All of the assigned readings are available online through the links in the syllabus, below.  In addition, most of the readings are available in two printed volumes, available (for $10 apiece) from Amazon through the following links:

• Volume 1 (3rd edition, 2026)
• Volume 2 (3rd edition, 2026)

PDF copies of the contents of these two volumes may be downloaded by using the following links: volume 1; volume 2.

A custom chatbot, created by Mohair Bedi, that enables students to explore the materials of the course, is available at properta.netlify.app.

I. Origins of Rights to Land (2 classes)

• Johnson v. M’Intosh, 21 U.S. 543 (1823):
  • Historical Background (recorded lecture, 31 min.) (format options: Vimeo stream; Vimeo download; mp4)
  • The Supreme Court’s decision
• Locke, The Second Treatise of Government, chapter 5 (1689)
• Harold Demsetz, Toward a Theory of Property Rights,” The American Economic Review 57 (1967): 347

II. Controlling Land Use (7 classes)

A. The Common Law

1. Nuisance

• Middlesex Co. v. McCue, 149 Mass. 103 (1889)
• Arkansas Release Guidance Foundation v. Needler, 252 Ark. 194 (1972)
• Boomer v. Atlantic Cement Co., 26 N.Y.2d 9 (1970)
• Spur Industries v. Del. E. Webb Development Co., 494 P.2d 700 (Ariz. 1972)

2. Light and Air

• Prah v. Maretti, 108 Wis. 223 (1982)
• Adrienne Rich, “Dreams Before Waking,” in Your Native Land, Your Life (1982)

3, Trespass

• Campbell v. Race, 7 Cush. 408 (Mass. 1851)
• Morris Cohen, “Property and Sovereignty,” 13 Cornell L.Q. 8, (1927), pages 11-14
• State v. Shack, 58 N.J. 297 (1971)

B. Legislative Overlays

• Lily Moens, Nina Todd, and William Fisher, “Land Use in the United States: The Changing Roles of the Federal, State, and Local Governments” (2022)
• The MBTA Communities Law
  • Sydney Ko, “The MBTA Communities Act,” WBUR, November 21, 2024
  • Andrew Brinker, “In Lexington, the state’s housing law is on track to produce nearly 1,000 new homes,” Boston Globe, December 3, 2024

C. Constitutional Limitations

• Constitutional Provisions
• Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60 (1917)
• Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty, 272 U.S. 365 (1926)
• Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948)
• Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U.S. 1 (1974)
• Moore v. City of East Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494 (1977)
• Linmark Associates v. Town of Willingboro, 431 U.S. 85 (1977)
• Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid (SCOTUS 2021)

III. Subdividing Rights (6 classes)

A. The Estate System

• Lecture: Freehold Estates and Future Interests
• Problem Set #1 (handout)
• Johnson v. Whiton, 159 Mass. 424 (1893)
• White v. Brown, 559 S.W.2d 938 (Tenn. 1977)
• Melms v. Pabst Brewing Co., 104 Wis. 7 (1899)
• Mahrenholz v. County Board of School Trustees, 93 Ill. App. 3d 366 (1981)

B. Concurrent Interests

• Lecture: The Common-Law System and Community Property
• Problem Set #2 (handout)
• Sawada v. Endo, 561 P.2d 1291 (Hawaii 1977)

C. Landlords and Tenants

• Lecture: Nonfreehold Estates
• Problem Set #3 (handout)
• Hilder v. St. Peter, 144 Vt. 150 (1984)
• Letter from Judge Wright to Prof. Rabin (Oct. 14, 1982)

D. Nonpossessory Interests

• Lecture: Easements, Covenants, and Equitable Servitudes
• Catalogue of Nonpossessory Interests
• Problem Set #4 (handout)
• Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948) [review]

IV. Transferring Rights (6 classes)

A. Sales

• Carol Rose, “Crystals and Mud in Property Law,” 40 Stan. L. Rev. 577 (1988)

