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Introduction, Symposium On The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism And Judicial Review, Daniel W. Hamilton

Daniel W. Hamilton

No abstract provided.

Popular Constitutionalism In The Civil War: A Trial Run, Daniel W. Hamilton

Daniel W. Hamilton

No abstract provided.

The Confederate Sequestration Act, Daniel W. Hamilton

Daniel W. Hamilton

In the South there was near ideological consensus on the legal basis for seizing Union property during the Civil War. The United States was an enemy belligerent whose property was, at international law, subject to permanent confiscation during war. Through the resort to international law, the Confederacy was able not only to assert its sovereignty, but also to craft a far more rigorous and effective confiscation regime much quicker than their Northern counterparts. U.S. citizens were, at Confederate law, foreigners, and were not due the protections of domestic Confederate constitutional law. U.S. citizens were not traitors or rebels, and in …

A Constitutional Amendment To Reform Kentucky’S Courts, Kurt X. Metzmeier

Kurt X. Metzmeier

Responding to a confused patchwork of trial courts with overlapping jurisdiction, uneven justice around the state, and a growing backlog of appellate cases, voters in Kentucky went to the polls on November 4, 1975, to approve a sweeping constitutional amendment that radically revised Kentucky’s court system. Although reformers had decried Kentucky’s confusing court system since the 1940s, the real roots of the revision of the judicial article can be found in the failed movement in the late 1960s to replace Kentucky’s 1891 constitution. Unbowed by the defeat, judicial reformers immediately set out to pass a separate amendment reforming the courts, …

History Of The Courts Of Kentucky, Kurt X. Metzmeier

Kurt X. Metzmeier

A survey of the history of Kentucky courts from the foundation of the commowealth in 1792 to the ratification in 1891 of the state's fourth constitution.

The Beggar's Opera And Its Criminal Law Context, Ian Gallacher

Ian Gallacher

This chapter seeks to take the characters and situations of Gay's The Beggar's Opera and consider how closely the play's portrayal matches the historical record. Although the view offered by the play is a restricted one, the chapter concludes that the picture it offers is as close to historical reality as any other document from the period.

Book Review, Sharon Hatfield, Never Seen The Moon: The Trials Of Edith Maxwell, Tracy A. Thomas

Tracy A. Thomas

In Never Seen the Moon, journalist Sharon Hatfield chronicles the story of school teacher Edith Maxwell accused of murdering her coal-miner father in depression-era Appalachia. Hatfield’s detective work brings together the threads of this story to provide a mystery novel using the headlines and trial transcripts from real life. There are surprises to rival a John Grisham novel as Hatfield tells the legal tale of the young and vibrant Edith battling her raging father. The book journeys through the trials and appeals as two juries of twelve men convict Edith of murder and sentence her to a lifetime in prison. …

The “Csi Effect”: Better Jurors Through Television And Science?, Michael Mann

Michael D. Mann

This Comment explores how television shows such as CSI and Law & Order have created heightened juror expectations in courtrooms across America. Surprise acquitals often have prosectors scratching their heads as jurors hold them to this new "Hollywood" standard. The Comment also analyzes the CSI phenomena by reflecting on past legal television shows that have influenced the public's perception of the legal profession and how the "CSI effect" has placed an even greater burden on parties to proffer some kind of forensic evidence at trial.

The Comment was published in volume 24 of the Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal (2006).

Sectionalism, Slavery And The Threat Of War In Josiah Quincy Jr.’S 1773 Southern Journal, Daniel R. Coquillette

Daniel R. Coquillette

No abstract provided.

Our Anticompetitive Patriotism, Todd E. Pettys

Todd E. Pettys

In this article, I contend that the nation’s seemingly exclusive claim to citizens’ patriotism significantly shields the federal government from the competitive forces that the Framers believed would restrain Congress’s and the President’s ability to govern in objectionable ways. I argue that, because America is a nation-state built upon certain core convictions about public life, there are strong connections in this country between the entity about which people feel patriotic and the sovereign that people would like to govern many—perhaps even most—of their important public affairs. I argue that American patriotism was constructed in a manner that led nineteenth- and …

Harmonizing Plural Societies: The Case Of Lasallians, Families, Schools – And The Poor, Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Patrick McKinley Brennan

The modern state characteristically assumes or asserts a monopoly over “group persons” and their right to exist; group persons are said to exist at the pleasure or concession of the state. According to Catholic social teaching, by contrast, these unities of order -- such as church and family, as well as corporations and schools and the like -- are, at least in potency, ontologically prior to the state. Such group persons both constitute conditions of the possibility of human flourishing and, correlatively, impose limitations on the “sovereign” state. Such group persons are not mere concessions of an unbounded state: They …

Elizabeth Cady Stanton On The Federal Marriage Amendment: A Letter To The President, Tracy A. Thomas

Tracy A. Thomas

This essay written from a historical, first-person perspective explores the parallels between the current movement for a Federal Marriage Amendment and that of the nineteenth century through the lens of feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Using the archival sources of Stanton’s articles and speeches from 1880 to 1902, the paper identifies her key arguments opposing a constitutional standard of marriage. The paper then juxtaposes Stanton’s arguments against the 2004 Federal Marriage Amendment to reveal the continued relevance and import of her insights. Stanton’s analytical platform attacked the core pretexts of federalism and gender that fueled the proposed marriage amendment in her …

