John Byrd Martin Chair of Law Emeritus
smith pic
Fax
(706) 542-7404

University of Georgia
School of Law
304 Rusk Hall
Athens, GA 30602
United States

B.A., St. Olaf College
J.D., University of Texas

Biographical Information

James Charles Smith joined the University of Georgia School of Law faculty in 1984 and was named the holder of the John Byrd Martin Chair of Law during 1997. He retired from teaching at UGA in 2017 and remains involved in his scholarship, teaching and other professional activities. He specializes in property, real estate transactions and commercial law.

Smith's scholarship includes several books: Property: Cases and Materials (with Professors Larson and Nagle, 4th ed., 2018); Real Estate Transactions: Problems, Cases and Materials (with Professor Malloy, 5th ed., 2017); Federal Taxation of Real Estate (with Professor Samansky, 2014) and Neighboring Property Owners (1988, with annual supplements 1990-2019). In addition, in 1999, Smith assumed authorship of the best-selling treatise on real estate law, Friedman and Smith on Contracts and Conveyances of Real Property, the eighth edition of which was published in 2017. He has also published numerous articles and book chapters and has served as a Fellow of CALI (Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) to develop electronic teaching materials for property.

Smith is frequently invited to give guest lectures and to make presentations at academic conferences. He serves in leadership positions in a number of professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, the Association of American Law Schools, the Association for Law, Property and Society (ALPS) and CALI. He is serving as reporter for the Uniform Law Commission for revisions to the condominium and common-interest ownership acts, and he previously served as co-reporter for the home foreclosure procedures act. Smith also takes an active role in advising policymakers. He has testified before Congress on four occasions: twice regarding a proposed bill to exempt certain federal workers from state income tax and twice regarding state taxation of nonresidents' pension income.

Smith earned his bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College and his law degree from the University of Texas. He then served as a judicial clerk for Judge Walter R. Ely of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and practiced for four years as an associate with Baker Botts in Houston, Texas. Prior to coming to UGA, Smith was an assistant professor at the Ohio State University College of Law.

An avid runner, Smith has participated in the Boston Marathon on five occasions between 1981 and 2002.

Publications & Activities

ARTICLES
BOOK REVIEWS
BOOKS
CHAPTERS
PROCEEDINGS

ARTICLES

When Inquiring Minds Ought to Know ... Part II, 32 Prob. & Prop. 48 (2018) (with D. Kochan).

Making Existing Homes Greener, 4 Tex. A&M J. Prop. L. 117 (2017).

When Inquiring Minds Ought to Know ..., 31 Prob. & Prop. 1 (2017).

Green Home Standards: Information and Incentives, 54 Hous. L. Rev. 1139 (2017).

Some Preliminary Thoughts on the Law of Neighbors, 39 Ga. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 757 (2011).

Modern Mortgage Markets and How Mortgage Fraud Has Flourished, 24 Prob. & Prop 32 (2010).

The Structural Causes of Mortgage Fraud, 60 Syracuse L. Rev. 473 (2010).

Restrictions on Freedom of Expression Imposed by Servitudes, 16 Digest 1 (2009).

The Law of Yards, 33 Ecology L.Q. 203 (2006).

The Problem of Social Cost in a Genetically Modified Age, 58 Hastings L.J. 87 (with Paul J. Heald).

Kelo v. City of New London: Supreme Court Refuses to Hamstring Local Governments, 20 Prob.& Prop. 17 (2006).

Family Life and Moral Character, 12 Tex. Wesleyan L. Rev. 431 (2005) (Symposium: The Power of Stories: The Intersections of Law, Literature, and Culture: Harry Potter, Law, and Culture: Harry Potter and the Law).

Status, Rules, and the Enslavement of the House-Elves, 12 Tex. Wesleyan L. Rev. 456 (2005) (Symposium: The Power of Stories: The Intersections of Law, Literature, and Culture: Harry Potter, Law, and Culture: Harry Potter and the Law).

Modernizing the Law of Secured Transactions: Non-Uniform Provisions of Georgia's Revised Article 9, 37 Ga. L. Rev. 205 (2002).

Markets and Law Reform: The Tension Between Uniformity and Idealism, 20 Nova L. Rev. 1165 (1996).

The Dynamics of Landlord-Tenant Law and Residential Finance: The Comparative Economics of Home Ownership, 44 Wash. U. J. Urb. & Contemp. L. 3 (1993).

Ownership and Use of Subterranean Space, 14 E. Min. L. Found. 4-1 (1993).

State Taxation of Nonresidents' Pension Income, 56 Tax Notes 221 (1992) (with Walter Hellerstein).

State Taxation of Federally Deferred Income: The Interstate Dimension, 44 Tax L. Rev. 349 (1989) (with Walter Hellerstein).

Tenant Remedies for Breach of Habitability: Tort Dimensions of a Contract Concept, 505 U. Kan. L. Rev. 505 (1987).

Developments in the Law: Coal and Minerals, 7 E. Min. L. Found. 10-1 (1986).

School Desegregation, 54 Tex. L. Rev. 822 (1976).

BOOK REVIEWS

A History of Water Rights at Common Law (J. Getzler), 24 Law & Hist. Rev. 220 (2006).

Icons and Aliens: Law, Aesthetics, and Environmental Change, 78 Cal. L. Rev. 787 (1990).

The Transformation of American Law, 1977 Wis. L. Rev. 1253 (1977).

