Property law, generously understood, determines how rights to resources are created, defined, enforced, and terminated. The following diagram shows the major sets of rules governing the principal types of resources.

OriginUseDivisionTransferTermination
LANDoccupancy;
conquest;
homesteading systems		trespass;
nuisance;
light & support;
zoning;
anti-discrimination rules		estate system;
future interests;
servitudes;
landlord/tenant law;
marital property		conveyance;
inheritance;
adverse possession;
eminent domain		forfeiture;
change of conditions;
rule against perpetuities
OBJECTSmanufacturetort law; art-preservation lawsmarital propertysale; gift; inheritance;
finders		forfeiture
WATERriparian rights;
prior appropriation;
purification		reasonable uses;
beneficial uses		alienability restrictions;
watershed restrictions		cessation of beneficial use
ANIMALScapture; custom; tribal rights; permits; quotas; offspringanimal welfare rulesalienability of permits and quotas
PEOPLEwar; race; criminal punishmentrestrictions on treatment -- homicide, assault, rape, food, housingslave leases; mortgagesconveyance; inheritance; foreclosuremanumission; emancipation; escape
INFORMATION possession; discovery; surveillance; medical treatmentpermissibility of commerce; health research; employment; insurance; politicsterms of service; inalienability; corporate acquisitions
INNOVATIONSoriginality; novelty; inventive step; utility;
formalities		exclusive rights vs. exceptions & limitationsleases; joint authorshipassignments; work-for-hire; creative commons"limited times"; termination rules
ENERGY SOURCES (oil, light, wind)national vs. tribal vs. private rights; capture vs. correlative rightsenvironmental lawoil & gas leases;
severance;
subsurface supremacy		Mill Acts;
Solar Easement Statutes		reversion

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Syllabus

Examinations