The subject area–the law of real property

A great authority on the [English] law of real property prefaced his 1878 lectures with the following:

“Some of the most remarkable of these laws, viewed by themselves, apart from their history, and judged only by the benefits which now result from them, appear to me to be absolutely worthless. Others are more than worthless, they are absurd and injurious.”

More succinctly, Cromwell described the law of real property as “a tortuous and ungodly jumble.” In a somewhat amusing confirmation of the above, Maitland said:

“When those who are set to teach the youth hold such language as this, there are but two courses open to us—to silence the professors, or to reform the laws.”

Last but not least, Sir Robert Megarry, one of the leading textbook writers of Property Law said that he:

“always felt much sympathy for those embarking on a study of the law of real property” and that “as an undergraduate, the subject seemed...Complex, endless and dull.”

If these are what the pundits on the Law of Real Property have to say about the subject, what is a teacher in this field to do? ‘Silencing’ this professor was not an option; nor was I in the position of being powerful enough to ‘reform the laws’.

Additional difficulties

In addition to the acknowledged difficulties of the subject area, there are other obstacles to consider when teaching my undergraduate (RE2103 “Property Law I” and SSD1203 “Real Estate Development and Investment Law”) and postgraduate (MPM5103 and MRE6101 “Legal and Institutional Framework”) students. Firstly, many of the laws governing Singapore have been transplanted from England as a result of colonisation despite the fact that these laws are vastly incompatible to Singapore’s unique situation. In addition, many pieces of local legislation were passed to cater to Singapore’s unique problems (especially land scarcity) and these had to be grafted onto existing English legislation.

Secondly, since most of the students in my class have taken relatively easier Law subjects such as Contract and Tort, they relate better to the latter than to Real Property Law, which requires a sound grasp of fairly abstract concepts. In general, students respond better to concepts such as entering into a contract to buy, for example, a computer or some other consumer products, or be able to identify a tort by reading a newspaper report of a car accident. It is unlikely that they will be able to relate to buying a house or apartment or creating a trust instrument.

To compound the above listed difficulties, the students in this module come from different faculties, with varied levels of understanding of Law. This meant that my module was just one of the various modules they were doing. Not only do I need to instill in the students a certain type of thinking and a certain type of reasoning, I also have the additional task of making it relevant both to the other modules they are currently pursuing as well as their choice of career paths.

Faced with all these odds, I knew that it was critical for me to find ways to make the subject appealing and relevant for my students. Thus, I have come up with the following teaching approaches and learning objectives. Primarily, I seek to instil in students an interest in the subject which would in turn lead to:

• A greater involvement in their preparation and participation in the module,
  
  
• A greater awareness of the relevance of the topic to their general daily lives as well as to their future careers,
  
  
• deeper engagement with the other modules they are pursuing, for example: Valuation, Property and Facilities Management, Urban Planning and Land Use.

My overall teaching approach

Within the classroom, I adopt an interactive style of teaching, incorporating elements of both lecture and tutorial sessions, hence providing a conducive learning environment. This is complemented by a maieutic approach, where student responses are provoked by my seemingly innocent questions. One of the comments from my student’s feedback form was “She gave us a heart attack!” However, I take this positively because I know I make my students think on their feet, question their own assumptions and demolish long-held beliefs. In other words, I spar with my students. It is important to me that students use the right words to articulate their thoughts. I need to ensure that they have actually understood a particular concept, and thereby able to link it with previous ones, and also recognising the significance of the topic in a bigger context of the industry.

I am a little harder on the postgraduate students but they take my ‘treatment’ well and have been robust in their comebacks. Some of the frameworks I have used in my teaching include the Case-Method, Problem-Based Learning, Role-Play and Debates.

Outside the classroom

This can be anywhere, be it along the corridors, in the canteen or on the IVLE. Students are expected to think about issues raised in class whether it directly relates to typical textbook matters or not. They are to look for legal angles in everyday events. My trigger resources are varied––from movie sources (Intolerable Cruelty is about a pre-nuptial agreement and the division of matrimonial assets), headlines in tabloids (e.g. reports on spouses in divorce proceedings squabbling over their share of the matrimonial home) or a picture in the morning’s Straits Times (e.g. a report about sewage water leaking into water tanks at one of the condominiums not far from NUS).

After lessons, I frequently receive emails from students about real-property related issues they recognised from their everyday lives. It is heartening that they want to know more and beyond what the textbooks tell them––students have begun connecting the dots among disparate matters we have learnt about life. This is when I know that I have got them ‘hooked’ and that I have paved the way for their independent and self-directed learning.