BOOKS

Friedman and Smith on Contracts and Conveyances of Real Property (PLI 8th ed. 2017 with biannual updates 2017-2019; 7th ed. 2005 with biannual updates 2005-2017; 6th ed. biannual updates 1999-2005)

Real Estate Transactions: Problems, Cases, and Materials (Wolters Kluwer 5th ed. 2017; 4th ed. 2013; 3d ed. 2007; 2d ed. 2002; 1st ed. 1998) (with Professor Robin Malloy)

Property: Cases and Materials (Wolters Kluwer 4th ed. 2018; 3d ed. 2013; 2d ed. 2008; 1st ed. 2004) (with Professors Larson & Nagle)

Neighboring Property Owners (Thomson Reuters 1988 & Supplements 1990 through 2019)

Federal Taxation of Real Estate (Law Journal Seminars-Press 2014) (with Professor Allan Samansky; originally published, first edition, 1985; releases 1 - 43 since 1986)

Glannon Guide to Property (Wolters Kluwer 4th ed. 2018; 3d ed. 2015; 2d ed. 2011; 1st ed. 2008)

Real Estate, Emanuel law outline (Wolters Kluwer 3d ed. 2015; 2d ed. 2010; 1st ed. 2006) (with Professor Robin Malloy)

Property and Sovereignty: Legal and Cultural Perspectives (editor) (Ashgate Publishing 2013)

Real Estate Roadmap (Aspen Law & Business 2000) (with Professor Robin Malloy)

CHAPTERS

"Energy Efficiency, Conservation, and Fuel Switching in Existing Buildings," in Legal Pathways to Deep Carbonization in the United States (Michael B. Gerrard & John C. Dernbach eds.) (Envtl. L. Institute 2019).

"Some Reflections on the Merits of the Property Tax" in Tax Law and Policy: Beyond Economic Efficiency in United States Tax Law (Wolters Kluwer 2013).

"Homestead Laws," "Liens," "Subdivision Control," and "Warranties" in Encyclopedia of Housing, 2d ed. (A. Carswell ed.) (Sage Publications, 2012).

"Tulk v. Moxhay: The Fight to Develop Leicester Square" in Property Stories, 2d ed. (Foundation Press, 2009).

"Article 9 and the Law of Real Estate Financing" in Secured Transactions Under the Uniform Commercial Code (Matthew Bender, 2009) (with Julian McDonnell).

"Managing the Risks of Natural Disasters in Public Housing" in Affordable Housing and Public-Private Partnerships (Ashgate Publishing, 2009).

"Private Property, Community Development, and Eminent Domain" in Private Property, Community Development, and Eminent Domain (Ashgate Publishing, 2008) (with Robin Paul Malloy).

"Pollen Drift and the Bystanding Farmer: Harmonizing Patent Law and Common Law on the Technological Frontier" in Seeds of Resistance; Seeds of Hope (Univ. of Arizona Press, forthcoming) (with Paul Heald).

"Initial Financing Statements: The Impact of Revised Article 9" in Secured Transactions Under the Uniform Commercial Code (Matthew Bender, 2006) (with Julian McDonnell).

"Restraints on the Creation of Security Interests" in Secured Transactions Under the Uniform Commercial Code (Matthew Bender, 2006).

"Leases of Personal Property" in Secured Transactions Under the Uniform Commercial Code. (Matthew Bender, 2004).

CALI lessons in Property Law: "Landlord and Tenant: Quiet Enjoyment," "Constructive Eviction," and "Delivery of Possession and Title Covenants." (The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, 2002).

CALI Lessons in Property Law: "Distinction between Real Property and Personal Property," "Landlord and Tenant: An Introductory Lesson," "Landlord and Tenant: Statute of Frauds," "Periodic Tenancy," "Tenancy at Sufferance (Holdover Tenants)," "Tenancy at Will," and "Tenancy for Years." (The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, 2001).

"Involuntary Conversions of Property" and "Qualified Residence Interest" in Federal Taxation of Real Estate. (Law Journal-Seminars Press, 2000).

"A Case of Adverse Possession (Case File)" in Dynamics of Trial Practice: Problems and Materials. (West Pub., 1995).

"Leases of Personal Property" in Secured Transactions under the Uniform Commercial Code. (Matthew Bender, 1990).

"Defenses to Mortgage Foreclosures in Ohio" in Ohio Mortgage Foreclosures. (Professional Education Systems, Inc., 1983).

PROCEEDINGS

Statement, State Taxation of Non-resident Employees at Certain Federal Facilities, Hearing before the Senate Comm. on Government Affairs, 105th Cong., 1st Sess. (Oct. 24, 1997).

Statement, State Taxation of Employees at Certain Federal Facilities, Hearing before the Subcomm. on Commercial and Administrative Law of the House Comm. on the Judiciary, 105th Cong., 1st Sess. 61-68 (April 17, 1997).

Statement, State Taxation of Nonresidents' Pension Income, Hearing before the Subcomm. on Commercial and Administrative Law of the House Comm. on the Judiciary, 104th Cong., 1st Sess. 21-29, 31-38 (1995).

Statement, State Taxation of Nonresidents' Pension Income, Hearing before the Subcomm. on Economic and Commercial Law of the House Comm. on the Judiciary, 103rd Cong., 1st Sess. 68-81, 139-145 (1993).