Wednesday, June 10, 2015

New Release: Landmark Cases in Property Law

Out from Hart Publishing is Landmark Cases in Property Law, edited by: Simon Douglas, Robin Hickey, Emma Waring:
This book explores the development of basic principles of property law in leading cases. Each paper considers a case on land, personal property or intangibles, discussing what that case contributes to the dominant themes of property jurisprudence - how are property rights acquired? What is the content of property rights? What are the limits or boundaries of property? How are property rights extinguished? Individually and collectively, the papers identify a number of important themes for the doctrinal development of property institutions and their broader justification. These themes include: the obscure and incremental development of seemingly foundational principles, the role of instrumentalism in property reasoning, the influence of the law of tort on the scope of property doctrines, and the impact of Roman legal reasoning on the common law of property. One or more of these themes (and others) is revealed through careful case analysis in each paper and they are collected and critically explored in the editors' introduction. This makes for a coherent and provocative collection.
The TOC is here.  Most chapters take up what are, for the law of property, at least, fairly recent cases, but they also include

Banks v Whetson (1596),” by David Fox

Millar v Taylor (1769): Landmark and Beacon. Still,” by Catherine Seville

“Armory v Delamirie (1722): Possession, Obligation, and the Evolution of Relative Title to Goods,” by Robin Hickey