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The overarching objective of this course is to introduce you to the basics of property law in an exciting and engaging way, so that you'll want to learn more about the subject throughout law school and your professional career.
Some students see property law as distant and dull—it doesn’t have to be. In this course we will address significant, engaging and contemporary issues, like who really "owns" the Stanley Cup, how does property law affect the poor or homeless, what's a "cyber-trespass," are racist or discriminatory trust funds illegal, and is downloading music really "stealing"? In that context, there are four particular objectives for this course:
- Confront the meaning of and justifications for "property." The theoretical "what" and "why" questions may seem practically unimportant at first. Trust me, they're not. We'll see many concrete examples of cases that turn on judge's views about such matters, or statutes that embody one or another attitude about property's philosophical purposes. Solid theoretical understanding also facilitates and encourages critical evaluation of the subject matter.
- Introduce some of the legal rules governing property in Canada and elsewhere. An introductory course can't exhaustively cover all the interesting and important property issues, but it can and will lay the foundation for future study and practice in areas such as succession law, trusts, land titles, real estate transactions, land use planning, family law, natural resources, environmental law, commercial law, aboriginal law and intellectual property. It should also prove useful in relation to other topics such as tax law, jurisprudence and legal history.
- Develop some property-based practice skills. You will not learn the intricate logistics of real estate transactions—that is, how to “close” a land deal, or how to register a condominium, and so on. Rather, a general approach to the practice of property law will be stressed. But you will get to dig into some documentary analysis and even drafting, as well as practical litigation strategy.
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- Evaluate how the law can be used to facilitate or impede social justice. This involves critical analysis of property-related issues of race, class, and gender (all defined broadly). We examine aboriginal, feminist and other critical perspectives on the law, and tackle topics not covered in some traditional property courses, such as poverty and homelessness for example (which, after all, is essentially a lack of property). Doing so requires exploration of linkages between property law and other disciplines, such as business, economics, political studies, public policy, sociology, psychology, computer science, biochemistry, engineering, history, philosophy and even religious studies. We will also emphasize the relationship between property and other areas of private and public law, including contracts, torts, constitutional law, criminal law, legislation and more.
To see how we'll accomplish all these objectives, read on to the next posting on the course page.
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