University of Mississippi Professor of Law David Case has been teaching students about property law for nearly two decades.
And as of this year, he literally wrote the book on it in Mississippi.
Case authored “Mississippi Real Property Law and Practice,” published by LexisNexis and Matthew Bender & Co. It is a legal treatise for practicing attorneys and judges in the field of Mississippi real property law. Topics covered include adverse possession, concurrent ownership, conveyances, covenants, deeds of trust, estates in land, easements, foreclosures, future interests, leasing, licenses, mortgages and restrictions.
Case was approached by the publisher in 2022 about writing the book specifically for Mississippi as part of LexisNexis’s efforts to expand its offerings on state-specific law subjects nationwide. He completed the book after more than two years of research and writing.
“I saw it as an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to the important work of trial and appellate judges in Mississippi as well as that of the state bar of which I have been a member for nearly 40 years,” Case said.
“Mississippi Real Property Law and Practice” is intended to provide attorneys and judges with a comprehensive review of substantive Mississippi law on each area of real property law covered.
The book will be updated annually, and it will include additional chapters in future editions from Case, who invites comments and suggestions from practitioners and state judges on content and topics covered in those updated editions.
“No one could be better qualified to write ‘Mississippi Real Property Law and Practice’ than my colleague, friend, and former student, Professor David Case,” said Deborah Hodges Bell, Case’s property law professor when he was a student at Ole Miss Law and retired faculty member in the foreword of the book. “He writes with academic depth in the clear voice of a seasoned teacher.”
She also notes the complexity of property law, the rules of which in Mississippi span 200 years of Mississippi case law, the Mississippi Constitution, and numerous statutes in the Mississippi Code.
“Looking for the answer to a specific property question can be a daunting, days-long process,” she said. “What Mississippi practitioners have lacked until now is a treatise that gathers and synthesizes those resources and directs the reader to current Mississippi law. Professor Case has brought together all these sources, putting the rules in historical context.
“Professor Case explains difficult concepts in plain, concise, language without sacrificing accuracy,” Bell said. “His decades teaching property are reflected in his ability to make the complex accessible. Property law intersects most areas of law practice. This book will be a welcome refresher for lawyers who have a working knowledge of property – and a lifeline for those who do not.”
Though the primary audience for Case’s book are judges and practitioners, law students can benefit as well by using the legal treatise for research purposes or in seeking to learn or better understand this particular area of law.
“I always utilized treatises as study aids in a specific subject when I was a law student studying in a specific course,” Case said. “However, a legal treatise is not a law school textbook. It is a comprehensive overview and summary of whatever subject areas of law are covered by the treatise.”
Case joined the faculty in 2007, which is when he began teaching the first-year course in property law.
“Developing and teaching that first property course made me realize how much I enjoy teaching the typically complex legal doctrines of property law to students just beginning their legal careers,” Case said. “Property quickly became and continues to be my favorite subject to teach in law school. While many of my students over the past two decades may not have fully believed my enthusiastic declarations that learning the Rule Against Perpetuities would be the most fun they would have in law school, they all knew with certainty that I believed it.”
The book addresses a large number of topics covered in the first-year introductory course in property, as well as more advanced real property law topics.
In addition to writing this book in order to assist judges and legal practitioners in Mississippi, Case saw this project as a means of increasing his own breadth and depth of knowledge of property law, which will benefit his future property law students. In the spring semester of 2026, Case will offer an upper-level elective course on Mississippi Property Law for the first time, incorporating the topics of this book as well as utilizing supplemental case law from Mississippi courts.
“Mississippi Real Property Law and Practice” is now available in print and eBook format via LexisNexis.