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Full-Text Articles in Law

Electronic Commerce And Legal Protection For Consumers In Spain, Juan-Antonio Mondejar-Jimenez, Mª Angeles Zurilla-Cariñana, Jose Mondejar-Jimenez Dec 2008

Electronic Commerce And Legal Protection For Consumers In Spain, Juan-Antonio Mondejar-Jimenez, Mª Angeles Zurilla-Cariñana, Jose Mondejar-Jimenez

Juan-Antonio Mondejar-Jimenez

Electronic commerce is becoming increasingly common at international level. It is defined as “doing business electronically across the extended enterprise”, which includes all forms of business, administrative transactions and information exchanges in which any type of information or communication technology is used. It has also been defined as “the form of commerce that by using the services and links provided in electronic documents in the Internet, allows the customer to query, select and purchase a distributor's offer using a device that is connected to the Internet, in real time and at any time or place”. In Spain, the Information Society …


How Mandatory Are Mandatory Minimums? How Judges Can Avoid Imposing Mandatory Minimum Sentences, Nathan A. Greenblatt Dec 2008

How Mandatory Are Mandatory Minimums? How Judges Can Avoid Imposing Mandatory Minimum Sentences, Nathan A. Greenblatt

Nathan A Greenblatt

Mandatory minimum sentences are anathema to judges due to, it is commonly said, judges’ “utter lack of power to do anything for the exceptional defendants that move them.” In the case of Weldon Angelos, for example, U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell lamented that sentencing Mr. Angelos to 55 years in prison “is unjust, cruel, and even irrational. [The court] reluctantly concludes that it has no choice.” The Judicial Conference has consistently opposed mandatory minimum sentences for more than 50 years, because it, too, has concluded that mandatory sentences give judges no choice in sentencing. Indeed, the U.S. Sentencing Commission recently …


Original Public Understanding Of The Fourteenth Amendment As Reflected In The Print Media Of 1866-1868, David T. Hardy Dec 2008

Original Public Understanding Of The Fourteenth Amendment As Reflected In The Print Media Of 1866-1868, David T. Hardy

David T. Hardy

The controversy between 14th Amendment total incorporation under the privileges or immunities clause, and selective incorporation under its due process clause, has remained quiescent in recent years. Now, three cases pending in the lower Federal courts are making bids to revive the controversy that once generated a feud between Justice Black and Justice Frankfurter.

In the last Term, a majority of the Supreme Court accepted a variant of original public meaning as the key to ascertaining constitutional meaning; the focus of this interpretative methodology is not upon Congressional understanding in proposing a constitutional provision, but upon the likely understanding of …


The Mid-Century Civil Rights Movement: How America Was Changed Forever, Dylan Berg Dec 2008

The Mid-Century Civil Rights Movement: How America Was Changed Forever, Dylan Berg

Dylan Berg

The Mid-Century Civil Rights Movement: How America Was Changed Forever The Civil Rights Movement fought for African-American rights in America in the early 1900’s, and is still in some instances being fought today. However, in almost a century of fighting, the most dynamic and successful era of the Civil Rights Movement was the Mid-Century era. This article focuses on the Mid-Century moral and legislative victories, and the men who helped accomplish them. It includes Brown v. The Board of Education and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It talks of two of the greatest rabble rousing orators ever to be …


The Original Understanding Of The Political Status Of Indian Tribes, Matthew L.M. Fletcher Dec 2008

The Original Understanding Of The Political Status Of Indian Tribes, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

This Article will demonstrate that virtually all elements of Indian affairs can be traced to the decision of the United States to recognize Indian tribes as political entities and to make Indian law and policy based on the political status of Indian tribes. Indian law is often assumed to be race law. As a result, observers tend to try to force Indian law into the constitutional race law paradigm. Justice Blackmun’s footnote 24 in Morton v. Mancari – describing federal legislation and rules relating to Indian tribes as a political classification – hit upon the proper understanding of Indian law. …


Families Redefined: Kinship Groups That Deserve Benefits, Jane E. Cross, Charlene Smith, Nan Palmer Nov 2008

Families Redefined: Kinship Groups That Deserve Benefits, Jane E. Cross, Charlene Smith, Nan Palmer

Jane E Cross

In Families Redefined: Kinship Groups that Deserve Benefits, the authors examine 1) the nature of kinship families, 2) the benefits accorded to married couples, 3) kinship families that lack protection and benefits, 4) the impact of denying kinship protection and benefits, 5) the use of contract law in kinship relationship and 6) using legislation to benefit kinship relationships.

