Law Commons^™

The Shaw Claim: The Rise And Fall Of Colorblind Jurisprudence, Molly P. Matter

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Foreword, Jamin B. Raskin

Legislation and Policy Brief

No abstract provided.

Editor's Welcome, Rachael A. Soloway

Legislation and Policy Brief

No abstract provided.

Ordinary Causation: A Study In Experimental Statutory Interpretation, James Macleod

Indiana Law Journal

In a series of recent split decisions interpreting criminal and tort-like legislation, the Supreme Court has purported to give statutory causation requirements their ordinary, plain meaning. Armed with dictionaries, examples from everyday speech, and commonsense intuitions, the Court’s majority has explained that statutory phrases like “because of” and “results from” entail but-for causation as a matter of ordinary usage. There’s just one problem: The Court’s majority (and the many state and federal courts following its lead) is wrong on the facts—specifically, the facts about how people ordinarily interpret, understand, and use causal language.

This Article considers a novel approach to …

Money That Costs Too Much: Regulating Financial Incentives, Kristen Underhill

Indiana Law Journal

Money may not corrupt. But should we worry if it corrodes? Legal scholars in a range of fields have expressed concern about “motivational crowding-out,” a process by which offering financial rewards for good behavior may undermine laudable social motivations, like professionalism or civic duty. Disquiet about the motivational impacts of incentives has now extended to health law, employment law, tax, torts, contracts, criminal law, property, and beyond. In some cases, the fear of crowding-out has inspired concrete opposition to innovative policies that marshal incentives to change individual behavior. But to date, our fears about crowding-out have been unfocused and amorphous; …

Skinning The Cat: How Mandatory Psychiatric Evaluations For Animal Cruelty Offenders Can Prevent Future Violence, Ashley Kunz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

In 2017, the Texas legislature amended Texas Penal Code § 42.092, which governs acts of cruelty against non-livestock animals. The statute in its current form makes torturing, killing, or seriously injuring a non-livestock animal a third degree felony, while less serious offenses carry either a state jail felony or a Class A misdemeanor charge.

While a step in the right direction, Texas law is not comprehensive in that it fails to address a significant aspect of animal cruelty offenses: mental illness. For over fifteen years, Texas Family Code § 54.0407 has required psychiatric counseling for juveniles convicted of cruelty to …

The Fire Rises: Refining The Pennsylvania Fireworks Law So That Fewer People Get Burned, Sean P. Kraus

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

On October 30, 2017, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act that repealed the state’s fireworks law, which had prohibited the sale of most fireworks to Pennsylvanian consumers for nearly 80 years. The law’s replacement generally permits Pennsylvanians over 18 years old to purchase, possess, and use “Consumer Fireworks.” Bottle rockets, firecrackers, Roman candles, and aerial shells are now available to amateur celebrants for holidays like Independence Day and New Year’s Eve. The law also regulates a category of larger “Display Fireworks,” sets standards for fireworks vendors, and introduces a 12-percent excise tax on fireworks sales that serves to …

Puerto Rico V. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, Brittney E. Ciarlo

Ohio Northern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Repair: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act’S Effect On Right-To-Repair Legislation, Daniel Moore

Texas A&M Law Review

Consumers are keeping their electronic devices longer today than in the past because the prices of the devices have increased. Increased prices have culminated in more consumers needing their devices repaired. In turn, manufacturers use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a federal law, and digital rights management to force consumers to get their devices repaired by either the device manufacturer or one of its authorized repairers. In response, states have considered right-to-repair laws which require manufacturers to make repair tools, equipment, and software available to device owners and independent repair shops. While almost half of the country’s state legislatures have …

Guilty At First Sight: Legislation To Prevent The Misidentification Of Innocent Persons In Illinois, Kaitlyn A. Murphy

Valparaiso University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Solving The Sextortion Puzzle: Piecing Together A Model State Sextortion Statute, Aaron Robbins

Valparaiso University Law Review

No abstract provided.