Articles and publications

You are no doubt familiar with the “property is a bundle of sticks” metaphor. For nearly a century, private property rights have been described as a “bundle of sticks,” with each stick representing a distinct right associated with the ownership of property: the right to possess it, to exclude others, to use, alienate, and develop it, and so on. The metaphor is common parlance — but is it truly a good way to actually capture what this thing called “private property” means?
Recently, Pacific Legal Foundation and the George Mason Law Review gathered judges, scholars, practitioners, and students at the Law School for a symposium to try to shed some light on that question…
Continue Reading “Unpacking Private Property’s Bundle of Sticks” Symposium Report

Check this out, a new (to us, at least) article from lawprof Adam J. MacLeod, “Vested Rights and the Presumption of Lawful Use,” 2 Tex. A & M J. of Law & Civil Governance (2026). See if reading the Abstract doesn’t make you want to read the entire piece…
Continue Reading New(ish) Article: Adam J. MacLeod, “Vested Rights and the Presumption of Lawful Use,” 2 Tex. A & M J. of Law & Civil Governance (2026)

Worth a read: our colleague Sam Spiegelman’s latest piece that, as the title indicates, offers a theory to return Euclid and zoning laws to their harm-prevention roots, or abandon Euclid entirely. In “‘One Hundred Years of Solicitude’: Fixing the Nanny State of Zoning at Euclid’s Centennial,” 42 Touro L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2026) (working draft available at SSRN here), Sam urges a return to the “sic utere approach,” and limited to harm prevention, not social engineering.
Continue Reading New Article: Sam Spiegelman, “‘One Hundred Years of Solicitude’: Fixing the Nanny State of Zoning at Euclid’s Centennial,” 42 Touro L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2026)

Time to sign up for the upcoming “Unpacking Private Property’s Bundle of Sticks” Symposium, sponsored by our shop and George Mason Law Review. September 15, 2026, 12:15 – 5:45 p.m., Arlington, Virginia. …
Continue Reading Register Now For “Unpacking Private Property’s Bundle of Sticks” Symposium (PLF & GMU Law Review) (Sep. 15, 2026)

We like seeing student-authored pieces in our areas of interest, especially those where the subject is eminent domain. Here’s another example. In “Public Use on the Loose: Clarifying the Takings Clause’s Public Use Requirement,” author Megan Hoefs focuses on the pretext argument, arguing that the Public Use Clause imposes a good faith requirement.
Continue Reading New Note On Good Faith In Eminent Domain: “Public Use on the Loose: Clarifying the Takings Clause’s Public Use Requirement,” 53 Pepperdine L. Rev. 729 (Megan Hoefs)

Worth reading: a new (student-authored) piece, Michaela R. Hill, Not Just a Castle in the Sky: A Legal Remedy for Race-Based Takings in Virginia, 67 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1497 (2026). Here’s the summary: “This Note argues that Virginia….”…
Continue Reading New Note: Michaela R. Hill, “Not Just a Castle in the Sky: A Legal Remedy for Race-Based Takings in Virginia, 67 William & Mary L. Rev. 1497 (2026)

Be sure to check out this student note which criticizes the Second Circuit’s approach to pretextual takings in Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, 96 F.4th 209 (2d Cir. 2024), and offers a different way to analyze cases in which the government’s stated public use doesn’t appear to be its actual use or purpose for exercising eminent domain. …
Continue Reading New Must-Read Article: Anna Fein, Pants on Fire: How the Brinkmann Majority Forgot About the Takings Clause in a Takings Clause Case, 99 S. Cal. L. Rev. 405 (2025)

Worth checking out. Although academics (and, presumably, those who pay for the privilege) have been able to access a limited catalog of historic records and briefs from the U.S. Supreme Court, thanks to the Wolf Library at William & Mary Law School, those same records are now generally available, for free.

Go here to…

Check it out, the latest volume of the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Journal is now available, both in print for those who subscribe, and online for those who prefer the pdf versions. The pieces include something property rights for everyone: academic property, Supreme Court property practice, Contracts Clause, Zoning and Land Use, and Fourth Amendment.
Continue Reading Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Journal Vol. 14 Now Available

Check this out. A student-authored case summary from the latest edition of the Harvard Law Review, commenting on Fulton v. Fulton County Board of Commissioners, an Eleventh Circuit case we designated as an honorable mention in 2025’s highlights. The Fulton panel split 2-1 (and we understand that the case is pending a decision on the County’s en banc petition), with the majority addressing the issue the U.S. Supreme Court sidestepped in DeVillier v. Texas, 601 U.S. 285 (2024): do you need Congress’s ok to sue for just compensation for a taking?
Continue Reading Harvard Law Review Recent Case Summary: Eleventh Circuit Used A “Novel” Remedies Test To Hold The Just Compensation Clause Is Self-Executing