Real Estate Practice in the Twenty-First Century
Real Estate Practice in the Twenty-First Century
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二十一世纪的房地产实践
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发表时间：
2007
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通讯作者：
Ann M. Burkhart
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作者：
Ann M. Burkhart
I.引言下一个世纪将带来真实的房地产法及其实践方式的深刻变化。这一预测对于任何法律领域或人类奋进的几乎任何其他领域来说似乎都是微不足道的。但真实的房地产法的变化由于其相对快速和全面而将是例外。自普通法法律的制度开始以来，真实的房地产法的变化非常缓慢，也许比任何其他领域都要慢。抵押贷款将成为本世纪发展的引擎，它是这种缓慢发展速度的一个特别突出的例子。(1)早在1189年的英格兰，这种工具本身就被称为抵押担保（mort gage），（2）而今天的实体抵押法则直接源自英格兰的中世纪。与《统一商法典》编纂和现代化的有关个人财产担保权益的法律不同，抵押法从未进行过彻底的改革。(3)现代抵押贷款法本质上是一堆绷带;当法律结构出现问题时，法院或立法机构会试图将解决方案嫁接到现有法律上。几乎不可避免的是，这种解决方案产生了另一个问题，绷带堆继续增加。这种相当随意的发展方法使现代抵押贷款法律和实践变得不必要的复杂和繁琐。鉴于土地财政对我们的经济和整个社会的重要性，（4）这种情况似乎令人惊讶。部分原因是真实的房地产法过于保守。由于土地通常是永久的和有价值的，土地法的目的是提供稳定的所有权。(5)土地所有权必须代代相传，使其不受质疑。此外，在处理像土地这样有价值的资产时，律师通常更愿意使用经过时间考验的方法，而不是尝试新技术。事实上，真实的房地产法从业者比几乎任何其他执业领域都要受到更多的医疗事故索赔。(6)另一个不那么善意的解释是，真实的房地产律师、产权保险公司和其他真实的房地产市场参与者的自身利益。法律越《双城之战》，给粗心的人带来许多陷阱，这些市场参与者提供的服务就越不可或缺。此外，法律和实践的变化可能要求他们在教育和技术方面进行大量的个人投资。(7)因此，起源于我们法律的制度最初几个世纪的地权学说和土地等级制度仍然存在。全国统一州法律委员会（NCCUSL）试图将统一引入真实的房地产法，但却非常失败，这说明了传统上对变革的抵制。NCCUSL自世纪以来提出了各种各样的统一和示范土地法。大多数法律甚至没有一个州颁布。(8)美国法律研究所十年前的《财产重述（第三次）：抵押贷款》更为成功，但它所引起的变化只是渐进的，因为采用取决于个人的司法决定，而不是立法。(9)尽管有这种传统的惯性，几个世纪以来土地法的重量现在正在屈服于市场的不可抗拒的力量-在这种情况下，抵押贷款市场。自古以来，抵押贷款一直是一种有吸引力的担保形式。(10)违约率通常是相当低的，（11），在违约的情况下，抵押土地的价值通常足以偿还贷款。今天，抵押贷款的这些特点使它们对金融市场和贷款人一样具有吸引力。美国和世界各地的投资者对美国抵押贷款产生了贪婪的胃口。(12)特别是在政治制度和金融市场不稳定的国家，美国的土地和抵押贷款被认为是相对安全的投资。…
I. INTRODUCTION The next century will bring profound changes in real estate law and in the ways that it is practiced. This prediction may seem rather unremarkable for any area of law or for almost any other area of human endeavor. But the changes in real estate law will be exceptional because of their relative rapidity and comprehensiveness. Real estate law, perhaps more than any other area, has changed very slowly since the beginning of the common law legal system. The mortgage, which will be the engine for this century's developments, is a particularly striking example of this slow rate of evolution. (1) The instrument itself was called a mort gage as early as 1189 in England, (2) and today's substantive mortgage law is descended directly from England's Middle Ages. Unlike the laws concerning security interests in personal property, which the Uniform Commercial Code codified and modernized, mortgage law never has been thoroughly overhauled. (3) Modern mortgage law essentially is a mound of bandages; as a problem emerged in the law's structure, a court or legislature would attempt to graft a solution onto the existing law. Almost inevitably, that solution created another problem, and the mound of bandages continues to grow. This rather haphazard method of development has made modern mortgage law and practice unnecessarily complex and cumbersome. Given the great importance of land finance to our economy and to our society more generally, (4) this state of affairs may seem surprising. Part of the explanation is the enormous conservatism of real estate law. Because land usually is permanent and valuable, land law is designed to provide stability of titles. (5) Land titles must remain comprehensible from generation to generation so that they are question-free. Moreover, when dealing with an asset as valuable as land, lawyers generally are more comfortable using time-tested methods, rather than experimenting with new techniques. As it is, real estate law practitioners are subject to more malpractice claims than virtually any other practice area. (6) The other, less benign, explanation for the relative absence of change is the self-interest of real estate lawyers, title insurers, and other participants in the real estate market. The more arcane the law remains, with its many traps for the unwary, the more indispensable are the services that these market participants provide. Additionally, changes in law and practice can require them to make substantial personal investments in education and technology. (7) As a result, title doctrines and estates in land that originated in the earliest centuries of our legal system still exist. The traditional resistance to change is illustrated by the very unsuccessful efforts of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) to introduce uniformity into real estate law. NCCUSL has proposed a wide variety of uniform and model land laws since the nineteenth century. Most have not been enacted by even one state. (8) The American Law Institute's ten-year-old Restatement (Third) of Property: Mortgages has been more successful, but the changes it has caused have been only incremental because adoption depends on individual judicial decisions, rather than on legislation. (9) Despite this traditional inertia, the weight of centuries of land law is now yielding to the irresistible force of the market--in this case, the market for mortgages. Since antiquity, mortgages have been an attractive form of security for lenders. (10) Default rates normally are quite low, (11) and, in the event of default, the mortgaged land usually is worth enough to repay the loan. Today, these features of mortgages have made them as attractive to the financial markets as to lenders. Investors in this country and around the world have developed a voracious appetite for American mortgages. (12) Particularly in countries with unstable political systems and financial markets, American land and mortgages are regarded as relatively secure investments. …