Trespass/Nuisance
A fence built maliciously for the sole purpose of bothering a neighbor is known as what, and is treated as what type of claim?
A spite fence and is a nuisance claim.
What acronym helps remember the elements of adverse possession?
OCEANS: Open, Continuous, Exclusive, Adverse/Hostile, Notorious, Statutory period
What does “pur autre vie” translate to?
For the life of another
Executory interests come in two forms. What are they and what is the difference?
Shifting: Cuts short a grantee’s estate and shifts it to another grantee.
Springing: Cuts short the grantor’s estate and springs out of it to a grantee.
What are the 3 types of restraints on alienation?
Disabling → blocks transfer altogether.
Forfeiture → estate lost if transferee tries to transfer.
Promissory → transferee promises not to transfer
An _______ nuisance is a substantial and unreasonable interference with the enjoyment of one's land by unsightly objects or structures on another's land
Aesthetic.
When an adverse possessor enters under a faulty deed or other invalid instrument, the law may treat them as possessing the entire property, not just the part they occupy. This doctrine is known by two names. Name both.
Color of title and constructive adverse possession
A grants “To B for life”. What interest does A have? (name it fully)
Reversion by operation of law
Explain the difference between the effect of breaking a condition in a fee simple determinable and a fee simple subject to condition subsequent.
FSD ends automatically on breach; FSCS continues until the grantor affirmatively exercises the right of re-entry
In which 4 states can you still create a fee tail?
Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island
The doctrine of ____________ prevents someone from claiming a nuisance if they were aware of it before acquiring the property. This is similar to the doctrine of ____________ in torts, which involves knowingly accepting the risks of a situation.
Coming to the Nuisance and Assumption of Risk.
What are the three I’s of disabilities? (50 Bonus points if you can name another less common disability)
Insanity, infancy, incarceration. Active military duty/service can also be a disability.
If O conveys “to A for life, then to B”. B later sells A his interest in the land, what doctrine applies and what estate results?
Doctrine of merger, and A owns the land in fee simple absolute.
Which words usually signal a fee simple determinable, and which signal a fee simple subject to condition subsequent? Give 3 examples of each.
Fee Simple Determinable (temporal language): “so long as,” “while,” “during,” “until.” Fee Simple Subject to Condition Subsequent (conditional language): “but if,” “on condition that,” “provided that,” “however, if.”
What does “inter vivos” conveyance mean? Give an example of one.
In life/during life. Selling land, deeding it away in life, an in life gift.
Sometimes courts will allow a nuisance to continue if shutting it down would cause major economic harm. Instead of an injunction, what remedy do courts often order?
They will order monetary damages (economic damages/compensation) paid to the plaintiff
Two adverse possessors, A and B, occupy land one after another. When can their time be added together, and what requirement must be met?
Privity.
A grantor conveys “to X Corporation for life.” Why is this conveyance invalid as a life estate?
Because corporations (and other entities) do not have natural lives, so they cannot hold a life estate. Life estates must be measured by a human life.
If conveyance language is unclear, whether it creates a fee simple determinable or fee simple subject to condition subsequent, which do courts prefer, and why?
Fee simple subject to a condition subsequent because it avoids automatic forfeiture, courts disfavor cutting off estates automatically.
If someone with a fee simple absolute dies with no will, no beneficiaries, and no heirs, what happens to the land?
The estate escheats to the state
What is a nuisance per se?
An activity that is always considered a nuisance, in any circumstance, usually because it’s illegal (e.g., crack house).
Name 3 instruments you can gain color of title through.
Deed, court judgement, and will.
What happens if a remainderman murders the life tenant with the intent to get the land faster?
"Slayer statutes" that prevent a wrongdoer from inheriting property from the person they killed.
O conveys: “To A, beginning on the day she graduates from medical school.” A is in undergrad. What estate does A have, and what interest does O hold until then?
A has a springing executory interest; O retains a fee simple subject to an executory limitation until A graduates.
Under common law and modern majority rule, what interest is “To A”
Common Law = Life estate because it required “and to his heirs”. Modern Majority Rule = Fee simple absolute.