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Full-Text Articles in Law

Hamilton And Madison Deploy ‘Constitution’ In Works Dated To 1787/88, 1790/91 And 1817-1836: Semantic Values Surveyed With Quotations, Peter Aschenbrenner Feb 2013

Hamilton And Madison Deploy ‘Constitution’ In Works Dated To 1787/88, 1790/91 And 1817-1836: Semantic Values Surveyed With Quotations, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

In this first of three articles, the semantic values of ‘constitution’ and ‘constitutional’ are spread through an eleven way grid, beginning with The Federalist Papers, with the focus being on the works of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. In the second tranche of works, their efforts – now as opponents – in the bank bill debate are examined; in the third, given Hamilton’s death in 1804, only Madison’s words are examined.


Education, Complaints, And Accountability, Juan Botero, Alejandro Ponce, Andrei Shleifer Feb 2013

Education, Complaints, And Accountability, Juan Botero, Alejandro Ponce, Andrei Shleifer

Alejandro Ponce

Better educated countries have better governments, an empirical regularity that holds in both dictatorships and democracies. A possible reason for this fact is that educated people are more likely to complain about misconduct by government officials and that more frequent complaints encourage better behavior from officials. Newly assembled individual-level survey data from the World Justice Project show that, within countries, better educated people are more likely to report official misconduct. The results are confirmed using other survey data on reporting crime and corruption. Citizen complaints might thus be an operative mechanism that explains the link between education and the quality …


Taney’S Zeno And Scalia’S Mobilia, Peter Aschenbrenner Jan 2013

Taney’S Zeno And Scalia’S Mobilia, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Zeno’s most famous paradox (of motion) is related to us through Aristotle, who presents Zeno’s ‘problems’ in his Physics, 239b11-14. Aristotle “asserts (on Zeno’s behalf) the non-existence of motion on the ground that any object in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal.”


The Doctrine Of Stare Decisis In United States Supreme Court Opinions, Peter Aschenbrenner Jan 2013

The Doctrine Of Stare Decisis In United States Supreme Court Opinions, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

OCL surveys United States Supreme Court cases from 1791 to 1900 for deployment of the phrase stare decisis in opinions and published arguments before the Court. The people, as Madison conceded, make their own precedents by approving (prior) official action taken by current officials as a foundation for resolving issues-of-the-day.


E Pluribus Unum: Liberalism's March To Be The Singular Influence On Civil Rights At The Supreme Court, Aaron J. Shuler Jan 2013

E Pluribus Unum: Liberalism's March To Be The Singular Influence On Civil Rights At The Supreme Court, Aaron J. Shuler

Aaron J Shuler

Rogers Smith writes that American political culture can best be understood as a blend of liberal, republican and illiberal ascriptive ideologies. The U.S. Supreme Court’s constitutional jurisprudence has largely reflected this thesis. While the Court moved away from permitting laws that explicitly construct hierarchies in the 20th century and made tepid references to egalitarian principles during the Warren Court, liberalism has prevailed in the majority of the Court’s decisions. Gains in civil rights through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection and Substantive Due Process clauses were achieved primarily through liberal notions of de-regulation, a market economy and individual freedom. Conversely, State …


Neoliberalism And The Law Reassessing Historical Materialist Analysis Of The Law For The 21st Century, Justin Schwartz Jan 2013

Neoliberalism And The Law Reassessing Historical Materialist Analysis Of The Law For The 21st Century, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Historical materialism has been called in question by the triumph of neoliberalism and the fall of Communism. I show, by consideration of two examples, the 2008 crisis and recent Supreme Court campaign spending First Amendment jurisprudence, that neoliberalism instead vindicates the explanatory power of (non-mechanical and non-deterministic) historical materialism in accounting for a wide range of recent legal developments in legislation, executive (in)action, and judicial decision-making.


