James Salzman

Who knows what we own?

The key thesis of this book is that our core ownership stories are wrong. They contend the each of us uses some version of six ownership stories:
1. First come, first served;
2. Possession is nine-tenths of the law;
3. You reap what you sow—we own the fruits of our labors;
4. My home is my castle—I own what is attached to me;
5. Our bodies, our selves, and
6. The meek shall inherit the earth—family property stays in the family.

The authors are law professors, and they use a series of engaging real-life legal disputes to demonstrate that each of these rules are open to broad and conflicting interpretations. One key flaw in our simplistic ownership stories is that they are based on a binary view of ownership—either my story is correct, and I deserve full ownership of the property, or yours is correct and you deserve full ownership. The authors advocate thinking in terms of gradations of ownership (which they model with a light dimmer) rather than full ownership models (which they model with an on/off switch).

They offer a few broad principles that can be used to reduce conflict and resolve ownership disputes. These include considering:
• What ownership decision serves to best advance the collective well-being,
• Reframing the problem using design tool alternatives including
o ex post or ex ante considerations,
o rules or standards,
o exclusion or governance,
o setting baselines, and
o liberal commons.

They end with the statement “If there is one lesson from this book, it’s that mine reflects a choice among competing stories.”

This is a well written, entertaining, informative, well researched, thought provoking, and important book.… (mehr)

A really good popular book about property law; I’d recommend it for law students and for people who are just interested in learning more about property. It sets out various frameworks for establishing property rights (such as attachment to an existing right, first-in-time, and possession) and shows how they’re always contested and partial. The opening example, about the Knee Defender (a device that an airplane passenger can deploy to prevent the seat in front of them from reclining) depends on competing accounts of “whose” space that is, and on the airlines’ own strategic silence on this—they could make explicit rules, but they’d rather have passengers mad at each other. Other topics in this far-ranging book include water rights, kidney sales, Black land loss, South Dakota’s special role in protecting the assets of wealthy people against legitimate creditors, the “sharing” economy that might just be the oligopoly economy, and more.… (mehr)

Why develop a detailed history about something as ubiquitous as water? Salzman shows why in this well-written inspection of a resource without which humans could not survive. He covers contemporary legal issues as well as (in the revised edition) the 2016 debacle in Flint, Michigan. He discourses about science, economics, human history, and public policy at length. Through adept writing, he makes the mundane and overlooked to become interesting and critical. To the curious reader, he offers a look at an environmental issue of importance that barely receives notice of the average citizen.

Salzman bookends his book with the tale of a small California town targeted by Nestle for a water plant. This dying town’s leadership sought a bottled-water facility as a way to restore economic health. However, many in the town rebelled from their leadership for environmental reasons. The economic-versus-environment motif played out through the courts, and Nestle eventually withdrew its plans. While many citizens saw this as a victory, the town council still has no other plans to aid the region’s economic health.

Controversies such as this will likely take place with increasing rapidity in America in coming decades. America’s water infrastructure is aging, and public funds, required in the billions of dollars, are lacking. Worse, public interest is also lacking – something that Salzman, a law professor and environmental policy wonk, seeks to combat.

Finding healthy water sources and providing water treatment has been an integral part of human society since the Romans, as the author delineates. Public attention often passes despite the issue’s obvious importance. Water infrastructure in the developed world is surprisingly still vulnerable to fears of terrorism. An expanding society means an increasing need of water, yet few politicians attend to such concerns.

This book should gain the attention of those interested in public policy. Hopefully, it will also grab the attention of informed citizens and their leaders. It brings interest to a topic that is, as the author convincingly persuades, worthy of such. This work focuses on the social impacts yet provides scientific detail of involved elements. As such, Salzman’s words can access a wide audience. Hopefully, the world need not repeat scenarios like Flint, Michigan, to realize the importance of attending to these matters.… (mehr)