LAWS12065 Foundations of Property Law

Welcome

Welcome to Foundations of Property Law! Property law is reputed to have a bit of a reputation! Many students see it as a challenge. This derives from the 3 causes, which includes:

Vocabulary;
Breadth of subject; and
Lack of clear organisation.

However, there is good news! These challenges can become your strengths! The study of property law can be enjoyable and dare I say it, exciting! The significance of the subject is that it cuts across other defined areas of law, such as contracts, torts and even constitutional law. Property law is certainly much more than ‘buying, selling and mortgaging land’. In fact, LAWS12065 Foundations of Property Law is not really concerned with these more traditionally commonly identified aspects of property law. These will feature in more detail in your second installment of property law in LAWS12066 Land Law. For those who become totally mesmerized by property law (like me J) you can also enrol in my elective course LAWS12059 Conveyancing (offered in Term 2 2018 and then in even years).

The study of property law can embrace an investigation into the trade in body parts and genetics; squatters and homelessness, social conditions and forces concerning what is possessed and owned and by whom; freedom of information; how proceeds of crime may be traced and protecting the environment. While not all of these will be explored in detail, you will have the opportunity to explore and reflect upon several of these themes in this Unit. We will also investigate the conceptual as well as the legal underpinnings of property and property rights.

In Topic 1 on the Concept of Property, we will examine the nature of property and what we mean by use of the phrase ‘property law’. There is an introduction to constitutional protections in relation to property and property rights in Australia. A contrast is drawn with the position in South Africa to reveal how a mixed legal system coming out of a challenging past has dealt with property rights through their modern Constitution. We will analyse property rights in light of other rights that the law identifies and recognises such as the right of persons; right to privacy; to work; and civil and human rights. You will have the chance to reflect on how these other rights intersect with or possibly ‘trump’ property rights and when property rights need to be protected. The Unit concludes with an extended discussion of the role of equity and equitable property. There will be an opportunity in Unit for you to reflect on differences between protecting real property (land) as opposed to personal property (goods).

Overview

Expected duration: 12 weeks

Instructor: Dr Michael Nancarrow

Department: School of Business and Law

This Unit introduces students to the conceptual foundations of Australian property law. The Unit covers both personal property and an introduction to interests in real property. A core aim of the course is to develop an understanding of a 'proprietary interest' and the different types of interests in property, which Australian law recognises. The Unit includes coverage of the regulation of personal property interests under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth). This Unit is intended to be the first of two core property law units for students enrolled in the LLB program. The other will be a unit on Land law. This Unit traverses the following themes: conceptual foundations of 'property'; personal property (including ownership and possessory title); the regulation of personal property security interests under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth); doctrine of tenure and estates; aspects of State land in Qld; Indigenous property rights and Native Title; principles governing the creation, acquisition and enforcement of rights to property; and the nature and classification of equitable interests in property.

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

Comprehend the meaning and purpose of the concept of property and property rights.
Compare and contrast features of Australian property law under the common law system with aspects of the South African mixed legal system relating to constitutional protection.
Analyse the nature and type of various proprietary interests including for indigenous peoples.
Critique the methods and processes for creating, disposing and enforcing proprietary interests.
Apply the scheme for registering interests in personal property under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth).
Manage your study workload through review exercises and unit involvement strategies to ensure the timely delivery of high quality analysis.

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Instructor

Dr Michael Nancarrow

Please contact the instructor of any matter relating to the academic content of this unit:

Phone: +61

Email: m.nancarrow@cqu.edu.au

Biography:

Dr Michael Nancarrow received his PhD in Law from the University of NSW in 2010. His professional and academic expertise in legal education and in his early law practice experience has been in property law. Michael has written 2 theses in this area [LLB (Hons) dissertation: ‘Title Registration to Integrated Land Information’ (Macq 1985); and PhD thesis: ‘Between the Market and the State: The Regulatory Reform of Community Housing in NSW-Contractual, Proprietary and Governance Frameworks’ (UNSW 2010)]. He has delivered conference papers and published in this field as well, including in Halsburys’ Laws of Australia. Early in his career Michael worked with Ross Tzannes (foundation author of the NSW Strata Titles loose leaf service and property law teacher at the University of Sydney Law School for 10 years) in the firm of Pryor, Tzannes and Wallis in Sydney.

Michael has previously taught at a range of universities in Australia and been a Visiting Fellow at Stanford Law School (USA) and Osgoode Hall Law School (Canada). In 2013 he became more intensively involved in online legal education, through teaching into the CQUniversity online LLB program. Since July 2013 Michael has taken responsibility for the property law courses within the CQU LLB program. Michael has initiated the creation of 3 new property law courses for the CQU online LLB:

LAWS12065 Foundations of Property Law (from Term 1 2014);

LAWS12066 Land Law (from Term 2 2014); and

Conveyancing (from Term 2 2014).

Another area of interest and expertise for Michael is professional and applied ethics. He has worked extensively in this field delivering conference papers and publishing internationally. In July 2012 he delivered a peer reviewed paper at the International Society for Business, Economics and Ethics World Congress in Warsaw. A version of that paper was also delivered to the Centre for International Governance, School of Law, University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.

Michael has also been a consultant to the St James Ethics Centre, Sydney and is a past member of the Ethics Committee of the Law Society of New South Wales.

Teaching Methods:

This unit is based on the constructivist model of education. The unit coordinator is a facilitator to assist you in constructing your knowledge of the content and in developing the skills associated with this unit.

External participants

You may be viewing this unit as an external participant through Google Education Suite. The unit materials available on Google Education Suite are the same as those available to enrolled students, except that enrolled students have the benefit of access to interactive discussion forums and synchronous classes delivered over the Internet.

If you would like to learn about Australian law and gain an accredited qualification consider enrolling in our 3 year full-time LLB degree or 4 year part-time LLB. For more information please visit our website.

Enrolled students

It is expected that enrolled students will actively participate on the unit Moodle website and interact with other students as well as the unit coordinator. Moodle is the CQUniversity learning management system. Questions that may be of interest to other students should be placed on the relevant discussion forum in the unit website. Questions of a more personal nature can be emailed to the unit coordinator.

The unit content will be released or updated on a regular basis. Tutorial questions appear on the unit website. Each question has a separate discussion forum.

Welcome

Overview

Instructor

Teaching Methods:

How to Enrol for Credit