Property and Land Use Law for Planners

3-0-9 units · Graduate

Examines legal and institutional arrangements for the establishment, transfer, and control over property and land under American and selected comparative systems, including India and South Africa. Focuses on key issues of property and land use law regarding planning and economic development. Emphasizes just and efficient resource use; institutional, entitlement and social relational approaches to property; distributional and other social aspects; and the relationship between property, culture, and democracy.

Fall 2005 · Legal Aspects of Property and Land Use

Topics

Introduction to the Course
Background
First Possession and Conquest
First Possession and Labor
Competition versus Property Including Corporations
Courts, Policy and Flexibility
Security of Property and Adverse Possession
Public Policy Limits on Trespass
Public Accommodations, Antidiscrimination and Access Rights
Public Trust and Private Property
Fair Use of Property, Support Easements and Nuisance
Land-use Planning and Zoning
Land-use Planning, Limits to Zoning and Environmental Regulation
Property, Slavery, Race and Discrimination
Property and Sex-based Discrimination
Property and Economic Discrimination
Property, Sovereignty and Takings
Servitudes, Licenses and Easements
Covenants
Common Ownership and Housing
Redressing the Legacy of Apartheid in South Africa: Rural Land Restitution
Urban Dilemmas: Land Invasions, Housing Rights and Evictions
Contestation over Property Rights in India
Development Displacement, Contests over Land and Housing Rights
International Development Policy Prescriptions of Property
Summing Up; Questions

