The Framers of the United States Constitution understood that freedom depends upon the vigorous protection of private property rights and that this protection was therefore the most sacred obligation of government. However, despite Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment guarantees, recent years have...

Conflicts created by concurrences and pluralities in court decisions create confusion in law and lower court interpretation. Rule of law values require that individuals be able to identify controlling legal principles. That task is complicated when pluralities and concurrences contribute to the...

The future of the free dissemination of information lies in the blog, some may say. The internet has entirely transformed how we receive and consume information. It's the newest incarnation of information dissemination. From the insights of Alexis de Tocqueville, quot;Feelings and opinions are...

Justice Scalia defends textualism as the only form of interpretation that should govern judicial interpretation of statutes and the Constitution. The book begins with an essay by Justice Scalia establishing the framework of his interpretive model and arguing that his model is mandated to achieve...

At its core, education is about learning. Every educator, legal or otherwise, must at the same time be both a teacher and a student in the learning enterprise. Luckily, there is a wide literature to help us in these roles and it is growing every day. It should be a goal of every legal educator...

Whether as a matter of duty, ethics, or utility, lawyers give reasons for their actions all the time. In the various venues in which legal skills must be employed, reason-giving is required in some, expected in others, desired in many, and useful in most. This Essay underscores the pervasiveness...

Recent legislation passed in March 2012 in the State of Utah – the “Transfer of Public Lands Act and Related Study,” (“TPLA”) also commonly referred to House Bill 148 (“H.B. 148”) – has demanded that the federal government, by December 31, 2014, “extinguish title” to certain...

Our land use control system operates across a variety of multidimensional and dynamic categories. Learning to navigate within and between these categories requires an appreciation for their interconnected, dynamic, and textured components and an awareness of alternative mechanisms for achieving...

Individuals usually prefer to keep what they own. Property law develops around that assumption. Alternatively stated, we prefer to choose whether and how to part with what we own. As with the affection and attachment we have for our memories captured in the lyrics of the George Gershwin classic,...