Property Posts

A Defense of Horizontal Privity in American Property Law

This article attempts to present a balanced and nuanced view with two major aims: to show why many of the objections against horizontal privity are weak and to argue for why horizontal privity may be worth keeping.

The Perils and Promise of Public Nuisance

This article utilizes the opioid litigation to explore the three most common sets of objections to public nuisance: (1) traditionalist, (2) formalist, and (3) institutional. Public nuisance can seem unusual, even outlandish. At worst, it is a potentially capacious mechanism allowing executive branch actors to employ the judicial process to address legislative and regulatory problems. Nevertheless, its perils are easily overstated and its promise overlooked.

Digitizing the Warranty of Habitability

The warranty of habitability was touted fifty years ago as a gamechanger in rebalancing power between tenants and landlords. This Article explores whether an affirmative use of the warranty, coupled with a new technology and community organizing approach, can improve tenant outcomes.

Property against Legality: Takings after Cedar Point

This Article uses a dramatic break in Takings jurisprudence, the Supreme Court’s June 2021 decision in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, to closely scrutinize the relationship between legality and property rights.

Zoning Reformed

The exposure of the weaknesses embedded in our system of public land use regulation during the crises of 2020 presents a unique and timely opportunity for serious consideration of major and minor adjustments to state statutes, local ordinances, and judicial decisions.