1. Introduction and Class Overview
Slide Set One:
Introduction and Class Overview

2. Welcome !!! We are about to set off together on a grand adventure.
An Adventure of
Intellectual Excitement, and
Practical Usefulness.

3. The Adventure
of the Law of Property

4. Class Administration

5. First: Every Adventure needs a Guide.
Your Humble Professor, Mentor. and Intellectual Resource

6. What you need to know about me:
Professional Background
Attorney – Admitted to Practice Before State and Federal Courts
Professor – Long Time Law Professor
Senior Counsel – NYS Senate, Former NYS Deputy Attorney General
My Biography is on my website.
Personal Background
Wife: Marilyn – CPA Tax Attorney – Tax Managing Director - KPMG.
Children: Katie 26 (Lawyer), Lizzie 23 (Law School)
My Personality – Sincere, Easy Going, Friendly and Approachable.
Can be reached here in person after class or by appointment
Telephone (Cell):
Website:

7. Statement of Teaching Philosophy
Teaching is among the noblest of human pursuits. Through its communication of knowledge and experience, our society is advanced, and our civilization is
offered the promise of a brighter tomorrow.
This high mantle of responsibility requires an effective teacher to possess a number of talents as well as expend a great deal of energy, enthusiasm and effort.
As a result, the measures of effective teaching include:
1. Knowledge;
2. Communication;
3. Retention; and
4. Understanding.
The threshold measure of effective teaching is knowledge. A Professor must exhibit, through education, study, background and experience, a fundamental
knowledge of the subject matter. Moreover, such knowledge must be kept timely, through regular research on recent developments, theories and advances.
Knowledge is not a static quality, but an ever growing and evolving virtue. Great teachers know their subject.
Knowledge alone, however, is not enough. Like some many other pursuits in life, high quality teaching also requires communication. A Professor must
demonstrate effective two way communication, to assure not only the delivery, but also the receipt, of the knowledge to be conveyed. Such effective
communication takes place when a teacher is always prepared, exudes a contagious enthusiasm for the subject discussed, offers concepts in an understandable,
focused and interesting manner, and shares a passion, relevance and real world application of the material presented. Great teachers motivate, fascinate and
educate.
Conveyance of knowledge through effective communication, however, is only the first step to first class teaching. Equally important is the retention of such
conveyed knowledge by the student. For if such knowledge is not retained, the conveyance was in vain. A Professor succeeds when their student succeeds,
and a professor should not only assure delivery, but also develop methods and measures that promote long term retention. Different students retain differently,
requiring the use of a variety of mediums and methods. Lectures, written materials, audio and visual presentations and practical interactions must all be selected
and presented in a complementary manner, to promote the repetition and reinforcement that leads to retention, without the dull redundancy that produces
boredom and disinterest. Creative Intellectual devices and responsive measurements further prove helpful in pursuit of this goal. In the end, retention is a
cornerstone to learning. Great teachers communicate knowledge in ways it will be retained.
The final measure of effective teaching is student understanding. A Professor has succeeded when their student understands the retained knowledge
communicated. Building understanding, the hardest task in all of teaching, requires a Professor to motivate students to develop their own intellectual talents,
and to apply their recently retained knowledge to new and different situations. Offered by way of the teacher’s enlightened path of perspective and insight,
understanding is attained by the student through their own thought and analysis. Through understanding, the future application and extension of communicated
knowledge can be achieved. Producing understanding is thus the essential element of education. It is the fundamental factor for which a teacher must effectively
test, and inspiring students to achieve it, is the ultimate hallmark of an effective teacher. Great teachers advance understanding.
It these four measures, knowledge, communication, retention and understanding, that I wish to employ as a professor at SUNYA. It is through their framework
that I wish to offer my time, talent, energy, enthusiasm and effort. It is upon their foundation, that I wish to combine my experience, to provide an added depth and
relevance in the education of our students. It is upon this philosophy, that I wish to develop into a great teacher.

8. Rules for Our Adventure:
For our Adventure to be Successful:
1. We need to get to know each other.
You now know a bit about me, and so I need to know a bit about you.
Please Complete the Student Biography Form
Its worth 3 points toward your final grade

9. As a result, each Class will begin by taking roll.
Rules for Our Adventure:
For our Adventure to be Successful:
2. You need to come to Class.
The first step of any successful adventure is simply to be there.
As a result, each Class will begin by taking roll.
Class attendance will be a part of your final grade.
A total of 12 points (basically one point for every Class).

