Customer Reviews

Property: Examples & Explanations (Examples & Explanations Series)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I am a Harvard law student and I went CRAZY preparing for exams. (as did everyone else) but a wise 3L gave me some advice that saved my life. Here is goes: Use Gilbert's on Prop to learn the black letter law of the cases you will be studying. Then use West Group's High Court Summaries to figure out in simpler terms your case. Read your cases. After you learn each subject, do the problems in Examples and Explanations to really apply your knowledge. Just working through each of the examples and seeing the subtle "shadings" of the law was enormously helpful. I know a lot of people get frusterated by this book because the examples can be difficult, but I found them to be harder than my exams which made testing a breeze. After using E & E, you may have lost sight of the forest for all the trees... So for the week before the exam, the nutshell guide should become your bible. It is clear, concise, and presents difficult but very clarifying examples of applications of laws after each law you learn. It was the perfect compact tool to "bring you back into the forest." I got an A in property (am VERY proud of myself) and it was patly because of this book. I highly suggest you buy.

The two editions appear to be tied together in Amazon's database. Reviews given to one appear in both places. In my opinion, the Second Edition (ISBN 0735539790) resolves a lot of the criticisms that I have heard and read about the first edition. Let the reviews scare you away from the old edition, but give the new one a look. It's worth it.

Don't waste your money on the first edition; get the Gilbert's outline instead. Then, if you have questions, just ask your prof.

Compared to the Examples & Explanations for Contracts (Blum), Torts (Glannon), and the astounding Civil Procedure (Glannon), this book was a big let-down. Either Aspen needs to have some student reviewers, or the editors at Aspen need to get their act together and compare what is in the book with a commercial outline.

In our study group, we randomly turned to two examples & explanations. In one case, the authors said that they differed on the outcome, but only gave one authors opinion (Implied Warranty of Habitability, chp 20, example #10). In another (on Dower, Chp 14., example 1), the answer is flat-out wrong.

I do like that the chapters are short, and not intimidating, but the explanations have to be beefed up and well-developed. They are not in this book, and I cannot recommend anyone purchase it. I'm not wasting any time using it in preparation for finals.

I am only a mediocre student at a mediocre school. But property is our thing and our property prof is our toughest--she was the top grad at Stanford or something and heads up the whole environmental movement out here in the Pacific Northwest. Property was my hardest class by far, yet I passed. I owe passing to this book, because the class was all way over my head. This book gave me what I missed in class and got me to survive the worst exam I ever took. All 1L law students need it. Anyone who is not a lawyer but finds themselves needing to understand basic principles of property law (maybe you are involved in a suit against your local zoning board and need someone to explain to you what your lawyer is saying) needs this book. In fact, if you own your own home or business, you probably need this book. I used to own my own home before I changed careers and went back to college. If I had this book back then, I would have been a lot more saavy in dealing with my obnoxious neighbors. Heck, if you rent you need this book so your landlord doesn't screw you. I think the reason some reviewers hated it is that they are the geeks of your law school class who got all A's without trying. They probably hated Cliff's Notes, too.

I have all of the first year E&E books and this one is not nearly of the same quality as the rest of the series.

It's confusing. There is no natural progression in explanations. I felt like I was reading another confusing casebook with bad examples!

Burke and Snoe need to take a look at how Glannon does it for Torts and Civil Procedure before they write the second edition.

Of all the property hornbooks this is the only one which will translate into a high grade on a law school exam. The Moynihan book is to small and covers only Prop 1 material. The Singer book is to voluminous, this book covers every testable subject and leaves the discussion of untestable material to the property nerds. Look no further, this hornbook is all you need to get an A in property, if you actually read it it of course.

Buy this and High Court summaries keyed to your casebook and you're set. I also used the Gilberts and Sum and Substance 1L tapes while commuting to school--the best preparation with the least effort.
Property isn't the easiest 1L subject but you get the hang of it. This book does help but it's not as easy going as Civ Pro, Ks or Torts, for instance. Still, a great help considering the subject.

This a a wonderful supplement to the Property Textbook by Dukeminier and Krier (published by Aspen Law and Business--same publisher as the Examples and Explations Series). It creates a good framework to support and bring together what you learn in a first year law school property class, and it helps solidify in your mind some of those amorphous property law concepts. It it not a stand alone book to teach the law.

This was my primary study aid for my property final. It did an OK job of filling in the holes in my notes and the instruction in the case book - its sections on future interests and the rule against perpetuities are actually quite good. On the downside, several sections are hopeless - for instance, the section on concurrent ownership and marital interests.

I have a number of the E&E series books, and they are generally very helpful. Unfortunately, Burke and Snoe's Property is written in the same way that most law profs teach- a little heavy on the legalese without completely explaining themselves. The "Harvard law student" sounds a little too enthusiastic for this book considering it really falls far short of the others in the series. I would not recommend it, and hope that the E&E editors clean up the next edition.