Land use law

Before the title of this post causes you to flee, please bear with us.

Oral arguments have just concluded in the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals in a fascinating case involving the nature of “Torrens” title and, in a broader sense, the nature of property rights themselves. Disclosure: we filed an amicus brief in the

If this article — Christie tells beachfront owners to sign easement for dunes or face ridicule — accurately relays the entire context of the situation, then something is seriously off here.

The article quotes New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as declaring that if shoreline property owners do not voluntarily surrender easements and allow the construction

Update: we removed the embedded video that was posted above, since CBS kept replacing it with other clips. Here’s a direct link to the video.

As our readers know, we follow with keen interest events in the People’s Republic of China (does anyone call it that, anymore?), especially those issues related to property and

The other shoe has dropped, and in “Environmental Lawyers Off Target With Criticism Of Callies,” U. Hawaii lawprof David Callies responds to and rebuts an earlier op-ed by the Director of the Sierra Club and an Earthjustice lawyer which criticized Professor Callies’ recently-published law review article (and follow-up interview) detailing the stunning

This one is not about takings, but this cert petition does relate to land and water, and come on, when the case involves Tombstone, Arizona calling out the federal government to a showdown — not at High Noon, but in the High Court — do you think we could have passed up the opportunity to

In Midwest Materials, Inc. v. Wilson, No. 84A04-1205-MI-258 (Feb. 27, 2013), the Indiana Court of Appeals held that Midwest did not suffer a taking for the loss of its property during the time a requirement that it provide water service to neighboring residences as a condition of a “special exception” needed to build a

(We’re not sure who captured and posted the above video — wasn’t us — but to whomever did so, thank you.)

Earlier this week, our colleague Mark M. Murakami spoke at the University of Hawaii Law School on a panel about “The PLDC and Property Rights in Hawaii.” PLDC refers to the Public

A quick one. An op-ed from yesterday’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser by the newly-appointed Director of Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting. In “City followed law in issuing Hao Street development permit,” he makes some good points in this piece about building permits for two single-family homes in east Honolulu, points we don’t usually see