ABSTRACT
In an introductory property course a significant amount of time is usually devoted to the classification of interests in real property. Bizarre terminology in the law of property is not limited to estates and future interests. The most dramatic use of 'argumentative jargon' to undercut existing law is the way law professors made the common law Rule Against Perpetuities ridiculous as part of their project to reform it. Once away from the time-crusted labels for estates and future interests and archaic terms, ambiguity, often attributable to parallel legal and non-legal usages, may permit a play on words. The law concerning the proper execution of wills is undergoing a dramatic upheaval, yet the degree of change is concealed behind benign phrases. Popularly known as 'dynasty trusts', such trusts can preserve property for the benefit of a settlor's descendants from generation to generation forever, that is, in perpetuity.