Readings

Singer, Joseph William. Property Law: Rules, Policies and Practices . 3rd ed. New York, NY: Aspen Law & Business, 2002. ISBN: 0735524920.
Required
Horwitz, Morton. The Transformation of American Law, 1780-1860 . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977, chapter 2. ISBN: 0674903714.
Required
Nedelsky, Jennifer. Private Property and the Limits of American Constitutionalism: The Madisonian Framework and Its Legacy . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1994, introduction and conclusion. ISBN: 0226569713.
Required
Williams, Robert Jr. The American Indian in Western Legal Thought . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1990, chapter 7, pp. 246-51. ISBN: 0195080025.
Required
Rose, Carol M. “Possession as the origin of property.” 52 University of Chicago Law Review 73 (No.1, Winter 1985).
Required
Coontz, Stephanie, and Peta Henderson, eds. Women’s Work, Men’s Property: The Origins of Gender and Class . London, UK: Verso, 1986, pp. 108-155. ISBN: 086091819X.
Required
Hirschon, R., ed. Women and Property, Women as Property. New York, NY: St. Martins Press, 1984, introduction. ISBN: 0312887302.
Required
Demsetz, Harold. “Toward a Theory of Property Rights.” 57 American Economic Review Papers & Proceedings 347, 347-358 (1967).
Required
Ellickson, Robert C. “Property in Land.” 102 Yale Law Journal 1315, 1322-1335, 1341-1344 (1993).
Required
Field, Barry C. “The evolution of property rights.” 42 Kyklos 319 (1989).
Required
Rose, Carol. “Crystals and Mud in Property law.” 40 Stanford Law Review 577, 1-6, 19-30 (1988).
Required
Kennedy, Duncan. A Critique of Adjudication: fin de siecle . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997, chapter 2. ISBN: 0674177606.
Required
Galanter, Marc. “Justice in Many Rooms: Courts, Private Ordering, and Indigenous Law.” 19 Journal of Legal Pluralism 1 (1981).
Required
Kennedy, Duncan. A Critique of Adjudication: fin de siecle . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997, chapter 6. ISBN: 0674177606.
Required
Ellickson, Robert C. “The untenable case for an Unconditional Right to Shelter.” 15 Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy 17, 20-28, 32-34 (1992).
Required
Intel Corp. vs. Hamidi, 71 P.3d 296 (CA, 2003).
Required
United Food and Commercial Workers’ Union, Local 919 AFL-CIO v. Crystal Mall Associates L.P ., 852 A.2d 659 (CT, 2004).
Required
Crenshaw, Kimberley Williams. “Race, Reform, and Retrenchment: Transformation and Legitimation in Antidiscrimination Law.” 101 Harvard Law Review 1331, 1-7, 16-20, 48-70 (1988).
Required
Michelman, Frank. “Possession vs. distribution in the constitutional idea of property.” 72 Iowa Law Review 1319, 1-5, 26-42 (No.5, July 1987).
Required
Singer, Joseph W. “No right to exclude: Public accommodations and private property,” 90 Northwestern University Law Review 1283, 6-29, 242-301 (1996).
Required
Rose, Carol. “The Comedy of the Commons: Custom, Commerce, And Inherently Public Property,” 53 University of Chicago Law Review 711, 711-723, 727-730, 773-781 (1986).
Required
Delgado, Richard. “Our Better Natures: A Revisionist View of Joseph Sax’s Public Trust Theory of Environmental Protection, and Some Dark Thoughts on the Possibility of Law Reform.” 44 Vanderbilt Law Review 1209, 1209-1227 (1991).
Required
District of Columbia v. Beretta U.S.A. Corp ., 872 A.2d 633 (DC, 2005).
Required
Zuckerman v. Town of Hadley , 813 N.ED.2d 843 (Mass, 2004).
Required
Village of Willowbrook v. Olech , 528 U.S. 562 (2000).
Required
Mandelker, Daniel R. and Roger A. Cunningham. Planning and Control of Land Development . 3rd ed. Charlottesville, VA: Michie Co., 1990, pp. 1-24. ISBN: 0874736692.
Required
Cappel, Andrew J. “A Walk along Willow: Patterns of Land Use Coordination in Pre-zoning New Haven (1870-1926).” 101 Yale Law Journal 617, 617-637 (1991). Note.
Required
Palazzolo v. Rhode Island , 533 U.S. 606 (2001).
Required
Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency , 535 U.S. 302 (2002).
Required
Schelling, Thomas C., ed. “Prices as Regulatory Instruments.” In Incentives for Environmental Protection . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1983. ISBN: 0262192136. ↗
Required
Arguello v. Conoco Inc ., 330 F.3d 355 (5th Cir, 2003).
Required
Ford, Richard T. “The Boundaries of Race: Political Geography in Legal Analysis.” 107 Harvard Law Review 1841, 1841-47, 1860-1885, 1918-1920 (1994).
Required
Rose, Carol. “Women and property: Gaining and losing ground.” 78 Virginia Law Review 421, 421-459 (1992).
Required
SES #: 16 · TOPICS: Property and Economic Discrimination · READINGS: Singer, pp. 993-997; re-read pp. 1030-1042, 770-781.
Reading assignment
Kelo, et al v. City of London et al, Supreme Court of the U.S. , Decided June 23, 2005.
Required
Lingle v. Chevron U.S.A ., Inc., 2005 LEXIS U.S. 4342 (2005).
Required
Michelman, Frank. “Property, Utility and Fairness: Comments on the Ethical Foundations of “Just Compensation” Law.” 80 Harvard Law Review 1165, 1165-1169; 1214-1238; 1245; 1253-1258. (1967).
Required
SES #: 18 · TOPICS: Servitudes, Licenses and Easements · READINGS: Singer, pp. 359-400, 413-414.
Reading assignment
SES #: 19 · TOPICS: Covenants · READINGS: Singer, pp. 414-442, 461-467, 476-482, 483-492.
Reading assignment
Kennedy, Duncan. “Neither the Market nor the State: Housing Privatization Issues.” In A Fourth Way?: Privatization, Property and the Emergence of New Market Economies . Edited by G. Alexander and G. Skapska. New York, NY: Routledge, 1994, pp. 253-266. ISBN: 0415906989.
Required
Alexander, Gregory S. “Dilemmas of Group Autonomy: Residential Associations and Community.” 75 Cornell Law Review 1, 1-6, 33-61 (1989).
Required
1994 Restitution of Land Rights Act 22.
Required
1996 Land Reform (Labor Tenants) Act 3.
Required
1997 Extension of Security of Tenure Act 62.
Required