Neoliberalism And The Law: How Historical Materialism Can Illuminate Recent Governmental And Judicial Decision Making, Justin Schwartz Jan 2013

Neoliberalism And The Law: How Historical Materialism Can Illuminate Recent Governmental And Judicial Decision Making, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Neoliberalism can be understood as the deregulation of the economy from political control by deliberate action or inaction of the state. As such it is both constituted by the law and deeply affects it. I show how the methods of historical materialism can illuminate this phenomenon in all three branches of the the U.S. government. Considering the example the global financial crisis of 2007-08 that began with the housing bubble developing from trade in unregulated and overvalued mortgage backed securities, I show how the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which established a firewall between commercial and investment banking, allowed this …


Foreword: A Global Perspective On Sentencing Reforms, Oren Gazal-Ayal Jan 2013

Foreword: A Global Perspective On Sentencing Reforms, Oren Gazal-Ayal

Oren Gazal-Ayal

The articles published in this issue of Law and Contemporary Problems examine the effects of different sentencing reforms across the world. While the effects of sentencing reforms in the United States have been studied extensively, this is the first symposium that examines the effects of sentencing guidelines and alternative policies in a number of western legal systems from a comparative perspective. This issue focuses on how different sentencing policies affect prison population rates, sentence disparity, and the balance of power between the judiciary and prosecutors, while also assessing how sentencing policies respond to temporary punitive surges and moral panics. The …


Do Sentencing Guidelines Increase Prosecutorial Power? An Empirical Study, Oren Gazal-Ayal, Hagit Turjeman, Gideon Fishman Jan 2013

Do Sentencing Guidelines Increase Prosecutorial Power? An Empirical Study, Oren Gazal-Ayal, Hagit Turjeman, Gideon Fishman

Oren Gazal-Ayal

Traditionally, judges have had tremendous flexibility in sentencing. Offering judges maximum discretion in the sentencing process allows them to consider not only an offender’s criminal history and the severity of the crime committed, but also the complex web of mitigating and aggravating factors present in each case and additional qualitative factors, such as a defendant’s testimony or selfpresentation in a courtroom. When judges are empowered with more discretion, however, there is heightened potential for inter-judge variability in sentencing. In order to reduce sentencing disparities caused by individual sentencers, several countries and jurisdictions, most notably in the United States, have enacted …


A Noble Cause: A Case Study Of Discrimination, Symbols, And Reciprocity, In: Diversity And European Human Rights, Yofi Tirosh Jan 2013

A Noble Cause: A Case Study Of Discrimination, Symbols, And Reciprocity, In: Diversity And European Human Rights, Yofi Tirosh

Yofi Tirosh

This chapter is part of a volume dedicated to rewriting human rights cases issued by the European Court of Human Rights. It uses the case of De La Cierva Osorio De Moscoso v. Spain (1999) as a platform to discuss the inherent tension typifying signs such as nobility titles – as merely symbolic or as carrying substantive content. The problem of one’s ownership of signs is especially acute in the case of women. I will argue that the distinction between form and substance collapses in this case, as in many other cases that involve allocation of allegedly merely symbolic signifiers …


Smart Power For Hard Problems: The Role Of Special Operation Forces Strengthening The Rule Of Law And Human Rights In Africa, Kevin H. Govern Jan 2013

Smart Power For Hard Problems: The Role Of Special Operation Forces Strengthening The Rule Of Law And Human Rights In Africa, Kevin H. Govern

Kevin H. Govern

This article will assess the roles and responsibilities of Special Operations Forces (SOF) within the newly created U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) as an active proponent of a so-called “smart power” national security strategy. In particular, it will outline the economic, political, and military challenges faced in Africa; specifically, how and why SOCAFRICA is the U.S. force of choice for promoting human rights and rule of law in Africa. With the goals of the U.S. military in mind, questions will necessarily arise as to “what success looks like” for both the U.S. and African nations, and the roles of each in …


Book Review, Tom Ginsburg, Ed., Comparative Constitutional Design, Cameron C. Russell Jan 2013

Book Review, Tom Ginsburg, Ed., Comparative Constitutional Design, Cameron C. Russell

Cameron C Russell

No abstract provided.


