INTRODUCTION to PROPERTY

LAW 14 - C

Spring 2021
Professor Ileana Porras

E-mail: iporras@law.miami.edu

Office: Zoom

Office hours: Weds 4:00-5:30 (On Zoom - other times by appointment)

Assistant: Antoinette (Toni) Nelson – G264

E-mail: anelson@law.miami.edu
Tel: (305) 284 4277

Class Schedule and Location

This class will meet virtually by Zoom [Link provided on TWEN] Mon 4:10-5:50 &
Weds 2:00-3:40PM. We will break for five minutes half-way through each class.
Students should not “leave” the Zoom classroom at other times except for emergencies.
In addition, we will meet in an extended format on 3-4 Wednesdays over the course of
the semester for group work – specific dates TBD – 4:00-5:30PM. Attendance at
"extended sessions is MANDATORY.

Guest Lectures

We will have a couple of guest lecturers. TBD.

Required readings

The required text for this course is SINGER, BERGER, DAVIDSON & PEÑALVER
PROPERTY LAW: RULES, POLICIES, AND PRACTICES (6TH ED. 2014) = “CB”

**If you buy an older or newer edition of this casebook you will be solely
responsible for figuring out corresponding pages for each assignment and will be
held responsible for determining and reading any missing material.

“ARR” refers to Additional Required Readings to be distributed or posted on the class

TWEN page.

A useful supplementary text you may want to consider acquiring is Joseph William
Singer, Property (Aspen Treatise Series) – 3rd edition. This is a paperback book and if

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you get an older edition – such as the 3rd edition, you should be able to find a pretty
cheap copy.
For those of you who want to explore Property Law topics in greater depth, I have posted
a number of classic and important law review articles on a variety of topics on the TWEN
site. These are not required readings but are strongly recommended.

Books that are available as e-books in the library that you may find useful include:

Brooks, Richard R. W., and Carol M. Rose. Saving the Neighborhood : Racially
Restrictive Covenants, Law, and Social Norms, Harvard University Press, 2013

Please note that some Units may stretch over more than one class time. Also, be aware
that this syllabus is subject to change and will be updated from time to time. Additional
readings may be assigned from time to time. Please check the TWEN page regularly for
updates.

Class Participation

I expect you to come prepared for each class session – whether you are on the Panel* or
not. “Preparation” for a class session means that you should have familiarized yourself
with, and thought critically about, the material assigned for that class session with a view
to contributing towards class discussion if asked to do so. If you have been unable to
prepare for a particular class session, please let me know before class. Provided that your
unpreparedness does not become a regular occurrence, I will not expect you to contribute
towards class discussion on that day. Please note that class participation could affect your
grade, either positively or negatively. What matters here is not quantity but quality.

*Panels – The class will be divided into panels. For each class a panel will be assigned.
All students on the panel are required to participate for their class panel.

Exam

The final exam will be a timed exam.

Syllabus
Unit 1. Introduction

CB pp. xxxi-xlvi - A Guide to the Book

ARR BLACKSTONE’S COMMENTARIES ON THE LAW’S OF ENGLAND , Book
II, Chapter 1, On Property (excerpt)
ARR Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter XXXIII
ARR THE MYSTERY OF CAPITAL, Hernando de Soto: Chapter 1, The Five
Mysteries of Capital (2000)
ARR The Case for Reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic (2014)

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 CB State v. Shack, pp. 3-9

Part I. Trespass: The Right to Exclude and Privilege to Access

Unit 2. Common limits on the right to exclude

CB 3-40
State v. Shack, pp. 3-9 (re-read)
Desnick v. American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., pp. 9-12.
Notes and Questions, pp. 12 – 20
Uston v. Resorts International Hotel, Inc., pp. 21–24
Notes and Questions, pp. 24-29
Problems, pp. 29-30
Trespass Remedies
Glavin v. Eckman, pp. 30-35
Jacque v. Steenberg Homes, Inc., pp. 35-38
Notes and Questions, p.38
*Hohfeldian Terminology, pp. 39-40

ARR Cohen, M., Property and Sovereignty (1927)

ARR Hale, R., Bargaining, Duress and Economic Liberty (1943)

Unit 3. Public Accommodation Statutes

Reading Statutes
CB 40-53
Federal Antidiscrimination Law
Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title II, pp. 41-42
Civil Rights Act of 1866, p. 42
Notes and Questions, pp. 43-47
Problems, pp. 47-8
State & Local Laws
New York Executive Law, Art 15, pp. 48-49
Notes and Questions, pp. 49-52
Problem, p. 52

