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Property

Property

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Course Information

Course Number: L6116

Curriculum Level: Foundation

Areas of Study: Property, Real Estate, and Trusts & Estates

Type: Lecture

Section 002 Information

Instructor

John Oberdiek Visiting Professor of Law

Section Description

Property is a central social institution whose legal definition poses fundamental questions about efficiency, fairness, the distribution of wealth, and the tension between public and private rights and interests. What can we own? What does it mean to own something? To what extent can government regulate or take away what we own? Anglo-American property law's answers to these questions developed mainly in the context of land. These same questions are posed today in the context of ownership of artistic and digital creations, of body parts, of cyberspace, and of one's earning capacity. We will examine these issues in both old and new settings.

School Year & Semester: Fall 2025

Points: 4

Method of Evaluation: Exam

J.D Writing Credit?: No

Learning Outcomes

Primary

At the end of the course, students will have acquired understanding of and/or facility in a specific body of law, including major policy concerns
At the end of the course, students will have acquired understanding of and/or facility in use of other disciplines in the analysis of legal problems and institutions, e.g., philosophy; economics, other social sciences; and cultural studies

Secondary

At the end of the course, students will have acquired understanding of and/or facility in doctrinal analysis, including close reading of cases and precedents, and application to facts
At the end of the course, students will have acquired understanding of and/or facility in statutory and regulatory analysis, including close reading of statutes and regulations, and application to facts