Jurisprudence

Everything Changes

Jessie Allen, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh  Book the Second, Chapter the Twenty-Fifth. Of Property in Things Personal. The property in this chapter is always escaping. The objects of our desire are captured and subdued...

A Moveable Feast

Jessie Allen, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh Book the Second.  Chapter the twenty-fourth.  Of Things Personal. Property is comedy in the Commentaries: it always ends well.  But along the way there are problems and...

What Could That Be For?

Jessie Allen, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh Book the Second.  Chapter the Twenty-Third: Of Alienation by Devise The push for coherence is irresistible, necessary for understanding, and doomed to produce illusory meanings.  Here’s...

No Surrender!

Jessie Allen, School of Law, University of Pittsburgh Book the Second. Chapter the twenty-second. Of ALIENATION by SPECIAL CUSTOM. This chapter is about how legal rituals can put some flexibility into social boundaries. Blackstone describes...

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...

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...

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...