Law Commons^™

First Force, William A. Edmundson

William A. Edmundson

No abstract provided.

The Antinomy Of Coherence And Determinacy, William A. Edmundson

William A. Edmundson

Coherence and determinacy are both apparent desiderata for bodies of law and legal systems. Unfortunately, in legal systems of any complexity, increasing the degree of one invariably brings about a lessening of the other. For theories of law - such as Ronald Dworkin's - that emphasize the importance of coherence in judicial reasoning, while requiring as a condition of legitimacy that legal rights pre-exist judicial decisions, this must be an unwelcome fact.

The Five Days In June When Values Died In American Law, Bruce Ledewitz

Bruce Ledewitz

The Exorcism Motif In The Philosophy Of Sovereign Citizen Movements, John Ehrett

John Ehrett

I aim to deconstruct a key part of the sovereign citizen movement’s perspective on legitimate authority. I argue that the core underpinnings of sovereign citizen mentality (as applied) operate according to an anthropological framework similar to that used in an exorcism: namely, the ceremonial divestiture from an oppressive authority into whose service one has been subtly pressed.

Toward A Textualist Paradigm For Interpreting Emoticons, John Ehrett

John Ehrett

I evaluate the dimensions of courts’ current interpretive dilemma, and subsequently sketch a possible framework for extending traditional statutory interpretation principles into this new domain: throughout the following analysis, I describe the process of attaching cognizable linguistic referents to emoticons and emojis throughout as symbolical reification, and propose a normative way forward for those tasked with deriving meaning from emoji-laden communications.

Why Confronting The Internet’S Dark Side?, Raphael Cohen-Almagor

raphael cohen-almagor

Raphael Cohen-Almagor, the author of Confronting the Internet's Dark Side, explains his motivation for exploring the dangerous side of the world wide web. This new book is the first comprehensive book on social responsibility on the Internet.

What Philosophers Can Learn From Non-Philosophers About The Concept Of Law, Brian Tamanaha, Michael Giudice, Peer Zumbansen, François Tanguay-Renaud

Peer Zumbansen

Brian Tamanaha, St. John’s University, aims to persuade legal philosophers that useful insights for their own debate can be gleaned from the social scientific discussion of the concept of law. Respondents: Michael Giudice, York University, Dept. of Philosophy; Peer Zumbansen, Osgoode Hall Law School

What Philosophers Can Learn From Non-Philosophers About The Concept Of Law, Brian Tamanaha, Michael Giudice, Peer Zumbansen, François Tanguay-Renaud

François Tanguay-Renaud

Brian Tamanaha, St. John’s University, aims to persuade legal philosophers that useful insights for their own debate can be gleaned from the social scientific discussion of the concept of law.

Respondents: Michael Giudice, York University, Dept. of Philosophy; Peer Zumbansen, Osgoode Hall Law School

Gender-Benders': Sex And Law In The Constitution Of Polluted Bodies, Dayna Nadine Scott

Dayna N. Scott

This paper explores how law might conceive of the injury or harm of endocrine disruption as it applies to an aboriginal community experiencing chronic chemical pollution. The effect of the pollution in this case is not only gendered, but gendering: it seems to be causing the ‘production’ of two girl babies for every boy born on the reserve. This presents an opening to interrogate how law is implicated in the constitution of not just gender but sex. The analysis takes an embodied turn, attempting to validate the real and material consequences of synthetic chemicals acting on bodies — but uncovers …

International Criminal Law And The Inner Morality Of Law, Larry May, Margaret Martin, Craig Scott

Craig M. Scott

Larry May, W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy and Professor Law Vanderbilt University, investigates what Fuller called “procedural natural law” in contemporary international criminal law.

