Classical liberals properly regard property rights as an indispensable pillar of a free society. James Burling has been litigating property rights for over 40 years at the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a public interest law firm headquartered in California that pioneered the defense of property owners against government interference. Since PLF was founded in 1973, it has managed to have 20 of its cases accepted for review by the US Supreme Court, winning 18 victories, including the landmark precedent in Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (1987). This is an astounding track record. Burling himself argued and won a major property rights case in 2001, Palazzolo v. Rhode Island. Through their representation of property owners, Burling and his PLF colleagues are responsible for much of the Supreme Court case law in the areas of regulatory takings, confiscatory land use restrictions, and environmental overreach. Few people are better equipped to write a book about property rights.
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