Property Law and Real Estate Commons^™

(Communal) Life, (Religious) Liberty, And Property, John Infranca

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

Property rights and religious liberty seem to share little in common. Yet surprisingly similar claims have long been made on their behalf, including bold assertions that each of these two rights uniquely limits the power of the state and serves as the foundation for other rights. This Article reframes the conception of property rights and religious liberty as foundational by foregrounding communitarian aspects of each right. Property and religious freedom are a foundation for other rights, but in a different manner than traditional accounts suggest. It is not the individual exercise of these rights that provides a foundation for other …

Penn Central Take Two, Christopher Serkin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Penn Central v. New York City is the most important regulatory takings case of all time. There, the Supreme Court upheld the historic preservation of Grand Central Terminal in part because the City offset the burden of the landmarking with a valuable new property interest—a transferable development right (TDR)—that could be sold to neighboring property. Extraordinarily, 1.2 million square feet of those very same TDRs, still unused for over forty years, are the subject of newly resolved takings litigation. According to the complaint, the TDRs that saved Grand Central were themselves taken by the government, which allegedly wiped out their …

Dignity Takings, Dignity Restoration: A Tort Law Perspective, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Money damages can operate to restore the dignity of a person who has been injured in tort or deprived of property. A financial award or settlement conveys an acknowledgment of the wrong and signals the reestablishment of equity between defendant and plaintiff. Whether the award is seen as adequate to fully restore dignity is influenced by context, especially comparison cases. And financial compensation directly provided by the defendant holds greater promise for dignity restoration.

Justice Scalia's Rule Of Law And Law Of Takings, Nicole Stelle Garnett

Journal Articles

This short essay reviews the regulatory takings legacy of Justice Antonin Scalia, evaluating both its impact on the Supreme Court's takings canon and its consistency with his stated jurisprudential principles.

Freeing The City To Compete, James J. Kelly Jr.

Journal Articles

In this paper, I examine how the rights of owners, lenders and residents threaten the functioning of real markets in distressed urban neighborhoods, perpetuating the pall that vacant and abandoned houses cast over their future. Even a single abandoned house can present an example of how the rights of several stakeholders create a form of gridlock known as anticommons, which isolates that property from a potentially transformative transfer of title. In addition to this legal anticommons, some neighborhoods are so beset by vacant property problems that they require coordination of investment that is frustrated by both the multiplicity of private …

Ancillary Agreements In Real Estate Transactions, Andrew R. Berman, Barry Hines, Everett Ward

Other Publications

This article discusses certain ancillary but important documents in the context of two common real estate transactions: mortgage loan financings and acquisitions of income-producing real estate. In particular, the article analyzes current case law and drafting considerations relating to estoppel certificates, certified rent rolls and subordination, non-disturbance agreements (SNDAs). In addition, the article examines due diligence issues for the lender and buyer. Note: This article was co-authored with Barry Hines, Partner, Frost, Brown, Todd LLC and Everett Ward, Partner, Quarrels & Brady LLP and initially presented at the Spring Meeting of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL).

Improving The Uniform Partition Of Heirs Property Act, Rishi Batra

Faculty Articles

Johnny Rivers was born and had lived his whole sixty-nine-year life on the same seventeen-acre tract on Clouter Creek near the Cainhoy Peninsula of Charleston, South Carolina. His father owned the land since 1888, and his family had worked the land and paid taxes, never missing a tax payment. He thought he and his family would live on the land for the rest of his life.

However, in 2000, he received a letter telling him he was the subject of a legal action called a "partition.” A family member who was a part owner of the land and whom Rivers …

The Vested Rights Doctrine: How A Shield Against Injustice Became A Sword For Opportunistic Developers, Steve P. Calandrillo, Chryssa Deliganis, Christina Elles

Articles

In an era of pioneering environmental and land use laws, savvy developers are using the “vested rights” doctrine to circumvent and undermine critical public health, safety, and environmental regulations. This controversy pits two legitimate interests against each other: On the one hand, local governments must have the power to pass land use laws and regulations in the public interest to protect their community’s health, safety, welfare, and environment. On the other, developers who rely on the laws in existence at the time their project is approved should be protected from subsequent changes to the law that could increase transactional costs …

A Comparative Study Of U.S. And Chinese Environmental Law With A Focus On The Real Estate Industry, Jihong Wang, Paul Kossof

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Stock Market Futurism, Merritt B. Fox, Gabriel Rauterberg

Faculty Scholarship

The U.S. stock market is undergoing extraordinary upheaval. The approval of the application of the Investors Exchange (IEX) to become the nation’s newest stock exchange, including its famous “speed bump,” was one of the SEC’s most controversial decisions in decades. Other exchanges have proposed a raft of new innovations in its wake. This evolving equity market is a critical piece of national infrastructure, but the regulatory scheme for its institutions is increasingly frayed. In particular, current regulation draws sharp distinctions among different kinds of markets for trading stocks, treating stock exchanges as self-regulatory organizations immune from private civil litigation, while …

Real Property, J. Richard White, G. Roland Love, Amanda Grainger

SMU Annual Texas Survey

No abstract provided.