This exploration of expanding family law protections to kinship groups addresses a series of interrelated topics. The first two sections of the article explore the characteristics and creation of kinship families in different societies. The third section addresses the legal benefits provided …


Modern Disparities In Legal Education: Emancipation From Racial Neutrality, David Mears Nov 2008

Modern Disparities In Legal Education: Emancipation From Racial Neutrality, David Mears

David Mears

Abstract

Wealth, leadership and political power within any democratic society requires the highest caliber of a quality legal education. The Black experience is not necessarily a unique one within legal education but rather an excellent example of either poor to substandard quality disseminated unequally among racial and socioeconomic stereotypes based upon expected outcomes of probable success or failure. It is often said, “Speak and so it will happen” – many within the halls of academia work hard to openly predict failure yet seemingly do very little to foster success internally within the academic procedures and processes based on the customer …


Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One V. Mukasey: The Supreme Court's Opportunity To Examine And Clarify The Law Surrounding Section 5 Of The Voting Rights Act, Matthew C. Dahl Nov 2008

Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One V. Mukasey: The Supreme Court's Opportunity To Examine And Clarify The Law Surrounding Section 5 Of The Voting Rights Act, Matthew C. Dahl

Matthew C. Dahl

No abstract provided.


People As Crops, Evelyn L. Wilson Nov 2008

People As Crops, Evelyn L. Wilson

Evelyn L. Wilson

In 1807, Congress passed a law prohibiting the importation of slaves. The South began to feel the effect of labor shortages and prices escalated. To meet this demand, farmers in the upper south states, especially Virginia, began the systematic breeding of slaves for sale to the southwest. Through the use of statements from Virginia statesmen and from some of Virginia’s former slaves, my paper discusses slave breeding, first as a consequence of slavery, as an added benefit to the labor obtained from the slave.

My father was born in Virginia, as was his father, as was his father, as was …


A Proposal For Establishing Specialized Federal And State "Takings Courts", John Martinez Nov 2008

A Proposal For Establishing Specialized Federal And State "Takings Courts", John Martinez

John Martinez

A Proposal for Establishing

Specialized Federal and State "Takings Courts"

By John Martinez, Professor of Law

S.J. Quinney College of Law

at the University of Utah

ABSTRACT

Takings doctrine is a mess. This article proposes that we just accept that -- and establish specialized federal and state "takings courts" for adjudicating takings claims.

In 1978 the United States Supreme Court confessed that takings analysis is hopelessly ad hoc. And in 2005, the Court abrogated a test for takings which it had followed for 25 years. Indeed, some scholars have even resigned themselves to embracing vagueness as a virtue in takings …


Balancing Competing Individual Constitutional Rights: Raising Some Questions, Taunya Banks Oct 2008

Balancing Competing Individual Constitutional Rights: Raising Some Questions, Taunya Banks

Taunya Lovell Banks

Despite increasing support for global human rights ..., some scholars and constitutional democracies, like the United States, continue to resist constitutionalizing socio-economic rights. Socio-economic rights, unlike political and civil constitutional rights that usually prohibit government actions, are thought to impose positive obligations on government. As a result, constitutionalizing socio-economic rights raises questions about separation of powers and the competence of courts to decide traditionally legislative and executive matters. ... [W]hen transitional democracies, like South Africa, choose to constitutionalize socio-economic rights, courts inevitably must grapple with their role in the realization of those rights.... Two questions immediately come to mind: (1) …


"Throwing Away The Key: An Examination Of New York's Sex Offender Civil Commitment Statute", Joseph E. Fahey Oct 2008

"Throwing Away The Key: An Examination Of New York's Sex Offender Civil Commitment Statute", Joseph E. Fahey

Joseph E Fahey

No abstract provided.


