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Articles 61 - 89 of 89
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Commodification And Contract Formation: Placing The Consideration Doctrine On Stronger Foundations, David S. Gamage
Commodification And Contract Formation: Placing The Consideration Doctrine On Stronger Foundations, David S. Gamage
ExpressO
Under the traditional consideration doctrine, a promise is only legally enforceable if it is made in exchange for something of value. This doctrine lies at the heart of contract law, yet it lacks a sound theoretical justification – a fact that has confounded generations of scholars and created a mess of case law.
This paper argues that the failure of traditional justifications for the doctrine comes from two mistaken assumptions. First, previous scholars have assumed that anyone can back a promise with nominal consideration if they wish to do so. We show how social norms against commodification limit the availability …
Reverse Bifurcation, Dru Stevenson
Reverse Bifurcation, Dru Stevenson
ExpressO
Reverse bifurcation is a trial procedure in which the jury determines damages first, before determining liability. The liability phase of the trial rarely occurs, because the parties usually settle once they know the value of the case. This procedure is already being used in thousands of cases – nearly all the asbestos and Fen-phen cases – but this is the first academic article devoted to the subject. This article explains the history of the procedure and analyzes why it encourages settlements, simplifies jury instructions, and produces better outcomes for the parties.
Punitive Damages, Liquidated Damages, And Clauses Penale In Contract Actions: A Comparative Analysis Of The American Common Law And The French Code Civil, Charles R. Calleros
Punitive Damages, Liquidated Damages, And Clauses Penale In Contract Actions: A Comparative Analysis Of The American Common Law And The French Code Civil, Charles R. Calleros
ExpressO
Although American common law allows punitive damages for reckless or intentional torts, it will neither allow a jury to assess punitive damages for breach of contract nor permit enforcement of a contractual damages clause that is deemed to be punitive. This approach is rooted in an early Chancery practice of granting equitable relief from oppressive penal bonds and has been more recently justified as a means of facilitating efficient breach. Economic efficiency, however, can be accomplished even if punitive damages could be assessed for intentional breach, because the parties would have an incentive to negotiate a release from the first …
Buried Online: State Laws That Limit E-Commerce In Caskets, Jerry Ellig, Asheesh Agarwal
Buried Online: State Laws That Limit E-Commerce In Caskets, Jerry Ellig, Asheesh Agarwal
ExpressO
Consumers seeking to purchase caskets online could benefit from the Supreme Court’s 2005 decision that states cannot discriminate against interstate direct wine shipment. Federal courts have reached conflicting conclusions when asked whether state laws requiring casket sellers to be licensed funeral directors violate the U.S. Constitution’s Due Process Clause. In Powers v. Harris, the 10th Circuit even offered an unprecedented ruling that economic protectionism is a legitimate state interest that can justify otherwise unconstitutional policies. In Granholm v. Heald, however, the Supreme Court declared that discriminatory barriers to interstate wine shipment must be justified by a legitimate state interest, and …
The Efficiencies Defense In Mergers: The Baby-Food Case Reconsidered , Daniel J. Richards, Richard B. Dagen
The Efficiencies Defense In Mergers: The Baby-Food Case Reconsidered , Daniel J. Richards, Richard B. Dagen
ExpressO
The Federal Trade Commission’s successful challenge to the proposed merger of Heinz and Beech-Nut baby food operations in 2001 remains a controversial case that raises concern over the role of cost efficiencies in merger analysis. Although the FTC argued that the merger would result in an increased likelihood of coordinated effects, we develop an alternative explanation for why the merger was likely to harm consumers even in the absence of such cooperation. We show that a conventional model of vertical product differentiation is able to replicate the premerger market data. Vertical product differentiation assumes that consumers agree on the relative …
Information Disclosure And The Union Representation Election, Matthew T. Bodie
Information Disclosure And The Union Representation Election, Matthew T. Bodie
ExpressO
