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Taking Persons Seriously: A Jurisprudential Perspective on Social Disputes in a Changing Neighborhood

After years of decline, many central city neighborhoods have shown new signs of life as more and more middle and upper income families elect to restore or renovate older homes rather than settle in newer, suburban homes. This fundamental shift in housing patterns presents a variety of challenges to the legal system. One such problem is the accommodation of conflicting expectations about a neighborhood which shows signs of reversing a period of decline. Conditions that are acceptable to older residents may be regarded as offensive by the newcomers. The typical method of discussing the legal resolution of such social disputes is to phrase the problem in abstract legal terms. However, abstractions necessarily result in losing a sense of the variations involved in the concrete, particularized reality that underlies every dispute. In order to resolve the tension between the specific facts of particular problems and the one-dimensional quality of abstract analysis, this Article presents a hypothetical account of the persons living in a particular neighborhood which is undergoing some redevelopment. The situation is developed in detail, including many facts which are normally regarded as legally irrelevant. Part II shifts to a more general level as it discusses some of the factors which might be involved in resolving social disputes like those involved in this neighborhood. This discussion, however, is closely tied to the specific situation presented in Part I. In Part III the two perspectives are combined in a hypothetical opinion in a nuisance case involving two residents of this area. At one level this discussion of a particular neighborhood is intended to elucidate the problems involved in any neighborhood which is undergoing change. At another, more jurisprudential level, the article uses problem methodology to develop a broader understanding of the inevitability of social disputes and to increase our awareness of the legal system’s operation in resolving such disputes. This broadened perspective provides an appreciation of the role that law does and should play in society.