Respondent: Margaret Martin, University of Western Ontario

In A Manner Of Speaking: Towards A Reconstitution Of Property In Mid-Nineteenth Century Quebec, Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson

The author studies the Report of the 1843 Commission appointed to inquire into seigniorial tenure. The contrast with a previous report written in 1836 is striking and the author investigates the rupture in contemporary discourse which in less than a decade led to an official recommendation to abandon the seigniorial system. Of particular interest to the author is the way in which the 1843 Commission interpreted the answers to questionnaires it had sent to seigniors, censitaires, entrepreneurs and other interested parties. The author demonstrates how the information received by the Commission, especially from the censitaires, was recategorized with a view …

That's Just The Way It Is: Langille On Law, Allan C. Hutchinson

Allan C. Hutchinson

This article is a defence of the sceptical critique of the legitimacy of law and adjudication. It is a direct reply to the arguments of Professor Brian Langille, whose article "Revolution Without Foundation: The Grammar of Scepticism and Law" appeared in Volume 33 of this Journal. In that article, Langille defended the viability of law, legal discourse and legal critique primarily by attacking the claim that scepticism based on the "indeterminacy of language" can be grounded in the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Professor Hutchinson concentrates his spirited response on the indeterminacy of language. He contends that law fails to meet …

The Importance Of Not Being Ernest, Allan C. Hutchinson

Allan C. Hutchinson

Formalists have long tried to develop a legal theory, based on the internal rationality of law, which would free it from the influences of instrumentality and ideology. Focussing on the philosophical proposals of Ernest Weinrib, the author argues that this goal is both illusory and undesirable. Weinrib's theory assumes rather than proves the existence of this rationality, which is simply defined as an interrelationship between form and content. In order to maintain the coherence of this fragile relationship, Weinrib is either forced to articulate his theory on such a level of abstration so as to be irrelevant or to reintroduce …

Social Control: Analytical Tool Or Analytical Quagmire?, Shelley A. M. Gavigan, Dorothy E. Chunn

Shelley A. M. Gavigan

There is probably no concept which is used more widely and with less precision than that of 'social control'. Given the lack of agreement about what 'social control' is, researchers usually employ the term in one of two ways. Either they assume that its meaning is obvious and requires no clarification, or, they begin with a perfunctory acknowledgment of the definitional problems associated with the concept and proceed to use it anyway. The eclecticism of the latter approach has stimulated attempts over the years to produce a universally applicable definition of 'social control' that could be empioyed both systematically and …

Jurisprudence And (Its) History, Dan Priel, Charles L. Barzun

Dan Priel

It is not obvious that philosophers and historians of law should take much interest in the scholarly enterprises of the other. Many legal philosophers understand their task as one of clarifying the meaning of such familiar legal concepts as “right,” “duty,” or “law” by offering analyses of them that purport to be general, abstract, and timeless. Meanwhile, historians tend to be suspicious of speculative claims ungrounded in fact and so often prefer to focus on the concrete, particular features of actual legal regimes. But surface appearances can deceive. Unlike some other areas of philosophy, the subject matter of jurisprudence is …

Clemency 2.0, Paul J. Larkin Jr.

Paul J Larkin Jr.

A trope heard throughout criminal justice circles today is that the system is a dystopia. Although most of the discussion and proposed remedies have centered on sentencing or release, this article focuses on clemency, which has become a controversial subject. The last few Presidents have rarely exercised their pardon power or have used it for ignoble reasons. The former withers the clemency power; the latter besmirches it. President Obama sought to kick start the clemency process through the Clemency Project 2014, which sought to provide relief to the 30,000 crack cocaine offenders unable to take advantage of the prospective-only nature …

Facing The Unborn, Richard Stith

Richard Stith

Modern science tells us of the identity of each individual human being from conception to adulthood, but our imagination does not fully cooperate. It is difficult to look at a photograph of a zygote and see a fellow human being. There are, however, two strong ways to better align our knowledge and our intuition. One is to look backward in the developmental process. It is easy to grasp that our fellow human beings all used to be zygotes. A second method is now becoming available. DNA can be used to reveal the future face and even the eyes of each …

La Selección Del Método En La Investigación Jurídica. 100 Métodos Posibles, Juan Carlos Riofrío Martínez-Villalba

