Non-Conforming Apples

We had another snow day this week. It snowed enough that the plows actually came down our street. And it was cold enough that the neighborhood lakes froze over. It was fun to see the seagulls wandering around on the ice almost as if they were stunned by what had happened.

The snow was light and fluffy, the kind that you could blow off the sidewalk with a leaf blower. We didn’t do that, however, we used my emergency trunk shovel (my upstairs neighbor doesn’t have a shovel). After a few minutes a neighbor from across the street let us borrow his normal sized shovel (which my back appreciated). I loved shoveling the snow. It was refreshing to be out in the cold doing some physical work. I felt so good when we were done that I went for a run.

The weather warmed right back up and melted the snow away over the next two days. There were a few straggler piles this morning, but I think they succumbed to today’s sixty degree weather.

I took advantage of the warm weather yesterday and took my Property book for a walk. I’ve long been a fan of reading and walking; it gives me a way to occupy my mind without having to sit still. I went five miles around the neighborhood. That wasn’t enough to get through all of my Property reading, but it was nice to be outside instead of sitting in my apartment.

My classes have been interesting:

Constitutional Law: I seem to be developing a split personality for this class. We are discussing the constitutional right to privacy, which means talking about abortion and homosexual rights. The lawyer side of me understands both sides of the arguments. The personal side of me approaches the reading with a deeply moral perspective. Sometimes those two sides coincide, sometimes not. It gives me a lot to think about.

Contracts: My favorite question from this class has been, “Are oranges non-conforming apples?” In other words, if someone offers to buy some apples from you and you send them oranges instead, have you breached a contract or have you given them a counter-offer?

To illustrate offers, my professor had us draft an offer on his behalf for agreeing with his wife to get a dog. She wants a dog; he does NOT. The exercise yielded some interesting potential contracts as we tried to think of ways to limit his involvement with the dog while still creating an offer she would actually accept.

Property: This is a passage I read as I was walking my five miles yesterday:

Suppose that T, holding of L by knight service, subinfeudated to the church in frankalmoign or to T1, reserving as service one rose at midsummer. Knight service must still be rendered L, but this subinfeudation seriously devalued L’s incidents of wardship, marriage, relief, and escheat. (Property, 7^th Edition; Dukeminier, Krier, Alexander, and Schill; 2010, p. 189.)

As you can see, I get to learn all sorts of jargon in property. This is one area where legalese has a strong hold. My professor told us that for the unit on estates we should set aside logic and just memorize how the law works, because if you think about it too much, it doesn't make sense.

(Side note: my Property book gets a gold star; it has pictures and comics. Not that every law text should have pictures, of course, but there’s certainly room for creativity in that regard.)

So that's what's going on.

Recommended song of the week: I See Fire sung by Peter Hollens (YouTube it). It has a beautiful, almost desperate resolve to it. And it’s fun to listen to. And Peter Hollens has a good voice. (I also like his version of Shenandoah.)