1 / 14

Agenda for 26 th Class

Get ready for your upcoming law exam with this preparation and review session. Review class materials, ask questions, and receive exam advice from the professor. Don't miss out on this opportunity to excel in your studies.

wmays
Download Presentation

Agenda for 26 th Class

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Agenda for 26th Class • Admin stuff • Name plates • Handouts • Slides • Spring 2017 exam; Fall 2017 Exam • TA-led review session • Sat December 8, 10-noon, Rm. 3, Recording will be posted • Fall 2017 Altman exam (NOT Spring 2017) • Prof. Klerman review session • Monday 12/10, 10-noon, Rm. 101, Recording will be posted • Office hours, 12/10, noon-5 • No writing assignment, but • Prepare Spring 2017 exam • Prepare list of questions to ask me • Exam info • Ellickson & De Soto

  2. Exam • In class • Tuesday morning, December 11, 9-noon, at Law School • Multiple choice • Open book, can use calculator • MC Challenges as “essays” • Take home • Essay or essays • Tuesday afternoon, December 11, 1-9PM, download from portal • Open book, can use calculator • Integrity • You must do the exam alone • You cannot share or discuss exam questions with those who take exam later • Cheating has not been a problem at USC Law • If you cheat or help others to cheat, you can be expelled.

  3. Exam Advice • Read question carefully • Outline answer before starting to write, so well structured • Pay attention to genre • Memo to partner different is different from appellate opinion • Include one or two-paragraph executive summary at the beginning • Summarize key conclusions and reasons for those conclusions • NOT just road map • Use headings to separate issues • Cite statutes whenever relevant; cite to most specific subsection • Cite cases when they establish a new rule or when facts are similar or need to be distinguished; cite with just underlined first word of case name • Consider putting most important issues first • Make sure you justify your conclusions with reference to facts in the question • Take a break after completing your first draft • Go over one page outline/list of topics & issues to make sure you didn’t miss issues • Re-read the question and go over one-page outline again • Proofread and revise • Take a break • Reread question again, go over one-page outline again, revise again, proofread

  4. Study Tools • Old exams & model answers • Altman exams on Portal • Most recent are likely to be more relevant • Prof Altman particularly recommends 2015 • Remember • Prof. Altman and I covered somewhat different topics and cases • Law has changed • Student answers are not perfect • Model answers to writing assignments • www.klerman.com • Class recordings • MyLaw Portal, “Recorded Classes” • Class slides • www.klerman.com

  5. Review of Last Class • Nollan • If condition would be taking of property if separate requirement, then it may still be a taking if agreed to in exchange for permit • Unless “essential nexus” between condition and impact of development • Dolan • Govt must show “rough proportionality” between condition and impact of development • Koontz • Violation of takings clause even if permit denied • Required monetary payment can be taking

  6. Questions • Suppose that Prof. Altman owns 1000 acres of land that he wants to develop into 3000 residences. The city says it will give Prof. Altman a permit, only if Prof. Altman gives the city 10 acres of land for a school and fire station. Has the city violated the Takings Clause? • Suppose that Prof. Altman owns 1000 acres of land that he wants to develop into 3000 residences. The city says it will give Prof. Altman a permit, only if Prof. Altman gives the city $5 million for a school and fire station. Has the city violated the Takings Clause? • Suppose Prof. Barnett owns land in a flood plain. After a flood, the city adopted an “interim ordinance” prohibiting construction in the flood plain. Prof. Barnett applied repeatedly for a permit over a 6 year period, but his requests were denied, until, eventually, the city rescinded the interim ordinance and allowed Prof. Barnett to develop his land. Must the city compensate Prof. Barnett for the 6 year delay? • Suppose Prof. Rasmussen owns land near Lake Tahoe that he wants to develop into condominiums. The Regional Planning Agency imposed a 32 month moratorium on development while it formulated a comprehensive land use plan. Must the Agency compensate Prof. Rasmussen for the 32 month delay?

