Brigham-Kanner Conference

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University of Hawaii Law School Professor David Callies last night was presented with William and Mary Law School’s Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize which is “presented annually to a scholar, practitioner or jurist whose work affirms the fundamental importance of property rights.” 

As W&M notes about Professor Callies, a “prolific scholar whose work explores land use, property, and state and local government law, Callies has lectured around the world and authored or collaborated on about 90 articles and 20 books. He has been a member of the prestigious American Law Institute since 1990 and is the Benjamin A. Kudo Professor of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Prior to entering academia, he was an attorney in private practice and an assistant state’s attorney.”

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We’re spending today in a series of panels which explore and build upon Professor Callies’ lifetime of work. Michael Berger, a past Prize winner, kicked off…

Continue Reading Professor David Callies Awarded William & Mary Law’s Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize

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Save the date: the William & Mary Law School’s Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Project has selected University of Hawaii Law Professor David L. Callies as the 2017 recipient of the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize.

The Project has also announced the dates for the B-K Conference:

When: October 10-13, 2017

Where: William & Mary Law School, Williamsburg, Virginia

The 2016 Conference was held in The Hague, Netherlands, and in 2017, and as you can see, we’ll be returning to Williamsburg.  

The Conference starts with the traditional candlelight dinner and presentation of the Prize in the historic Wren Building, and the following day is a series of discussions about the prizewinner’s work, current issues in property law, and, naturally, property rights. The speakers and attendees are legal scholars and practicing lawyers, and there is also a large contingent of law students of course. 

Professor Callies will be…

Continue Reading Professor David Callies To Be Awarded Brigham-Kanner Prize At Property Rights Conference (Oct. 10-13, 2017), William & Mary Law School

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After the recent Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference in the Netherlands (very appropriate, as it was the home of the Dutch lawyer and property rights guy Hugo Grotius), we had the opportunity to visit one of that country’s notable museums, where we came across this odd piece, a somewhat worn and nondescript wooden chest. 

Upon closer inspection, it turns out that this might be the box in which Grotius stored his law books while he was in prison for life.

Turns out that it also might be the box in which he escaped from said imprisonment. We say “might be” because there are other boxes which lay claim to being “the” box.  

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No matter, because even if this box is only one “long thought to be the one from this famous story” and not the actual box, in our view, we’re still now only one degree of…

Continue Reading What’s In The Box? Hugo Grotius!

Here are the remarks we were to have presented today, the second day of the 2016 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference, being held in The Hague, Netherlands at the International Court of Justice. The panel subject was “Property Rights in Intangible Assets.” We were unable to deliver them due to the panel running of of time, one of the dangers of being the last speaker in a lineup of four. [Protip: if ever you’re on a speaking panel, you might want to think about slotting yourself ahead of the others; some pay no regard to those behind them in the queue, exceed their allotted time significantly (even after being notified that their time is up), and don’t even bother to acknowledge their lack of respect for others.] But no matter, here we go.

Defining and Protecting Property Rights in Intangible Assets:
New Frontiers, Uncharted Waters

As you might already be able…

Continue Reading Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference, The Hague: Property Rights In Intangible Assets

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Several years ago, William & Mary Law School’s Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference departed its usual Williamsburg, Virginia venue and held the event in Beijing. Holding the conference there allowed U.S. legal scholars and property law practitioners to share ideas and compare our ways with our PRC counterparts. The event was a great success.

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Now, W&M has followed up with another international venue for the Conference: the World Court (Peace Palace), in The Hague, Netherlands.

The Conference kicked off last night with a reception honoring this year’s Brigham-Kanner Prize winner, Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, who opened the Conference this morning with a summary of his work and theories. One of the most intriguing is that the “Arab Spring” was a cry for property and economic rights.Count us as convinced. 

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The panels began their presentations today. Ours focused on how property rights contribute (or not) to developing nations. My…

Continue Reading In Peace And In War: 2016 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference At The World Court

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As we noted here, this year’s Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference honoring Hernando de Soto will to be held in The Hague, Netherlands, at the International Court of Justice on October 19-21, 2016.