A Decade Later: The Attack Against Critical Racetheory In Defense Of Reason, Raul Vargas Oct 2008

A Decade Later: The Attack Against Critical Racetheory In Defense Of Reason, Raul Vargas

raul vargas

This article adresses, in detail, the savage attack against Critical Race Theory initiated by the release of Farber and Sherry's "Beyond All Reason: The Radical Assault on Truth in American Law" in 1997-98. In particular, focus is on its decade-long ramifications and the utter absence of intelectual virtues this attack introduced. Raul Vargas DePaul University College of Law, J.D. University of Chicago, Committe on the Humanities/Social Thought, M.A. Syracuse University, Department of Philosophy, Ph.D. Candidate


Crowning The New King: The Statutory Arbitrator And The Demise Of Judicial Review, Michael H. Leroy Oct 2008

Crowning The New King: The Statutory Arbitrator And The Demise Of Judicial Review, Michael H. Leroy

Michael H LeRoy

Judicial review of arbitration awards is highly deferential, but when does it become rubber stamping? Using original data, I find that federal courts vacated only 4.3 percent of 162 disputed awards. Nearly the same result was observed for a sub-sample of 44 employment discrimination awards under Title VII. By comparison, federal appeals courts in 2006 reversed 12.9 percent of 5,917 rulings made by civil court judges on the merits of legal claims.

Why are the rulings of Article III judges scrutinized more than the awards of citizen-arbitrators? What does this mean when companies can avoid Article III court rulings by …


When Immigration Borders Move, Huyen T. Pham Oct 2008

When Immigration Borders Move, Huyen T. Pham

Huyen T. Pham

With our recent immigration enforcement efforts, we have created a new paradigm of moving borders: laws enacted at all levels of government that require proof of legal immigration status in order to obtain essential benefits like a driver’s license, a job, and rental housing. Without proof of legal status, the applicant is denied an important benefit; after cumulative denials, the applicant can be effectively denied the ability to live in the United States. What are the implications of moving border laws? Now, more than ever, proof of legal immigration status has become centrally important, not just to gain admission at …


The Emerging First Amendment Law Of Managerial Prerogative, Lawrence Rosenthal Oct 2008

The Emerging First Amendment Law Of Managerial Prerogative, Lawrence Rosenthal

Lawrence Rosenthal

In Garcetti v. Ceballos, the Supreme Court, by the narrowest of margins, held that allegations of police perjury made in memoranda to his superiors by Richard Ceballos, a supervisory prosecutor in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, were unprotected by the First Amendment because “his expressions were made pursuant to his duties. . . .” The academic reaction to this holding has been harshly negative; scholars argue that the holding will prevent the public from learning of governmental misconduct that is known only to those working within the bowels of the government itself.

This article rejects the scholarly consensus …


Equal Sentences For Unequal Participation: Should The Eighth Amendment Allow All Juvenile Murder Accomplices To Receive Life Without Parole?, Brian Gallini Sep 2008

Equal Sentences For Unequal Participation: Should The Eighth Amendment Allow All Juvenile Murder Accomplices To Receive Life Without Parole?, Brian Gallini

Brian Gallini

No court has addressed the constitutional significance of sentencing juvenile murder accomplices who play a minimal role in the underlying killing to life in prison without parole. Indeed, no precedent makes clear whether it is cruel and unusual to impose that sentence on juvenile offenders convicted of first-degree murder pursuant to either the felony-murder doctrine or an accomplice theory of liability, notwithstanding their minimal involvement in the victim’s death. To investigate this unanswered question, Part I of this Article explores the imposition of life without parole sentences on juvenile non-killers convicted of murder via either the felony-murder doctrine or accomplice …


Fairness And The Distribution Of Primary Goods, Nathan W. Dean Sep 2008

Fairness And The Distribution Of Primary Goods, Nathan W. Dean

Nathan W. Dean

I consider whether any one of the schemes of distributive justice envisioned by John Rawls, Robert Nozick, or G.A. Cohen is truly fair. By means of a close and critical reading of their work on distributive justice, I conclude that their schemes of distributive justice in some instances fail to correct for elements of unfairness and at other times introduce unfairness in the furtherance of other largely unacknowledged ends. More specifically, I (1) describe the ways in which Rawls, Nozick, and Cohen fail to show us what a fair scheme of distributive justice would look like, (2) sketch what I …