In its oversight of union representation elections, the National Labor Relations Board seeks to create “laboratory conditions” to determine “the uninhibited desires” of employees. Despite the Board’s intrusive regulation of union and employer campaign conduct, the Board does nothing to insure that employees get basic information relating to their decision. Given the flaws in the market for union representation, particularly with respect to conflicts of interest, the Board should take a more aggressive role in ensuring that employees get the information they need to make rational representation decisions. This Article proposes a new system of mandatory disclosure, modeled on disclosure …
Corporate Form And Substantive Consolidation, William H. Widen
Corporate Form And Substantive Consolidation, William H. Widen
ExpressO
This Article reformulates substantive consolidation doctrine in light of modern financing techniques. Building upon the author's research showing the prevalence of substantive consolidation in large public bankruptcies, it offers an economic account (based on Coase's theory of firm size) to explain why we should expect that the circumstances giving rise to substantive consolidation should be common (rather than rare as suggested by the rhetoric of case law). Extending the asset partitioning theory developed by Professors Hannsmann and Kraakman, it offers a model for looking at the corporate form within corporate groups, particularly in the insolvency context. The recent Third Circuit …
The Dutch Auction Myth, Peter B. Oh
The Dutch Auction Myth, Peter B. Oh
ExpressO
The initial public offering process is under assault. Critics of this process have woven a complex set of interconnected objections to the orthodox method for conducting IPOs, pricing of shares, and allocating them to preferred investors. These critics instead point to online auctions as an alternative IPO method that can provide more equitable access, efficient prices, and egalitarian allocations. These claims rest on Google’s recent IPO and W.R. Hambrecht + Co.’s OpenIPO mechanism, conventionally regarded as impure variants of what is known as a descending-bid or Dutch auction (Dutch IPO).
This article assesses the empirical and theoretical case for Dutch …
Ordered Conflict Resolution, David R. Jenkins
Ordered Conflict Resolution, David R. Jenkins
ExpressO
The ancient philosophers who wrote scripture accomplished a feat in social choice theory Contemporary Economists have found to be generally impossible. The Scripture Writers' social choice theory model is defined by impossibility-resolved social welfare function formulation and social state definition interrelationships. Meanwhile, the Contemporary Economists' social choice theory models are defined by impossibility-plagued (tastes or values)-based social welfare functions.
Since social choice theory involves passing from individual well-being to societal well-being, and visa versa, it is reasonably foreseeable social choice theory model methodologies must pass from the (microeconomic: macroeconomic) perspective to the (macroeconomic: microeconomic) perspective, and visa versa. The Scripture …
Sarbanes-Oxley Act Of 2002: Are Multi-National Corporations Unduly Burdened?, William Alan Nelson
Sarbanes-Oxley Act Of 2002: Are Multi-National Corporations Unduly Burdened?, William Alan Nelson
ExpressO
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted by Congress in response to the frauds perpetrated by several large U.S. companies; Enron and WorldCom were the main catalysts for the swift regulatory response. Though the primary impetus of Sarbanes-Oxley was to deter corruption domestically, its impact has had multinational reach. Problems arise when foreign corporations domiciled outside the United States are subject to both U.S. securities law and the laws of their home country, particularly when the laws are in conflict. This five part comment examines the effect that the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 has had on multinational corporations. The comment begins by …
Entrenched Managers & Corporate Social Responsibility, Shane M. Shelley
Entrenched Managers & Corporate Social Responsibility, Shane M. Shelley
ExpressO
A growing number of academics have suggested U.S. corporate governance laws bestow too much power on managers. Much of the research focuses on the relationship between corporate governance arrangements, which supply a means to managerial power, and the financial performance of corporations. This exclusive focus on financial performance may be misguided. Although profits serve as a proxy for the benefits corporations provide society, they do not always adequately reflect the costs of the activities that generated them. In this sense, financial performance may not give an accurate, or at least complete, picture of the real value of corporations. Whether managers …
Overvalued Equity And The Case For An Asymmetric Insider Trading Regime, Thomas A. Lambert
