Module description
This module introduces the law of property in England and Wales, with a primary focus on English land law.
Students first learn what property rights are, how they differ from personal rights, and why that distinction matters. They then study the variety of different property rights recognised in English law, the ways in which new property rights can be created and existing property rights can be transferred to others, and the priority rules used to resolve disputes when two or more people claim competing property rights to the same thing.
The Law of Property is related to the Law of Trusts (6FFLK003). Students intending to take both modules are advised to take them concurrently.
The Law of Property is a core foundation subject that must be covered before one can proceed to the Bar Professional Training Course or Legal Practice Course. It is compulsory for a qualifying law degree for the purposes of practice in England and Wales.
Semester 1 introduces the basic conceptual building blocks of property law in this jurisdiction, and the law governing the creation and transfer of property rights in land.
Semester 2 covers the individual rights in more depth, situations where property rights conflict with each other (‘priority conflicts’) and the management of disputes between holders of complementary rights (such as mortgagors and mortgagees, and trustees of land and their beneficiaries).
Assessment details
Examination (100%)
Educational aims & objectives
At the end of this course, you should be able to:
- Understand and critically evaluate the distinction between property rights and other kinds of rights recognised in private law, and the debates surrounding the classification of different rights as personal or proprietary;
- Understand and critically evaluate the English law governing the creation and transfer of property rights in land.
- Understand and critically evaluate the different rights to own, occupyand use land that English law recognises.
- Understand how English law resolves priority conflicts between the holders of different rights to land and critically evaluate how such conflicts are addressed in the case of registered land.
- Understand and critically evaluate how English law manages disputes arising within relationships concerned with land, including the rights and remedies of landlords and tenants, mortgagors and mortgagees,and beneficiaries under trusts of land and their trustees. In the course of attaining these specific learning objectives, you can also expect to improve in the following areas, gaining skills that are broadly transferable skills across your future study of law:
- The ability to analyse, interpret and apply complex statutory provisions and to critically examine the interaction between case law and statute.
- The ability to critically evaluate law in its historic context, and understand how changing social, economic and political conditions influence how legal problems are defined, solved and arise.
- The ability to assimilate and make use of an extensive technical legal vocabulary and to formulate persuasive written and oral arguments about practical problems drawing on this vocabulary. The Property course also involves an unavoidably large minimum of study. As a result, you can also expect to gain or improve upon transferable skills of good concentration, self-motivation and effective time management.
Teaching pattern
Lectures (2 x 1 hour per week), Tutorials (1 x 1 hour per week), Seminars (4 x 2 hour per year).
Suggested reading list
The primary textbook for this course is Emma Lees, The Principle of Land Law (Oxford University Press, 2020) .In addition to the reading from Lees, we have also suggested reading on each topic from an introductory text: E Cooke, Land Law (2nd edn, OUP2012). While the reading from Cooke is not mandatory, it is strongly recommended that you complete it, as it will assist you in clarifying the basic conceptual aspects of each topic and structuring your reading. These readings are not meant to be an alternative to the reading from Lees but only a supplement. You will get the most out of the course if you complete both, reading Cooke first to get the gist of the topic and then Lees for further details. On some topics, you will find an academic article or two set as part of your recommended reading for the tutorial. This will be the case when understanding these contributions to the academic literature is essential to an understanding of the relevant topic. You should treat familiarity with the arguments in these articles as a minimum requirement of this course and complete this reading in advance of the tutorial. More often, you will find academic articles set as part of the ‘suggested reading’ each week. These articles provide illuminating and important perspectives on the law, and we strongly recommend that you read them at some stage in your study of the subject. It is unlikely that you will be able to write very good or excellent essays on the various topics covered in the course if you have not engaged with the academic literature on these topics at all. PLEASE NOTE: academic articles and case notes are available through the library’s subscription to Westlaw.