R. H. Helmholz
Ruth Wyatt Rosenson Distinguished Service Professor of Law
1111 East 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
phone: 773-702-9580
email: dick_helmholz@law.uchicago.edu

Current Year Courses

• 30411 1 Property
  This course, offered over two sequential quarters, provides an introduction to the legal relationships that arise out of or constitute ownership of property. Subjects covered may include, but are not limited to, such areas as the initial acquisition of rights in real and personal property, the nature of ownership of natural resources, the various types of concurrent and successive interests in land, and restraints on alienation. The course will also deal with the law relating to easements and covenants, landlord and tenant, and conveyancing. The students grade is based on a single final examination.
  Autumn (3) a, 1L
  
  
• 45301 1 Oil and Gas Law
  The basic law relating to the exploration, production, and development of oil and gas. The following principal topics are covered: ownership interests in natural resources, leasing and field development, the classification and transfer of production interests, and regulation of field operation-pooling, unitization, and environmental controls. Taxation and post-production marketing controls are not covered. The student's grade is based on class participation and a final exam.
  Spring (3)
  
  
• 49901 16 Independent Research
  Second- and third-year students may earn course credit by independent research under the supervision of a member of the faculty. Such projects are arranged by consultation between the student and the particular member of the faculty in whose field the proposed topic falls.
  Autumn (3)
  
  
• 91902 1 European Legal History: From the 12th Century to Codification
  This seminar aims to give students an appreciation of the basic themes and the most important events in European (as opposed to English) legal history. It begins with the Roman law formulated under the Emperor Justinian and moves forward to the 19th century. Among the subjects covered are Germanic law, the rise of legal science beginning in the twelfth century, the nature of the ius commune, legal humanism, the reception of Roman law, the natural law school, and the movement towards codification of the law. Students are encouraged to conduct basic research on their own and to share it with the class; students are permitted to write a paper, but a final examination will also be offered as an option.
  Autumn (2)
  
  

Other courses taught include:

• Public Land and Resource Law
• Research in English History
• Workshop: Law and Economics