B. Gifts

• Gruen v. Gruen, 68 N.Y.2d 48 (1986)

C. Death

• Mass. General Laws, ch. 190B, article II (2012)
• Maria Cramer, “A Patriarch Leaves No Will, and the Home He Meant for His Cambridge Family May Be Lost,” Boston Globe, February 7, 2019
• Thomas Mitchell, “Restoring Hope for Heirs Property Owners” (2016)

D. Adverse Possession

• Summit Veterinary Services v. Tindle (Court of Appeals of Iowa 2017)
• DeeDee Correll, “This land is now their land — so a judge rules,” LA Times, Dec. 3, 2007
• South Norwalk Lodge, No. 709, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks v. Palco Hats, 100 A.2d 735 (Ct. 1953)
• O’Keeffe v. Snyder, 83 N.J. 478 (1980)

V. Rights to Water (2 classes)

• Evans v. Merriweather, 4 Ill. 492 (1842)
• Coffin v. Left Hand Ditch Co., 6 Colo. 443 (1882)
• Raymond Zhong, “Three-Quarters of Earth’s Land Got Drier in Recent Decades, U.N. Says,” New York Times, December 9, 2024
• Stephanie Stern & Dan Tarlock, “Managed Retreat of Agriculture in the Arid West,” 51 Ecology Law Quarterly 1 (2024), pages 6-14 (“The Third Wave of Drought Retreat”)

VI. Rights to Animals (2 classes)

• The Common Law
• Groundfish on Georges Bank
• Lobsters in Maine
• Salmon in Bristol Bay
• The Global Situation

VII. Rights to People (2 classes)

• Introduction
• State v. Mann, 13 N.C. 263 (1829)
  • Interpreting Mann
  • The Fate of Lydia
• Perspectives on Legal History

VIII. Rights to Information (4 classes)

A. Health Data

• Introduction
• Business Initiatives
• Law
  • United States
  • European Union
• Reform Proposals
  • Hall, Property, Privacy, and the Pursuit of Interconnected Electronic Medical Records
  • Evans, Much Ado About Data Ownership
  • “President Weighs in on Data from Genes”
  • Contreras, “The president says patients should own their genetic data. He’s wrong”
  • Oregon Senate Bill 703

B. Traditional Knowledge

• Introduction
• Case Studies
  • Quasia Amara
  • Mayan Weavers
  • Tibetan Rugs
• The Law
• Perspectives
  • Joseph Wekundah, Why Protect Traditional Knowledge
  • Waziyatawin, Indigenous Knowledge, Anti-Colonialism, and Empowerment
  • Stephen Munzer and Kal Raustiala, “The Uneasy Case for Intellectual Property Rights in Traditional Knowledge”
  • Donny Woolagoodja, Testimony before the Land and Environmental Court
• Reform Proposals
  • World Intellectual Property Organization, “Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property”
  • Fisher, “The Puzzle of Traditional Knowledge”
  • Okediji, “Closely Held’ Traditional Knowledge”
• The WIPO Treaty
  • Diplomatic Conference to Conclude an International Legal Instrument Relating to Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources (2024), Articles 3 and 5.

IX. Rights to Innovations (4 classes)

A. Intellectual Property and Pandemics

• Pandemic Licensing

B. Visual Art

• Mannion v. Coors Brewing Co., 377 F.Supp. 2d 444 (S.D.N.Y. 2005) [pdf] [MS Word] [h2o][Illustrations]
• Rentmeester v. Nike, Inc. (9th Cir. 2018) [pdf]
• Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith (SCOTUS 2023) [pdf] [MSWord]

C. Artificial Intelligence

• Second Request for Reconsideration for Refusal to Register SURYAST (Copyright Review Board, December 11, 2023) [pdf]
• New York Times v. OpenAI (2025) [pdf]

Guidelines for Class Discussion