Revisitando El Debate Sobre Los Abogados Integrantes Y La Independencia Del Poder Judicial, Sergio Verdugo Sverdugor@Udd.Cl, Carla Ottone Jan 2013

Revisitando El Debate Sobre Los Abogados Integrantes Y La Independencia Del Poder Judicial, Sergio Verdugo Sverdugor@Udd.Cl, Carla Ottone

Sergio Verdugo R.

Se revisa el debate sobre la conveniencia del sistema de reemplazo judicial basado en los abogados integrantes y se analiza especialmente la crítica que sostiene que ellos no son independientes de los intereses del Poder Ejecutivo. Para ello, se examina el comportamiento de votación de los abogados integrantes de la tercera sala de la Corte Suprema en causas de indemnización de perjuicios donde el Fisco es parte, y se compara con la manera en que votan los ministros titulares. Se concluye que casi todos los jueces de esta sala votan de una manera generalmente favorable al interés fiscal, aunque esta …


De Los Principios Constitucionales Al Activismo Judicial. El Voto De Minoría En El Caso "Municipalidad De Pucón", Sergio Verdugo Sverdugor@Udd.Cl, José Francisco García Jan 2013

De Los Principios Constitucionales Al Activismo Judicial. El Voto De Minoría En El Caso "Municipalidad De Pucón", Sergio Verdugo Sverdugor@Udd.Cl, José Francisco García

Sergio Verdugo R.

No abstract provided.


Democratic Objection Against Judicial Review Of Legislation. Institutional Design Alternatives And Constitutional Theories, Sergio Verdugo Sverdugor@Udd.Cl Jan 2013

Democratic Objection Against Judicial Review Of Legislation. Institutional Design Alternatives And Constitutional Theories, Sergio Verdugo Sverdugor@Udd.Cl

Sergio Verdugo R.

This article reviews the argument through which judicial review of legislation approved by popularly elected bodies, based on the authority of judges who are in a position of preeminence on the other branches of government, is contrary to democracy. Taking Jeremy Waldron´s argument as a central reference, the author discusses some of the assumptions on which the democratic objection of judicial review is elaborated. He argues that separating the notion of constitutional supremacy from the idea of judicial supremacy would allow building a model that overcomes the democratic problem. The author reviews some alternatives provided by institutional designs, and analyses …


After Privacy: The Rise Of Facebook, The Fall Of Wikileaks, And Singapore’S Personal Data Protection Act 2012, Simon Chesterman Dec 2012

After Privacy: The Rise Of Facebook, The Fall Of Wikileaks, And Singapore’S Personal Data Protection Act 2012, Simon Chesterman

Simon Chesterman

This article discusses the changing ways in which information is produced, stored, and shared — exemplified by the rise of social-networking sites like Facebook and controversies over the activities of WikiLeaks — and the implications for privacy and data protection. Legal protections of privacy have always been reactive, but the coherence of any legal regime has also been undermined by the lack of a strong theory of what privacy is. There is more promise in the narrower field of data protection. Singapore, which does not recognise a right to privacy, has positioned itself as an e-commerce hub but had no …


Table Annexed To Article: “The Idea Of Freedom Might Be Too Great A Temptation For Them To Resist,”, Peter Aschenbrenner Sep 2012

Table Annexed To Article: “The Idea Of Freedom Might Be Too Great A Temptation For Them To Resist,”, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

In Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857), the Supreme Court passed up a chance to thread George Washington’s experience in transporting household staff across state lines; Washington obeyed Pennsylvania’s predicate: that a human being held to slavery in one state became free after six months in Pennsylvania. Since the features of this species of mobilia varied with the jurisdiction, the Supreme Court should have taken this landscape into account. George Washington did not import, with his household workers, ‘rules and understandings’ from Virginia.


