John A. Humbach

  • Professor of Law
Preston Hall 307
Contact professor via email to schedule an appointment
Assistant: Susie Della Ruffa
Preston Hall 314
(914) 422-4259

Education

BA, Miami University (Ohio)
JD, Ohio State University

For media inquiries, contact:

Rachael Silva
Assistant Dean for External Affairs
(914) 422-4354

Professor John Humbach practiced corporate/securities law on Wall Street before entering law teaching in 1971. Before coming to Pace in 1977, he taught at Fordham Law School and Brooklyn Law School, and has taught as a visiting professor at the University of Illinois and the University of Hawaii. He has authored a number of articles in the areas of property law and professional responsibility as well as, more recently, on the implications of modern neuroscience for the criminal law and justice. He has also produced computer-assisted instruction tutorials on the Estate System and Future Interests for first-year property students, which are freely available online. (See website at www.humbach.com.) He serves as chairman of his community Architectural Review Board, and was a leader in the preservation of the 22,000 acre Sterling Forest, at the edge of the NYC metropolitan area. Professor Humbach served as James D. Hopkins Chair in Law during the 1993–1995 academic years.​

Publications

SSRN

Books

Whose Monet? (2007).

Landlord and Tenant: Cases and Text. New York, 1973.

Chapters

"The Humane Principle and the Biology of Blame (Evolutionary Origins of the Imperative to Inflict)," in the Proceedings of 3rd Annual Global Conference on Perspectives on Evil and Human Wickedness (2003)

"Construction under Water." In Treatise on New York Environmental Law, edited by Nicholas A. Robinson and James D. Hopkins. Albany, N.Y.: New York State Bar Assn., 1992.

Articles

Working paper, Do Criminal Acts Affect Basic Moral Equality? (With Thoughts in Response to Shelly Kagan, Uwe Steinhoff and Christian List), (forthcoming). (SSRN)

Article, Do Criminal Minds Cause Crime? (Neuroscience and the Physicalism Dilemma), 12 Wash. U. Jur. Rev. 1 (2019). (SSRN)

Article, Neuroscience, Justice and the “Mental Causation” Fallacy, 11 Wash. U. Jur. Rev. 191 (2019). (SSRN)

Article, Property as Prophesy: Legal Realism and the Indeterminacy of Ownership, 49 Case Western Reserve J. Int. L. 211 (2017). (SSRN)

Working Paper, Does Hard Incompatibilism Really Abolish ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’? Some Thoughts in Response to Larry Alexander (2017) (SSRN)

Essay, Is America Becoming a Nation of Ex-Cons? 12 Ohio St. Journal of Crim. LO. 605 (2015) (SSRN)

Article, The Constitution and Revenge Porn,, 35 Pace L. Rev. 215 (2014). (SSRN)

"Privacy and the Right of Free Expression", 11 First Amendment Law Review 16 (2012)

"Privacy Rights: The Virtue Protecting False Reputations", in The Right to Privacy in Light of Media Convergence, (Dieter Doerr & Russell Weaver, eds. 2012)

"Teens, Porn and Videogames: Time to Rethink Ginsberg?" (September 26, 2010)

"Free Will Ideology: Experiments, Evolution and Virtue Ethics," (June 7, 2010)

"Doubting Free Will: Three Experiments," (January 12, 2010)

"Responding to Kelo v New London: Avoiding Intrinsic Injustice by Paying a Fairer Price," (Rev. March 10. 2010)

"Director Liability for Corporate Crimes: Lawyers as Safe Haven?" 55 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 437 (2010/2011)

"Sexting and the First Amendment," 37 Hastings Const. L.Q. 433 (2010)

"Shifting Paradigms of Lawyer Honesty," 76 Tennessee L. Rev. 993 (2009).

"Public Navigation Rights in New York State," 12 Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies, Fall/Winter 2005, at.31.

"The MacCrate Report in Legal Education After 10 Years," 23 Pace L. Rev. 599 (2004).

"The Takings Clause and the Separation of Powers," 21 Pace Env. L. Rev. 3 (2003).

"Just Being a Lawyer: Reflections on the Legal Ethics of a President under Impeachment," reviewing An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment and Trial of President Clinton, by Richard A. Posner, 4 Legal Ethics 155-71 (2001).

"Criminal Prosecution for HMO Treatment Denial," 11 Health Matrix 147 ( 2001).

