DIGITAL MONEY & PROPERTY

What we earn, owe and own will soon be represented only by bits in a computer, but we are only beginning to understand the benefits, risks and legal pitfalls associated with this change. While crypto currencies have dominated the news, they are only part of the larger global conversion to digital money and property representations that is underway. In Norway, over 95% of consumer transactions are now made with digital fiat money, California is working on converting its entire car title system from paper to digital and virtually all central banks are working on introducing national digital currencies. The impact of digitization will cut across property law, banking and finance, secured transactions, consumer rights, bankruptcy and many other areas of law - all of which this seminar will explore. The relationship between money, the reach of government and the impact on societal wealth and inequalities will also be considered over the course of the semester -- as well as the potential for government to limit privacy and control behaviors using digital money and payment systems. The goal of this seminar will be to explore and understand current issues, but more importantly, to equip students with a framework to understand and apply the law to evolving and new forms of money and digital property throughout their careers. Over the course of the semester, we will review and study various laws that govern money, property rights and debt with a focus on recent changes to the Uniform Commercial relating to digital assets and currency including Article 12 on Controllable Electronic Records. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement.