Simon Douglas – författare

Landmark Cases in Property Law explores the development of basic principles of property law in leading cases. Each chapter considers a case on land, personal property or intangibles, discussing what that case contributes to the dominant themes of property jurisprudence – How are property rights acquired? What is the content of property rights? What are the limits or boundaries of property? How are property rights extinguished? Individually and collectively, the chapters identify a number of important themes for the doctrinal development of property institutions and their broader justification. These themes include: the obscure and incremental development of seemingly foundational principles, the role of instrumentalism in property reasoning, the influence of the law of tort on the scope of property doctrines, and the impact of Roman legal reasoning on the common law of property. One or more of these themes (and others) is revealed through careful case analysis in each chapter, and they are collected and critically explored in the editors’ introductions. This makes for a coherent and provocative collection, and ensures that Landmark Cases in Property Law will be lively and essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and all those interested in the development of property principles at law.

This book is the fourth in a series of essay collections on defences in private law. It addresses defences to liability arising in equity. The essays range from those adopting a mainly doctrinal perspective to others that explore the law from a more philosophical perspective. Some essays concentrate on specific defences, while others are concerned with the links between defences, or with how defences relate to the structure of the law of equity generally. One aim of the book is to shed light on equitable doctrines by analysing them through the lens of defences. The essays offer original contributions to this complex, important but neglected field of scholarly investigation. The contributors – judges, practitioners and academics – are all distinguished jurists. The essays are addressed to all of the major common law jurisdictions.

The book examines the protection of property rights in chattels through the law of torts, focusing on the four actions of conversion, detinue, trespass and negligence. Traditionally these actions have been governed by arcane divisions which have led to unnecessary complexity and arbitrariness. The principal argument made in the book is that significant developments in the modern law point towards abolition of these arcane divisions and permit the chattel torts to be understood by reference to a coherent and justifiable structure. It is argued that the only division which should be drawn in the modern chattel torts is between intentional interferences with chattels, where liability is strict, and unintentional interferences with chattels, where liability is fault based. In order to demonstrate this structure it is first argued that the actions of conversion, detinue and trespass amount, in substance, to a single cause of action which imposes strict liability for the intentional interference with another's chattel. It is then argued that the tort of negligence recognises a fault-based cause of action for the unintentional interference with another's chattel. It is further argued that this basic structure, unlike the arcane divisions which have traditionally governed this area of law, can be justified.

Landmark Cases in Property Law explores the development of basic principles of property law in leading cases. Each chapter considers a case on land, personal property or intangibles, discussing what that case contributes to the dominant themes of property jurisprudence – How are property rights acquired? What is the content of property rights? What are the limits or boundaries of property? How are property rights extinguished? Individually and collectively, the chapters identify a number of important themes for the doctrinal development of property institutions and their broader justification. These themes include: the obscure and incremental development of seemingly foundational principles, the role of instrumentalism in property reasoning, the influence of the law of tort on the scope of property doctrines, and the impact of Roman legal reasoning on the common law of property. One or more of these themes (and others) is revealed through careful case analysis in each chapter, and they are collected and critically explored in the editors’ introductions. This makes for a coherent and provocative collection, and ensures that Landmark Cases in Property Law will be lively and essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and all those interested in the development of property principles at law.