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Prominent property expert to discuss shoreline property rights and exclusion during UF Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property

by Scott Emerson
Senior Writer

Gregory S. Alexander, a professor of law at Cornell University Law School, will speak at the Second Annual Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property on March 17. (Photo by DiMeo Photography)

Florida citizens and governmental entities that own land along Florida’s 12,000 miles of shoreline are constantly being challenged on their right to exclude others from their property.

With so many new laws and regulations regarding shoreline land use, exclusion rights have become muddy. On March 17 at 2 p.m. a nationally known expert in property law will discuss this issue during the University of Florida Levin College of Law Second Annual Wolf Family Lecture in the American Law of Real Property.

Land-use, environmental and real property attorneys and zoning officials dealing with waterways, shoreline property owners and those interested in property law are invited to hear Gregory S. Alexander, a professor of law at Cornell University Law School, speak on “Ownership and Its Obligations: Public Access to Beaches and Other Encroachments on the Right to Exclude.” The event, being held at Holland Hall 180, is free and open to the public.

“I am humbled to be invited to deliver the Wolf Family Lecture, endowed and named by the family of one of this country’s most distinguished legal scholars of property law,” Alexander said. “I hope that my remarks concerning recent developments affecting the land owner’s right to exclude will befit the occasion and be of interest to the University of Florida College of Law community.”

The lecture series was endowed by a gift from UF Law Professor Michael Allan Wolf and his wife, Betty. Wolf, the Richard E. Nelson Chair in Local Government Law, is the general editor of a 17-volume treatise, Powell on Real Property, the most referenced real- property treatise in the country, which is cited regularly by the courts, including several citations in the United States Supreme Court. The treatise is a legal source that lawyers, law professors and judges have relied upon for more than 50 years.

“My wife and I are very excited about the selection of Professor Alexander as the speaker for the Wolf Family Lecture,” said Wolf. “He has chosen a timely topic of interest to continue the lecture series.”

Alexander is the A. Robert Noll Professor of Law at Cornell Law School where he has been a member of the faculty since 1985. Following his graduation from Northwestern University School of Law, he clerked for the Hon. George Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. After he completed further study as a Bigelow Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, Alexander became a professor at the University of Georgia School of Law. Alexander is also a prolific and recognized writer. His most recent book is titled The Global Debate Over Constitutional Property: Lessons for American Takings Jurisprudence.

Danaya Wright, the UF Clarence J. TeSelle Professor of Law and a former student of Alexander, said lecture participants will gain valuable insights into property ownership and its obligations.

“For anyone concerned with public access to beaches and other natural resources, this lecture should prove very educational,” Wright said.

“Though I often encourage students to resist encroachments on public rights, I prefer they not get arrested,” Wright added with a smile. “Professor Alexander’s approach, if followed by more people, should make resistance less necessary and natural resources more accessible. You can’t beat that!”