An Analysis of the Doctrine That "First in Time Is First in Right"

I. Introduction II. First Occupancy versus Common Ownership III. Conflicts between Prior and Subsequent Private Claimants ... A. A Reward for Efforts—Encouraging Productivity ... 1. The Animal Cases ... 2. The Protection of Ideas ... B. The Policy of Security of Title ... 1. Herein of Larceny, Finding, Adverse Possession, and Prescription ... a. Prescription as a Last in Time Rule ... b. Prescription as a First in Time Rule ... 2. Presumption of Validity of a Second Marriage ... 3. Priorities and Recording in Realty Transactions ... 4. More Than One Assignment of the Same Right ... C. Conflicts between Security of Title and Productivity … 1. The Purchase Money Priority ... 2. The Construction Mortgage Exception ... D. The Policy of Encouraging the Use of Scarce Resources—Herein of Western Water Law ... E. The Policy of Encouraging the Use of Overabundant Resources—The Homestead Act of 1862 and Modern Urban Homesteading ... F. The Policy of Avoiding Inefficient Conflicts—The Law of Nuisance ... 1. Coming to the Nuisance ... 2. Tort Statutes of Limitation and Prescription ... G. First in Time as a Residual Rule—Seniority in Labor Union Contracts IV. Conclusion