Actores Fabulae
Jessie Allen, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh Book the Second. Chapter the Twenty First. Of Alienation by Matter of Record. The common law of property doesn’t get much more arcane and insular than...
Cameron Roeback
Actions Speak Louder
Jessie Allen, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh BOOK THE SECOND, Chapter the twentieth, Of ALIENATION by DEED. This chapter is about words and deeds. Is this really the first time I have noticed that...
The Mystery of the Floating Pumps
Jessie Allen, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh Book the Second. Chapter the Nineteenth. Of TITLE by ALIENATION. This chapter is about a conflict in property law. I’ve written several times lately about the way...
Nothing Certain
Jessie Allen, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh Book the Second, Chapter the Eighteenth, Of TITLE by FORFEITURE. This is one of those chapters where Blackstone revels in the tricks of the legal trade. Nominally,...
Make the Law by Walking
Jessie Allen, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh Book the Second, Chapter the Seventeenth. Of TITLE by PRESCRIPTION. This chapter is about a legal doctrine that is easy to articulate and hard to believe: by...
Why Begin at the Beginning?
Jessie Allen, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh Book the Second, Chapter the Sixteenth. Of TITLE by OCCUPANCY. This chapter is about where things begin and what they become. For Blackstone, “the true ground and...
Escheating Death
Jessie Allen, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh Book the Second, Chapter the Fifteenth. Of TITLE by PURCHASE, and First by ESCHEAT. This chapter is about line drawing – and erasing. The focus is ostensibly...
On the Bus
Jessie Allen, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh Book the Second, Chapter the Fourteenth. Of TITLE by DESCENT. This chapter is not about nature. You would think that family inheritance would be an ideal place...
Showtime
Jessie Allen, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh Book the Second, Chapter the Thirteenth. Of the TITLE to THINGS REAL, in General. This chapter is about feelings and actions and how one leads to the...
Finders Keepers
Jessie Allen, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh Book the Second. Chapter the Twelfth. Of ESTATES in SEVERALTY, JOINT-TENANCY, COPARCENARY, and COMMON. This chapter is about invention and discovery. The ostensible subject is the different...