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If there’s one downside to the law school experience from the teacher’s side of the lectern, it’s grading. Especially at a law school like William and Mary that has a pretty strict mandatory curve.

In an upper-division course like “Eminent Domain and Property Rights Law,” where we’re dealing with some very high-level stuff and the quality of the students is uniformly excellent, that makes for some hard choices at this time of year. But we’ve wrapped up grading, and have submitted the official scores.

Although I cannot share with you all the papers themselves, I don’t think my students would mind if I give you a sampling of the topics and titles, just so you can see how the next generation of lawyers is thinking about this area of law: 

  • One Man’s Castle is Another Man’s Parking Lot: A Homeowner’s Theory of Eminent Domain
  • Native Title: Concept and

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Continue Reading The Circle Is Now Complete: A Sampling Of Final Paper Topics From William and Mary Law’s Eminent Domain & Property Rights Course

One does not simply walk to nashville

You can also fly, drive, or bike to the upcoming 37th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference. in Nashville. Limited space still available, so don’t delay further and register now. We’re on track to record attendance, so you don’t want to miss the best nationally-focused three-day program on our area of law.

Takings, Knick, compensation, appraisals … and a bit of fun thrown in. We have many new attendees, and many new speakers, too.  Continue Reading (Nearly) Last Chance To Join Us In Nashville For ALI-CLE’s Eminent Domain Conference

We were not as creative as our colleague Paul Henry (see below), but our Planning Co-Chair Joe Waldo and I wanted to personally invite you to join the “big guns” in our area of law at the 37th Annual ALI-CLE Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation Conference, January 23-25, 2020, in Nashville, Tennessee.

We’ve assembled an excellent faculty, and an agenda that covers the hot topics of the day. Go here to view the complete faculty list and agenda. Water rights, Knick, appraisal, ethics, civil rights, and a whole lot more in three days of the longest (and we think best) conference in our area of law. Also, for those new to the field, Andy Brigham and Jack Sperber are again leading their “Eminent Domain 101” program. A great way to learn the topic, or for experienced lawyers to get a quick refresher on the basics. Your registration…

Continue Reading Don’t Miss Out: Join The “Big Guns” And Secure Your Space At ALI-CLE’s Upcoming Eminent Domain & Land Valuation Litigation Conference (Jan 23-25, 2020, Nashville)

Here’s the video of (most, but not all of) the recent session featuring four lawprofs discussing “Originalism and Constitutional Property Rights” at the Federalist Society lawyers’ meeting. 

Interesting debate, all about the text of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, the “original public meaning of the Takings and Due Process clauses, and all that heady stuff. Here were our major takeaways:

  • Professor Somin argued that decisions like Kelo and Berman are not consistent with the original public meaning of the terms of the Takings Clause. 
  • Professor Merrill asserted there’s a good textualist argument that the Public Use Clause is not a limitation on the government’s power to take. If there’s a private benefit taking, that is best handled by other parts of the Constitution (such as due process).
  • Also, from Prof. Merrill: between Kelo and the backlash, the backlash was the “true constitutional moment.”
  • Professor Lazarus thought the regulatory

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Continue Reading What Is The Original Public Meaning Of The Fifth (And Fourteenth) Amendments?

Registration underway, so come join us! Agenda full of hot topics in takings and appraisal law! The best national faculty! Renew friendships, and make new colleagues! And Nashville! 

Download the brochure and make your plans for January. (Don’t wait, we’ve sold out the past three years.)Continue Reading Register Now! ALI-CLE Eminent Domain And Land Valuation Litigation Conference (Nashville, Jan 23-25, 2020)

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Here is a transcript of the remarks I delivered today at the 2019 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference. I was honored to join lawprof Henry Smith and Florida Supreme Court Justice (ret.) Ken Bell (who authored the Florida court’s opinion in Stop the Beach Renourishment which was challenged in SCOTUS as a “judicial taking”) to speak about “Public Resources and Private Rights” (moderated by Professor Katherine Mims Crocker). After paying our respects to 2019 B-K Prize winner Professor Steven Eagle, we each addressed some part of the question.

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The New New Property

As always, I bring to you tidings of “aloha” from the state where the legislature thought it was a going to reduce the price of residential housing by taking fee simple interests from “A” and giving them to “B,” the leaseholders. 

Where now, the median price for a single-family, two bedroom, one bath…

Continue Reading 2019 Brigham-Kanner Conference: The New New Property – Public Resources And Private Rights

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Today’s the kickoff events for William and Mary Law School’s Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference. We started the day with eminent domain and property law attorneys speaking about the practice of law (pictured above, Justin Hodge (TX) and Christian Torgrimson (GA)).

Toronto’s Shane Rayman and I spoke about international and comparative property and eminent domain (expropriation) and how even though our way of approaching cases may be different, the goals are the same: justice and fair treatment for our clients. And what we can learn about our own cases by looking at how other jurisdictions do it. 

In that vein, here are the links to the cases we (and others) mentioned:

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Continue Reading 2019 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Kickoff