Unit 4. Free Speech Rights of Access to Public and Private Property/ Beach
Access & Public Trust
CB 61-82
Lloyd Corp. Ltd. v. Tanner, pp.61-65
Notes, pp. 65-67
Problems, pp. 67-68
Matthews v. Bay Head Improvement Association, pp. 68-74
Notes and Questions, pp. 74-77
Problems, pp. 77-8
Text, pp. 78-81

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 Problem, p. 82

II. Nuisance: Resolving Conflicts Between Free Use & Quiet Enjoyment

Unit 5. Nuisance
CB 333-359
Text, pp. 333-336
Dobbs v. Wiggins, pp.336-342
Page County Appliance Center, Inc. v. Honeywell, Inc., pp. 342-345
Notes and Questions, pp. 346-352
Problems, pp. 352-353
Nuisance Remedies, pp. 353-355
Boomer v. Atlantic Cement Co., pp. 355-359

ARR Calabresi, G. & Melamed, A.D., Property Rules, Liability Rules,

and Inalienability: One view of the Cathedral (1972)

Unit 6. Light and Air/Water Rights

CB 367-400
Fontainebleau Hotel Corp. v. Forty-Five Twenty-Five, Inc., pp. 367-369
Prah v. Maretti, pp. 369-375
Notes and Questions, pp. 375-376
Law & Economics Analysis of Nuisance, pp. 376-388
Armstrong v. Francis Corp., pp. 388-392
Notes and Questions, pp. 392-394
Policy Arguments and Counterarguments, pp. 394-400

ARR Kennedy, Duncan, Form and Substance in Private Law

Adjudication (read only pp.1-16).

Unit 7. Support Rights

CB 400-418
Text, p. 400
Noone v. Price, pp. 401-405
Notes and Questions, pp. 405-407
Massachusetts State Building Code, p. 408
International Building Code, p. 408 (skim)
Notes and Questions, pp. 408-409
Friendswood Development Co v. Smith SW Industries, Inc., pp. 409-416
Notes and Questions, pp. 416-418

III. Prescription

Unit 8. & 9 Relativity of Title & Possession

CB 150-161
Armory v. Delamirie, pp. 150-1
Notes and Questions, pp. 151-153

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 Charrier v. Bell, pp.153-155
Notes and Questions, pp. 157-158
Christy v. Scott, pp. 158-160
Notes and Questions, p. 160
Problems, pp. 160-161
Adverse Possession
CB 283-311
Text, p. 281
Brown v. Gobble, pp. 283-288
Notes and Questions, pp. 289-295
Text, pp. 295-296
Romero v. Garcia, pp. 296-298
Notes and Questions, pp. 298-299
Nome 2000 v. Fagerstrom, pp. 299-305
Notes and Questions, pp. 305-306
Text, pp. 306-311
Prescriptive Easements
CB 311-318
Text, p.318
Community Feed Store, Inc. v. Northeastern Culvert Corp., pp. 311-315
Notes and Questions, pp. 315-317
Problems, pp. 317 – 318

IV. Servitudes

Unit 10. Express Easements/Implied Easements

CB 511-556
Text, pp. 511-518
Green v. Lupo, pp. 518-520
Notes and Questions, pp. 520-521
Problem, p. 522
Cox v. Glenbrook Company, pp. 522-527
Henley v. Continental Cablevision of St. Louis County, Inc., pp. 527-529
Notes and Questions, pp. 529-533
Problems, p. 533
Text, pp. 533-534
Lobato v. Taylor, pp. 534-541
Notes and Questions, pp. 541-544
Granite Properties Limited Partnership v. Manns, pp. 544-550
Notes and Questions, pp. 550-551
Finn v. Williams, pp. 551-553
Notes and Questions, pp. 553-555
Problems, pp. 555
Text, p. 556

Unit 11. Covenants

CB 556-576
Text, pp. 556-559

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 Neponsit Property Owners’ Association v. Emigrant Industrial Savings
Bank, pp. 560-563
Notes and Questions, pp. 563-572
Problems, pp. 572-574
Text, pp. 574-576

