Law Commons^™

The City And The Soul: Character And Thriving In Law And Politics, Sherman J. Clark

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article describes a way of thinking about law and politics that is ancient in origins but largely absent from modern legal scholarship. It poses a two-part question: how do our law and politics influence our character, and how does that in turn influence how well and fully we live?

Much legal scholarship asks how law can be more efficient and effective in making us richer, healthier, safer, and such. This is good: wealth, health, and safety are—or can be—good things. But material conditions are not the only things that make for a rich and full life. What also matters—and …

Dispossessing Detroit: How The Law Takes Property, Mary Kathlin Sickel

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Introduction for the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform's Symposium “Dispossessing Detroit: How the Law Takes Property,” hosted on November 9 and 10, 2019.

United States Urban Policy: What Is Left? What Is Right?, Jack Sommer

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article has three Parts: Part I provides a perspective on what remains of United States urban policy after the Reagan and Bush years. Part II sets forth a critique of the current institutional framework for the construction of national urban policy. Finally, Part III addresses current challenges for American metropolitan areas. In the spirit of Tocqueville, but with two caveats, I urge that greater reliance be placed on actions of private firms and voluntary associations than on federal programs to restore the central cities of many of the nation's metropolitan areas. Government action to protect citizens and to remove …

Persuader: Mobilization Of Support, Mary Ann Beattie

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Law reform can be achieved through precedent-setting case law and through legislation. Each is a time-consuming activity with its own stumbling blocks. To establish law through the case method, one must have a fact situation directly on point with the inequity which one is trying to remedy. In many situations the client must be willing to follow through a long process of trial and appeal, instead of settling for a more immediate but incomplete resolution of his problem. The costs of litigation may become an insurmountable problem. Another difficulty with the test case as a vehicle for law reform is …