Preface

Thanks for buying this book. I’ve worked hard on this new edition, to make it more tightly focused on just those topics that are important in today’s Property courses and to incorporate new Flow Charts and Tables.

Here are some of this book’s special features:

“Casebook Correlation Chart” — This chart, located just after this Preface, correlates each section of the Outline with the pages covering the same topic in the four leading Property casebooks.

“Capsule Summary” — This is an 86-page summary of the key concepts of the law of Property, specially designed for use in the last week or so before your final exam.

“QuizYourself” — At the end of nearly every chapter I give you short-answer questions so that you can exercise your analytical muscles. There are over 100 of these questions, each written by me. I also provide detailed answers.

“Exam Tips” — These alert you to the issues that repeatedly pop up on real-life Property exams, and the factual patterns commonly used to test those issues. I created these Tips by looking at literally hundreds of multiple-choice and essay questions asked by law professors and bar examiners. You’d be surprised at how predictable the issues and fact-patterns chosen by professors really are!

Flow Charts and Tables — I’ve distilled many of the legal principles in this book into special visual aids that help you see how the pieces fit together. These include Flow Charts and Tables. You’ll find them at various places in most chapters, usually after the full treatment of the material in question. The list of Flow Charts and Checklist Tables on p. xxxv will help you quickly locate these new features when you’re studying for your exam.

I intend for you to use this book both throughout the semester and for exam preparation. Here are some suggestions about how to use it:^¹

1. During the semester, use the book in preparing each night for the next day’s class. To do this, first read your casebook. Then, use the Casebook Correlation Chart to get an idea of what part of the outline to read. Reading the outline will give you a sense of how the particular cases you’ve just read in your casebook fit into the overall structure of the subject. You may want to use a yellow highlighter to mark key portions of the Emanuel.

1. The suggestions below relate only to this book. I don’t talk about taking or reviewing class notes, using hornbooks or other study aids, joining a study group, or anything else. This doesn’t mean I don’t think these other steps are important — it’s just that in this Preface I’ve chosen to focus on how I think you can use this outline

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