Unit 12. Covenants in Residential Subdivisions, Condominiums and Other

Multiple Owner Developments
CB 576-578, 586-598
Text, pp. 576-8
Evans v. Pollock pp. 578-581
Sanborn v. Maclean pp. 581-582
Riley v. Bear Creek Planning Committee pp. 582-583
Notes and Questions, pp. 583-586
Problems, p. 586
Text, pp. 586-591
Appel v. Presley Cos., pp.591-594
Notes and Questions, pp.594-596
Problems, 596-8

Unit 13. Substantive Limitations on Creation and Enforcement of Covenants

CB 598-647
Text, p. 598
Davidson Brothers, Inc. v. D. Katz & Sons, Inc., pp. 599-604
Nahrstedt v. Lakeside Village Condominium Assoc., Inc., pp. 604-610
Notes and Questions, pp. 610-612
Problem, pp. 612-613
O’Buck v. Cottonwood Village Condominium Assoc., Inc., pp. 614-617
Neuman v. Grandview at Emerald Hills, Inc., pp. 617-620
Notes and Questions, pp. 620-622
Problems, p. 622
Shelley v. Kraemer, pp. 623-629
Notes and Questions, pp. 629-633
Problem, p. 633
Text, pp. 634-635
Northwest Real Estate Co. v. Serio, pp. 635-636
Woodside Village Condominium Assoc., Inc. v. Jahren, pp. 637-642
Notes and Questions, pp. 642-646

ARR David J. Kennedy, Residential Associations as State Actors:

Regulating the Impact of Gated Communities on Nonmembers, 105 Yale
L.J. 761 (1995-6)

Unit 14. Modifying and Terminating Covenants

CB 647-658
El Di, Inc. v. Town of Bethany Beach, pp. 647-651
Notes and Questions, pp. 651-652

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 Text, pp. 653-655
Blakely v. Gorin, pp. 655-658
Notes and Questions, p. 658
Conservation easements TBD

V. Present Estates and Future Interests

Unit 15. Interpreting Ambiguous Conveyances; Presumption Against

Forfeitures
CB 737-767
Text, pp. 737-752
Problems, p.753
Wood v. Board of County Commissioners of Fremont County, pp. 753-
755
Edwards v. Bradley, pp. 755-758
Notes and Questions, pp. 758-761
Text, p. 761
McIntyre v. Scarbrough, pp. 761-764
Notes and Questions, pp.764-767

Unit 16. Rule Against Perpetuities

CB 780-792
Text, pp. 780-787
Problems, pp. 787-788
Text, pp. 788-792

VI. Common Ownership of Residential Property

Unit 17. Varieties of Common Ownership

CB 661-686
Text, pp. 661-669
Olivas v. Olivas, pp. 669-672
Notes and Questions, p. 672-3
Problems, pp. 673-674
Carr v. Deking, pp. 674-675
Tenhet v. Boswell, pp. 675-678
Notes and Questions, pp. 679-80
Sawada v. Endo, pp. 680-684
Notes and Questions, pp. 684-686
Problem, p. 686

Unit 18. Marital Property

CB 693- 711
Text, pp. 693-699
Montana Equitable Distribution Statute, pp. 700-701
O’Brien v. O’Brien, pp. 701-707
Notes and Questions, pp. 707- 710

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 Problems, pp. 710-711

VII. Property and Sovereignty

Unit 19. Land Use Regulation: Origins, Authority and Process

CB 421-460
Text, pp. 421-422
Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., pp. 422-428
Notes and Questions, p. 428-431
Text, pp. 431-434
Town of Belleville v. Parrillo’s, Inc., pp. 434-437
Notes and Questions, pp. 437-439
Stone v. City of Wilton, pp. 439-442
Notes and Questions, p. 442
Problems, pp. 443-444
Text, p. 444
Durand v. IDC Bellingham, L.L.C., pp. 445-450
Notes and Questions, pp. 450-452
Text, pp. 452-3
Krummenacher v. Minnetonka, pp. 453-457
Notes and Questions, pp. 458-459
Text, 459-460

Unit 20. Exclusionary Zoning

CB 461-473
Southern Burlington County, NAACP v. Township of Mount Laurel, pp.
461-469
Notes and Questions, pp. 469-473

Disability
If you have a disability, or suspect that you may have a disability, the Law School
encourages you to contact The Office of Disability Services for information about
available opportunities, resources, and services. You may also visit the Office of
Disability Services website at www.law.miami.edu/disability-services.