Property Spring 2009

Property

Spring 2009

Professor Marcilynn A. Burke

Coursepage Outline

General Class Information

Links to Useful Websites

Course Outline

Syllabus

Meeting Place	TUII - 240
Meeting Times	Monday through Wednesday 10:30 - 11:45 a.m.
Office Hours	Mondays: 5:45 - 7:00 p.m.; Wednesdays: 2:30 - 4:30 p.m; or by appointment (e-mail to schedule)
Exam	May 12, 2009, 9:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. If you require special accomodations, please see Student Services. EVERYONE please meet in TUII-240 to receive a copy of the exam. Please take a seat at a desk to receive initial instructions and to complete initial administrative matters. Rooms: Typing - TUII-240 & TUII-211; Handwriting - TUII-215. Here is a sample exam. Here is a sample answer sheet for the multiple choice. Here are sample exam instructions. NOTE: These instructions are subject to change. Be sure to read the actual instructions when you receive you copy of the exam on exam day.
Required Text	Jesse Dukeminier & James E. Krier, Property (6th ed., Aspen Law & Business, 2006) [hereinafter "Casebook"] Perspectives on Property Law (Robert C. Ellickson, et al. eds., 3d ed., Aspen Law & Business, 2002) [hereinafter "Perspectives"] Linda H. Edwards, Estates in Land and Future Interests: A Step-by-Step Guide (3d ed. 2009) [hereinafter "Estates in Land"]
Grading	Your final grade will be based upon the final exam and class participation. Class participation will be counted in accordance with the Law Center's policy. The class will be divided into 3 panels for class participation purposes. On the day that your panel is "on", you will potentially be called upon. Each panel will be on every 3d class.
Coverage	Anticipate that the coverage will be approximately 15-25 pages per class. Assignments will be detailed below as the semester progresses.
Attendance Requirements	In accordance with the Law Center's requirement, you must attend at least 80% of the classes. Attendance will bet taken via a roll sheet passed around at the beginning of class. It is your responsibility to be on time and sign the roll sheet when it comes by your seat. Please see the General Class Requirements for additional information regarding absences.
General Class Requirements	Please see the linked document for General Class Requirements regarding attendance, participation, use of computers, exam policies, grading, and other important items.
Academic Enrichment Assistant	Bonnie Kim, bkim8@central.uh.edu
Links to Useful Documents	General Class Requirements Panels/Call List
Links to Useful Web sites	City of Houston Planning and Development Department Houston Code of Ordinances Municipal Codes On-line Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Texas General Land Office (GLO) Texas Historical Commission (THC) Texas State Statutes

Announcements

There are no announcements at this time.

Course Outline

I.	INTRODUCTION Property: What is it, how can I get some, and why do I care?
II.	TRANSFERS OF LAND The American Dream According to Fannie Mae
III.	ESTATES AND FUTURE INTERESTS My house is an estate? And who can (or can't) inherit it?
IV.	THE "ESTATE FOR YEARS": LANDLORD-TENANT What every law student should have known before getting his/her apartment.
V.	LAND USE CONTROLS/NON-POSSESSORY ESTATES When someone else can tell you what you can do with your property.
VI.	EMINENT DOMAIN AND TAKINGS This land is my land or is this land your land?

