Evolutionary theory and empirical studies suggest that many animals, including humans, have a genetic predisposition to acquire and retain property. This is hardly surprising because survival is closely bound up with the acquisition of things: food, shelter, tools and territory. But the root of these general urges may also run to quite specific and detailed rules about property acquisition, retention and disposition. The great variation in property-related behaviours across species may mask some important commonalities grounded in adaptive utility. Experiments and observations in the field and laboratory suggest that the legal rules of temporal priority and possession are grounded in what were evolutionarily stable strategies in the ancestral environment. Moreover, the preferences that humans exhibit in disposing of their property on their deaths, both by dispositions made in wills and by the laws of intestacy, tend to advance reproductive success as a result of inclusive fitness pay-offs.

This article presents data on graduates of a law school located at a large, midwestern public university. It presents responses to survey questions relating to various personal and job characteristics, including income from the practice of law and career satisfaction. It compares the responses across various demographic groups, including type of practice, gender, race, and ethnicity. We find that lawyers in large private law firms make more money than lawyers in small private practices, who, in turn, make more than those in government or public interest positions. Career satisfaction is greatest for lawyers in corporate counsel, public interest, and government jobs, followed by larger firms, and then smaller private firms. We find that women earn substantially lower incomes than men, but most of the difference can be eliminated by accounting for time taken away from paid work for childcare, among other factors. Both blacks and Hispanics make significantly less money than majority lawyers 15 years after graduation. Regarding overall satisfaction with careers, women appear to be sensitive to the number of hours of work, probably because of child-care responsibilities. Our analysis suggests that blacks and Hispanics enjoy career satisfaction in the practice of law that is not significantly lower than that of majority lawyers.

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what men dare do! What men may do! 'What men daily do, not knowing what they do!' t This Article applies established economic concepts to a narrow corner of the law that has caused substantial confusion and resisted coherent explanation. Cf C. CLARK, REAL COVENANTS AND OTHER INTERESTS WHICH "RUN WITH LAND" 208 (2d ed. 1947) (Judge Clark uses the phrase "so narrow a corner of the law"). I thank Henry Manne for some of the basic economic training reflected in this paper. I also thank Judge Richard Posner, and

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