Property Law and Real Estate Commons^™

Landlords Of Last Resort: Should The Government Subsidize The Mortgages Of Privately-Owned, Small Multifamily Buildings?, David Reiss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Will The Current Economic Crisis Fuel A Return To Racial Policies That Deny Homeownership Opportunity And Wealth?, Marcia Johnson

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

Cutting The Gordian Knot: The Case For Allowing Modification Of Home Mortgages In Bankruptcy, Susan E. Hauser

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

You Can Have It, But Can You Hold It?: Treating Domain Names As Tangible Property, Daniel Hancock

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Reconciling Development And Natural Beauty: The Promise And Dilemma Of Conservation Easements, Zachary A. Bray

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Local and regional private land trusts are among the most important and most numerous conservation actors in contemporary America, and conservation easements are perhaps the key land conservation tools used by these trusts. In recent decades, privately held conservation easements and local and regional private land trusts have grown at a rapid and increasing rate, and the total acreage protected by privately held conservation easements is now larger than some states. The early growth of privately held conservation easements met widespread approval, but more recently, contemporary conservation easement practice has attracted many critics, based in part on well-publicized national scandals …

Acceptable Deviance And Property Rights, Mark A. Edwards

Faculty Scholarship

Compliance with - or deviance from - law is often dependent upon the law’s convergence with - or divergence from - normative sensibilities. Where the legality and social acceptability of behavior diverge, some deviance is socially acceptable. Property rights evolve in response to changes in normative sensibilities. Constructing a model of acceptable deviance and applying it to property rights, we can predict and actually observe the evolution of property rights in response to changes in normative sensibilities in areas as diverse as file-sharing, foreclosures, the use of public space, and fishing rights. We can also predict and observe stresses in …

Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac And The Future Of Federal Housing Finance Policy: A Study Of Regulatory Privilege, David Reiss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Evolving Property Rights In Domain Names, Jeffrey R. Wiedmann

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Ending Surprise Liens On Real Property, Chad J. Pomeroy

Faculty Articles

Academics, lawmakers, and the general public have long believed that secret liens are problematic. In real property, these are liens that are not recorded in the real property filing system. Secret liens become especially problematic when they are enforced, despite their secrecy, against subsequent purchasers of the property. If the purchaser does not satisfy the lien by paying the underlying debt, the lien holder can foreclose on the property. One of the main purposes of having real property recording statutes was to avoid surprise liens (secret liens afforded priority over subsequent purchasers) and ensure that real estate purchasers and investors …

The Wholesale Decommissioning Of Vacant Urban Neighborhoods: Smart Decline, Public-Purpose Takings, And The Legality Of Shrinking Cities, Ben Beckman

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note is principally concerned with those takings that arise from the State's exercise of eminent domain, either directly or through the State's designee. To put a finer point on it, this Note addresses the distinction that property-rights advocates have developed to delegitimize certain types of takings. This distinction divides condemnations into disfavored-yet-legitimate takings-the direct-government-use and common-carrier takings-and ostensibly illegitimate public-purpose takings. The property-rights movement unequivocally places economic-development takings in the illegitimate category. The status of blight-remediation takings is ambiguous but tends toward legitimacy.

Technical Correction Or Tectonic Shift: Competing Default Rule Theories Under The New Uniform Probate Code, Lee-Ford Tritt

UF Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this article considers the default rules of testacy and intestacy, analyzes various policies proffered to justify these rules, and proposes that succession law should return to its original mission of effectuating decedent's intent. Part II introduces the case study of the 2008 UPC Amendments in a detailed description. Part III then analyzes whether the primary policy goal of testamentary intent and succession law's structural goals are effectuated by the 2008 UPC Amendments. Part IV provides recommendations to states considering adoption of the 2008 UPC Amendments on an a la carte basis and also recommends language for practitioners …

The Public Trust Doctrine And The Great Lakes Shores, Kenneth K. Kilbert

Cleveland State Law Review

The shores of the Great Lakes may look serene, but they are a battleground. Members of the public enjoy using the shores for fishing, boating, birding, or simply strolling along and taking in the scenic vistas. Repeatedly, however, owners of land ordering the Great Lakes (i.e., littoral owners),' armed with deeds indicating they own the shore to the water's edge or even lower, have tried to stop members of the public from using their property above the water's edge. The right to exclude others from your property, the littoral owners argue, is one of the most important sticks in the …

Forced Sale Risk: Class, Race, And The "Double Discount", Thomas W. Mitchell, Stephen Malpezzi, Richard K. Green