Syllabus

Date (2009)	Topic and Slides	Assignment
Jan. 20-28	Professor Greg Vetter
Feb. 2	Aquisition by Capture Cont'd	Required: Casebook: 27-35, 183-85 (inheritance terms) Estates in Land: 1-6 Perspectives: 180-90
Feb. 3	THE COMMONS	Required: Casebook: 35-50
Feb. 4	The Commons Cont'd (See slides for Feb. 3)	Required: Perspectives: 119-29
Feb. 9	The Problem of Social Cost: The Coase Theorem & Its Limitations	Required: Perspectives: 200-21 Optional: Ronald H. Coase, The Problem of Social Cost, 3 J.L. & Econ. 1 (1960) (the entire article - 23 pages)
Feb. 10	ACQUSITION BY CREATION	Required: Casebook: 51-59, Virtual Works, Inc. v. Volkswagen of America, Inc., 238 F.3d 264 (4th Cir. 2001) Optional: Trademark Infringement in Domain Names
Feb. 11	Acquisition by Creation Cont'd (and Personhood)	Required: Casebook: 62-65 Perspectives: 8-19 Casebook: 69-81 Perspectives: 336-43 Optional: White v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc., 971 F.2d 1395 (9th Cir. 1992)
Feb. 16	Acquisition by Creation Cont'd	Required: Casebook: 81-86, 48-49 note 5 Perspectives: 159-69 Optional: Michael A. Heller, The Boundaries of Private Property, 108 Yale L.J. 1163, 1167 (1999)
Feb. 17	Acquisition by Adverse Possession	Required: Casebook: 115-36 Perspectives: 190-99
Feb. 18	Acqusition by Adverse Possession Cont'd and THE LAND TRANSACTION: The Contract of Sale	Required: Casebook: 136-44, 453-54 Residential Contract of Sale (Texas Real Estate Commission) Casebook: 472-74, 478-88
Feb. 23	The Contract of Sale cont'd and The Deed	Required: Casebook: 488-93, 494 (skip Note on Merger)-502, 510-18 (skip notes 2 & 6) General Warranty Deed Special Warranty Deed Quitclaim Deed Optional: Suzanna Hartzell-Baird, When Sex Doesn't Sell: Mitigating the Damaging Effect of Megan's Law on Property Values, 35 REAL ESTATE L.J. 353 (2006).
Feb. 24	The Deed Cont'd and The Mortgage	Required: Casebook: 518-21, 532-46
Feb. 25	The Mortgage Cont'd and TITLE ASSURANCE: The Recording System	Required: Casebook: 546-65 Optional: The Crisis of Credit Visualized (11-minute video)
Mar. 2	Title Assurance: The Recording System Cont'd	Required: Casebook: 565-71
Mar. 3	Title Assurance: The Recording System Cont'd	Required: Casebook: 574-92 (please prepare written answers to questions in note 2 on p. 578-79) Perspectives: 304-19
Mar. 4	Title Assurance: The Recording System Cont'd	Required: Casebook: 592-604
Mar. 9	Title Assurance: The Recording System Cont'd; THE SYSTEM OF ESTATES: The Life Estate	Required: Casebook: 608-12, 183-85 (Inheritance of a Fee Simple - no Notes and Problems) Estates: 7-19 Casebook: 189-206
Mar. 10	The System of Estates Cont'd: Defeasible Estates	Required: Estates: 21-37 Casebook: 208-13
Mar. 11	FUTURE INTERESTS	Required: Estates: 39-49, 227-28
Mar. 16	SPRING BREAK
Mar. 17
Mar. 18
Mar. 23	Future Interests Cont'd	Required: Estates: 52-83, 228-29 Added 03/23/09 Casebook: 230 (Problems)
Mar. 24	Future Interests Cont'd: The Rule Against Perpetuities	Required: Estates: 85-96, 137-50 Casebook: 251-62
Mar. 25	Future Interests Cont'd: The Rule Against Perpetuities Cont'd	Required: Estates: 151-66, 231
Mar. 30	CONCURRENT INTERESTS	Required: Casebook: 275-300
Mar. 31	Concurrent Interests Cont'd & LANDLORD-TENANT LAW	Required: Casebook: 300-10, 363-68
Apr. 1	Landlord-Tenant Law Cont'd	Required: Casebook: 368-88
Apr. 6	Landlord-Tenant Law Cont'd	Required: Casebook: 393-410 Optional: For a Texas case on a *forcible entry and detainer* suit that took a considerable amount of time to resolve, see Meridian Hotels, Inc. v. LHO Financing Partnership I, 97 S.W.3d 731 (Tex. 2003). The opinion is short, however.
Apr. 7	Landlord-Tenant Law Cont'd	Required: Casebook: 410-18, 421-30 (skip note on illegal lease on 430-31)
Apr. 8	Landlord-Tenant Law Cont'd & JUDICIAL LAND USE CONTROLS: Nuisance	Required: Casebook: 431-440, 639-49 (skip note 2 on 642-43)
Apr. 13	Nuisance Cont'd & PRIVATE LAND USE CONTROLS: Easements	Required: Casebook: 649-77 (through note on licenses)
Apr. 14	*No class*
Apr. 15	Easements Cont'd	Required: Casebook: 682-96, 716-21
Apr. 20	Easements Cont'd & Covenants Warning: Long Reading Assignment	Required: Casebook: 725-50 (including the introduction to "Creation of Covenants"), 755-62
Apr. 21	Covenants Cont'd	Required: Casebook: 762-86
Apr. 22	Covenants Cont'd	Required: Casebook: 786-93, 798-809, 810-11 (Note 3 only) Optional: Lakeside Village CC&Rs
Apr. 27	EMINENT DOMAIN & THE PROBLEM OF REGULATORY TAKINGS	Required: Casebook: 941-56, 959-68 Optional: Marcilynn A. Burke, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: Kelo v. City of New London, Babbitt v. Sweet Home, AND OTHER TALES FROM THE SUPREME COURT, 75 U. CINN. L. REV. 663 (2006). Much Ado About Nothing Presentation Asmara Tekle-Johnson and Hugh Rice Kelly, Limit TMC Inc.'s Power to Condemn, Houston Chron., Apr. 25, 2009 H.B. 3709 (repealing the power of eminent domain and condemnation of residential property adjacent or contiguous to such the medical center for most purposes)
Apr. 28	Physical Occupations and Regulatory Takings	Required: Casebook: 973-80, 988-1006
Apr. 29	Takings Cont'd Revised slides posted on afternoon of 04/29/09	Required: Lingle v. Chevron, Casebook: 1025-38 Optional: Peter B. Lord, AfterNearly 50 Years, He's Ready to Build, Providence J.-Bull., June 25, 2008 (Palazzolo building one house on 3.6 acres).
May 4	Review Session	Students to come prepared with questions or to e-mail them ahead of time to be answered during the session.