Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons^™

Hybrid Organizations And The Alignment Of Interests: The Case Of Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac, Jonathan Koppell

Jonathan GS Koppell

This article explores the political influence of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). Using Congress's overhaul of the regulatory infrastructure for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a case study, the article presents two principal findings: (1) The characteristics that distinguish government-sponsored enterprises from traditional government agencies and private companies endow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with unique political resources; and (2) the alignment of interest groups around Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is subject to strategic manipulation by the GSEs. A triangular model of this alignment is proposed and employed to analyze the legislative outcome. The case has implications for students of …

Ideation And Appropriation: Wittgenstein On Intellectual Property, Julian Friedland

Julian Friedland

This paper provides a critique of the contemporary notion of intellectual property based on the consequences of Wittgenstein’s “private language argument”. The reticence commonly felt toward recent applications of patent law, e.g., sports moves, is held to expose erroneous metaphysical assumptions inherent in the spirit of current IP legislation. It is argued that the modern conception of intellectual property as a kind of natural right, stems from the mistaken internalist or Augustinian picture of language that Wittgenstein attempted to diffuse. This view becomes persuasive once it is shown that a complete understanding of the argument against private language must include …

Rights Of Inequality: Rawlsian Justice, Equal Opportunity, And The Status Of The Family, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Is the family subject to principles of justice? In A Theory of Justice, John Rawls includes the (monogamous) family along with the market and the government as among the "basic institutions of society" to which principles of justice apply. Justice, he famously insists, is primary in politics as truth is in science: the only excuse for tolerating injustice is that no lesser injustice is possible. The point of the present paper is that Rawls doesn't actually mean this. When it comes to the family, and in particular its impact on fair equal opportunity (the first part of the the Difference …

Civility In The Academy, Robert Bennett

Robert B. Bennett

Note: full-text not available due to publisher restrictions. Link takes you to an external site where you can purchase the article or borrow it from a local library.

La Responsabilidad Civil Por Productos Defectuosos: Perspectivas Para La Aplicación Y El Desarrollo De La Directiva 85/374/Cee, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

En 1985, cuando fue adoptada la Directiva 85/374/ CEE, el legislador comunitario partió de la base de que se trataba de una normativa ‘mejorable’, por lo que impuso a la Comisión la tarea de vigilar la eficacia de su aplicación y de proponer, eventualmente, su revisión.

Con todos sus defectos, la Directiva 85/374/CEE contribuye a incrementar el nivel de protección frente a los productos defectuosos, entre otras razones, porque constituye una ‘espada de Damocles’ que incita a los productores a maximizar sus esfuerzos para producir sin riesgos innecesarios para la salud y la integridad humanas y porque, una vez que …