Module description
The title of this course, `Land Law,? suggests a subject with neat, well-delineated and easily defined, boundaries. However, as with most things in this world the reality is rather more complex. Land law, not only encompass other legal `subjects?, for example family law, housing law, environmental law, the law of equity and trusts, but, as with all law, it is also the product of complex social, political and economic relationships.

The course focuses on the legal issues associated with land as both a commodity and a social resource. It is, as the titles of some text books suggest, a subject concerned with property and property relations. While land is vital to human existence, property relations form a fundamental role in shaping and defining our societies. Different concepts of property have developed in specific spatial and temporal contexts. These relationships between individuals, objects and the state are both dynamic and fluid. One of the aims of this course therefore, is to examine these changing relationships, simultaneously locating ideas about property and land law in their broader social economic and political contexts.

The Course

The Land Law course counts for 30 credits and will be taught by lectures and seminar classes. Some weeks there will be two lectures, in others three. You are therefore advised to keep an eye on the notice board each week for information regarding the course. There will be 48 lectures and ten seminars spread across the two semesters.

The aim of the course is to introduce and explore a range of principles, ideas and problems, which can be found within land law and property relations. It is our intention to provide you with the opportunity to develop your critical and analytical skills throughout the course, as you progress through the complex, legal and social issues that lie at the heart of this subject.

Aims of the module
The aim of the course is to introduce and explore a range of principles, ideas and problems, which can be found within land law and property relations. It is our intention to provide you with the opportunity to develop your critical and analytical skills throughout the course, as you progress through the complex, legal and social issues that lie at the heart of this subject.

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module students should have attained a comprehensive body of knowledge of the legal relationships relating to land and land transactions. Students should also be able to articulate the relationships between the conceptual frameworks that underpin land law and the resulting statute and case law; while, at the same time, demonstrating their ability to critically analyse this knowledge by placing it in a wider social theoretical and jurisprudential context. Students should be able to describe the challenges that face land law, based on existing research and literature, and should be able to undertake a degree of sustained and systematic research that identifies concerns arising from a particular topic or line of enquiry. On completion of this module, students should also have developed and attained a number of transferable skills that allow them to articulate and more effectively communicate to others, the extent of the knowledge they have acquired, together with their critically evaluative understanding, of a number of issues that arise in relation to land law

Syllabus
Section A Introduction to the course.

Historical Introduction

The nature of land
Legal and equitable Interests
Doctrine of tenure
Doctrine of estates

Introduction to 1925 Property Legislation

Policy objectives
Legal estates and interests after 1925
Equitable estates and interests after 1925
The Land Charges system
The Land Registration system

Section B Land Transactions

Conveyancing

Formal creation of rights in land
Problems associated with pre-contract agreements
Contracts and Completion

The consequences of 3rd party legal and equitable interests

The protection of interests in unregistered land
The protection of interests in registered land
Remedies

Section C The Finance of Land Transactions: Mortgages

Financing Owner Occupation

The rise of owner occupation; building societies and banks
The creation of mortgages, formalities terms and conditions
The legal consequences of Mortgages for both the mortgagor and mortgagee
Priority of Mortgages
The housing market, the late 80?s, negative equity and repossession
The social consequences of mortgage repossession

Section D What rights go with land?

Introduction to Comparative Land Rights

Adverse Possession

Trespass Revisited
Squatters rights
A right to maintain the value of your property?

Section E Rights in Land less than the freehold I

Leases and Licences

Non-owner occupation and the rented sector
The creation of leases
Terms and conditions
Protection of tenancies
Leasehold Reform
Proprietary estoppel

Co-ownership

Informal creation of Rights in Land
Trusts of Land
Resulting and Constructive trusts
Statutory Rights of Occupation

Section F Rights in Land less than the freehold II

Easements

The requirements for a valid easement
The creation of easements
The role of easements in facilitating land use

Restrictive Covenants

Private and public law techniques for controlling land use
Freehold covenants
Passing of Benefit and Burden of Freehold Covenants
Building Schemes