10. Rules for Our Adventure:
For our Adventure to be Successful:
3. You Will Need:
A Thirst for Intellectual Excitement
A Hunger to be a Part of a Challenge
A Willingness to Explore and Eagerness to Learn
THERE IS NO TEXTBOOK FOR THIS CLASS
– They are expensive, and we have provided selected readings.
Access to a computer, to visit our class website
- We do not use Blackboard – This is the Website
where you can find everything you need.

18. So, with that introduction…
Let’s Begin Our Grand Adventure

19. Brief Thoughts of Introduction
This is a course in law – What is the law?
Rules by which civilization is ordered.
Property needs to be seen as a collection of rights, not as a collection of things.
What is a right?
The legally recognized ability
to exercise power and control
over an action or object.
Governments are created to establish laws that protect rights.

20. More Brief Thoughts of Introduction
The founders of our nation established our legal system.
Based on the Laws of England, it was expanded
to protect the rights of individuals.
This respect for the individual was at the very center
of their concept of liberty and freedom.
As set forth in the Declaration of Independence,
and then later in the United States Constitution,
they established a government and legal system,
to protect these individual rights.

21. More Brief Thoughts of Introduction
The founders stated in the Declaration of Independence,
that our individual rights were unalienable,
and that they came from God and not from government
(so they could never be taken away).
They defined these rights as personal and individual,
and that their protection was the true purpose of government
and law.
They described these fundamental rights as:
● Life, ● Liberty, and ● The Pursuit of Happiness
But what does that mean?

22. More Brief Thoughts of Introduction
In 1690, 86 years before the Declaration of Independence,
the great, English philosopher John Locke,
announced that all people had three fundamental rights,
given to them by God and natural law.
● Life, ● Liberty, and ● The Pursuit of Property*
These three rights, described by John Locke,
formed the guiding philosophy of our nation,
and its government,
and not just of the federal government, but also of the states.
A Brief Word About the Founders – Don’t Expect Perfection.
There are no perfect people, only perfect aspirations / ideals.

23. Even More Brief Thoughts of Introduction
Constitutional Similarities
We live in a federal system.
We have both state governments and a national government.
The two exist together.
They are each based upon a constitution.
We were the first nation to have our governmental structure,
and our rights described and protected,
by a written constitution.
We have a United States Constitution (adopted 1787)
and each State has a Constitution as well (The adoption date depends on the formation of the state – New York’s Constitution was adopted in 1777, ten years before United States Constitution).

24. Even More Brief Thoughts of Introduction
Constitutional Similarities Continued
So why are all these Constitutions so remarkably similar?
Why is the structure of the US Constitution and nearly all of the states almost exactly the same?
For they all have an elected executive, a directly elected bicameral legislature (except one state), and a judiciary.
Each provide for co-equal, separate branches, with checks and balances of power on the others.
Each enumerate and protect the rights of individuals.

25. Even More Brief Thoughts of Introduction
Constitutional Similarities - Continued
Enter Stage Right – The Illustrious John Adams.
On May 10, 1776, shortly before the Declaration of
Independence, the Second Continental Congress
passed a resolution recommending that any colony
then in existence, should immediately form a
constitutional government, apart from its colonial
status with Great Britain.
To assist the colonies in forming their new state governments,
John Adams, one of America’s greatest colonial constitutional
scholars, and a member of the Second Continental Congress,
authored his famous Thoughts on Government,
Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies.
This Adams’ essay, recommended a model framework,
to form new state governments, for the conduct of their
executive, legislative and judicial functions

26. Even More Brief Thoughts of Introduction
Constitutional Similarities - Continued
This brilliant Adams’ framework
was based upon the foundational principle
that all state governments must be republican in form
(i.e. provide for directly elected representatives).
Further, Under this Adams framework,
all these state governments would contain
three
separate,
independent,
competing and
co-equal branches,
that would provide checks and balances,
against the powers of each other.

27. Even More Brief Thoughts of Introduction
Constitutional Similarities - Continued
The purpose of these new governments
would be to protect the rights
of their citizens in the states.
All the states forming governments at this time,
followed the Adams framework,
in his “Thoughts on Government” Essay.
That is why, to this day, all the early state governments
have a common structure.
The federal government modeled these states,
and thus also has a similar structure.
The states added after the US Constitution was adopted,
then followed its structure.

