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Dive into the complexities of American property law, understanding rights, limits, and disputes. Discover the metaphor of the "Bundle of Sticks" in land ownership and the interplay of property, torts, and contracts.
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PROPERTY A SLIDES 1-16-15
PROPERTY A (FAJER)Music: Shania Twain, Come On Over (1997) Please Take a Seat in the First Four Rows
PROPERTY A (FAJER) INTRO TO THE SUBJECT MATTER LOGISTICS JACQUE& THE RIGHT TO EXCLUDE
Property: Course is About Americans • Strong Libertarian Streak in U.S.: • “You Can Do Anything You Want With Your Own Property”
Property: Course is About Americans • Strong Libertarian Streak: • “You Can Do Anything You Want With Your Property” v. • Moralist/Busybody Streak • E.g., AZ Homeowners’ Assn. Searching for Porn
Property: Course is About Americans Logically, there must be some limits on what you can do on your own land.
Property: Course is About Americans Logically, there must be some limits on what you can do on your own land. E.g., not a defense to murder
Property: Course is About Americans Logically, there must be some limits on what you can do on your own land.
Property: Course is About Americans Logically, there must be some limits on what you can do on your own land. In practice, in U.S. today, LOTS of limits!
Property D: Subject Matter • Selected Topics re RealProperty: • Land & Attached Buildings • Cf. Personal Property (movable objects, money, intangible property)
Property D: Subject Matter • Selected Topics re RealProperty • We’ll explore nature of, and restrictions on, land ownership in American legal system. • We’ll try to develop ideas re what kinds of limits/ restrictions are appropriate.
PropertyDisputesv.Torts&Contracts Shania Twain: Crossover Fusion of Country & Pop
PropertyDisputesv.Torts&Contracts Types of Relationships Involved • Torts: Mostly accidental one-time interactions between strangers. • Contracts: Mostly voluntary single-purpose relationships • Property: Disputes often between people who are semi-stuck with each other (e.g., family or neighbors)
PropertyDisputesv.Torts&Contracts Types of Relationships Involved • Property: Often People Who Are Semi-Stuck with Each Other (Family or Neighbors) • Often separate (non-legal) issues real motivation for nasty litigation • Sometimes cases/problems can touch student nerves in unexpected ways (E.g., death in Chapters 4-5)
PropertyDisputesv.Torts&Contracts Which Comes First? • Property Rights Necessarily Precede… • Tort Judgments • Contract Rights
PropertyCoursev.Torts&Contracts Contracts Professors are Considerably Taller
PropertyCourse v.Torts&Contracts Challenges: Vocabulary • Torts: Ordinary words turn out to have technical non-obvious legal meanings: e.g., duty; cause; reasonable • Property: In addition, need to learn & memorize a lot of non-ordinary (i.e., obscure) vocabulary
PropertyCourse v.Torts&Contracts Challenges: Expectations v. Reality • Contracts: • You expect “Is there a contract?” to be a legal question, but it’s usually factual. • Course mostly not about “How to Create Contracts.” • Like a course called Marriage taught entirely out of divorce records. • Dean Gudridge on Promises in Contract Courses
PropertyCourse v.Torts&Contracts Challenges: Expectations v. Reality • Property: • You expect “Whose property is it?” to be a factual question, but it’s usually legal. • Rules re what you can do with your own stuff much more complex than most people expect. • Lots of relevant interests beside those of the “owner.” • Like a course called Marriage based largely on the stories of family and friends.
PropertyCourse v.Torts&Contracts Challenges: Big Picture? • Torts: Lots of time on a few causes of action, so you have to pay attention to small factual distinctions. • Contracts: Subjects covered very interrelated, so often hard to make sense of individual topics until you get close to completing the whole course. • Property: Survey course; each chapter has a different legal structure that doesn’t relate much to the others.
Property: The Metaphor of the Bundle of Sticks Land Ownership Includes Many Possible Rights • Normal Package in U.S. Includes: • right to use as you wish in the present • right to use as you wish in the future • right to transfer: sell or lease or devise • right to extract minerals • right to exclude • etc., etc., etc.
Property: The Metaphor of the Bundle of Sticks Land Ownership Includes Many Possible Rights • Normal Package in U.S. Includes Long List • Common to Have Some Rights and Not Others. • Temporal Divisions: E.g., Landlord & Tenant • Physical Divisions: E.g., Mineral Rights & Surface Rights • Shared Use: E.g., Utility Easements
Property: The Metaphor of the Bundle of Sticks Land Ownership Includes Many Possible Rights • Normal Package in U.S. Includes Long List • Common to Have Some Rights; Not Others. • Yields “Bundle of Sticks” Metaphor
PROPERTY A (FAJER) INTROTO THE SUBJECT MATTER LOGISTICS JACQUE& THE RIGHT TO EXCLUDE
LOGISTICS: Some Basics • Apology for Awkward First Week • Readings for 2d/3d Classes Next Tues & Thurs
LOGISTICS: Some Basics • Dean’s Fellow: David Jarzabek • Details on Sessions Next Week • Casebook • Circulating • Seating Chart (I’ll Use First Names) • Lunch Sign-Up List
LOGISTICS: Course Mechanics & Requirements Next Thursday: Lunches Begin • Operation: • Meet on Bricks @ 11:55; We’ll Go to Food Court or SAC Law Room • You Can Bring Food or Buy It There/On the Way • Schedule is Posted On Course Page • I’ll Remind You in Class on the Day You’re Scheduled • E-Mail Me if You Want to Add on or to Reschedule • Courtesy: If you have to cancel at last minute or know you’ll be late, please let my assistant or one of the other students know (I won’t see last minute e-mails)
LOGISTICS: Course Mechanics & Requirements Details in Info Memo #1; E-Mail if Qs • Daily Assignments Starting Next Week in Assignment Sheet Posted on Course Page (Should be self-explanatory) • Breaks each class; begin at 7:55 a.m. starting next Tuesday • Office Hours: Tues 10:00-11:45; Wed 2:45-4:30 • First Come, First Served • Or make separate appointment by e-mail
LOGISTICS: Course Mechanics & Requirements Guidelines for Making Classroom Effective • Trying to get through lot of material sometimes I need to cut people off & can’t take all Qs • Large Room Means Special Need for Courtesy: • Avoid Distractions in the Room • (My ADD & Yours)
LOGISTICS: Course Mechanics & Requirements Guidelines for Making Classroom Effective Avoid Distractions in the Room: Entry & Exit • On time at beginning & after break • Stay in seat until break absent emergency • If late or have to leave & return orhave to leave early, minimize disrupt; enter & sit in back • At end, wait till I’m done to start to pack up. (Good source of cranky!)
