This is the first of two volumes based on papers presented at a March 1998 conference on "Contemporary Issues in Property Law" organized under the auspices of The Centre for Property Law, U. of Reading. As the Centre's director notes in the preface, the conference belies the image of property law as "archetypal, dry as dust...". The 17 papers by 23 UK contributors are organized into sections on general property law, land law, and landlord-tenant arrangements; and address such hardly dry issues as human rights, the breakdown of cohabitation, mortgages and the flexible workplace, changes in social structures, and technological developments impacting property law-all inviting radical rethinking and reforms to reflect new realities.