28. The Structure of these Laws would include:
Constitutions: Both Federal and State
Statutes: Enacted by Elected Legislative Bodies
(Such as Congress or State Legislature)
Case Law: Also known as “The Common Law”
(Case Decisions delivered by Courts)
Regulations: Promulgated by government (Executive) agencies (Agency pronouncements designed to amplify or clarify their authority as provided in statute or constitution)
Executive Orders: Issued by Executive (President or Governor) (Instructions by the Executive to their agencies directing them how to execute a procedure or law)

29. Laws as Rules: So when we say that:
Laws are the rules by which civilization is ordered
What do we base their authority on?
Where does that the authority for that Rule Book come from?
It comes from America’s Ultimate Rule Book – Our Constitution

30. The United States of America
Our Founders set up our Nation
The United States of America
as a Representative, federal, Republic.
Pursuant to our United States Constitution,
our laws come from our government
and the sovereignty or power for our
government rests in the people.
This system is set up by our
United States Constitution
establishes the Rule Book
for our Government and its Laws.

31. The United States of America
A Representative, federal, Republic.
Articles IV and VI of the United States Constitution
expressly provide:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government … and
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States, which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any state to the Contrary notwithstanding.

32. As a result of this representative, federal, republic:
Laws are made pursuant to the following construct:
Federal Government (For All National Laws – Supreme but Limited Powers)
President (Executive) Congress (Legislative) Federal Courts (Judicial)
State Government (For All State Laws – Subservient but Unlimited Powers)
Governor (Executive) State Legislature (Legislative) State Courts (Judicial)

33. Federal Government (Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances)
President (Executive) Congress (Legislative) Federal Courts (Judicial)
Supreme Court
US Senate US House of Representatives
US Court of Appeals
US District Court

34. State Government (Pursuant to State Constitution – Similar Checks and Balances)
Governor (Executive) State Legislature (Legislative) State Courts (Judicial)
NYS Court of Appeals
NYS Senate NYS Assembly
Appellate Division of NYS Supreme Court
NYS Supreme Court

35. To Understand Property:
We Must Understand the Founders and Understand the Law
This is a class on the Law of Property
One can not have a true understanding the Law of Property,
unless they have a true understanding of the Founders
and a true understanding of the Law.
For to understand our law, we must understand the founders,
and to understand property we must understand the law.
Property and the Law are intertwined and inseparable.
Moreover, to truly understand the Law of Property
we need to think of Property as a Collection of Rights,
and unless we have an understanding of the Law
it is unlikely we will understand
how such rights are derived and protected.
And thus we start our adventure with a background on the
founders view of property rights.

36. The Founders View of Property
Those who crafted our nation
held the philosophical principle,
and the system of laws
they developed reflects the view,
that property rights are sacred.
These founders firmly understood
that the protection
of individual private property rights
was one of the most important factors
to building a free society.
They knew, if you want freedom,
you better guarantee property rights,
and the people’s ability
to freely exercise them.

37. The Founders View of Property Continued
James Madison, fourth President of the United States
and the principal author of the United States Constitution,
as well as the Congressional Sponsor and author of the
Bill of Rights, encapsulated this vision when he said:
“Government is instituted to protect property
of every sort; as well that which lies
in the various rights of individuals ...
This being the end of government,
that alone is a just government,
which impartially secures to every man,
whatever is his own.”

38. The Founders View of Property Continued
John Adams, our second president
and collaborative author
of the Declaration of Independence,
further amplified this view when he stated:
“Property must be secured
or liberty can not exist.”
“The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred
as the laws of God,
and that there is not a force of law
and public justice to protect it,
anarchy and tyranny commence.”

39. The Founders View of Property Continued
Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States
and the primary author
of the Declaration of Independence,
declared:
"The first foundations of the social compact would be broken up were we definitely to refuse to its members the protection of their persons and property while in their lawful pursuits." “Persons and property make the sum of the objects of government.”

40. The Founders View of Property Continued
John Jay, first Chief Justice
of the United States Supreme Court,
renowned legal scholar, author of the
Federalist Papers (with Madison and Hamilton)
and the principal author of the New York State
Constitution pronounced:
“It is the undoubted right
and unalienable privilege ...
not to be divested or interrupted
in the innocent use of ... property. ...
This is the cornerstone
of every free Constitution.”

