmented reality applications and the forms of liability each party may face. The solution …

Regulate Or Be Regulated: Why Professional Landmen Should Be Proactive In Protecting The Integrity Of Their Occupation, Brian J. Steinocher

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

In most states, the landman profession is unregulated and free to define itself. Work performed by landmen often flirts with the practice of law, but under Texas law much of the work that landmen perform is excepted from the unlicensed practice of law. Historically, the American Association of Professional Landmen (“AAPL”) has been influential in guaranteeing that this exception stays available to landmen all over the United States and that landmen are not subject to licensing requirements in the states they work in. In light of the recent, unsuccessful attempt by the Texas legislature to regulate landmen, this Article will …

Clarifying The Scope Of Texas’S Cross-Jurisdictional Tolling Rule: An Exception For Putative Class Members With Property-Related Claims, Andrew W. Bell

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Comment seeks to clarify the scope of cross-jurisdictional tolling in Texas. Although both Texas and federal courts interpreting Texas law have addressed this issue, no Texas court has specifically addressed whether putative members of a class action lawsuit—which was filed in a federal court located in Texas and that asserts Texas property-related claims—can rely on the class action lawsuit to toll the statute of limitations applicable to their claims. Part I of this Comment provides a brief history of the class action tolling doctrine, specifically describing American Pipe and its progeny. Part II discusses recent Texas case law decisions …

Smart Growth Through Tiny Homes: Incentivizing Freedom Of Housing, A. Robin Donnelly

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Tiny Homes are an environmentally friendly housing option popping up across the United States. Tiny Homes have a minimal environmental footprint due to their small size and eco-friendly design. As such, Tiny Homes could address several of the Environmental Protection Agency’s city development goals. The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has created a Smart Growth program that provides financial assistance to cities seeking to implement greener practices throughout city planning. Tiny Home Eco communities could become a popular Smart Growth development plan. Unfortunately, cities have not welcomed Tiny Homes, and this alternative green housing scheme has remained undeveloped. This Comment is …

A Prudential Take On A Prudential Takings Doctrine, Katherine Mims Crocker

Faculty Scholarship

The Supreme Court is set to decide a case requesting reconsideration of a doctrine that has long bedeviled constitutional litigants and commentators. The case is Knick v. Township of Scott, and the doctrine is the “ripeness” rule from Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank that plaintiffs seeking to raise takings claims under the Fifth Amendment must pursue state-created remedies first — the so-called “compensation prong” (as distinguished from a separate “takings prong”). This Essay argues that to put the compensation prong in the best light possible, the Court should view the requirement as a “prudential” rule rather than …

Non-Enforcement Takings, Timothy M. Mulvaney

Faculty Scholarship

The non-enforcement of existing property laws is not logically separable from the issue of unfair and unjust state deprivations of property rights at which the Constitution's Takings Clause takes aim. This Article suggests, therefore, that takings law should police allocations resulting from non-enforcement decisions on the same "fairness and justice" grounds that it polices allocations resulting from decisions to enact and enforce new regulations. Rejecting the extant majority position that state decisions not to enforce existing property laws are categorically immune from takings liability is not to advocate that persons impacted by such decisions should be automatically or even regularly …

Where We're Going, We'll Need Roads! Building The Bridge To The Future: Public-Private Partnerships For Future Border Infrastructure Development, Jessica R. Lesnau

Texas A&M Law Review

In a world where global economies are increasingly interdependent, the United States, and its North American counterparts, Canada and Mexico, are booming sources of international trade. Now, more than ever, global competitiveness necessitates developments in U.S. infrastructure, especially at major border crossings where congestion and poor infrastructure create bottlenecks interfering with the free movement of goods. Questions pertaining to international border crossings circle the debate at the most crucial international border crossing in North America: the Ambassador Bridge, which spans the Detroit River between Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario. A legal battle rages over the proposed construction of a new …

Recognizing Challenges And Opportunities In The Quest To End Hunger, Jennifer Williams Zwagerman

Texas A&M Law Review

As an attorney and professor that does not focus on intellectual property law, I was a bit apprehensive about providing a keynote address for a Symposium focusing on “Agriculture, Intellectual Property, and Feeding the World in the 21st Century.” As I thought about this topic, knowing that there were other speakers who would focus more on the IP issues and technical aspects of various topics, I kept coming back to the importance of technology as we worktowards the goal of feeding the world, and the many ways in which innovation plays a role in meeting that goal. It also brought …

Law And Policy Resource Guide: A Survey Of Eminent Domain Law In Texas And The Nation, Caitlyn Ashley, Elizabeth Spencer Berthiaume, Philip Berzin, Rikki Blassingame, Stephanie Bradley Fryer, John Cox, E. Samuel Crecelius, Taylor Dennington, Tave Doty, Stacie Dowell, Cameron Frysinger, Jordan Simmons Hayes, Alexandria Hutchison, Hillary Tidwell, Michael Vinson, George Wigington, Christopher Wilkes, Lola Wilson, Shane Wright

EENRS Program Reports & Publications

Eminent Domain is the power of the government or quasi-government entities to take private or public property interests through condemnation. Eminent Domain has been a significant issue since 1879 when, in the case of Boom Company v. Patterson, the Supreme Court first acknowledged that the power of eminent domain may be delegated by state legislatures to agencies and non-governmental entities. Thus, the era of legal takings began.