  7. Questions • Suppose Dean Guzman owns an undeveloped 2 acre parcel on the California Coast. He wants to build a house on the land. The California Coastal Commission says it will grant the permit only if Dean Guzman grants an easement allowing the public to walk along the beach in front of his property. Does that violate the Takings Clause? • Suppose a grocery store wants to expand. The city says it will give the grocery store a permit only if it gives the city a 12 foot strip of land along the road so that it can widen the street to add an additional lane. Does that violate the Takings Clause?

  8. Ellickson (1989) • Critique of “legal centrism” • Hypothesis of “wealth-maximizing norms” • Literature also uses term “private ordering” instead of “norms” • Whalers developed norms for property rights in whales • Property rights developed “anarchically out of social custom” • Rights were recognized and enforced in court • Rights minimized transactions costs and maximized the catch • Right whale fishery (Greenland) • Right whales are reasonably docile • “Fast-fish, loose-fish” rule • Whaler had right to whale only if harpoon with line attached to ship • Easy to administer and enforce • Sperm whale fisheries • Next slide

  9. Ellickson (1989) • Sperm whale fisheries • Sperm whales are more aggressive • “Iron holds the whale” rule • Ship that harpooned whale had right to it, if harpoon stuck and maintained fresh pursuit • More costly, ambiguous rule, but necessary b/c application of “fast-fish, loose-fish” rule would sink ships • Similar to Demsetz • Development of efficient property rights • But property rights emerge privately, rather than from state • In what ways did the system of property rights that Ellickson described work well? If what ways did it not work well? How might government have helped make the system work better? • Can you think of other forms of property that were formulated first privately and later received recognition by the government (or not)?

  10. Gold Rush I • Gold discovered in California in 1848 • No effective Government until at earliest 1850 • Territory had been ruled by Mexico • But lost to US in Mexican American War in 1848 • Each mining district established “Mining Codes” • Individual got certain area by working “claim” • All claims of equal size • Claims recorded • Could briefly leave claim for limited time and retain rights • By leaving tools in the hole • Lost claim if didn’t work it for a certain amount of time • “Claim jumper” could take over unused claim • Often right to follow seam laterally under another’s claim • Remarkably effective in constraining violence • But many disputes and much discrimination • More like whaling norms or Ostrom’s CPR institutions?

  11. Gold Rush II • Clay & Wright (2005) • Rules were not efficient • Inefficient “race” to find and exploit minerals • More efficient scheme would have involved larger claims worked by well-organized teams • Probably involving hired labor • Average miner earned barely $2 a day • Less than wage of unskilled worker in California circa 1850 • Some miners grew fabulously wealthy • But that was rare

  12. Critique of Norms • Critique of privately generated property rights • Generally involve first-possession rules • Easier to enforce and monitor • But generate inefficient “races” • Often more government involvement • Courts enforced whaling norms • Deal (2013) says courts generated the norms • California gold-miners essentially established their own governments • Coase (1974) • Private lighthouses, • But government collected “light dues” (taxes)

  13. De Soto • Under-development is caused by lack of secure property rights • Poor tend to live in informal sector • “Squatters” without legal title to homes and land • Workers in informal economy without business licenses • Informal sector cuts poor off from credit • Cannot borrow against home without legal title • “invisible parallel life” of property as collateral for debt • Can’t borrow for business that doesn’t have license • To foster development, governments should provide formal legal title • Formal legal title should mirror informal title • Informal title is well defined, but not legally recognized • “Listen to the barking dogs” • Lawyers need to study informal property rather than legal codes • Tremendously influential • Empirical evidence is mixed

  14. Questions • What is De Soto’s strongest argument for the importance of property rights for economic development? • What are some weaknesses in De Soto’s argument? • In what ways do Ellickson and De Soto share views about the role of government in the formulation and importance of property rights? In what ways do they differ?

More Related