The Role Tax Preparers Play In Taxpayer Compliance - An Empirical Investigation With Policy Implications, Sagit Leviner Dr. Aug 2012

The Role Tax Preparers Play In Taxpayer Compliance - An Empirical Investigation With Policy Implications, Sagit Leviner Dr.

Sagit Leviner Dr.

In January 2010, the IRS published its Return Preparer Review Final Report, recommending extensive increases in oversight of the tax return preparer industry. The IRS suggests achieving these increases in oversight through numerous measures, including preparer registration, competency testing, continuing professional education, ethical standards, and enforcement. Effective August, 2011, new paid preparer regulation requires all tax return preparers who offer their services for a fee to register and obtain a unique Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) that must be used to sign all returns they prepare. Given that additional preparer regulation is expected to come into effect within the next …


The Parable Of The Generous Pasha (And The Presumption Of Rejection), Peter Aschenbrenner Aug 2012

The Parable Of The Generous Pasha (And The Presumption Of Rejection), Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

How can assemblies, that is, gatherings in venue, take action? Whether writing rules or taking decisions, assemblies oblige themselves to follow procedures; those assembled must prove that three presumptions of rejection have been overcome. A Pasha learns this lesson when he offers a gift to his people: Process matters. The Grand Vizier survives the lesson, proving that a sense of humor also matters.


Table Annexed To Article: Mr. Taney’S ‘Capital Gap’: Charting The Growth Of The Federal Colony System, 1789-1960, Peter Aschenbrenner Aug 2012

Table Annexed To Article: Mr. Taney’S ‘Capital Gap’: Charting The Growth Of The Federal Colony System, 1789-1960, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

When Chief Justice Roger Taney conceded the existence of ‘colonies … established and maintained’ by the federal government, albeit denying ‘power given’ in the Constitution, he had the corpus of American history to contend with. The ‘capital gap,’ as OCL defines it, supplies several measures: the balance of power between regions, the remaining inventory of nascent (ready to be made) states (=territories), the remaining inventory of available territories in gross or subdividable, and for the latter two, the net of these inventories on a regional basis. Taney’s opinion, in this fourth in a series, rises or falls on the historical …


Chart Annexed To Article: The War Between The Stats: An Introduction To Taney’S Regrets, Peter Aschenbrenner Aug 2012

Chart Annexed To Article: The War Between The Stats: An Introduction To Taney’S Regrets, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The decade of the 1850’s, leading up to Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857), saw Americans debate the ‘war between the stats.’ OCL presents the third in its series of articles analyzing the mathematical logic of new state-making. Taney’s focus on the war between the stats explains Dred Scott, OCL suggests, as much as his inveterate racism, and, therefore, grounds any scholarly explanation of the coming war between the states.


Chart Annexed To Article: Crafting The Northwest Ordinance: Tracking The Paths Of Four Delegates, Peter Aschenbrenner Aug 2012

Chart Annexed To Article: Crafting The Northwest Ordinance: Tracking The Paths Of Four Delegates, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Tracking Paths of Four Men Who were Delegates and attendees at both the 1787 Federal Convention and the 1787 Session of the Continental / Confederation Congress, when combined with internal quorum requirements of the Congress, yields significant information about the adoption of the Northwest Ordinance. First in a series.


El Precedente En El Tribunal Constitucional: ¿Doctrina Judicial O Compromiso Con Votos Particulares?, Sergio Verdugo Sverdugor@Udd.Cl, Nicolás Galli Aug 2012

El Precedente En El Tribunal Constitucional: ¿Doctrina Judicial O Compromiso Con Votos Particulares?, Sergio Verdugo Sverdugor@Udd.Cl, Nicolás Galli

Sergio Verdugo R.

