Equity Is Swell

The Honorable James Spence, Master In Equity in Lexington County, South Carolina, was kind enough to come down to Charleston from Lexington and give a special lecture to my Real Estate Transactions Class on some property cases that he had recently decided. One of them – that is particularly interesting – was a commercial easement that he has now been kind enough to share not only with the class itself but he has granted me permission to post on Equity is Swell Blog. It is very instructive and it highlights that when purchasing property one should always be very careful to read all the conveyances that are involved in the transaction, including all of the easements. It is attached to this link. I recommend it to you as a very interesting South Carolina Order, worth of reading and perhaps even re-reading.

The second case that Judge Spence was kind enough to share with me is a fascinating case about the interpretation of a South Carolina deed. At the very end of this very scholarly  opinion, you will note that he expressly quotes an equitable maxim in his analysis. I highly recommend this order. as well. As an interesting aside, the deed was drafted in February of 1945 with World War II still on-going. Although the deed was written in 1945, the case itself was not decided until 2012.

Although Property law really does take a long time sometimes to  decide, even so, this case is probably somewhat unusual as it normally does not take 67 years to make that particular type of decision.

Both of these cases highlight the interactions between property and equity and suggest that the practice of law really does present unusual challenges to lawyers and clients. It is a real pleasure to have the opportunity to have this Judge in the classroom and his opinions on this blog.

Thanks, your honor. Your work is especially appreciated.

Chief Judge Few, of the South Carolina Court of Appeals, gave this commencement speech to the graduating students of the Charleston School of Law on December 16, 2012. With so much relentless criticism today of the legal profession, it is especially nice to consider this speech. As Judge Few reminds us – at its very best – law can be a highly honorable field and individual lawyers and judges really can make a true meaningful difference in this world. Thanks, Judge Few, for sharing this recent commencement speech with all of us and permitting me to post it on the Equity is Swell blog. Naturally, I always invite comments on anything that is posted here.

Spitz

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,400 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

To have every new post on Equity is Swell emailed to your email address, do the following. At the Equity is Swell site, click on the floating box in the lower right-hand corner that says “Follow.”

In the box that comes up, fill in the email address and click “Sign me up.”

This student paper, titled Unclean Hands: Residential Real Estate Loan Modifications in South Carolina and the Unauthorized Practice of Law, was written for my Spring 2012 Equity class by Ricky Thomas, Gary Patterson, and Corey Smith.

Last December, I was lucky enough to attend the Charleston School of Law December Commencement Graduation Ceremonies. The Commencement Speaker was one of the Associate Justices on the South Carolina Supreme Court, the honorable Justice John Kittredge. He is very kind and has permitted me, at my request, to post that talk on Equity is Swell. I think this is a really wonderful speech for law student graduates (and many others — including many lawyers) to read and reflect upon its content. An aside, Justice Kittredge was at first quite reluctant to let me post this talk because, as he quickly pointed out to me, it was written to be delivered orally and was never intended to be read. Nonetheless, with the qualification in mind, I have the privilege of passing it along just the way he wrote it. I frankly predict you will find it truly worthy of reading and I greatly appreciate his honor permitting me the privilege of posting it here. Thanks, Justice Kittredge.

Spitz / February 14, 2012