It was a beautiful day in March of 2020, school had been suspended for 2 weeks, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons had just come out on the Nintendo Switch. What I didn’t realize then was that my enjoyment would be short-lived. Fresh on my new island and excited to meet my newest island residents, I was confronted with what I can only describe as the ugliest koala I’ve ever seen. I immediately detested his terrifying smile and annoyingly green fur. He was a beacon of green, and I was constantly afflicted with his presence as I began building my island from the ground up. 14-year-old Louise had a goal for her new tropical paradise, and this marsupial was not a part of it. As Lyman was a tenant on my island, I had little recourse. He caused no disturbances on the island and followed the island’s rules. Despite his annoying singing in the town square and gym-bro-esque home decor, he was seemingly harmless and in good standing financially.

In 2007, Barry B. Benson, voiced by Jerry Seinfeld in the beloved Bee Movie, made history by arguing his rights as an insect before the New York Superior Court, claiming that honey industry actors conspired to defraud Benson’s certified class, “all bees of the world.” Today, in real-world combined efforts among biologists, lawyers, and the bees they seek to protect, the stingless bees of Peru have the opportunity to follow in Barry’s illustrious footsteps, symbolizing an important shift away from an anthropocentric legal practice and toward one of biocentrism.

I was raised in a ranching town within a small HOA-regulated neighborhood. As a kid, I spent countless afternoons playing tennis on our neighborhood court. Just beyond the court stretched an open field that all the homeowners shared as common property. But the portion of the field closest to the court told a different story. One of our neighbors had enclosed it with a fence, built horse stables, and kept his horses there. He maintained the enclosure, controlled access to it, and used the space as if it were his own.

In 2019, a single-family home located at the entrance of my suburban neighborhood was bought to be rented to families looking to live in the county’s best school district. Previously inhabited by a quiet couple who worked hard to keep their yard presentable, the home was now victim to a slew of families moving in and out on a yearly basis. The third rental tenant to occupy the home in 2021 made it immediately evident that yard upkeep was not one of their priorities. Three months into their rental period, the tenants allegedly experienced a bedbug infestation, prompting them to burn their mattresses in their backyard. Placing them only a few feet from the home, they doused the mattresses in gasoline and watched them, along with the grass and the back of the house, burst into flames.

In early February, an adorable two-year-old goldendoodle was left at the airport by its owner and subsequently adopted by one of the officers who found him. The owner arrived at the airport with her goldendoodle, now named JetBlue, to take a flight but was unable to bring JetBlue because he was not properly registered. Due to the inconvenience, the owner left JetBlue behind and took the flight. Officer Black was one of the original officers to find JetBlue at the airport. The police cited the owner for abandoning JetBlue and then brought him to the shelter. The owner did not reclaim JetBlue in the ten-day recovery period offered to owners.

In 2010, my family had new neighbors move into the house behind us—their backyard shared a fence with ours. Our neighborhood allowed for most houses to have a backyard and a substantial amount of space, but not an excessive amount. For example, I could see the yards of my neighbors on all sides from my yard. For a few months, there was no change. However, after about six months, they got chickens. Not one or two, but an entire henhouse of chickens and a rooster. Not only did the rooster wake the neighborhood up with its crowing at dawn, but the chickens attracted the ever-growing fox population in my Pennsylvania suburb.

Pierson v. Post is perhaps the most celebrated case in American property law, and scholars have delighted in debating its history and theory. Among other things, research has shown that the case’s presentation of the facts is incomplete and likely misleading. This post collects some of the academic literature to reconstruct a brief history of events, challenging the presentation of the facts as recited by the court.