Juan Carlos Riofrío Martínez-Villalba

El objeto de las presentes líneas es abrir perspectivas sobre la gran variedad de métodos de investigación que pueden usarse en la academia, evitando los reduccionismos en la selección del método. Se trabaja desde una perspectiva teórica que primero describe la esencia del método y su rol dentro de la ciencia, luego revisa sistemáticamente la multiplicidad de métodos agrupándolos bajo cinco criterios generales, para finalmente deducir cuatro propuestas generales sobre la metodología. El primer capítulo, introduce al significado del método, a su rol dentro de la ciencia y a la necesidad de su uso. El segundo capítulo inicia delineando cinco …

An Empirical Analysis Of The Confirmation Hearings Of The Justices Of The Rehnquist Natural Court, 24 Const. Comment. 127 (2007), Jason J. Czarnezki, William K. Ford, Lori A. Ringhand

William K. Ford

No abstract provided.

Black Childhood And Philosophy | Panel Discussion, Sarah Forman, Odeana Neal, Spearit, Phyllis Taite, Tsedey Tedla, Cedric Powell, Anthony Farley

SpearIt It

On November 21, 2014, the University of Kentucky College of Law hosted the James and Mary Lassiter Distinguished Visiting Professor Conference. Anthony Paul Farley, the 2014 Lassiter Distinguished Visiting Professor, led a group of prominent speakers through the day's events. The Lassiter Distinguished Visiting Professor conference focused on the four freedoms and race. Black childhood is in danger. What is freedom of speech without the right to an education? What is freedom of worship amidst nihilistic erasures of black childhood? What is freedom from want when most of black childhood is lived below the poverty line? What is freedom from …

A Matter Of Principle, 19 J. Marshall L. Rev. 237 (1985), Donald L. Beschle

Donald L. Beschle

No abstract provided.

Liberalism, Radicalism, And Legal Scholarship, Steven H. Shiffrin

Steven H. Shiffrin

No abstract provided.

Cognitive Dissonance Revisited: Roper V. Simmons And The Issue Of Adolescent Decision-Making Competence, 52 Wayne L. Rev. 1 (2006), Donald L. Beschle

Donald L. Beschle

No abstract provided.

Kant's Categorical Imperative: An Unspoken Factor In Constitutional Rights Balancing, 31 Pepp. L. Rev. 949 (2004), Donald L. Beschle

Donald L. Beschle

No abstract provided.

Why Do People Support Capital Punishment? The Death Penalty As Community Ritual, 33 Conn. L. Rev. 765 (2001), Donald L. Beschle

Donald L. Beschle

No abstract provided.

Reflections On When "We, The People" Kill, 34 J. Marshall L. Rev. 713 (2001), Michael P. Seng

Michael P. Seng

No abstract provided.

Justice Sutherland Reconsidered, 62 Vand. L. Rev. 639 (2009), Samuel R. Olken

Samuel R. Olken

No abstract provided.

The Culture Wars Of Climate Change, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

Of late, there has been a growth in cultural expression about climate change – with the rise of climate fiction (‘cli-fi’); art and photography responding to changes in nature; musical anthems about climate change; plays and dramas about climate change; and environmental documentaries, and climate cinema. Drawing comparisons to past controversies over cultural funding, this paper considers the cultural wars over climate change. This article considers a number of cultural fields. Margaret Atwood made an important creative and critical contribution to the debate over climate change. The work examines Ian McEwan's novel, Solar, a tragi-comedy about authorship, invention, intellectual property, …

Why Miranda Does Not Prevent Confessions: Some Lessons From Albert Camus, Arthur Miller And Oprah Winfrey, 51 Syracuse L. Rev. 863 (2001), Timothy P. O'Neill

Timothy P. O'Neill

No abstract provided.

"The Hindrance Of A Law Degree": Justice Kagan On Law And Experience, Laura Krugman Ray

Laura K. Ray

No abstract provided.