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...
William Blackstone
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...
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...