41. The Founders View of Property Continued
George Washington, the first President
And Presiding Officer
of the Constitutional Convention,
in Philadelphia said:
“[I]n a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property. ”

42. The Founders View of Property Continued
Alexander Hamilton, Delegate to the Constitutional Convention,
author of the Federalist Papers (with Madison and Jay)
and first Treasury Secretary of the United States, declared:
“The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased.” “It is the unalienable birthright ... to participate in framing the laws which are to bind ... either as to ... life or property.” “[T]he end and intention ... is to preserve ... life, property, and liberty ... from the encroachments of oppression and tyranny.” “What the law gives us an unconditional permission to enjoy, no person can legally withhold from us. It becomes our property, and we can enforce our right to it.” “In the general course of human nature, a power over a man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will.”

43. "That all men are by nature equally free
The Founders View of Property Continued
The State of Virginia, home of four of the first five presidents,
adopted a Bill of Rights on June 7, 1776,
written by George Mason, a delegate
to the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention in 1787.
Section 1 of this Declaration of Rights stated:
"That all men are by nature equally free
and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life
and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety”

44. The Founders View of Property Continued
"All men are born free and equal,
and have certain natural, essential,
and unalienable rights,
among which may be reckoned
the right of acquiring,
possessing, and protecting property"
William Paterson, Attorney General of New Jersey,
Delegate to the Constitutional Convention,
and Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court
appointed by President George Washington.

45. The Founders View of Property Continued
American government was created
"to acquire a new security
for the possession or the recovery
of those rights to which we were
previously entitled, ... including
the right of property, and that "every
government which has not this in view as
its principal object is not a government
of the legitimate kind"
James Wilson, signer of the Declaration of Independence,
Delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and
a Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court

46. The Founders View of Property Continued
Our inalienable rights include
"first, a right to life;
secondly, to liberty;
thirdly, to property
together with the right
to support and defend them"
Samuel Adams, founder Sons of Liberty
and the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence.

47. The Founders View of Property Continued
"Let these truths be indelibly impressed
on our minds:
that we cannot be happy
without being free;
(2) that we cannot be free
without being secure in our property; and
(3) that we cannot be secure in our property
if without our consent
others may as by right take it away"
John Dickinson, signer of the Constitution.

48. As can be seen from the above, the founders maintained a clear grasp
The Founders View of Property Continued
As can be seen from the above,
the founders maintained a clear grasp
of the connection between
liberty, freedom and property rights.
They understood that it is the pursuit of
property that is the catalyst of freedom,
and that a person’s unfettered ability
to freely exercise their property rights,
is the gateway of liberty.

49. concept of materialism. Nowhere in the founders’ writings is the
The Founders View of Property Continued
This reverence for property rights was not a
concept of materialism.
Nowhere in the founders’ writings is the
obtainment or maintenance of wealth
the focus of their arguments.
It was not the value of the property
that mattered, nor was it the property itself,
that the framers linked to liberty.
Rather, they believed that it was the
pursuit of property, and the free exercise
of the rights thereof, that are the key.

50. When it came to property rights, the founders understood,
The Founders View of Property Continued
When it came to property rights,
the founders understood,
that it is not about equality of means
or equality of outcome,
but rather about freedom and equality
of opportunity.
Although there is little question that
the founders were intellectual giants,
they also were, however, reflective
of their society’s beliefs as a whole.

51. The founders were not perfect people. No one is.
The Founders View of Property Continued
The founders were not perfect people.
No one is.
One need only read their powerful words,
however, to realize that they sought to
advance perfect intentions for our nation.
The fact that they didn’t always live up
to their perfect intentions, should not
take away from the truly transformational
aspirations they espoused for our country.

52. They held that since all men (and women)
The Founders View of Property Continued
They held that since all men (and women)
are viewed as equal in the eyes of God,
they should also be viewed as equal in the
eyes of man.
This Natural Rights philosophy
shaped our government
and the way all Americans
can still today
freely exercise and pursue
their human and property rights.

53. The Founders View of Property Continued
We can see, throughout
the Declaration of Independence,
the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,
that the pursuit of property,
and a person’s ability to freely exercise
their property rights, is sacrosanct.
Property rights are thereby a foundational pillar
upon which American government is built.
The law we enjoy today, is a reflection
of this dedication to the principle
and the free exercise of its rights,
are indispensable and inseparable from
liberty, freedom and the natural rights of man.

54. State Law The Founders View of Property Continued Law of Property
Because it developed from the Common Law,
and was viewed through the prism of rights
In accordance with natural law,
most law of Property is:
State Law

55. Class Exercise:
Running for Office and
How a Bill Becomes a Law

56. End of Class One Please don’t forget to hand in your bio form
For next time – Review Assignments as follows on the Webpage:
Lecture Slides
Selected Readings
Cases and Exercises
We are a hot bench.
Questions?