807 years ago today on a grassy plain down by the river, the barons convinced bad King John to affix his seal to Magna Carta. And boy was that guy bad even by the standards of medieval royals: when you type “bad king…” in your search engine, the first suggested search is
Worth checking out: Christopher Serkin, What Property Does, 75 Vand. L. Rev. 891 (2022).
Covering (inter alia) property, rule against perpetuities, adverse possession, Lucas background principles, judicial and regulatory takings, Mahon v. Keystone Bituminous, and vested rights and amortization of preexisting uses.
Here’s the abstract:
For centuries, scholars have wrestled with
We’ve been meaning to post the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s opinion in Barber v. Charter Twp of Springfield, No. 20-2298 (Apr. 11, 2022) for a while because it emphasizes an important point about “final decision” ripeness, and the sometimes ridiculous arguments made to support an argument that a takings claim
In case you have not already obtained your printed copy (you really should subscribe), it is now available in pdf format.
The theme for the issue is “Where Theory Meets Practice,” and with articles on “Property Beyond Flatland,” “Property Rights and the Modern Resurgence of Rent Control,” “Hurdles to Just Compensation,” “Implied Preemption in
We’ve covered some of the litigation against the federal government for its actions flooding property during Hurricane Harvey, including at least one from the “upstream” owners. Well here’s one from the case involving the “downstream” owners.
In Milton v. United States, No. 21-1131 (June 2, 2022), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
A hearty congratulations to our Pacific Legal Foundation colleagues Jeff McCoy (counsel of record), Jim Manley, Damien Schiff, and Ethan Blevins for today’s cert grant in a case that brings together dirt lawyers and federal courts nerds.
Wilkins v. United States asks whether the (federal) Quiet Title Act’s statute of limitations is “jurisdictional,”
Its deja vu all over again: like it did just a short while back, in Lafave v. City of New Orleans, No. 21-30358 (June 1, 2022), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit once again has rejected a takings claims “based on the city’s failure to honor a judgment of the
Here’s the latest in a case we’ve been following.
A Utah statute requires that if a condemnor doesn’t actually use property it acquired “under a threat of condemnation,” it must try and sell it back to the (former) owner. The statute defines “threat of condemnation” as when “an official body of the state or
On one hand, there’s nothing terribly surprising about the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline Partnership, LLC, No. 20-0567 (May 27, 2022) holding that yes, “polymer-grade propylene” qualifies as an “oil product” under Texas statutes that allow a private pipeline company to take property to transport oil products, and that yes
A “fish” need not be “connected to a marine habitat” after all.
You remember that classic lawyer joke?
A company is on the hunt for a new CEO and decides to undertake the search from within existing management. The hiring committee schedules interviews with the company engineer, the company accountant, and the company lawyer. The