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Check out the map in the column on your left to see what we'll cover in Fall 2009. Read on in this post to learn more about this course and our objectives. Other details are contained in the posts that follow.
There are four primary 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.
- 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.
- 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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