Though an important legal dispute then, more recently eminent domain has blossomed into an enduring contentious social and political problem throughout the United States. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution states, …

Bringing Home The Right To Housing To Advance Urban Sustainability, Lisa Alexander

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

The title of my talk today is Bringing Home the Right to Housing to Advance Urban Sustainability. You may ask what is the right to housing? Why do we need to bring it home? And what does it have to do with the broader topic of today’s symposium, urban sustainability?

The human right to housing, although not a formal American federal or constitutional right, provides an important legal and normative framework that can help American cities and states better balance the needs of owners and non-owners in local housing and development struggles. If American cities and states want to create …

Teaching Applied Sustainability: A Practicum Based On Drafting Ordinances, Jonathan Rosenbloom, John C. Dernbach

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Article describes and explains a sustainability law practicum class that is now taught in only two law schools, but which has considerable teaching and practical value. It also explains how this class is consistent with, and furthers, the growing demand for experiential, skills-based legal education employing formative assessment. The class uses a real-world setting to provide students with skills they will need to help clients meet their sustainability goals. These skills include applying the principles of sustainable development in specific contexts; researching local government law; drafting legislation and ordinances; giving short presentations; and counseling clients. These skills are developed …

An Idea Whose Time Has Gone: How Amortization Is Unconstitutional Retroactive Legislation In Texas, William R. Maurer

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Article discusses what amortization is, why municipal governments use it, and how the courts of Texas and other states have treated the practice. Next, this Article argues that, while Texas courts have routinely approved amortization, many exercises of the power are likely unconstitutional under Texas’s prohibition on retroactive civil legislation and that it violates due process. Lastly, this Article concludes with a call for Texas courts to reexamine the constitutionality of this oppressive practice and do away with it once and for all.

The Limits Of Creativity In Copyright: Digital Manufacturing Files And Lockout Codes, Lucas S. Osborn

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

As the distinction between the digital and physical worlds continues to diminish, the necessity to reevaluate the bargain struck by the copyright regime increases in importance. Digitization brings increasingly more aspects of our world into the potential ambit of the copyright system. To understand whether and how the copyright system should apply in an increasingly digital world, it is first necessary to understand doctrinally how current copyright laws apply to new digital works. This Article corrects several errors that have appeared in the literature analyzing copyright law’s treatment of 3D printing and other digital manufacturing files. This Article incorporates an …

Legal Issues In Ip Protection For Additive Manufacturing, Sharon Flank

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Additive manufacturing (“AM”) offers the power to design and create in new ways but also brings challenges in intellectual property protection and unauthorized copying, along with potential liability issues. One growing problem is counterfeiting, which is recognized as part of a worldwide industry estimated at over $1 trillion. “There are two basic paths to creating counterfeits with 3D printing.” First, the print instructions, in the form of a software design file, can be stolen, shared, or mocked up. Alternatively, an existing object “(including a genuine branded or licensed product)” can be 3D scanned to create a design file to print …

Making Existing Homes Greener, James Charles Smith

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

During the past two decades, a “green building movement” has emerged, at first concentrating on the “greening” of government and commercial building. More recently, the focus has turned to the greening of residential buildings. “Green homes” are increasingly popular in the United States and throughout the world. They consume less energy; reduce environmental impacts; and conserve land, water, and other natural resources. Now, thousands of homebuyers are willing to take into account green environmental considerations when making home purchase decisions. They are motivated economically (the prospect of lower utility bills) and altruistically (doing what is good for the environment).

Printing The Future: The Implications Of 3d Printing, Timothy R. Holbrook

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

What I am going to talk about today is sort of an aggregation of a lot of things I have already published, or am thinking about, that relates to how 3D printing challenges our patent system and how the patent system could respond doctrinally now and, in other ways, that we could theorize we could do. We should be frightened about some of those steps, however. I will then discuss some of the consequences that flow from these arguments. And so, I will skip through some of the earlier slides as to 3D printing. I think people know what that …

Water Valuation And Utility Rates, Amy Hardberger

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

As I’ve worked on this topic, it really has evolved. I was thrown into land use, but land use opened my eyes to new water tools. Nationwide there is a shift towards conservation of water and water sustainability. Land use might be the “ace-in-the-hole,” not the simple act of turning the water off when you brush your teeth—even though I want you to do that.

What’s important when talking about how we are going to survive, is “where are we going?” Because cities are so overpopulated, we are moving out of rural areas and into cities. This has caught the …

Legislative Exactions And Progressive Property, Timothy M. Mulvaney

Faculty Scholarship

Exactions — a term used to describe certain conditions that are attached to land-use permits issued at the government’s discretion — ostensibly oblige property owners to internalize the costs of the expected infrastructural, environmental, and social harms resulting from development. This Article explores how proponents of progressive conceptions of property might respond to the open question of whether legislative exactions should be subject to the same level of judicial scrutiny to which administrative exactions are subject in constitutional takings cases. It identifies several first-order reasons to support the idea of immunizing legislative exactions from heightened takings scrutiny. However, it suggests …

Restoring Hope For Heirs Property Owners: The Uniform Partition Of Heirs Property Act, Thomas W. Mitchell

Faculty Scholarship

For well over 125 years, many Americans have lost their tenancy-in-common property involuntarily in various legal proceedings. For example, courts throughout this country have often resolved partition actions, a legal proceeding in which a tenant in common seeks to exit a tenancy in common, by ordering a forced, partition sale of the property even when these courts could have ordered a remedy that would have preserved the property rights of the tenants in common. Though partition sales have negatively impacted a broad cross section of people in this country, the sales have particularly impacted poor and disadvantaged African-Americans, Hispanics, white …