810 years ago today* on a grassy plain down by the river, the barons convinced bad King John to affix his seal to Magna Carta. Or the Magna Carta. Or Magna Charta. However you want to grammarize it. (And no, he didn’t “sign” it, they didn’t do things like that back then.)
And
Here’s news we’ve been waiting for.
The William and Mary Law School announced that Professor William Fischel will be awarded the 2025 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize at the annual conference in Williamsburg in October 2025.
The Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize is presented annually to a scholar, practitioner, or jurist whose work affirms the fundamental importance
Here’s the latest, a student-authored note, “‘Background Principles’ and the General Law of Property,” 138 Harv. L. Rev. 2071 (2025).
Here’s the argument:
Background principles are a strong medicine. When a court analyzes a takings claim, it must first identify the property interest at issue before deciding the more complex, discretionary question of
Check out the latest episode of the Lunch Hour Podcast, featuring lawprof Donald Kochan, “Property Rights, Regulation, and the Rule of Law.”
Here’s the description:
In this episode of The Lunch Hour with Federal Newswire, host Andrew Langer sits down with Professor Donald Kochan of the Antonin Scalia Law School at
In Bojorquez v. Florida, No. SC2023-0095 (June 5, 2025), the Florida Supreme Court reached a decision that a lot of other courts have reached: taxi licenses are not “private property” and therefore there’s no taking when the government does something to affect the value of those licenses. But this one has some interesting
Check out this recently-published student note: Cameron P. Hellerman, Misusing Eminent Domain: Pretextual Takings For A Traditional Public Use, 93 Fordham L. Rev. 2229 (2025).
The article considers the Second Circuit’s decision in Brinkmann v. Town of Southhold, about what we call “spite takings” — those in which the government’s stated public purpose
In this order, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois temporarily enjoined enforcement of Chicago suburb Glen Ellyn‘s prohibition on renting property for less than 30 days.
Blakelick owns a five-bedroom single family home that when purchased was not located in Glen Ellyn. Since 2022, it has been offering the
Here’s a recently-filed cert petition raising questions in a challenge to Los Angeles’ County’s imposition of ban on commercial evictions during Co-19. A lot of other jurisdictions around the country imposed eviction restrictions or prohibitions on residential properties, but LA County stood alone in restricting commercial evictions.
This one asks whether a party is categorically
In the wake of Kelo, the people of Virginia overwhelmingly amended their state constitution (the vote was 75% in favor) to make it much clearer about what qualifies as a public use supporting an exercise of eminent domain, what doesn’t qualify, and how public use is proven:
That the General Assembly shall pass no
In Brady v. City of Myrtle Beach, No. 23-1847 (May 16, 2025), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit made short work of the takings claims brought by several business owners who claimed the city directly or indirectly shut them down because their businesses contributed to a rise in crime in the