"Towards a Natural Justice of Right Relationships," in Human Rights in Philosophy and Practice, pp. 41-61 (Burton M. Leiser and Tom D. Campbell, eds., 2001)

"Abuse of Confidentiality and Fabricated Controversy: Two Proposals," in The Professional Lawyer, vol. 11, no. 4 (Summer 2000)

"The National Association of Honest Lawyers: An Essay," 20 Pace L. Rev. 93 (1999)

"Criminal Prosecution of HMO Treatment Denial," 11 Health Matrix 147 (2001)

"Should Taxpayers Pay People to Obey Environmental Laws?" 6 Fordham Environmental Law Review 423 (1995)

"'Taking' the Imperial Judiciary Seriously: Segmenting Property Interests and Judicial Revision of Legislative Judgments," 42 Catholic University Law Review 771 (1993)

"Evolving Thresholds of Nuisance and the Takings Clause," 18 Columbia Journal of Environmental Law 1 (1993)

"What is behind the 'Property Rights' Debate? (Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council: Colloquium)," 10 Pace Environmental Law Review 21 (1992)

"Law and a New Land Ethic," 74 Minnesota Law Review 339 (1989)

"Public Rights in the Navigable Streams of New York," 6 Pace Environmental Law Review 461 (1989)

"Economic Due Process and the Takings Clause," 4 Pace Environmental Law Review 311 (1987)

"Constitutional Limits on the Power to Take Private Property: Public Purpose and Public Use," 66 Oregon Law Review 547 (1987).

"The Common-Law Conception of Leasing: Mitigation, Habitability, and Dependence Covenants," 60 Washington University Law Quarterly 1213 (1983)

"A Unifying Theory for the Just-Compensation Cases: Takings, Regulation and Public Use," 34 Rutgers Law Review 243 (1982)

"Serving the Public Interest: An Overstated Objective," 65 American Bar Association Journal 564 (1979)

"What Is Taught in a First Year Property Course," 29 Journal of Legal Education 459 (1978)

"Good Resort Design is Not Against the Law," in Conference Proceedings, published by Simon Fraser University, British Columbia.

"Landlord Control of Tenant Behavior: An Instance of Private Environmental Regulation," 45 Fordham Law Review 223 (1976)

"Prudence, Information and Trust Investment Law," with S. Dresch, Director of Research of Institute for Demographic and Economic Studies at 62 American Bar Association Journal 1309 (October 1976)

"Tidal Title and the Boundaries of the Bay," with J. Gale at 4 Fordham Urban Law Journal 91 (1975)

"Securities Regulation, (Highlights of 1972 in Second Circuit Review)" at 39 Brooklyn Law Review 1187 (1973)

"Fair Trade: The Ideal and the Reality," 27 Ohio State Law Journal 144 (1966)

"Surviving Spouse's Distributive Share of Amendable Trusts," 25 Ohio State Law Journal 612 (1964)

Book Reviews

"Just Being a Lawyer: Reflections on the Legal Ethics of a President under Impeachment," reviewing An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment and Trial of President Clinton, by Richard A. Posner, Legal Ethics, 2002.

Review of The Illustrated Book of Development Definitions, by Harvey S. Moskowitz and Carl G. Lindbloom; The UNR Real Estate Dictionary, by David M. Brownstone and Irene M. Franck; and Handbook of Real Estate Mathematics, by Leonard Kleeman at 11 Real Estate Law Journal 196 (1982).

Review of Real Estate Tax Planning Forms, by J. Scott Morris; and American Law of Landlord and Tenant, by Robert S. Schoshinski at 10 Real Estate Law Journal 376 (1982).

Review of Private Property and the Constitution, by Bruce Ackerman at 39 University of Pittsburgh Law Review 793 (1978).

Review of Close Corporations, by F. H. O'Neal. 39 Brooklyn Law Review 507 (1972).

Review of Wall Street: Security Risk, by H. Baruch at 38 Brooklyn Law Review 1303 (1972).

Online Lessons

The Estate System and Basic Future Interests (2008)

Easements, computer-based law tutorials, published by Law Study Systems, Chicago, Illinois (2008)

The Estate System and Future Interests, computer-based law tutorials, published by Law Study Systems, Chicago, Illinois (2008)

Landlord and Tenant, computer-based law tutorials, published by Law Study Systems, Chicago, Illinois (2007)

Adverse Possession, computer-based law tutorials, published by Law Study Systems, Chicago, Illinois (2007)

The Estate System-Review Exercises and The Estate System-Proficiency Test (2006)

Paper

Director Liability for Corporate Crimes: Lawyers as Safe Haven?, 55 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 437 (2010/2011).