Law Commons^™

Pornography And Obscenity Sold In "Adult Bookstores": A Survey Of 5132 Books, Magazines, And Films In Four American Cities, Park Elliott Dietz, Alan E. Sears

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

During the eighteen months that the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography (the Commission) conducted public hearings, public discussion, and staff research, one of the most common types of inquiry directed to the staff consisted of questions as to the content of pornography currently available in the United States. Critics of the Commission's work asserted that the pornography used as exhibits by witnesses at the public hearings was extreme, not commonly available, or unrepresentative of that sold in pornography retail outlets; The only pertinent, quantitative data available to the Commission appeared in a single report in the American Journal of Psychiatry …

Prurient Interest And Human Dignity: Pornography Regulation In West Germany And The United States, Mathias Reimann

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article examines the regulation of pornography in West Germany and compares it to regulation in the United States. Part I provides an overview of the legal framework- constitutional and statutory-of pornography regulation in West Germany. Part II then traces the evolution of the concept of human dignity as a standard for defining pornography in West Germany, and Part III illustrates the practical impact of the idea in two widely debated recent cases. Part IV argues that West Germany's human dignity approach to pornography regulation raises important questions about how to view pornography, but that cultural and constitutional differences between …

Law And Sex, Christina B. Whitman

Reviews

In Feminism Unmodified, a collection of speeches given between 1981 and 1986, Catharine MacKinnon talks of law from the perspective of feminism. MacKinnon does not approach her topic as a lawyer with a uniquely legal perspective on feminism; she brings, instead, a distinctively feminist approach to law. Nor is the feminism from which she speaks grounded in the standard political theories: MacKinnon disclaims and attacks the Marxist approach to feminism, the socialist approach to feminism, and, most emphatically and repeatedly, the liberal approach to feminism that has been embraced by many lawyers in their effort to use law to eliminate …

Beating Up On Women And Old Men And Other Enormities: A Social Historical Inquiry Into Literary Sources, William I. Miller

Articles

The Icelandic sagas, besides being one of the most impressive literatures existing in any language, preserve detailed accounts of feud and legal action, and describe with intelligence and care the general techniques and strategies of dispute processing. They also contain, incidental to the narrative, information about values and law, marriage and death, householding arrangements and the systems of exchange, naming patterns, and so on, for those who care to coax such information from the texts.

The 1986 And 1987 Affirmative Action Cases: It's All Over But The Shouting, Herman Schwartz

Michigan Law Review

For the moment, the affirmative action wars are over. In a ten-year set of decisions, culminating in five during the last two terms, the Court has now legitimated almost all types of race and gender preferences, even if they benefit nonvictims, including voluntarily adopted preferences in hiring, promotion, university admissions, and government contracting; hiring and promotion preferences in consent decrees; and court-ordered hiring and promotions. It has approved preferences by both public and private bodies, and for both racial-ethnic minorities and women. It has barred only layoffs of white (and presumably male) employees who have more seniority than employees hired …

The Ultimate Violation, Todd Maybrown

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Ultimate Violation by Judith Rowland

Women And The Law Of Property In Early America, David H. Bromfield

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Women and the Law of Property in Early America by Marylynn Salmon

Where They Are Now: The Story Of The Women Of Harvard Law 1974, Lissa M. Cinat

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Where They Are Now: The Story of the Women of Harvard Law 1974 by Jill Abramson and Barbara Franklin

Pay Equity--The Minnesota Experience, Nina Rothchild

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The concept of comparable worth is simple: jobs should be paid according to their value, whether the jobs are performed by men or by women. It says that pay should be based on the level of skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions required to do the job. It is hard to believe that such a common sense idea could generate such an emotional reaction.

