Prop1 Class 21 – Leaseholds I

April 2nd, 2013

The lecture notes are here. The live chat is here.

This is Lord Edward Coke, the Chief Justice of England. He is most famous for prosecuting Sir Walter Raleigh (whose inability to confront witnesses was the origin of our confrontation clause) and the Gunpowder Plot (remember, remember the 5th of November, or V for Vendetta). Coke is most famous for deciding Lord Bonham’s case, the case most famously cited for the proposition that a court could find a law unconstitutional. The King was subject to the laws, and the laws of Parliament were void if in violation of “common right and reason.” It was not John Marshall who created the concept of judicial review. However, after this case, he was transferred to the King’s Bench, where he had less power. He also famously wrote the Institutes of the Lawes of England.

coke

And, for those interested, the South Texas College of Law Library has a 1607 English Dictionary. None other than Lord Coke ordered it censored for its seditious definition of the word liberty. Indeed Coke ordered the book to be burned!

The Texas Statute of Frauds provides:

Sec. 26.01.  PROMISE OR AGREEMENT MUST BE IN WRITING. (a) A promise or agreement described in Subsection (b) of this section is not enforceable unless the promise or agreement, or a memorandum of it, is

(1)  in writing; and

(2)  signed by the person to be charged with the promise or agreement or by someone lawfully authorized to sign for him.

(b)  Subsection (a) of this section applies to:

(1)  a promise by an executor or administrator to answer out of his own estate for any debt or damage due from his testator or intestate;

(2)  a promise by one person to answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of another person;

(3)  an agreement made on consideration of marriage or on consideration of nonmarital conjugal cohabitation;

(4)  a contract for the sale of real estate;

(5)  a lease of real estate for a term longer than one year;

(6)  an agreement which is not to be performed within one year from the date of making the agreement;

(7)  a promise or agreement to pay a commission for the sale or purchase of:

(A)  an oil or gas mining lease;

(B)  an oil or gas royalty;

(C)  minerals;  or

(D)  a mineral interest;  and

(8)  an agreement, promise, contract, or warranty of cure relating to medical care or results thereof made by a physician or health care provider as defined in Section 74.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code.  This section shall not apply to pharmacists.

I have an album of photos of the house from Shelley v. Kraemer here:

 

Here is the text of the 14th Amendment:

No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The 13th Amendment is the only Amendment to apply directly to individuals, and not the government:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.