Faculty Scholarship

What impact does a forced sale have upon a property owner's wealth? And do certain characteristics of a property owner such as whether they are rich or poor or whether they are black or white, tend to affect the price yielded at a forced sale? This Article addresses arguments made by some courts and legal scholars who have claimed that certain types of forced sales result in wealth maximizing, economic efficiencies. The Article addresses such economic arguments by returning to first principles and reviewing the distinction between sales conducted under fair market value conditions and sales conducted under forced sale …

You Drank My Milkshake! Accusations Of Water Rights Takings In Estate Of Hage V. United States, Holly E. Cheong

Nevada Law Journal

This Note examines both the physical and regulatory takings of water rights found in Estate of Hage and provides an analysis of how takings law should apply to water rights. Part II of this Note provides a brief background of takings law under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution with a focus on case law involving water rights. Parts III and IV review the history of the Estate of Hage case and focus on the recent Estate of Hage decision, including Judge Smith's logic for finding that there was a taking of water rights. In Part V, this Note analyzes …

Solar Rights For Texas Property Owners, Sara C. Bronin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In response to Jamie France's note, A Proposed Solar Access Law for the State of Texas, Professor Bronin urges future commentators to focus on three additional areas of inquiry related to proposed solar rights regimes. Bronin argues that such proposals would be strengthened by discussion of potential legal challenges to the proposals, related political issues, and renewable energy microgrids. Ms. France’s proposal for the State of Texas includes the elimination of preexisting private property restrictions that negatively affect solar access. Bronin argues that this proposal would be strengthened by a discussion of potential challenges under federal and state takings clauses. …

A Fixer-Upper For Finance, Robert C. Hockett

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Three facts bear notice in connection with our current financial troubles. The first is that the First World War, before the Second began, was known as "the Great War." The second is that the global Depression that struck between those two wars, which for now we can still label "Great," commenced with the burst of a multiyear real estate price bubble prior to the 1929 stock market crash. The third is that the U.S. accordingly addressed that depression through mutually reinforcing new regimes not only of financial regulation, but also of home mortgage finance - the very reforms that brought …

Stop The Beach Renourishment Stops Private Beachowners' Right To Exclude The Public, Kristen G. Juras, Sydney F. Ansbacher, Robert K. Lincoln

Faculty Law Review Articles

In this article, the authors examine the various measures implemented by state and local governments to enhance public access to and use of government-owned tidelands, streambeds, and lake shores and how, although not necessarily titled as such, many of these measures result, without payment of compensation, in an easement allowing public access to and use of private waterfront property.

Section I describes the rights of riparian property owners and the right of the public to use government-owned shores and tidelands, followed by a general overview of various state legislative and judicial responses designed to address the conflicts that arise when …

Equal Standing With States: Tribal Sovereignty And Standing After Massachusetts V. Epa, Joseph Mead, Nicholas Fromherz

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

In Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), the Supreme Court held that Massachusetts was entitled to "special solicitude" in the standing analysis because it was sovereign. As a result, Massachusetts passed the standing threshold in a global warming case where an ordinary litigant may have been stymied. The Supreme Court’s analysis raises an interesting question: Are Indian tribes—which have been considered sovereign entities since before the founding, and which hold lands facing heavy environmental pressure—entitled to "special solicitude" as well? We think they should be.

To make this argument, we begin by discussing standing basics; dissecting Massachusetts v. …

Social Justice In The Surrogate's Courts, Margaret Valentine Turano

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

When the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development put out a call to the St. John's faculty for papers for this symposium, I knew I wanted to participate. How interesting, I thought, to view our respective disciplines through the lens of racial, social and economic justice. My area of expertise is Trusts & Estates, and at first blush the link between Trusts & Estates and social justice may seem attenuated, but the Surrogate's Courts are always abuzz with fiduciary issues, where one person is entrusted to safeguard another's interests, and in that context issues of social justice bubble …

Is It All About The Money? Considering A Multi-Factor Test For Determining The Appropriateness Of Forced Partition Sales In North Carolina, Lawrence Anderson Moye Iv

Campbell Law Review

This Comment examines partition sales in North Carolina. First is a brief review of tenancy in common ownership and the dissolution remedy of partition. This is followed by a more detailed look into North Carolina's current partition sales statute and recent efforts to amend it. Arguments favoring and opposing the addition of a multi-factor test to the current statute will be discussed, as well as case analysis from three states whose courts consider non-economic factors when determining the appropriateness of ordering a partition sale. The conclusion critiques the arguments for and against the addition of a multi-factor test, and also …