Law Commons^™

Recovering The Social Value Of Jurisdictional Redundancy, Alexandra D. Lahav

Alexandra D. Lahav

This essay, written for the Tulane Law Review Symposium on the Problem of Multidistrict Litigation, argues that the focus of proceduralists on centralization as a solution to the problems posed by modern litigation is misplaced. It is time to refocus on the social value of the multiple centers of authority that jurisdictional redundancy permits. This essay presents the case for multi-centered litigation with particular focus on the potential uses of the Multidistrict Litigation Act to realize pluralist values. The descriptive claim put forward by the essay is that jurisdictional redundancy is imbedded in our federalist system and our preference for …

"The Public's Right Of Access To 'Some Kind Of Hearing' - Creating Policies That Protect The Right To Observe Agency Hearings", Chris Mcneil

Christopher B. McNeil, J.D., Ph.D.

As administrative agencies take on greater responsibilities and increasing caseloads, the tendency may be to shield their operations from the public. This article examines the competing constitutional premises supporting access to agency hearings on one hand, and due process considerations on the other; and provides a model for use by agencies seeking to control public access to agency adjudications.

The Cy Pres Problem And The Role Of Damages In Tort Law, Goutam U. Jois

Goutam U Jois

Class action litigation presents a common problem that has received little discussion in the academic literature. In almost every case, the plaintiff class’s recovery is not fully distributed. For example, all possible plaintiffs may not come forward with their claims, the plaintiffs may not be ascertainable, or claims may not be timely submitted. Administrators are regularly posed with the problem of what to do with these residual funds. Currently, courts are free to do virtually anything with such funds. The system is ad hoc, unpredictable, and unguided by any normative principle. In these cases, I propose that the funds should …

Doctrina Como Fuente Del Derecho, Arturo Horna Marquina

Arturo Horna Marquina

la doctrina “comprende el conjunto de opiniones y argumentos de los estudiosos del derecho (juristas, abogados, filósofos y todos aquellos que se dedican al estudio del derecho desde sus diversas perspectivas).”

El Tribunal Constitucional Peruano En El 2007, Edgar Carpio Marcos Y Pedro Grandez Castro

Edgar Carpio Marcos

No abstract provided.

The Harms And Wrongs Of Stealing: The Harm Principle And Dishonesty In Theft, Alex Steel

Alex Steel

In ‘On the Nature and Rationale of Property Offences’ A P Simester and G R Sullivan argue that the Harm Principle can be used to justify property offences. This article provides a critique of that essay. It begins with an overview of the Harm Principle and some key criticisms of it. It then considers Simester and Sullivan’s argument that the conduct proscribed by property offences causes harm to the property regime generally. The article suggests that this is an overly broad notion of harm on which to base criminalisation, and one that fails to adequately identify which particular breaches of …

Justifications, Powers And Authority, Malcolm Thorburn

Malcolm Thorburn

Justification defenses have been the subject of a protracted debate in criminal law theory for the past thirty years. Both sides in this debate have assumed that the question at issue is whether the actor’s conduct is morally justified; they differ only in their views on this question. Whereas Paul Robinson has insisted that conduct is morally justified when it prevents greater harm than it causes, George Fletcher and John Gardner have insisted that the actor’s reasons for action also play a crucial role.

This article contends that both sides in the justifications debate have been asking the wrong question. …

The Developer’S Decision Calculus: An Agent-Based Model Of Commercial Development, Mirya R. Holman, Travis Coan

Mirya R Holman

While considerable research has been devoted to understanding the impact local regulatory environments on housing development, few studies have examined the implications of land-use regulations for commercial development. The paucity of studies is unfortunate given that commercial development often provides municipalities with considerable economic benefits (e.g., employment) and a crucial source of tax revenue. This study presents a formal model of the commercial development process that explicitly incorporates the dynamic interaction of commercial developers and local cities. Specifically, we construct an agent-based model (ABM) of the commercial development process that represents some key features of the development process. We form …

Reading Tea Leaves In Federal Election Commission V. Wisconsin Right To Life: Hope For A Buckley Evolution?, Michael Anthony Lawrence

Michael Anthony Lawrence

During its 2006-07 Term the U.S. Supreme Court decided Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., the latest in a long line of cases sprouting from the seminal 1976 First Amendment campaign finance case, Buckley v. Valeo. In Wisconsin Right to Life, the Court concluded that Section 203 of the federal Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, prohibiting the use of corporate funds to finance “electioneering communications” during a specified pre-election period, constituted an as-applied violation of a non-profit corporation’s free speech rights.

Wisconsin Right to Life offers useful insights into the Roberts Court’s thinking on the lively …

The Incentives In The Fiscal Framework Of The Nigerian Mous With The International Oil Companies: Have The Objectives Been Achieved?, Humphrey Onyeukwu

Humphrey Onyeukwu

ABSTRACT: The Nigerian Government had entered into Memoranda of Understandings (MoUs) with the various major International Oil Companies (IOCs) in the 1990s providing incentives to the companies at a period when the Oil market was experiencing oil price recession. The MoUs, amongst other fiscal terms guaranteed the IOCs a minimum profit per barrel of oil produced and a lower tax rate from the standard tax rate prescribed under the Petroleum Profit Tax Act. However, the Nigerian Government has recently indicated its intent to terminate the MoUs and replace it with a standard tax plan. In the light of these recent …

It's Really About Sex: Same-Sex Marriage, Lesbigay Parenting, And The Psychology Of Disgust, Richard E. Redding

Richard E. Redding

The effect of gay and lesbian parenting on children has been the touchstone issue in much of the recent state litigation on same sex marriage, with opponents of same sex marriage arguing that there is a rational basis for denying marriage rights to gays and lesbians because the central purpose of marriage is procreation and childrearing, but that children are harmed or disadvantaged when raised by gay or lesbian parents. To interrogate this claim, I critique the social science research that informs the concerns frequently expressed about the possible negative effects of lesbigay parenting on children's emotional, psychosocial, and sexual …