Overvalued Equity And The Case For An Asymmetric Insider Trading Regime, Thomas A. Lambert
ExpressO
The forty-year debate over whether insider trading should be regulated has generally proceeded in all-or-nothing terms: Either all insider trading should be permitted (subject only to private restrictions imposed by issuers themselves), or none should. This Article argues for an asymmetric insider trading policy under which insider trading that decreases the price of an overvalued stock is generally permitted, but insider trading that increases the price of an undervalued stock is generally prohibited. Concluding that the net investor benefits of price-decreasing insider trading exceed those of price-enhancing insider trading, the Article argues that an asymmetric insider trading regime likely represents …
Employee Blogs And Social Capital: A Time For State Legislative Action, Rafael Gely, Leonard Bierman
Employee Blogs And Social Capital: A Time For State Legislative Action, Rafael Gely, Leonard Bierman
ExpressO
This Article addresses the issue of employee blogging and the interplay between such blogging and the asserted recent decline in American “social capital.” Relying on the recent work of Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, we argue that blogging by employees can play an important role in helping reverse the decline in social capital but that current legal structures impede that goal. The Article proposes state legislative reforms to ameliorate this situation. We begin Part I by developing the argument that there is an important relationship between employee blogging and American social capital. Part II presents a review of blogs and …
Exploring The Source Of Transatlantic Antitrust Divergence, Alan J. Devlin
Exploring The Source Of Transatlantic Antitrust Divergence, Alan J. Devlin
ExpressO
This paper seeks to explore the sources of substantive divergence between the antitrust regimes of the U.S. and EC and to present a framework upon which harmonization could potentially be achieved. While the rise of the Chicago School and post-Chicago theory have merged to ensure a central role for economics in dictating antitrust enforcement in the United States, no such clear standard has emerged in Europe. The consequences for firms operating on a transatlantic basis are potentially severe, as they have to formulate different business strategies depending on which jurisdiction they operate in. An assessment of EC law demonstrates an …
Global Pharmaceutical Patent Law In Developing Countries- Amending Trips To Promote Access For All, Angela J. Anderson
Global Pharmaceutical Patent Law In Developing Countries- Amending Trips To Promote Access For All, Angela J. Anderson
ExpressO
This comment will analyze the need to amend and revise the current global pharmaceutical patent system under TRIPS to take into account the needs of developing countries and overall public health. This comment will emphasize that the current international trade rules, which although administered by the WTO, are dictated by developed country governments and powerful pharmaceutical companies, and therefore, without reform will further diminish the access of poor people in developing countries to vital medicines. Part II of this comment will provide a general overview of the international trade law governing patents on pharmaceuticals focusing specifically on the development of …
The "Public Use" Requirement In Eminent Domain Law: A Rationale Based On Secret Purchases And Private Influence, Daniel B. Kelly
The "Public Use" Requirement In Eminent Domain Law: A Rationale Based On Secret Purchases And Private Influence, Daniel B. Kelly
ExpressO
This article provides a rationale for understanding and interpreting the “public use” requirement within eminent domain law. The rationale is based on two factors. First, while the government often needs the power of eminent domain to avoid the problem of strategic holdout, private parties are usually able to purchase property through secret buying agents. The availability of these buying agents makes the use of eminent domain for private parties unnecessary (and indeed, undesirable). The government, however, is ordinarily unable to make secret purchases because its plans are subject to democratic deliberation and known in advance. Second, while the use of …
The Promise (And Limits) Of Neuroeconomics, Jedediah S. Purdy
The Promise (And Limits) Of Neuroeconomics, Jedediah S. Purdy
ExpressO
Neuroeconomics – the study of brain activity in people engaged in tasks of reasoning and choice – looks set to be the next behavioral economics: a set of findings about how people make decisions that casts doubt on widely accepted premises about rationality and social life. This essay explains what is most exciting about the new field and lays out some specific research tasks for it.
