Law Commons^™

False Confessions, False Guilty Pleas: Similiarities And Differences, Allison D. Redlich

Allison D Redlich

No abstract provided.

Customary International Law In The 21st Century: Old Challenges And New Debates, Roozbeh (Rudy) B. Baker

Roozbeh (Rudy) B. Baker

This Article will survey the new scholarship that has emerged in international law to challenge the two traditional sources of customary norms, state practice and opinio juris. With the recent growth, in the international system, of self-contained international criminal tribunals, new challenges facing international law have emerged. Institutionally structured as self-contained legal regimes, international legal tribunals such as the ICTY, ICTR, and now the ICC have nevertheless contributed to a new paradigm within international law. The jurisprudence of these international criminal tribunals, on a wide range of international legal questions, has slowly begun to be elevated into norms of customary …

Forensic Science Evidence And Judicial Bias In Criminal Cases, Hon. Donald E. Shelton

Hon. Donald E. Shelton

Although DNA exonerations and the NAS report have raised serious questions about the validity of many traditional non-DNA forms of forensic science evidence, criminal court judges continue to admit virtually all prosecution-proferred expert testimony. It is is suggested that this is the result of a systemic pro-prosecution bias by judges that is reflected in admissibility decisions. These "attitudinal blinders" are especially prevalent in state criminal trial and appellate courts.

Funcionamiento De Los Tribunales De Familia De Santiago, Felipe Marín Verdugo, Erick Ríos, Claudio Fuentes

Felipe Marín Verdugo

The Chilean government launched new family courts in October 2005. This was the second major judicial reform in Chile after the Criminal Procedure reform in 2000. After few months, the system collapsed. After analyzing the reasons of the failure, a new bill was passed in September 2008 with modifications to the family law system. Also, the Chilean Supreme Court elaborated internal regulations aiming to fix the main problems. At the beginning of the 2010 some said that the situation was overcome. The goal of this report was to check whether this was true.

Understanding Standing: A Process Of Evaluating Variables In Specific Situations, Diane M. Bales, John H. Reese

Diane M. Bales

This article is a comprehensive, multi-variable model for making standing analyses for federal courts. It is innovative in its comprehensive use of Supreme Court standing variables extracted from the Court’s opinions. Therefore, it is based on the jurisprudence of the Court and not on commentaries about the Court’s process of deciding issues of standing.

Tribal Land Laws In Andhra Pradesh, Hari Priya

Hari Priya

No abstract provided.

Section 4 Of The Hindu Succession Act Of 1956, Hari Priya

Hari Priya

A brief write up in the form of a comprehensive article aiming to critically evaluate the Section 4 of the Hindu Succession Act of 1956. The law, as it stands amended, has not only brought about changes in the succession laws of Hindus, but has also paved the way for some positive modifications in the law of partition, alienation of property, inheritance and adoption, and the paper is an effort to evaluate this provision of the law.

Legal Pluralism And The Rule Of Law: Can Indigenous Justice Survive?, David Pimentel

David Pimentel

The clash between modern statutory justice systems and the traditional systems of indigenous communities is not on a level playing field. Even where legal pluralism is formally recognized, the conflict threatens the continued relevance of customary law. If these non-Western legal systems are to maintain their relevance and vitality, if they are even to have a place in the new global community, those agencies and individuals engaged in promoting the rule of law, economic development, or respect for human rights must resist the impulse to simply impose the Western laws and legal institutions. Instead, reform-minded agencies and individuals should seek …

Clear As Mud: How The Uncertain Precedential Status Of Unpublished Opinions Muddles Qualified Immunity Determinations, David R. Cleveland

David R. Cleveland

While unpublished opinions are now freely citeable under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1, their precedential value remains uncertain. This ambiguity muddles the already unclear law surrounding qualified immunity and denies courts valuable precedents for making fair and consistent judgments on these critical civil rights issues. When faced with a claim that they have violated a person’s civil rights, government officials typically claim qualified immunity. The test is whether they have violated “clearly established law.” Unfortunately, the federal circuits differ on whether unpublished opinions may be used in determining clearly established law. This article, Clear as Mud: How the Uncertain …

Reweaving The Fabric Of Society: Restorative Justice In The United States, Kenneth Fox

Kenneth H Fox

This article provides an overview of restorative justice practices in the United States. It offers a brief history of the field, articulates its underlying values, and describes its primary forms of practice. The purpose of this article is to introduce readers to an emerging and important way to re-think how citizens relate to one another and to the “state” when crime occurs.

Resolving Cases On The Merits, Jay Tidmarsh

Jay Tidmarsh

Prepared for a Symposium on Civil Justice Reform, this essay examines the role of the “on the merits” principle in modern American procedure. After surveying the possible meanings of the phrase, the essay critiques its most common understanding due to its economic inefficiency and its lack of strong philosophical support. Relying on the recent work of Amartya Sen, the essay proposes that the principle be replaced with a “fair outcome” principle that melds both “procedural” and “substantive” concerns.

How The Eu's Legal System Does And Does Not Work, Alec Stone Sweet

Alec Stone Sweet

No abstract provided.

The Citation Of Blogs In Judicial Opinions, Lee F. Peoples

Lee Peoples

No abstract provided.

The U.N. Security Council Ad Hoc Rwanda Tribunal: International Justice, Or Judicially-Constructed “Victor’S Impunity”?, C. Peter Erlinder

C. Peter Erlinder

ABSTRACT The U.N. Security Council Ad Hoc Rwanda Tribunal: International Justice, or Juridically-Constructed “Victor’s Impunity”? Prof. Peter Erlinder [1] ________________________ “…if the Japanese had won the war, those of us who planned the fire-bombing of Tokyo would have been the war criminals….” [2] Robert S. McNamara, U.S. Secretary of State “…and so it goes…” [3] Billy Pilgrim (alter ego of an American prisoner of war, held in the cellar of a Dresden abattoir, who survived firebombing by his own troops, author Kurt Vonnegut Jr.) Introduction Unlike the postWW- II Tribunals, the U.N. Security Council tribunals for the former Yugoslavia [10] …

Two Paths To Judicial Power: The Basic Structure Doctrine And Public Interest Litigation In Comparative Perspective, Manoj Mate

Manoj S. Mate

Régimen De Prisión Preventiva En América Latina: La Pena Anticipada, La Lógica Cautelar Y La Contrarreforma / Pre-Trial Detention Regime In Latin America: The Pre-Trial Punishment, Flight Risk And The Counter Reform, Claudio Fuentes Maureira

Claudio Fuentes Maureira

One of the main reasons that justified the criminal procedure reform in Latin America was the possibility to overcome and changed different practices that were very problematic. One of these complex situations was the excessive use of pre-trial detention in the context of criminal investigations; in particular, the abuse of this institution had a dangerous outcome when it comes to the protection of the human rights of the detainees.

From the mid 90’s onwards, most of the Latin American countries started a reform of their criminal institutions and proceedings. A considerable portion of the legal framework was heavily modified in …

Veil-Piercing, Peter B. Oh

Peter B. Oh

From its inception veil-piercing has been a scourge on corporate law. Exactly when the veil of limited liability can and will be circumvented to reach into a shareholder’s own assets has befuddled courts, litigants, and scholars alike. And the doctrine has been bedeviled by empirical evidence of a chasm between the theory and practice of veil-piercing; notably, veil-piercing claims inexplicably seem to prevail more often in Contract than Tort, a finding that flouts the engrained distinction between voluntary and involuntary creditors. With a dataset of 2,908 cases from 1658 to 2006, this study presents the most comprehensive portrait of veil-piercing …