Law And The Fabric Of The Everyday: Settlement Houses, Sociological Jurisprudence, And The Gendering Of Urban Legal Culture, Felice J. Batlan

Felice J Batlan

Disciplinary Evolution And Scholarly Expansion: Legal History In The United States, Steve Sheppard, Michael H. Hoeflich

Steve Sheppard

The study and teaching of legal history has flourished in the last few decades in the United States. This progression has been augmented by several key factors. First, digital sources have made legal and historical documents widely accessible. A chief difficulty scholars once faced while teaching legal history was a limited access to important documents; printed scholarly journals are expensive to produce, buy, and store. However, the advent of digital technology has provided greater ease of access to once difficult to obtain sources. For example, scholars at Yale Law School’s Avalon Project placed essential documents on the Internet, where they …

Las Milicias En La Nueva España: La Obra Del Segundo Conde De Revillagigedo (1789-1794), Óscar Cruz

Óscar Cruz Barney

Puntual relación de las reformas militares implantadas por el segundo conde de Revillagigedo en la Nueva España, especialmente en lo referente a las milicias no profesionales, que necesitaban una urgente modernización y reglamentación. Estas reformas se implantaron como parte de los planes de la monarquía para crear un ejército colonial capaz de defender las fronteras y litorales del virreinato y de controlar los principales centros urbanos y regiones socioeconómicas. Parte esencial de este proyecto fue la redacción de reglamentos específicos para las milicias provinciales y urbanas (ciudades de México y Puebla) de acuerdo con las circunstancias regionales y las posibilidades …

St. Nikodimos, The Rudder, The Kollyvades, And The Religious Component Of Revolutonary Greek Nationalism: Self-Definition By Reference To “The Other”, William J. Chriss

William J Chriss

Historically, τό Πηδάλιον (The Rudder) of St. Nikodimos has been the primary canon law book used by the Greek Orthodox Church. It is conservative and exclusivist in outlook, particularly with respect to the status of non-Orthodox Christians, which it portrays as questionable. This article discusses The Rudder’s provisions dealing with the baptisms and sacraments of non-Orthodox Christians. More particularly, the theological and cultural attitudes that produced these provisions are analyzed in the context of the growth of Greek nationalism in the late eighteenth century. This study concludes that the xenophobic insularity characteristic of The Rudder was not theologically required, but …

La Codificación Y El Federalismo Judicial, José Antonio Caballero Juárez

José Antonio Caballero Juárez

No abstract provided.

The History Of School Trust Lands In Nevada: The No Child Left Behind Act Of 1864, Christopher J. Walker

Christopher J. Walker

This Article details the history of the federal school lands grant program in Nevada - the first federal initiative to support public education in the new state. After providing a brief overview of federal land management history in the West, the Article presents the story of school lands in Nevada - tracing its birth in Congress and at the Nevada Constitutional Convention in 1864; analyzing the changes made by state constitutional amendments and court decisions; exploring Congress's attempts to adapt the program to Nevada's needs in the form of the two-million-acre grant of 1880 and the 30,000-acre exchange of 1926; …

The Catholic Second Amendment, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

At the beginning of the second millennium, there was no separation of church and state, and kings ruled the church. Tyrannicide was considered sinful. By the end of the thirteenth century, however, everything had changed. The Little Renaissance that began in the eleventh century led to a revolution in political and moral philosophy, so that using force to overthrow a tyrannical government became a positive moral duty. The intellectual revolution was an essential step in the evolution of Western political philosophy that eventually led to the American Revolution.

John Marshall And Indian Land Rights: A Historical Rejoinder To The Claim Of "Universal Recognition" Of The Doctrine Of Discovery, Blake A. Watson

Blake A Watson

Contrary to the statements of John Marshall in Johnson v. McIntosh, 21 U.S. (8 Wheat.) 543 (1823), the native inhabitants of America were considered by many as the absolute and "true" owners of the lands they occupied, and could retain or transfer title to their lands as they saw fit. The founder of Rhode Island, Roger Williams, argued that Europeans could justly occupy lands in America only through purchase from the Indians. Likewise, individuals in New Jersey who based their title on Indian deeds championed native land rights in the eighteenth century. It is evident that Marshall's statement that Indians …

Constitutional Jurisprudence Of Sandra Day O'Connor: A Refusal To "Foreclose The Unanticipated", Wilson R. Huhn

Wilson R. Huhn

Earlier this year, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retired from the Supreme Court of the United States after 25 years of service. It would be difficult to overstate the impact that Justice O’Connor has had on the interpretation of the Constitution during her tenure on the Court. Her importance to the development of American constitutional law stems from her central position on the Supreme Court. Professor Erwin Chemerinsky has described her role in these terms:

O’Connor is in control. In virtually every area of constitutional law, her key fifth vote determines what will be the majority’s position and what will be …

A Cultural Turn: Reflections On Recent Historical And Legal Writing On The Second Amendment

William G. Merkel

The Uses Of History In The Supreme Court's Takings Clause Jurisprudence, Jonathan R. Lahn

Jonathan R Lahn

No abstract provided.