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Property Law

The Pocket Guide

Every black-letter rule a first-year property exam actually tests - estates and future interests, concurrent ownership and landlord-tenant law, land use and takings, easements and servitudes, and real property transactions - reduced to its essential elements, one real example each, and the single thing worth remembering under time pressure. No padding, no filler cases, nothing outside the standard curriculum.

5 chapters · ~61 pages · delivered as a PDF, read on any device · $12 one-time

Contents

Chapter 1: Estates in Land & Future Interests

Every parcel of land is divided along a timeline, not just a map - who has it now, and who might get it next. Exams test this timeline relentlessly: name the present estate, then name every future interest it creates, in order.

  • Fee Simple Absolute
  • Fee Simple Defeasible
  • Life Estates & Waste
  • Future Interests in the Grantor
  • Future Interests in a Third Party
  • The Rule Against Perpetuities

Chapter 2: Concurrent Ownership & Landlord-Tenant Law

Two doctrines that both ask the same question from different angles - who actually has the right to possess this property right now, and what do they owe each other while they do.

  • Tenancy in Common vs. Joint Tenancy
  • Severing a Joint Tenancy - The Lease Question
  • Tenancy by the Entirety
  • Leasehold Estates
  • The Implied Warranty of Habitability
  • Assignment vs. Sublease

Chapter 3: Land Use Regulation & Takings

The government can restrict what you do with your own land, and can even take it outright - but both powers have real constitutional limits, tested constantly on exams through a handful of named cases.

  • Zoning's Constitutional Foundation
  • Nonconforming Uses
  • Nuisance & the Remedy Question
  • Regulatory Takings - The Foundational Rule
  • The Two Categorical Taking Rules
  • The Penn Central Balancing Test
  • Exactions - Nollan & Dolan

Chapter 4: Easements, Covenants & Servitudes

Land can carry obligations that bind not just the current owner, but whoever buys it next. These doctrines govern exactly when a private promise about land "runs" to future owners, and when it doesn't.

  • Easements - Creation
  • Easement Scope & Misuse
  • Real Covenants - Running at Law
  • Equitable Servitudes
  • Enforcing Common-Interest Community Restrictions
  • Terminating a Servitude - Changed Conditions

Chapter 5: Real Property Transactions

The mechanics of actually transferring title - deeds, recording, title defects, and the doctrine that lets long, open possession itself ripen into ownership.

  • Adverse Possession
  • The Statute of Frauds & Part Performance
  • Deed Delivery
  • The Six Covenants of Title
  • Recording Acts & Notice
  • Marketable Title
  • Defective Acknowledgment & Priority

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This book teaches general doctrine using original hypothetical examples. It does not provide legal advice about any specific situation and does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your own circumstances, consult a licensed attorney.