This is the time when those of us in the academic world think about the content of our courses for the new academic year. We hope, entirely selfishly, that not much has happened, by which of course we mean that there is a minimum of new material which we have to synthesise into our existing programmes. Unlike the professions – and this is not meant critically – ours has to be an overview of the subject and anything that disturbs the patterns and structures that we use to teach is unwelcome. Ours is a search for the coherent and the explicable, because that is how we have to portray it to students who often do not understand (until they start) why they are studying land law at all and nearly all of whom find the subject a challenge after the introductory material that is now the staple of many first year law degree courses. Conversely, things that clarify and support the rather simplified picture that we present are embraced with a warmth that is out of all proportion to their practical effects.