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18 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 183 (2009-2010)
Private Norms and Public Spaces

handle is hein.journals/wmbrts18 and id is 185 raw text is: PRIVATE NORMS AND PUBLIC SPACES Nicole Stelle Gamett* For two semesters during law school, I worked as Bob Ellickson's research assistant. One day, he asked me if I had considered the legal academy. I said yes, although I chose not to disclose why: my soon-to-be husband very much wanted to teach, and I figured that, if we ended up in some obscure town like South Bend, Indiana, I would probably need a job. He then asked what I might like to teach. I like Property, I replied. He probably thought I was being obsequious-I would have thought as much-but he nevertheless assured me of his support if I ever did decide to test the academic waters. This exchange turned out to be a providential one. I realized as I left his office that, actually, the idea of teaching and writing about the law did appeal to me more than I had previously admitted to myself. And I realized that I was not being obse- quious. I did like Property very much, thanks, of course, to Bob Ellickson, who all agree is an exceptionally gifted teacher. In his Property class, I had come to under- stand the problem of resource allocation as the problem in the law-the one problem that I would most want to ponder with students should the opportunity present itself someday. And so it was that three years later, when the appointments chair at Notre Dame Law School asked me what I would like to teach, I replied, I like Property. And, as a law professor, I find myself trying to emulate Bob Ellickson as both a teacher and mentor. Of course, my intellectual pedigree is hardly unique. Undoubtedly, many law professors trace their scholarly interests back to their days in his Property class, and many more checked the Property box on the AALS form because they were inspired by his scholarship. Still, I am very grateful to Bob Ellickson for his encouragement, both in my law school days and many, many, times since I started teaching and writing about his subject. It is therefore a particular privilege to have been invited to this conference honoring his work as a scholar and a teacher. It is a special privilege to comment on the role of social norms as rules of prop- erty allocation. After all, Ellickson's work on this subject revolutionized not only the field of property law but legal scholarship generally. As Richard McAdams has observed, Order Without Law created, or at least anticipated, a burgeoning new sub- field of legal studies.' Indeed, the subfield has so burgeoned that I am going to take * Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School. I received helpful comments on this essay from participants in the 2008 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference, William & Mary Law School, and from Peg Brinig, Daniel Kelly and Rick Garnett. I thank Jaclyn Sexton for helpful research assistance. Richard H. McAdams, The Origin, Development, andRegulation ofNorms, 96 MICH. L. REv. 338, 344 (1997) (discussing ROBERT C. ELLICKSON, ORDER WITHOUT LAW: How NEIGHBORS SETLE DispuTEs (1991)).

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