esoteric law school subjects

by sam on 11/13/2007

The NY Times this weekend had an article on my absolutely favorite property class topic ever – adverse possession. 

Essentially, if you take certain steps, you can claim title to someone else’s property without, you know, paying for it:

Under the current law, as articulated by the Court of Appeals in June 2006 in the case of Walling v. Przybylo, a claim of adverse possession can be made if an individual “openly, notoriously and exclusively” uses someone else’s property continuously for 10 years, believing he has the right to do so.

It’s a favorite of law school professors, particularly around exam time, and one of the property professors at my law school (not mine) was actually attempting to adversely possess a neighboring piece of property and would discuss it in class. 

So anyway, why did I love this subject?  Because I actually investigated at one point the possibility of having my dad adversely possess the land across the road from our old house in the Berkshires.  The owner was absentee, the house was an eyesore (including a bright orange tarp instead of a roof), and I figured, if we could spend enough time fixing things up and generally using the property as our own, we could, eventually, lay claim to it outright.  However, as I ALSO learned, you cannot claim adverse possession over property of someone who is in prison.  And yep, the owner was apparently put in jail for arson, when he tried to burn down the house for the insurance money.  It may seem silly now, but the attempt to practically apply this esoteric section of property law to my own life actually helped me understand and remember the concept.  Which came in really handy at exam time.

(by the way, the law actually varies depending on the state – in some, it only takes five years.  In others, you need to also make "substantial improvements" to the property). 

Oh, and the next time you’re walking around New York City, keep an eye out for little plaques embedded in the sidewalk on streetcorners, that say things like "property of…", particularly where buildings, for decorative reasons, don’t extent all the way to the property line.  These are there to give pedestrians "permission" to cross into the space.  Because explicit permission to enter property automatically defeats claims of adverse possession.  After learning this little fact from my professor, I’ve noticed hundreds of these while walking down manhattan streets.

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