To push out word, the Owners’ Counsel of America kindly produced a press release announcing our participation in two of the panel discussions, “Property’s Role in the Fundamental Political Structure of Nations,” and “Defining and Protecting Property Rights in Intangible Assets.” 

We mention it here only to note, as this post’s headline states, this may be the only press release (ever?) to mention Hugo Grotius. Left unanswered: how to pronounce “Grotius.”

“I am honored to have been invited to speak at the Brigham-Kanner Conference, especially when the Conference is honoring Hernando de Soto, whose work on property rights has had such international influence,” said Thomas. “I’m also glad the Conference will be held at…

Continue Reading Maybe The Only Press Release Ever To Cite Hugo Grotius

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As we mentioned a few weeks ago, the final agenda for the 2016 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference has been released. Here’s the complete conference brochure, which has all the details, including registration information. 

This is the annual program, sponsored by the William and Mary Law School, in which there’s a day-long discussion of all things property rights among members of the academy, the bench, and the practicing bar. The Brigham-Kanner Prize is also presented “to an individual whose work has advanced the cause of property rights and has contributed to the overall awareness of the important role property rights occupy in the broader scheme of individual liberty.” The pantheon of prizewinners is a who’s-who in our area of law: Richard Epstein, James Ely, Michael Berger, Frank Michelman, Carol Rose, and Thomas Merrill, to name a few. Here’s the complete list of prizewinners. 

This year, the prize is being…

Continue Reading Property Rights Take Center Stage At The World Court: 2016 Brigham-Kanner Conference, October 19-21, 2016, The Hague

Last year, we posted about the Brigham-Kanner Conference, the annual meeting at William and Mary Law School where we talk all things property rights and award the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize. (By the way, this year’s conference will be held in The Hague, The Netherlands in October. But more on that soon, in a separate post.)

What we are posting today is a follow-up about Mike Berger’s presentation at the 2015 conference. His article — then only in draft form — is a critique of the theories of the 2015 Brigham-Kanner prizewinner, Harvard lawprof Joseph Singer. Recall that Berger was presented with the prize in 2014 — the first and thus far only practitioner to receive the award — which makes this article even more important.  

Berger’s article is now finalized, and has been published by the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Journal: “Property, Democracy, & …

Continue Reading Must Read: Michael Berger On “Property, Democracy, & The Constitution”

Earlier today, I moderated a panel of expert speakers on the topic of “Civil Forfeiture of Property” at the 12th Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference at William and Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia. 

Sara Sun Beale of Duke Law, Scott Bullock of the Institute for Justice, and Sandra Guerra Thompson of the University of Houston Law School were our speakers. Here are my introductory remarks:

Is the right of private property a “poor relation” to other civil rights, as the Supreme Court once warned? Or is the Takings Clause like the Pirate Code in Pirates of the Caribbean — more like what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules? 

If you were to look only at civil forfeiture laws — what one of our speakers has eloquently referred to as “policing for profit” — you might think so.

These laws allow government to seize private property without first convicting or even charging…

Continue Reading Introduction To The Civil Forfeiture Panel At The 2015 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference

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Greetings from the William and Mary Law School in (rainy) Williamsburg, Virginia, where we’re speaking at the 12th Annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference. 

This year’s B-K Prize winner is Harvard Law’s Joseph Singer, who we wrote is “an interesting choice, given his theory that a ‘robust regulatory structure’ goes hand-in-hand with property rights, liberty, and the free market. Robust regulation isn’t exactly what you might think of when you think property rights, is it?” As another lawprof noted about Professor Singer, he “is such a believer in private property that he thinks everyone should have some.”

If that quote doesn’t quite compute for you — it’s a nice thought, for sure, but how do you get from here to there is what we want to know — you are not alone. Last year’s B-K Prize winner, Michael Berger spoke during the first morning session, and submitted this piece…

Continue Reading “Joe is such a believer in private property that he thinks everyone should have some” – The 2015 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference