University of Washington School of Law
Winter Quarter, 2015
Professor: Gregory A. Hicks
Phone: 206-543-4034
E-mail: gahicks@uw.edu
Office: 411
Office Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM (and by appointment)
PROPERTY I LAW (A503b)
SYLLABUS
MTWTh 1:30-2:45 PM, Room 138
Textbook:
Singer, et al. Property Law – Rules, Policies, and Practices (6th Edition, 2014)
Recommended Treatise:
Singer, Introduction to Property (3rd Edition, 2010)
Class Description:
Class participation is mandatory. Students are responsible for all material assigned on the
syllabus, or handed out in class, even if it is not covered in a class session. You should be
prepared to discuss the material in class every day. Also, regular in-class problems and
exercises are an important part of the class. Problems will be assigned in advance of the
class, and on a rotating basis, to “lead students” who will take the lead in presenting and
analyzing a day’s problems. Coverage of the assignments may be adjusted from time-totime depending on our progress. Please stop by my office any time to discuss the course,
or any other related issues. You may also e-mail me (gahicks@uw.edu) with any questions
that you have, or set up an appointment outside of my regular office hours.
Grades:
The grades for the course are based on a mid-term examination (10%) and a final
examination (90%). Your final examination will take place on Friday, March 20 at 8:30
AM and is scheduled to take 4 hours. This final examination will be administered using
Exam4, and students are allowed access to their notes and casebooks, but may not access
the internet. The exam schedule is available at www.law.washington.edu > students >
exams.
Additionally, there will also be two practice writing exercises during the quarter, to give
students feedback on their progress and mastery. These exercises will be carefully read
and marked, but they will not count in the computation of grades.
Law School Attendance Policy:
Under changes to ABA Accreditation Standard 304, adopted in August 2004, a law school
shall require regular and punctual class attendance.
At any time after the fifth week of a course (halfway through a summer session course), a
student who has been determined by the instructor to have attended fewer than 80 percent
Property I – A503b
Page - 2
of the class sessions in any course will be required to drop the course from his or her
registration upon the instructor’s so indicating to the Academic Services Office.
An instructor may also impose stricter attendance standards or other sanctions for
nonattendance, including lowering of a grade, provided that students are informed at the
start of the course of the instructor’s attendance rules and possible sanctions.
The instructor referred to in paragraph 1 should take attendance with such regularity as is
needed to insure reasonable accuracy in determining a student’s attendance record.
Podcasts:
This course will not be podcasted; therefore your attendance is crucial.
Technology in the Classroom:
You may use computers in the classroom for class-related tasks, such as taking notes.
Please refrain from checking social media sites and e-mail, or doing other course work as
your active attendance is important. Please turn cell phones off in class.
Course Evaluation:
Your course evaluation will be administered on Wednesday, March 11, 2015. Please
bring your laptop or mobile device to class on this date to participate in the evaluation.
Additionally, course evaluations will be open from Sunday, March 8, 2015 to Sunday,
March 15, 2015.
Guests and Visitors:
Guests and visitors are welcome.
Review Session:
There will be a full course review session shortly after the end of classes. Date and time
will be announced towards the end of the quarter.
Disability-Related Needs:
To request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disability
Resources for Students (DRS), 448 Schmitz, (206) 543-8924 (V), (206) 543-8925 (TTY).
If you have a letter from DRS, please present the letter to [your name here] so you and
he/she can discuss the accommodations you might need in this class.
Class Meeting
Topic
Read for This Class
Week One
Class 1
Monday, January 5
•
•
•
Class 2
Tuesday, January 6
•
“A Guide to This Book” (What is
Property?)
How to Brief a Case and Prepare
for class
Boundaries, the Idea of
Ownership, and the Power to
Exclude: State v. Shack
Uston v. Resorts International
Hotel and notes
•
•
•
•
•
xxxi-xlvi
xlvii-liii
3-9, notes 1-6, at p.
12
Problem 1 at p. 20
21-29 (including
problems 1-3 at
page 29)
Property I – A503b
Page - 3
Class Meeting
Class 3
Wednesday, January 7
Topic
•
•
Class 4
Thursday, January 8
•
•
•
Trespass Remedies: Glavin v.
Eckman; Jacque v. Steenberg
Homes
Public Accommodation Statutes
and the Right to Exclude
Free Speech Rights and Private
Property
Beach Access to the Public Trust
Public Space and the Need to be
Somewhere
Read for This Class
• 30-40, including
notes at 38-40
• 40-49 (including
problems at 47-48)
•
•
•
61-67
68-78 (including
problems 1-2 at
77-78)
78-82 (including
problem at 81)
Week Two
Class 5
Monday, January 12
•
•
Class 6
Tuesday, January 13
•
•
Class 7
Wednesday, January 14
Class 8
Thursday, January 15
•
•
•
•
Competing Foundations and
Justifications for Property Rights
The State as Source of Property
Rights – The Case of Discovery
and Conquest
The State as Source of Property
Rights, continued
Some Foundations for Recognition
of Property Rights Labor and
Investment
Common Resources and the Right
to Exclude
Capture and Possession as
Foundations of Rights
Possession and Presumption of
Title
Limits on What Can Be Owned –
the Case of Humankind
•
State as Source of
Property Rights 8397
•
•
100-107 (including
problem at 105)
107-120
•
120-122
•
130-146 (including
problems at 145)
•
146-158 (including
Problems at 158)
243-249
•
Week Three
Monday, January 19
Class 9
Tuesday, January 20
No class – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
•
The Case of Humankind,
continued
[In working with these readings, keep
thinking of the problem of defining the
appropriate role of the state and the law in
limiting the freedom of private parties to
create new subjects of property rights and
of the policy bases that should activate
those responses by the state and the law.]
•
250-260; 264-273
(including problem
at 273)
Property I – A503b
Page - 4
Class Meeting
Class 10
Wednesday, January 21
Topic
•
•
•
Class 11
Thursday, January 22
Title versus Possession as
Competing Arguments for the
Law’s Protections: the Doctrine
and Policy of Adverse Possession
Brown v. Gobble
Romero v. Garcia
•
Adverse Possession, continued:
The case of the wrongful entrant
who stays!
• Nome 2000 v. Fagerstrom and
notes
[In-class screening of “The Garden”]
Read for This Class
• 283-295
• 295-299
•
299-311
•
311-325 (including
problems at 317318)
327-331
Week Four
Class 12
Monday, January 26
•
Discussion of “The Garden,” the
attributes and privileges of
property rights, and theories for
the acquisition of property rights
Class 13
Tuesday, January 27
•
Other Informal Bases for Property
Transfers
•
Class 14
Wednesday, January 28
•
•
•
•
Introduction to Servitudes;
Easements
Green v. Lupo
Cox v. Glenbrook Co.
Henley v. Continental Cablevision
Class 15
Thursday, January 29
•
•
•
•
Easements, Created by Implication
Lobato v. Taylor
Granite Properties LP v. Manns
Finn v. Williams
Class 16
Monday, February 2
•
Covenants – Creation by Express
Agreement
Class 17
Tuesday, February 3
•
•
Covenants, continued
Evans v. Pollock
Class 18
Wednesday, February 4
•
Public Policy Limits on Covenant
Enforcement
Class 19
Thursday, February 5
•
Restraints on Alienation of
Property – The Power to Limit the
Right to Sell
•
511-533 (including
problems at 533)
•
533-556 (including
problems at 555)
•
556-576 (including
problems at 572574)
•
576-591 (including
problems at 586)
•
598-614;623-633
•
635-655
Week Five
Property I – A503b
Page - 5
Class Meeting
Topic
Read for This Class
Week Six
Class 20
Monday, February 9
•
Nuisance: Resolving Conflicts
Between Free Use and Quiet
Enjoyment
Class 21
Tuesday, February 10
•
•
Nuisance on Trespass
Rights to Development vs. Injury
to Others – Some Specific
Scenarios
Class 22
Wednesday, February 11
•
Rights to Development vs. Injury
to Others, continued
Class 23
Thursday, February 12
•
Concurrent Ownership: Structures
for common ownership of
property, including rights and
duties of co-owners (tenants in
common, joint tenants)
•
333-355
•
359-376; 388-394
•
•
394-400
400-419 (including
problems at 419)
•
661-680 (including
problems at 666667; 669; 673-674)
•
•
687-693
693-710 (including
problem 1 at 710)
•
712-725 (including
problems at 720
and 725)
•
737-753 (including
problems at 753)
•
753-778 (including
problems at 776778)
•
778-802 (including
problems at 787788
•
809-827 (including
problems at 823824)
Week Seven
Monday, February 16
No class – Presidents Day
Class 24
Tuesday, February 17
•
•
Class 25
Wednesday, February 18
•
Class 26
Thursday, February 19
Concurrent Ownership (partition)
Marital Property
Unmarried Partners’ Property
Rights
• Same Sex Partners
Midterm Exam – One Hour
Week Eight
Class 27
Monday, February 23
•
Intro to Present Estates and Future
Interests
Class 28
Tuesday, February 24
•
Interpretive Rules Applied to the
Creation of Estates
Class 29
Wednesday, February 25
•
Regulation of Future Estates
Class 30
Thursday, February 26
•
•
Leasehold Estates
How is a landlord/tenant
relationship created, and what is
it?
Property I – A503b
Page - 6
Class Meeting
Topic
Read for This Class
Week Nine
Class 31
Monday, March 2
•
Landlord/Tenant, continued
Class 32
Tuesday, March 3
•
•
•
Landlord/Tenant, continued
End of the Tenancy
Tenant’s Right to Quiet
Enjoyment
Class 33
Wednesday, March 4
•
Tenant; Right to Habitable
Premises
Class 34
Thursday, March 5
•
The Real Estate Deed and Title
Protection
Intro to Real Estate Financing
•
•
828-844 (including
problems at 830,
832, and 844)
•
845-858 (including
problems at 858859)
660-668
•
•
869-891 (including
problems at 885886)
•
•
946-952
952-965 (through
note 1)
967-969
•
Week Ten
Class 35
Monday, March 9
•
•
Real Estate Financing
Securing Title Through
Recordation
Class 36
Tuesday, March 10
•
Property Rights and Governmental
Takings
Class 37
Wednesday, March 11
•
Property Rights and Governmental
Takings, continued
•
•
983-990
990-1009
(including problems
at 1002)
•
1141-1162
(including problems
at 1161-1162)
•
1175-1195
The final exam for A503b Property I Law is currently scheduled for Friday, March 20 at 8:30 AM.
**You are responsible for reviewing the exam schedule to determine if the exam schedule changes.