LOGISTICS: Course Mechanics & Requirements Guidelines for Making Classroom Effective Avoid Distractions in the Room: While We Work • Please don’t talk to each other (pass notes). • Don’t wave hands while I’m working w someone else; wait till I ask for volunteers. • No games, movies, graphic displays on screens.
LOGISTICS: Course Mechanics & Requirements Guidelines for Making Classroom Effective Importance of Discussion Questions • Heart of class discussion i) Give you sense of what I care about & will test on ii) Worth careful prep • Rarely yes/no answers • Try to be Specific iii) You’ll benefit from reviewing right before class
LOGISTICS: Course Mechanics & Requirements Guidelines for Making Classroom Effective Importance of Discussion Questions • Heart of class discussion • I will handle DQs in different ways i) Most:I will call on folks on relevant panel ii) Some: I’ll lecture through iii) Some: I’ll skip in class and write-up later
LOGISTICS: Course Mechanics & Requirements Guidelines for Making Classroom Effective Panel System • Starting Up (See Assignment Sheet) • 1st3 classes all on call • Class 4 (Next Friday): alphabetical assignments • Starting w Class 5 (Tuesday 1/27), most material assigned to panels • Next Week We’ll Set Panels
LOGISTICS: Course Mechanics & Requirements Guidelines for Making Classroom Effective Panel System: Essentially a Contract • For material for which you aren’t on-call: • You have flex to decide when to read • I won’t monitor or cold call BUT you’re ultimately responsible • When on-call: • Carefully prep assigned material to help class go smoothly • Professional Responsibility to be prepared; others rely on you
LOGISTICS: Course Mechanics & Requirements Guidelines for Making Classroom Effective Panel System: Essentially a Contract • When I Call on You, “Being Prepared” Means: • You are paying attention (slides will tell you when your panel is at bat) • You can respond without scrolling or fumbling through your notes (keep any notes you would like to use easily accessible; print out if need be) • You can discuss the relevant points (as opposed to reciting a fully scripted answer)
LOGISTICS: Course Mechanics & Requirements Next Week: Ways to Think About Second Semester Skills I’d Like You to Work on in This Class
PROPERTY A (FAJER) INTROTO THE SUBJECT MATTER LOGISTICS JACQUE & THE RIGHT TO EXCLUDE
Jacque & the Right to Exclude DQ1.01: Jacque quotes the U.S. SCt as saying that the right to exclude is one of the “most essential” rights of a landowner.Why is it so important?
Jacque & the Right to Exclude DQ1.01: Why is right to exclude so important? Reasons include that, without it … Can’t enjoy land fully if others wandering on and off. Os lack sense of control/security/privacy. Possibility of actual damage to land/bldgs Os less likely to invest in development. Os might overinvest in deterrence (walls, security guards, guns etc.) (cf. rich people now) Others might develop interests that can interfere w ownership (Adv. Poss. /Prescr. Easements)
Jacque & the Right to Exclude DQ1.02. The court says an intentional trespass causes “actual harm” to the property owner even if the harm is non-monetizable. Aside from the risk of adverse possession, what kind(s) of harm do you think the court has in mind? (Some overlap with DQ1.01)
Jacque & the Right to Exclude DQ1.02: Non-monetizable harms that can result from intentional trespass include … Psychic Harms (re Enjoyment/Control/Security/Privacy) Forced Associations Loss of Respect for Legal System/Tendency to Self-Help Underinvestment in Development Overinvestment in Deterrence/Security
Jacque: Background Location: Schleswig , Wisconsin Name suggests founded by German immigrants Manitowoc County (Lake Michigan coast)
Green Bay Sheboygan
Jacque: Background Facts: D had to deliver mobile home Easiest way across Ps’ land Ps repeatedly denied permission to cross land D crosses anyway D pays small fine to county for criminal trespass
Jacque: Background Procedure: P brings tort suit: Intentional Trespass Jury awards damages: Compensatory = Nominal (= finding of none) Punitives = $100K WHY NO ACTUAL HARM HERE?
Jacque: Background Procedure: Jury awards damages: Compensatory = Nominal Ps retired so no operating business to be harmed Wisc. winter so no harm to frozen ground Punitives = $100K WHY GOOD CASE FOR PUNITIVES?
Jacque: Background Procedure: Jury awards damages: Compensatory = Nominal Punitives = $100K: Good Case Ds told “No” multiple times but didn’t care Tried to hide Laughed afterward
Jacque: Background P wins Intentional Trespass Claim; Jury Awards: Nominal Compensatory Damages $100KPunitives Lower courts don’t allow punitives Follow Wisconsin tort precedents Ps can’t get punitives if no compensatory damages (“No Pain, No Gain” Rule)