Metaphysical Right And Practical Obligation, Adam J. Macleod

Scholarly Articles

My task is to say what remains of property rights. My answer is: quite a lot. We have reason to be optimistic about the constitutional status of private property. To explain why, I will relate a short story about property jurisprudence in Anglo-American law. It is a story not merely about property, but also about ordered liberty. Thus, this story is not just for property scholars; it holds valuable lessons for scholars and jurists who are interested in other aspects of American constitutionalism as well. Accounts of property rights often begin with the familiar treatise of John Locke. My account …

Zoning And The Complicated Reliance On Restrictive Covenants, Dennis A. Kerbel

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Case For Gmos: Dealing With Clashes Between Property Rights And Health And Safety Concerns, Kline C. Moore

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A comparative analysis of international decisions concerning genetically modified organism (GMO) controversies reveals the judicial inconsistency that is often applied to the property rights of GMO producers and researchers. Courts often find that there are strong property right interests in GMOs, but when these rights clash with health and safety concerns, they are often minimized or completely forgotten; therefore, future growth in biotechnology is inhibited. This Note proposes a solution to this issue that better takes into account all stakeholders and allows for future investment and research into GMOs. The solution draws upon the lessons learned from current regulatory and …

Globalizing Property Law: An Institutional Analysis, Amnon Lehavi

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article identifies the key role that institutions play in moving toward an effective cross-border regime in property law. Property is based on an in rem principle, which should provide a single system for ranking rights, powers, and priorities in assets that applies to all interested parties. In a global context, this feature of property law requires a cross-border legal ordering by an array of domestic and supranational institutions: legislative, administrative, and adjudicative.

The Article argues that the present fragmentation of property norms across national borders, and the incompleteness of supranational institutions that deal with property law, may place limits …

Coming Of Age On $2 A Day, Evicted: What Ced Has To Say To Today's Untethered Poverty, Susan Bennett

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Property And The True-Sale Doctrine, Heather Hughes

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The true-sale doctrine governs financial transactions involving hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Yet this doctrine is confused, unsettled and subject to differing approaches from state to state: it lacks normative foundation and it lacks coherence. The true-sale doctrine determines the fate of investors asserting ownership of securitized assets at the expense of unsecured creditors, such as employees. It distinguishes assignments to secure loans (leaving assets potentially reachable by unsecured creditors), from outright sales (making assets the exclusive property of investors). A rich literature addresses the efficiency of securitization. But scholars and policy-makers have failed to sufficiently relate positions …

Land Use Regulation As A Framework To Create Public Space For Speech And Expression In The Evolving And Reconceptualized Shopping Mall Of The Twenty-First Century, Gerald Korngold

Articles & Chapters

Much has been written lately about the “death” of malls and large-scale shopping centers. The data show, however, that the great numbers of these malls and centers are not going extinct but rather are undergoing an evolution from the fortress-type, retail-focused mall of the 1970s to a twenty-first century model better attuned to current tastes of citizens and consumers. There are indeed significant challenges, including purchasing trends, troubled brick and mortar retail, increased online sales, and living choices. But despite some shock-value headlines, the data show that the number of malls and large centers continue to increase. Moreover, owners are …

Ancillary Agreements In Real Estate Transactions, Andrew R. Berman, Barry Hines, Everett Ward

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Exploiting Conservation Lands: Can Hydrofracking Be Consistent With Conservation Easements, Jessica Owley, Collin Doane

Articles

No abstract provided.

A Hobbesian Bundle Of Lockean Sticks: The Property Rights Legacy Of Justice Scalia, J. Peter Byrne

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

No modern United States Supreme Court Justice has stimulated more thought and debate about the constitutional meaning of property than Antonin Scalia. This essay evaluates his efforts to change the prevailing interpretation of the Takings Clause. Scalia sought to ground it in clear rules embodying a reactionary defense of private owners’ prerogatives against environmental and land use regulation. Ultimately, Scalia aimed to authorize federal judicial oversight of state property law developments, whether through legislative or judicial innovation. In hindsight, he stands in a long tradition of conservative judges using property law as a constitutional baseline by which to restrain regulation.