Se propone una metodología para evaluar la predictibilidad de las sentencias del Tribunal Constitucional considerando la coherencia experimentada en los votos individuales de sus ministros. Tomando algunos casos considerados especialmente relevantes por especialistas consultados, y observando que los ministros disidentes no suelen modificar sus posiciones para seguir las posiciones de la mayoría en casos futuros, se concluye que la mantención de las doctrinas del Tribunal Constitucional dependerá en gran medida de la composición del mismo, y no solamente de lo que se haya expresado en sentencias precedentes.


Table Annexed To Article: Mr. Madison Speaks Out: Re-Creation Text Sourced From The Farrand Survey And Detached Memoranda, Peter Aschenbrenner Jul 2012

Table Annexed To Article: Mr. Madison Speaks Out: Re-Creation Text Sourced From The Farrand Survey And Detached Memoranda, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The text of James Madison�s Letters from Farrand�s Volume III are analyzed along with Madison�s �Detached Memoranda,� his constitutional testament.


Table Annexed To Article: Madison’S Top Twenty Words In Farrand And The Detached Memoranda,, Peter Aschenbrenner Jul 2012

Table Annexed To Article: Madison’S Top Twenty Words In Farrand And The Detached Memoranda,, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Abstract. Madison’s entries in Farrand after 1817, his Detached Memoranda, and his essays in The Federalist Papers are analyzed for word frequencies.


Radiography To The Chilean Human Rights Institution: Between Law And Politics, Sergio Verdugo Sverdugor@Udd.Cl, José Francisco Garía Jul 2012

Radiography To The Chilean Human Rights Institution: Between Law And Politics, Sergio Verdugo Sverdugor@Udd.Cl, José Francisco Garía

Sergio Verdugo R.

The article examines the fundamental recommendations for the national human rights institutions (NHRI) to function with proper autonomy against the state and, also, against NGOs that try to capture the commission´s agenda. The authors analyse the institutional design of the Chilean Human Rights Institution (INDH) and evaluates the profile and the nomination process of its membership. The paper provides evidence that demonstrates that the INDH´s research agenda is associated with a partial political view. Then, the authors suggest certain changes to strengthen the independence of the INDH.


The Logic Of Aspirations: Dual Office Holding / Status Acquisition Issues, Continued, Peter Aschenbrenner Jun 2012

The Logic Of Aspirations: Dual Office Holding / Status Acquisition Issues, Continued, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Constitutional and customary prohibitions on (a) dual office holding in government or (b) acquisition of status – along with other requirements, typically with conditions – are commonplace. Those seeking to acquire an office or enjoy a status are obliged to conform their aspirations to these rules, the logic of which is explored.


Workshop Text For Powerpoint: Unanimous Decisions Of The Supreme Court, Peter Aschenbrenner Jun 2012

Workshop Text For Powerpoint: Unanimous Decisions Of The Supreme Court, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

How can we explain so many unanimous decisions if justices of the United States Supreme Court are appointed by Presidents with different philosophies? Far more unanimous decisions occured in the interval 2000-2010 that would result from random decision-making.


Bentham Mocks The Declarations: ‘Every Law … Is Void', Peter Aschenbrenner Jun 2012

Bentham Mocks The Declarations: ‘Every Law … Is Void', Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Jeremy Bentham famously savaged American declarations of rights, beginning with the Declaration of Independence. What irked him? If individuals had rights that government was bound to honor, then philosophy was obligated to address the conflict between the two. Settle it? Too ambitious. Ignore it? Too lazy. The consequences of Bentham’s unwillingness to survey American constitutions and legislation (using his own tools) are surveyed.


‘Which’ And Its Lexical And Semantic Relations In The Early Constitution, Peter Aschenbrenner Jun 2012

‘Which’ And Its Lexical And Semantic Relations In The Early Constitution, Peter Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The Early Constitution deploys, in dramatically different fashion, ‘which,’ ‘who,’ ‘whose,’ ‘what,’ ‘whatsoever,’ ‘whatever,’ ‘when’ and ‘whenever.’ Some but not all of these signal and connect/organize subordinate clauses. Results are surveyed and tabled.