United States V. Hatahley: A Legal Archaeology Case Study In Law And Racial Conflict, Debora L. Threedy Sep 2008

United States V. Hatahley: A Legal Archaeology Case Study In Law And Racial Conflict, Debora L. Threedy

Debora L. Threedy

This paper is a case study of United States v. Hatahley, a leading case in the Remedies canon, using the methodology of “legal archaeology” to reconstruct the historical, social and economic context of the litigation. In 1953, a group of individual Navajos brought suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act for the destruction of over a hundred horses and burros. The first section of the paper presents two contrasting narratives for the case. The first relates what we know about the case from the reported opinions, while the second locates the litigated case within the larger social context by examining …


Oped: Breaking Uf Racial Barriers, Pedro A. Malavet Sep 2008

Oped: Breaking Uf Racial Barriers, Pedro A. Malavet

Pedro A. Malavet

An OpEd describing the legal and personal struggle to desegregate the University of Florida College of Law on the 50th Anniversary of the matriculation of the first African American Student, George Starke. The essay describes how Virgil Hawkins was the last lead plaintiff in the litigation that produced Mr. Starke's matriculation and led to the graduation of W. George Allen.


Critical Error, Bryan L. Adamson Sep 2008

Critical Error, Bryan L. Adamson

Bryan L Adamson

Critical Error raises a novel double standard: while fact-specific trial court findings of actual malice are reviewed under the “independent judgment” standard (a wholesale re-weighting of the trial court record and decision) on appeal, intentional race discrimination findings are reviewed under the far more deferential Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52 clear error standard. Both legal concepts are arrived at through assessing state-of-mind determinations; both directly trigger constitutional proscriptions. Only actual malice, however, is classified as a constitutional fact, thus taking it out of the more deferential standard of review. The Supreme Court has failed to clarify this important procedural …


Critical Error, Bryan L. Adamson Sep 2008

Critical Error, Bryan L. Adamson

Bryan L Adamson

Critical Error raises a novel double standard: while fact-specific trial court findings of actual malice are reviewed under the “independent judgment” standard (a wholesale re-weighting of the trial court record and decision) on appeal, intentional race discrimination findings are reviewed under the far more deferential Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52 clear error standard. Both legal concepts are arrived at through assessing state-of-mind determinations; both directly trigger constitutional proscriptions. Only actual malice, however, is classified as a constitutional fact, thus taking it out of the more deferential standard of review. The Supreme Court has failed to clarify this important procedural …


A Fighting Chance: An Analysis Of The Role Of Social Science Evidence In Higher Education Affirmative Action And K-12 Voluntary Desegregation Cases, Crystal Gafford Muhammad Sep 2008

A Fighting Chance: An Analysis Of The Role Of Social Science Evidence In Higher Education Affirmative Action And K-12 Voluntary Desegregation Cases, Crystal Gafford Muhammad

Crystal Gafford Muhammad

The present inquiry focuses on the role of social science evidence contemporarily, using observations from judicial opinions in race conscious admissions cases. Using a set of judicial opinions from K-12 voluntary desegregation and higher education affirmative action in admissions, I use legal and statistical analysis to argue that social science data presented into evidence is of limited effect. In fact, I find judicial political philosophy is the greatest predictor of opinions in this area of law. However, the question is not whether social science evidence is influential or even persuasive, but whether it is useful in politically contentious cases. It …


Resisting Guantanamo: Rights At The Brink Of Dehumanization, Muneer I. Ahmad Sep 2008

Resisting Guantanamo: Rights At The Brink Of Dehumanization, Muneer I. Ahmad

Muneer I Ahmad

The Supreme Court’s June 2008 decision in Boumediene v. Bush, granting constitutional habeas corpus rights to terrorist suspects at Guantánamo Bay, appeared to usher in a rights moment in which legal advocacy achieved transformative results. But the history of rights-based litigation at Guantánamo suggests that such victories often are fleeting, with court pronouncements failing to produce the meaningful change—freedom of prisoners, closure of Guantánamo—expected of such landmark decisions. This reflects not simply a failure of the courts, but a limitation of rights in the face of extreme state violence. This Article argues that the work of rights—and of lawyers—at Guantánamo …


