Over the past two decades, the "broken windows" hypothesis by George Kelling and James Q. Wilson has revolutionized thinking about urban policy. This now-familiar theory is that uncorrected manifestations of disorder, even minor ones like broken windows, signal a breakdown in the social order that accelerates neighborhood decline. The response to this theory has been a proliferation of policies focusing on public order. Largely missing from the academic debate about these developments is a discussion of the complex and important role of property regulation in order-maintenance efforts. This Article attempts to fill that property law gap in the public-order puzzle by tackling the complicated relationship between property regulation and order-restoration efforts.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1869.

This work highlights the multiple, often overlooked, and frequently misunderstood connections between land use and development policies and policing practices. In order to do so the book draws upon multiple literatures as well as concrete case studies to better explore how these policy arenas intersect and conflict.