William Fischel to Receive 2025 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize
Renowned scholar William A. Fischel has been named the recipient of the 2025 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize. Fischel is Professor of Economics and Hardy Professor of Legal Studies, Emeritus, at Dartmouth College. He will be honored during William & Mary Law School’s 22nd annual Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference, which takes place October 23-24, 2025, in Williamsburg, Virginia.
“We are proud to honor Professor William Fischel for his many contributions to our understanding of property and its central place in our society,” said James Y. Stern, Professor of Law at William & Mary Law School and Director of the Law School’s Property Rights Project. “His work has helped illuminate the complex and critical role that property, local governance, and land-use institutions plays in preserving individual liberty and economic vitality. The Brigham-Kanner Award is a fitting occasion to celebrate—and to continue to explore—how property rights undergird a free and flourishing society.”
The Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize is presented annually to a scholar, practitioner, or jurist whose work affirms the fundamental importance of property rights. It is named in honor of the late Toby Prince Brigham, a leading property rights attorney, and the late Gideon Kanner, a devoted scholar of property rights who was Professor of Law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
Professor Fischel taught in the Economics Department at Dartmouth from 1973 until his retirement in 2019. His scholarship focuses on the law and economics of local government, and his expertise includes local government law, school finance, zoning and land use controls, property taxation, and regulatory takings law. He is the author of five books and countless articles, reviews, and essays.
Professor Fischel’s 2001 book “The Homevoter Hypothesis: How Home Values Influence Local Government Taxation, School Finance, and Land-Use Policies,” explored the relationship between property ownership and local government participation, arguing the investment homeowners have in their properties tends to lead them to pay close attention to local government policies that affect their values. Published by Harvard University Press, the book remains central to debates about local government and property in the United States today.
“Bill Fischel’s pathbreaking work on zoning, takings, homeownership, and local politics has transformed property scholarship,” said Lee Anne Fennell, Max Pam Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School and the 2024 recipient of the Brigham-Kanner Prize. “Bill has an insatiable curiosity about land use as it plays out in the real world, and he brings economic analysis to bear on key legal and social issues in a manner that is both rigorous and accessible.”
Professor Fischel joins an esteemed list of Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize winners. Previous recipients include Frank Michelman, Richard Epstein, James Ely, Margaret Jane Radin, Robert Ellickson, Richard Pipes, Carol Rose, Sandra Day O’Connor, James Krier, Thomas Merrill, Michael Berger, Joseph Singer, Hernando de Soto, David Callies, Stewart Sterk, Steven Eagle, Henry Smith, Vicki Been, James Burling, Gregory Alexander, and Lee Anne Fennell.
About the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference
The Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference is renowned for its outstanding panel discussions and for bringing together members of the bench, bar, and academia. Founded through the initiative of William & Mary Law School alumnus Joseph T. Waldo ’78 in 2004, the Conference encourages vigorous audience participation through its question-and-answer segments with each of the panels. Waldo served as Conference co-chair from 2004-17, and in 2018, the Joseph T. Waldo Visiting Chair in Property Rights Law was named in his honor.
Sponsored by William & Mary Law School since its inception, the Conference has taken on a larger international perspective as more and more countries deal with property rights issues. In 2011, the Conference was held at Tsinghua Law School in Beijing, China, and in 2016 at the Grotius Center of International Legal Studies at the World Court in The Hague, Netherlands. Future international events are being planned.
SAVE THE DATE for October 23-24 for the Fall 2025 Conference. To learn more about the William & Mary Law School’s Property Rights Project and the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference, please visit our web page.