Voice And Exit As Accountability Mechanisms: Can Foot-Voting Be Made Safe For The Chinese Communist Party?, Roderick M. Hills Jr., Shitong Qiao

Faculty Scholarship

According to Albert 0. Hirschman's famous dichotomy, citizens can express their preferences with their "voice" (by voting with ballots to elect better representatives) or by "exit" (by voting with their feet to choose better places to live). Suppose, however, that ballot-voting is ineffective: Can exit not merely aid but also replace voice? Using the People's Republic of China, a party state without elective democracy as a case study, we argue that exit is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, voice. China's bureaucratic promotion system plays the same role that local elections do in the United States, promoting …

The Evolution Of Chinese Property Law: Stick By Stick?, Shitong Qiao

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Dykema V. Del Webb Communities, Inc., 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 82 (Dec. 29, 2016), Christopher Giddens

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined that a notice of completion’s recording date—not the date on which the notice is signed and notarized—signifies when the notice is “issued” to trigger “substantial completion” under NRS 11.2055(1)(b) for NRS Chapter 11’s construction defect statutes of repose.

Insuring Takings Claims, Christopher Serkin

Northwestern University Law Review

Local governments typically insure themselves against all kinds of losses, from property damage to legal liability. For small- and medium-sized governments, this usually means purchasing insurance from private insurers or participating in municipal risk pools. Insurance for regulatory takings claims, however, is generally unavailable. This previously unnoticed gap in municipal insurance coverage could lead risk averse local governments to underregulate and underenforce existing regulations where property owners threaten to bring takings claims. This seemingly technical observation turns out to have profound implications for theoretical accounts of the Takings Clause that focus on government regulatory incentives. This Article explores the impact …

How New York Investors Financed The Looting Of Syria, Ukraine, And Iraq: The Need To Increase Civil Liabilities For "Current Possessors" Of Stolen Antiquities In The 21st Century, Lukas Padegimas

Global Business Law Review

This note argues that the U.S. should pass its own self-policing legislation that will make it less enticing for thieves to try to sell stolen antiquities to the U.S. market. Our world heritage is under threat from undeterred looting, which results in antiquities vanishing from museum storerooms and archeological sites before ending up in the storerooms of investors. Currently, source nations that attempt to have stolen antiquities returned are deterred by the high legal costs involved. As the biggest market for stolen cultural property, states within the U.S. should amend current replevin laws so that the possessors of stolen cultural …

Zoning’S Centennial: A Complete Account Of The Evolution Of Zoning Into A Robust System Of Land Use Law—1916-2016 (Part Iii), John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In land use, there are two things that Americans dislike: one is sprawl, the other is density. This catch-22 can be resolved by mitigating those aspects of urban living associated with density: congestion, bulky buildings, sameness, design incongruities, unsafe streets, inefficiency, and the sense that neighborhoods are not livable and pleasant. These characteristics of density cut against sustainability. They define places that people want to leave as soon as they can. To reduce vehicle miles travelled and carbon emissions, as well as to prevent sprawl, we must create places of enduring value, located next to transit in walkable and sustainable …

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 …

Moving Forward By Looking Back: The Retroactive Application Of Obergefell, Lee-Ford Tritt

UF Law Faculty Publications

The recent Supreme Court decision of Obergefell v. Hodges has forever altered American jurisprudence. Not only did this decision make same-sex marriage legal in all fifty states, but it also required states to recognize same-sex marriages from other states in accordance with the 14th Amendment. The Court’s holding in Obergefell raises a fundamental question with serious legal and financial significance: when exactly do these once unrecognized marriages legally begin? And to what extent must courts apply Obergefell retroactively? The stakes are high and substantive financial effects are pending on the answer to this question — for, with marriage, comes wide-ranging …

Real Property, Linda S. Finley

Mercer Law Review

This Article looks at notable issues regarding Georgia real property law during the survey period, including legislation enacted by the Georgia General Assembly and case law decided in Georgia courts. The Author is happy to report she no longer feels compelled to begin the Survey by discussing the dire economic conditions of the state of Georgia or, indeed, the United States as a whole. At the time of the writing of this Survey, RealtyTrac, which reports national foreclosure statistics, released its mid-year 2016 foreclosure report showing that foreclosure activity affecting Georgia real property in the month of July 2016 was …