In this essay I will describe Minnesota's experience with pay equity at the state and local levels. Our experience leads us to believe that the arguments of the opposition are pure conjecture and that the scare …

Comparable Worth -- The Theory, Its Legal Foundation, And The Feasibility Of Implementation, Carin Ann Clauss

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

County of Washington v. Gunther was decided by the Supreme Court over five years ago. In that case, the Court, resolving a conflict among the circuits, ruled that sex-based wage discrimination claims could proceed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 without regard to the limiting "equal work" standard of the Equal Pay Act. Following this decision, it was generally assumed that the courts would become the major forum for redressing sex-based wage discrimination. The anticipated litigation explosion never took place. Few wage discrimination suits have been filed, and even fewer have been successful. What progress has …

Thoughts On Comparable Worth Litigation And Organizational Strategies, Nancy Gertner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

To watch the evolution of Title VIP is to watch the gradual constricting of a law that many had heralded as a tool of social change for women. Its passage represented a statement that the so-called free market had not worked for women. Women were denied access to higher paying and high-status positions. Even when a job was integrated, women's work was undervalued and their wages frequently depressed. With the passage of Title VII came the hope that the law would do what the market could not-break the cycle of discrimination.

Sex discrimination, in contrast with other forms of discrimination, …

The Attainment Of Pay Equity Between The Sexes By Legal Means: An Economic Analysis, George E. Johnson, Gary R. Solon

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The purpose of this Article is to present an analysis of the gap between men's and women's wages with particular emphasis on the likely effects of various existing and proposed legal remedies. Part I sets out a simple "ideal" statistical model of wage determination. Its purpose is to identify carefully the potential impact of alternative legal remedies such as the Equal Pay Act, Title VII, and proposed policies like comparable worth. This model is ideal in the sense that, although it could be estimated in principle, there is no data set currently available with which it could actually be estimated. …

From False Paternalism To False Equality: Judicial Assaults On Feminist Community, Illinois 1869-1895, Frances Olsen

Michigan Law Review

This essay will examine the "equal treatment" versus "special treatment" for women issue as it arose in Illinois in the late nineteenth century. In 1869 the Illinois Supreme Court barred Myra Bradwell from the practice of law on the basis that she was a married woman, and in 1870 it reaffirmed its exclusion of women in In re Bradwell, the state decision the United States Supreme Court upheld in Bradwell v. Illinois. This denial of equal treatment to women, especially the concurring opinion by United States Supreme Court Justice Bradley, appears to many to represent paternalism at its …

Unequal Access: Women Lawyers In A Changing America, Miriam I. Pickus

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Unequal Access: Women Lawyers in a Changing America by Ronald Chester

Sex Discrimination In Newscasting, Leslie S. Gielow

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the current judicial deference to viewer surveys used by television stations in newscasting employment decisions is unwarranted. Part I explores how different treatment of women newscasters constitutes sex-plus discrimination. Part II demonstrates that viewer surveys almost always reflect sexual stereotypes that are impermissible under title VII, and argues that such surveys should be presumptively inadmissible as evidence to rebut a claim of sex discrimination. Indeed, mere use of these surveys may in and of itself establish a prima facie case of sex discrimination.

Part III contends that sex discrimination in the news industry resulting from the …

Women's Pension Reform: Congress Inches Toward Equity, Anne Moss

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In the workplace and in the home, women suffer economic injustices. The inequities of our private and governmental pension systems compound their financial problems, leading to inadequate retirement income for many older women. For example, only ten percent of women age sixty-five and over received private pensions or annuities in 1982, as compared to twenty-nine percent of men age sixty-five and over. Women receiving pensions likewise get much less than men, averaging $1,520 in 1982. The average for men in 1982 was $2,980.

Gradually, policymakers are recognizing the shortcomings of pension systems. In the past few years, federal legislation has …

A Dialogue On Comparable Worth, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of A Dialogue on Comparable Worth by Michael Evan Gold

Denial Of Unemployment Benefits To Otherwise Eligible Women On The Basis Of Pregnancy: Section 3304(A)(12) Of Federal Unemployment Tax Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines the conflicting interpretations of section 3304(a)(12) of the Federal Act. The Porcher decision serves as a point of reference throughout this Note, since opposing constructions of the section were presented in the case. Part I describes the basic framework of FUTA and presents the disparate interpretations of section 3304(a)(12) that have been advanced.