Abandon All Hope Ye That Enter: Title Vi, Equal Protection, And The Divine Comedy Of Environmental Justice, Carlton Waterhouse Sep 2008

Abandon All Hope Ye That Enter: Title Vi, Equal Protection, And The Divine Comedy Of Environmental Justice, Carlton Waterhouse

Carlton Waterhouse

Dante’s Alighieri’s epic poem the Divine Comedy begins with the journey of the author and his guide Virgil down through the depths of Hell. Early in their trek, Dante finds the phrase “Abandon All Hope Ye That Enter” inscribed above the gates of Hell. Drawing on this classic work, the article analogizes Dante’s passage through Hell with the experience of communities relying on civil rights law to address the disparate racial effects of environmental decisions. The article begins with an examination of the first administrative complaint filed with the Environmental Protection Agency alleging racial discrimination in environmental permitting in 1992 …


United States V. Hatahley: A Legal Archaeology Case Study Of Law And Racial Conflict, Debora L. Threedy Sep 2008

United States V. Hatahley: A Legal Archaeology Case Study Of Law And Racial Conflict, Debora L. Threedy

Debora L. Threedy

This paper is a case study of United States v. Hatahley, a leading case in the Remedies canon, using the methodology of “legal archaeology” to reconstruct the historical, social and economic context of the litigation. In 1953, a group of individual Navajos brought suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act for the destruction of over a hundred horses and burros. The first section of the paper presents two contrasting narratives for the case. The first relates what we know about the case from the reported opinions, while the second locates the litigated case within the larger social context by examining …


When Churches Divide: On Neutrality, Deference, And Unpredictability, Mark Strasser Sep 2008

When Churches Divide: On Neutrality, Deference, And Unpredictability, Mark Strasser

Mark Strasser

Predictions that the Anglican Communion would be torn asunder have proven false, at least for now. Nonetheless, continuing disagreements about whether Bishop Gene Robinson should be a bishop and about whether same-sex unions should be recognized provide an ever-present reason for a possible break within that Communion. Were there such a break, there might well be numerous suits regarding the ownership of various properties.

Historically, churches have split off from their denominational affiliations for a whole host of reasons including disagreements over property ownership, church leadership, or member equality. When such divisions take place, the ownership of particular buildings or …


Voter Turnout: From Cost To Cooperation, Jason B. Marisam Sep 2008

Voter Turnout: From Cost To Cooperation, Jason B. Marisam

Jason B Marisam

Political scientists have repeatedly concluded that state efforts to increase voter turnout will continue to flounder, so long as those efforts remain focused on lowering the already low cost of voting. Accordingly, this Article argues that future efforts to achieve consistently higher and widespread turnout among all demographics must consider other determinants of voter behavior. The primary goal of the Article is to craft a framework based on a thorough understanding of voter motivation and behavior that helps conceptualize and analyze public efforts to increase voter turnout. The framework fills a gap in the literature by drawing from a range …


The New Boys: Women With Disabilities And The Legal Profession, Carrie G. Basas Sep 2008

The New Boys: Women With Disabilities And The Legal Profession, Carrie G. Basas

Carrie G Basas

This essay fuses the fields of law, feminist theory, and cultural studies to examine the status of women attorneys with disabilities. It is the first study of its kind in the United States. The author conducted an empirical, qualitative, and ethnographic study of women attorneys with disabilities in the United States. Thirty-eight attorneys participated and their narratives form the basis for critical analysis of disability animus and discrimination in the legal profession. The results show an alarming trend toward disabled women attorneys self-accommodating in the workplace, rather than enforcing their employment rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Relying on …


The Irresistible Force, Bruce A. Antkowiak Sep 2008

The Irresistible Force, Bruce A. Antkowiak

Bruce A Antkowiak

This article calls for the reformation of the doctrine that permits a legislature to assign to a defendant the burden of proving an issue in a criminal case to avoid conviction. It argues that such a doctrine violates the basic norms of the Constitution and the “jury right” that is at its core. That right includes the institution of the jury trial, the presumption of innocence and the burden on the government to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. It is violated by such a burden assignment just as the Apprendi line of cases holds that the shifting of …