Jaichand, Vinodh. The Restitution of Land Rights. Johannesburg, South Africa: Lex Patria, 1997, pp. 1-76. ISBN: 0628036523.
Required
Alexor Ltd. And the Government of the Republic of South Africa v. Richtersveld community , CCT 19/03, 2003. (Go to Wits Law School and then click on the relevant link). ↗
Required
City Council of Springs v. Occupants of the Farm Kwa-Thema , LCC R10/98 (September 2, 1999) (same as above). (Go to Wits Law School and then click on the relevant link). ↗
Required
The Minister of Land Affairs of the Republic of South Africa and another v. Omar Slamdien and others , LCC 107/98 (February 10, 1999). (Go to Wits Law School and then click on the relevant link). ↗
Required
Former Highlands Residents: Ash and others v. Department of Land Affairs , LCC116/98 (March 10, 2000). (Go to Wits Law School and then click on the relevant link, especially paragraphs 21-38). ↗
Required
Roux, Theunis. “Pro-poor Court, Anti-poor outcomes: Explaining the performance of the South African Land Claims Court.” South African Journal of Human Rights 20, no. 511 (2004). (Go to Wits Law School and then click on the relevant link). ↗
Required
1998 Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful occupation of land Act No. 19.
Required
Government of R.S.A. v. Grootboom , CCT 11/00 (4th October 2000, Constitutional Court of South Africa). (Go to Wits Law School and then click on the relevant link). ↗
Required
Port Elizabeth Municipality v. Various Occupiers , CCT 53/03, 2004. (Go to Wits Law School and then click on the relevant link). ↗
Required
President of the Republic of South Africa and another v. Modderklip Boerdery and Another , CCT 20/04, 2005. (Go to Wits Law School and then click on the relevant link). ↗
Required
Huchzermeyer, Marie. “Land invasions, evictions and the law in South Africa.” unpublished draft, 2002.
Required
Wesson, Murray. “Grootboom and Beyond: Assessing the Socio-Economic Jurisprudence of the South African Constitutional Court.” South African Journal of Human Rights 20, no. 284 (2004). (Go to Wits Law School and then click on the relevant link). ↗
Required
Minister of Public Works and others v. Kyalami Ridge Environmental Association and others , Constitutional Court - CCT55/00, May 29, 2001. (Go to Wits Law School and then click on the relevant link). ↗
Required
Jeanette Harksen v. Michael Lane NO and Others , CCT 9/97 (October 7, 1997, Constitutional Court of South Africa). (Go to Wits Law School and then click on the relevant link). ↗
Required
Berrisford, Stephen. “Law and Urban Change in the New South Africa.” In Illegal Cities: Law and Urban Change in Developing Countries . Edited by Edesio Fernandes and Ann Varley. New York, NY: Zed Books, 1998, pp. 213-230. ISBN: 1856495507.
Required
Kumar, Dharma. Colonialism, Property and the State . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 135-170, 311-327. ISBN: 0195641728.
Required
Golak Nath v. State of Punjab , AIR 1967 SC 1643 (excerpts).
Required
State of Gujarat v. Shantilal Mangaldas , AIR 1969 SC 634.
Required
Keshavananda Bharati v. State of Kerela , AIR 1973 SC 1641 (excerpts).
Required
State of Maharashtra v. Kamal Durgule , (1985) I SCC 234.
Required
The Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 and The Urban land (Ceiling and Regulation) Repeal Act, 1999.
Required
Perry, Amanda. “Law and Urban Change in an Indian City.” In llegal Cities: Law and Urban Change in Developing Countries. Edited by Edesio Fernandes and Ann Varley. New York, NY: Zed Books, 1998, pp. 89-103. ISBN: 1856495507.
Required
Agarwal, Bina. A Field of One’s Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia . New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1994, chapter 5. ISBN: 0521429269.
Required
Olga Tellis and others v. Bombay Municipal corporation , AIR 1986 SC 180.
Required
Narmada Bachao Andolan vs. Union of India and others, (2000) 10 SCC 664 ↗
Required
Rajagopal, Balakrishnan. “Limits of law in counter-hegemonic globalization: The Indian Supreme Court and the Narmada Valley struggle.” Law and Globalization from Below: Towards a Cosmopolitan Legality . Edited by Boaventura de Souza Santos and César A. Rodríguez-Garavito. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN: 0521607353.
Required
Cernea, Michael. “Public policy responses to development-induced population displacements.” Economic and Political Weekly 31, no. 24 (1996): 1515-23.
Required
World Bank. “Legal Institutions and the Rule of Law.” In World Development Report: From Plan to Market (1996). ( PDF - 19.1 MB ) ↗
Required
World Bank. “Introduction.” In World Development Report: Building Institutions for Markets New York , NY: Published for the World Bank, Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN: 0195216067.
Required
Feder, G., and D. Feeny. “Land tenure and Property rights: Theory and Implications for Development Policy.” World Bank Economic Review 5, no. 1 (1991): 135.
Required
Payne, Geoffrey. “Urban land tenure policy options: titles or rights?” 25 Habitat International 415-429 (2001).
Required
World Bank. “Can there be growth with equity: an initial assessment of land reform in South Africa.” Policy Research Working Paper , September 30, 2001.
Required
SES #: 26 · TOPICS: Summing Up; Questions · READINGS: Durand-Lasserve, Alain. “Law and Urban Change in Developing Countries: Trends and Issues.” In llegal Cities: Law and Urban Change in Developing Countries . Edited by Edesio Fernandes and Ann Varley. New York, NY: Zed Books, 1998, pp. 233-257. ISBN: 1856495507.
Reading assignment

Prerequisites & course information

Prereq: None Acad Year 2027-2028: Not offered Acad Year 2028-2029: G (Fall) 3-0-9 units

Sources

Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2005
MIT OCW readings ↗
MIT OCW calendar ↗
MIT OCW syllabus ↗
Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.