Contributing to UT Real Property Law
photo by Matt Imbler
Virtually every attorney and court dealing with real property laws in the state of Utah uses a book written by two BYU law faculty members.
Utah Real Property Law was written by David Thomas, the Rex E. Lee Chair and professor of law, and James Backman, the Stephen L. Richards professor of law.
The book is the most comprehensive and up-to-date reference guide on real property law in Utah. Real property law is a legal term that refers to all laws concerning a person’s land, land improvements, and property rights related to that land.
The idea for such a reference guide came from the Real Property Section of the Utah Bar in 1995, when BYU professors Thomas and Backman were asked to write the first edition. This request came because of their background in Utah real property law and BYU Law School’s history of writing reliable reference guides on the subject.
Both Thomas and Backman have extensive experience in practicing, teaching, and writing about real property law. Thomas has served as the editor-in-chief and principal author of the 15-volume national real property law treatise
Thompson on Real Property, Thomas Edition. Backman has edited and revised large portions of R. Powell’s
The Law of Real Property.
Backman and Thomas co-wrote
A Practical Guide to Disputes Between Adjoining Landowners-Easements, published in 1989. In addition, both served as faculty advisors to a student publication
Summary of Utah Real Property Law in the law school’s early years.
“Soon after the law school was founded, we had students research and write a book on Utah property law under faculty supervision,” Thomas said. “It was very popular, and the print run sold out.”
Almost twenty years after the first and only update to this student publication sold out in 1981, LexisNexis published the first edition of Thomas and Backman’s guide in 1999, and annual updates or successive editions have followed nearly every year.
This resource guide is widely used among Utah practicing attorneys, who often turn to its carefully compiled index, useful summaries, and comprehensive annotations when first presented with a problem relating to real property law.
David Hirschi is a private-practice attorney based in Salt Lake City, currently serving as the Chair of the Real Property Section of the Utah State Bar and the Chair o f the Utah Land Use Institute. Hirschi uses
Utah Real Property Law as a starting point for research.
“I use [
Utah Real Property Law] as an important introductory step to my research,” Hirschi said. “Once I have reviewed the basic information and citations in the book, I will conduct further research to complete the pleadings or transactions I am working on.”
Hirschi uses the book because it allows him to quickly learn about a number of topics using the index and summaries, which then direct him to a section of the code that he can research more extensively.
“I suspect everyone who practices real property law in Utah has [
Utah Real Property Law] sitting on his or her bookshelf,” Hirschi said. “Usually our copy is not on the bookshelf but on somebody’s desk, because we are always using it.”
Backman and Thomas’s work in writing and editing
Utah Real Property Law is a unique contribution to the field of legal research and practice.
“We have appreciated the chance to contribute in this way,” Backman said. “It has been fun to find a niche that we can fill. It is a different kind of scholarship, but we hope it has become a helpful overview and starting point for practitioners."
Posted: March 26, 2009
