Subprime mess deters property development
Costco CEO Jim Sinegal complains that it is hard for the company to buy new real estate to open new stores because “in many instances nobody knows who owns the land anymore.” read article
Trespass and the right to roam
We generally take for granted that owners have the power to exclude non-owners from their land. But at one time in the United States,unenclosed and undeveloped land was open to the public for the purpose of hunting, gathering kindling and berries, and walking. Eric Freyfogle, The Lost Right to Roam, in On Private Property: Finding Common Ground on the Ownership of Land 29 (2007). Today, about half the states still allow hunting on private land unless the owner has posted “no trespassing” signs. Mark R.Sigmon, Hunting and Posting on Private Land in America, 54 Duke L.J. 549(2004). Moreover, owners who wanted to protect their fields from wandering cattle originally had to fence them out; they had no right to complain that a trespass had occurred when cattle wandered onto their property. Nor could railroads insist that cattle owners prevent them from intruding on train tracks. See, e.g., Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad Co. v. Peacock, 25 Ala.229 (1854); Macon & …
Personal property–who own coins that might have been stolen from the government?
Rare coins, possibly stolen: does the current possessor have the burden of showing that they were obtained legally or does the prior owner (the United States) have the burden of showing that they were stolen? A court rules that possession, indeed, is 9/10 of the law. read article
Bad faith adverse possession unleashes backlash and law reform in Colorado
An ex-judge apparently deliberated encroached onto neighboring property and took ownership of the border strip by adverse possession, creating a firestorm of protest in Colorado and a new state statute prohibiting adverse possession in the absence of good faith. read article
Public use case settled
Long Branch, New Jersey approves a settlement of a standing dispute about use of eminent domain to take homes to transfer to private developers. read article Consent order issued in the Long Branch case