Fall 2024

5258 Eminent Domain and Private Property Rights - HODGE/STOREY- 15405

Professor(s): Justin Hodge (ADJUNCT)
Judge Linda Storey (ADJUNCT)

Credits: 2

Course Areas: Real Property, Trusts and Estates

Time: 1:00p-3:00p W Location: 213

Course Outline: Texas is home to eight of the nation’s 15 fastest-growing cities and boasts five of the top 10 cities in the total number of new residents. This growth is not a new phenomenon. Texas has added more residents than any other state since 2000. But what happens when the infrastructure growth associated with the Texas population boom impacts private property owners?

An inherent tension exists between public projects needed to accommodate Texas’s expansive growth and fundamental property rights protected by the U.S. and Texas Constitutions. Eminent domain—the power of a governmental entity (or those with its delegated authority) to take private property and convert it into public use for just compensation—is designed to balance public and private property interests. Class discussions and reading assignments will explore whether the current eminent domain framework protects property owners and the public. The subject is generally divided into two interrelated parts: (1) the origins of eminent domain, public use, and public necessity; and (2) “just” compensation (including evidentiary and procedural issues that impact value).

Course Syllabus: Syllabus

Course Notes: (Face-to-Face) The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is listed in parenthesis. For this instruction mode, instructors and students are expected to normally be physically present in the classroom. If the course has a final examination, it will be in a classroom requiring your physical presence. Other assessment, such as a mid-term exam, may also be in a classroom. Whether this instructor will offer “remote presence” (starting a zoom meeting from the podium computer to enable student remote access on an occasional basis) for part or all of the semester is not known, but students should not rely on an expectation that remote presence will be available.

Prerequisites:

First Day Assignments:

Final Exam Schedule: 12/10/20241-3pm 210

This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:

Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No

Experiential Course Type: No

Bar Course: No

DistanceEd ABA: No

Pass-Fail Student Election: Available

Course Materials

No book required for this course

Materials will be circulated and/or posted electronically.