Part II analyzes section 3304(a)(12) with reference to the statutory language and legislative history. As a preliminary matter, this part considers the degree of deference that should be afforded the Secretary of Labor's certification of state programs that treat pregnancy like all other medical …

Freedom Of Association After Roberts V. United States Jaycees, Douglas O. Linder

Michigan Law Review

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Roberts v. United States Jaycees, upholding a Minnesota ruling which requires the Minnesota Jaycees to admit women as full members, ended one controversy but marked only the beginning of a far larger one. It was predicted by many that U.S. Jaycees would answer the question of whether private associations with restrictive membership policies were vulnerable to state anti-discrimination laws or were constitutionally protected. It did not. Instead, while rejecting the Jaycees' constitutional claims, the Court established a comprehensive framework for analyzing future claims of associational freedom that contains a number of …

The Unnecessary Doctrine Of Necessaries, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that neither the traditional nor the modem necessaries doctrines are justifiable in contemporary society. Part I investigates the practical effects of both the traditional and contemporary necessaries doctrines and demonstrates that neither is an effective mechanism for providing support to a needy spouse. While a more successful support remedy might be devised to replace modem and traditional versions of the necessaries rule, Part II shows that yet another reformulation would not be worthwhile because the theoretical underpinnings of the doctrine are faulty. There is no persuasive evidence to establish the existence of the narrow support problem the …

The Home Front: Notes From The Family War Zone, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Home Front: Notes from the Family War Zone by Louise Armstrong

Abortion, Politics, And The Courts: Roe V. Wade And Its Aftermath, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Abortion, Politics, and the Courts: Roe v. Wade and Its Aftermath by Eva R. Rubin

The Law Giveth…Legal Aspects Of The Abortion Controversy, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Law Giveth…Legal Aspects of the Abortion Controversy by Barbara Milbauer

Rethinking The Substantive Rules For Custody Disputes In Divorce, David L. Chambers

Articles

A few states, mostly in the West and South, still retain a preference in custody disputes for placing young children with their mothers. In most other states, legislatures or courts have replaced the maternal presumption with a rule directing courts to be guided solely by the child's "welfare" or "best interests." A few legislatures have created a new preference for joint custody, directing courts to consider favorably requests by a parent for such arrangements, even over the objection of the other parent. This Article argues that the trend away from the maternal presumption is sensible, but that the current best-interests …

Inequality In Marital Liabilities: The Need For Equal Protection When Modifying The Necessaries Doctrine, Debra S. Betteridge

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note contends that the "primary/secondary" modification is unconstitutional because it ignores the husband's equal protection rights while unlawfully stigmatizing women as dependent. Part I discusses how the growing independence of women has led courts to modify the common law doctrine. Part II develops the test that the Supreme Court would apply in judging the constitutionality of any modification of the doctrine. Part III applies this test to the "primary/secondary" modification and concludes that the modification is unconstitutional and, therefore, not a legitimate reformation of the common law necessaries doctrine.

A Proposed Analysis For Gender-Based Practices And State Public Accommodations Laws, Alan J. Hoff

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note argues that the proper test of gender-preferential practices in public accommodations proceeds from the principle of "equal treatment:'' separate standards are tolerable only where reasonable and applied evenhandedly. Part I sets out a typical public accommodations statute and criticizes the principle tests used to evaluate this type of legislation. Part II applies traditional methods of statutory construction which trigger an equal treatment analysis. Extrapolating from this analysis, Part III advocates a two-part test for examining gender-based practices in public accommodations.

A Right To Every Woman's Evidence, Richard O. Lempert

Articles

I am indeed honored to be here with you today, honored to be joining you next year as Iowa's first Mason Ladd Visiting Distinguished Professor of Law, and honored to be giving the first Mason Ladd Lecture. The honor lies not just in the recognition you accord me, but also in the linkage to the man in whose name this recognition is given.

Equality And The Rights Of Women, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Equality and the Rights of Women by Elizabeth H. Wolgast

A True Deliverance: The Joan Little Case, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of A True Deliverance: The Joan Little Case by Fred Harwell

Wage Discrimination And The "Comparable Worth" Theory In Perspective, Bruce A. Nelson, Edward M. Opton Jr., Thomas E. Wilson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Our article focuses primarily on one legal question: Does the wage discrimination theory, as sketched by Professor Blumrosen, fall within the remedial ambit of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act? Wage Discrimination's factual contentions as to the existence and universality of wage discrimination deserve equally detailed analysis, but we leave that task to scholars of the pertinent disciplines, sociology and economics. We will deal with the factual contentions of Wage Discrimination only so far as necessary to challenge its central factual conclusion: that a demonstration of job separation should lead to a judicial inference of wage discrimination. This …