Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Boulder's Idea of Property Rights

An absolutely unbelievable tale of legal thievery and judicial corruption:
Despite owning the land, despite living only 200 yards from the property, despite hiking past it every week with their three dogs, despite spraying for weeds and fixing fences, despite paying homeowner association dues and property taxes each year, someone else had taken a shine to it. Someone powerful.

Former Boulder District Judge, Boulder Mayor, RTD board member - among other elected positions - Richard McLean and his wife, attorney Edith Stevens, used an arcane common law called "adverse possession" to claim the land for their own.
I'm not sure I see anything other than a difference in degree between this larcenous ex-judge and his land grab, and Uday and Qusay Hussein's habit of raping any Iraqi women who caught their eye.

Thanks to Emperor Darth Misha I of The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.