By enabling researchers to view the mind at work, neuroeconomics puts in question the most basic premise of twentieth-century empiricism, sometimes called positivism or behaviorism: that people are black boxes to one another, and …
Regulatory Status Of Voip In The Post-Brand X World, Jerry Ellig
Regulatory Status Of Voip In The Post-Brand X World, Jerry Ellig
ExpressO
During the past several years, the Federal Communications Commission has engaged in a series of rulemakings to determine the regulatory status of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The Supreme Court’s Brand X decision clarifies that even if the FCC’s determination conflicts with that of a court, the FCC’s judgment holds sway as long as the decision is reasonable. We believe that VoIP should be classified as an information service, rather than a telecommunications service, for several reasons. First, the Internet Protocol nature of VoIP technology means that it functions like an information service, rather than a telecommunications service. Second, in …
Informal Economy: Is It A Problem, A Solution Or Both? The Perspective Of The Informal Business, Omar E. Garcia-Bolivar
Informal Economy: Is It A Problem, A Solution Or Both? The Perspective Of The Informal Business, Omar E. Garcia-Bolivar
ExpressO
This paper deals with the informal economy. For many it is a solution, for others it is a problem. What can the law do to incorporate the informal economy into the formal economy? Does it really matter? What are the challenges?
Are We Unnecessarily Serving Up Civil Liberties On A Patriot Platter?, Kyle A. Clark
Are We Unnecessarily Serving Up Civil Liberties On A Patriot Platter?, Kyle A. Clark
ExpressO
This paper seeks to identify the general cognitive biases and overall measurement errors inherent in recent studies seeking to measure the effects of terrorism. Such biases lead to unprincipled conclusions founded upon incomplete information. These problems are exacerbated by inaccurate measures of the true impact of terrorism on the economy, the human psyche, policy-making and the world community. Such measurement errors severely diminish the probative value of the studies and lead to merely speculative conclusions. The goal of this paper is to shed light on these inaccurate conclusions in the hope that future legislation and practices aimed at curbing terrorism …
Backlash To Globalization In The Form Of State Legislation: Constitutional Implications, John R. Weber
Backlash To Globalization In The Form Of State Legislation: Constitutional Implications, John R. Weber
ExpressO
This paper will examine the Constitutional issues raised by the influx of state anti-outsourcing legislation using a recently enacted New Jersey statute. The New Jersey statute is very similar to, and contains many of the same features as, many other bills introduced in legislatures across the nation. Moreover, the political impetus for the introduction and enactment of the legislation reflects the struggle over the outsourcing issue that is occurring in communities nationwide.
Global Pharmaceutical Patent Law In Developing Countries- Amending Trips To Promote Access For All, Angela J. Anderson
Global Pharmaceutical Patent Law In Developing Countries- Amending Trips To Promote Access For All, Angela J. Anderson
ExpressO
This comment will analyze the need to amend and revise the current global pharmaceutical patent system under TRIPS to take into account the needs of developing countries and overall public health. This comment will emphasize that the current international trade rules, which although administered by the WTO, are dictated by developed country governments and powerful pharmaceutical companies, and therefore, without reform will further diminish the access of poor people in developing countries to vital medicines. Part II of this comment will provide a general overview of the international trade law governing patents on pharmaceuticals focusing specifically on the development of …
Regulatory Reform: The New Lochnerism?, David M. Driesen
Regulatory Reform: The New Lochnerism?, David M. Driesen
ExpressO
This article explores the question of whether contemporary regulatory reformers’ attitudes toward government regulation have anything in common with those of the Lochner-era Court. It finds that both groups tend to favor value neutral law guided by cost-benefit analysis over legislative value choices. Their skepticism toward redistributive legislation reflects shared beliefs that regulation often proves counterproductive in terms of its own objectives, fails demanding tests for rationality, and violates the natural order. This parallelism raises fresh questions about claims of neutrality and heightened rationality that serve as important justifications modern regulatory reform.
