The William & Mary Property Rights Project Launches The Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Journal

The William & Mary Property Rights Project recently announced the publication of the inaugural volume of the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Journal. The Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference Journal, named in honor of Owners’ Counsel Members Toby Prince Brigham and Gideon Kanner or their lifetime contributions to private property rights, their efforts to advance the constitutional protection of property, and their accomplishments in preserving the important role that private property plays in protecting individual and civil rights. Since 2004, the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference has recognized outstanding scholarly contributions to the field of property rights with the annual presentation of the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize.

The inaugural conference journal reflects upon the 2011 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference on Comparative Property Rights which was held in Beiing, China and features 17 articles written by the leading scholars and practitioners from the U.S. and China who participated in the 2011 Conference. The journal includes a number of articles that explore the similarities and differences between property systems in the U.S., China, and other countries as well as articles reflecting upon the property rights decisions of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the 2011 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize recipient.

Volume 1 of the journal includes articles by Owners’ Counsel Members, Alan T. Ackerman of Ackerman Ackerman & Dynkowski, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and James S. Burling of the Pacific Legal Foundation. Mr. Ackerman’s article “Incorporation of the Right To Just Compensation: The Fourteenth Amendment vs. The Takings Clause” discusses the history of the creation of the Fourteenth Amendment and the relationship between the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendments with respect to the power of eminent domain as it is used to take private property for a public purpose. The Fourteenth Amendment states in part: “…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law…”.

In “The Use and Abuse of Property Rights in Saving the Environment,” Mr. Burling discusses the threats to property by environmental initiatives over the past 40 years and how those initiatives have evolved from from the ideals of conservation to the schemes of preservation. He examines whether theses threats to private property ownership are in fact severe attacks on Americans’ individual liberty or simply regulatory hurdles that landowners must jump along the way to enjoying their private property rights.

Other American scholars and practitioners who authored articles for the journal are:
Lan Cao of William & Mary Law School;
Robert C. Ellickson of Yale Law School;
James W. Ely, Jr., of Vanderbilt University;
Richard A. Epstein of New York University School of Law;
Lee Anne Fennell of the University of Chicago Law School;
Mark F. (Thor) Hearne II, Steven Haskins and Meghan S. Largent of Arent Fox, LLP;
Frank I. Michelman of Harvard University;
Carol M. Rose of the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law (professor emerita, Yale Law School);
Patricia E. Salkin of the Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center (and formerly of Albany Law School) and Daniel Gross of Albany Law School.

The perspectives of distinguished Chinese scholars and practitioners also are represented in this initial volume of the conference journal.
Lu Zhongmei of the Hubei University of Economics;
Zhou Ke and Xu Ya of the Renmin University of China School of Law;
Libin Zhang of Siemens (Asia & Australia);
Yun-chien Chang of Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica;
Shitong Qiao (J.S.D. Candidate) of Yale Law School;
Wenjun Wang and Shuxin Zhu of Dalian Maritime University.

The journal is published by the William & Mary Law School Property Rights Project and is available by subscription for $15 per volume. To subscribe to the journal, email Jan Abbott at the William & Mary Journal Center. The journal will be also be made available on the Property Rights Project website.

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