The Market For Takeover Defenses, Sharon Hannes
The Market For Takeover Defenses, Sharon Hannes
ExpressO
This paper develops a market-based approach to takeover defenses. In this framework, a firm’s decision to go public without defenses is considered a decision to produce an unshielded target. The paper shows that the voluminous classical literature on takeover defenses, which argues either that takeover defenses are good for all firms or that they are bad for all firms, actually ignores both supply and demand considerations. Recent empirical findings that revealed that IPO-stage firms diverge in antitakeover practices led to the rapid development of a new branch in the literature. This branch emphasizes that firms diverge in defense-adopting costs due …
The New Biopolitics: Autonomy, Demography, And Nationality, Jedediah S. Purdy
The New Biopolitics: Autonomy, Demography, And Nationality, Jedediah S. Purdy
ExpressO
No abstract provided.
Card Check Recognition: The Ongoing Legal And Legislative Battle, Michael E. Aleo
Card Check Recognition: The Ongoing Legal And Legislative Battle, Michael E. Aleo
ExpressO
A great debate has been brewing for years over whether unions should be able to organize employees outside of the traditional election procedures provided by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “the Act”). Typically, in an organizing drive, a union solicits support from employees to indicate a desire to run a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) election. The union does this by collecting cards from employees affirming the employees’ desire to have a representation election. If the union collects valid cards from at least one-third of eligible employees in the appropriate bargaining unit, the union may then …
Regulating Contract Formation: Precontractual Reliance, Sunk Costs, And Market Structure, Ofer Grosskopf, Barak Medina
Regulating Contract Formation: Precontractual Reliance, Sunk Costs, And Market Structure, Ofer Grosskopf, Barak Medina
ExpressO
This Article challenges the plausibility of the prospect of underinvestment in precontractual reliance (PCR). We argue that a negotiating party is motivated to invest in PCR not only through her expectation to extract the benefits that the investment yields (Added-Value Motivation), but also through the effect of the investment on her position vis-à-vis her competitors (Competition-Based Motivation). We demonstrate that under plausible assumptions, when a negotiating party operates in a relatively competitive market, the Competition-Based Motivation is frequently sufficient to induce optimal PCR, even without appropriate contractual provisions or legal intervention.
We suggest several normative implications. First, legal intervention that …
Implementation Of Sarbanes-Oxley: New Rules For Lawyers And What Lawyers Think, Olga Yevglevskaya-Wayne
Implementation Of Sarbanes-Oxley: New Rules For Lawyers And What Lawyers Think, Olga Yevglevskaya-Wayne
ExpressO
This paper discusses practical implications of Sarbanes-Oxley for lawyers. Emphasis is on the new federal rules of professional responsibility the Act sets up. The paper includes the views of various renowned practitioners interpreting and using these rules. The paper also contains suggestions for how the Securities and Exchange Commission could potentially improve those areas that are proving problematic for attorneys so as to better effectuate the purpose of this major new law, in light of its legislative history and intent, which are also discussed in the paper.
Explanation, Human Nature, And Tort Theory, Jeffery L. Johnson
Explanation, Human Nature, And Tort Theory, Jeffery L. Johnson
ExpressO
The article argues that, as they are usually stated, corrective justice theories of torts and economic efficiency theories fail to contradict one another. Thus, although the literature typically sees these approaches as doing conceptual battle, it takes a good deal of philosophical analysis to discover a theoretical framework from which to assess one perspective as superior to the other. Indeed, in many cases the corrective justice scholar appears to be talking past the economic lawyer, and vice versa.
The article then goes on to suggest that the one perspective from which we can see a genuine conflict between the explanations …