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Full-Text Articles in Law
Narrative And Drama In The American Trial, Robert P. Burns
Narrative And Drama In The American Trial, Robert P. Burns
Faculty Working Papers
This short essay summarizes an understanding of the trial as a medium in which law is realized or actualized, rather than imposed or enforced. It suggests that we should pay close attention to the actual practices that prevail at trial, its "consciously structured hybrid" of languages and practices, if we want to understand the nature of law.
The Dignity, Rights, And Responsibilities Of The Jury: On The Structure Of Normative Argument, Robert P. Burns
The Dignity, Rights, And Responsibilities Of The Jury: On The Structure Of Normative Argument, Robert P. Burns
Faculty Working Papers
Many theorists follow an inevitably circular method in evaluating legal institutions and practices. "Considered judgments of justice" embedded in practices and institutions in which we have a high level of confidence can serve as partial evidence for the principles with which they are consistent, principles that can then have broader implications. Conversely, principles that we have good reason to embrace can serve as partial justification for institutions and practices with which they are consistent. This is the heart of Rawls' notion of "reflective equilibrium," where we "work at both ends" to justify institutions, practices, and principles. This method is applicable …
Litigation And The Optimal Combination Of Vague And Precise Clauses In Contracts, Alvaro E. Bustos
Litigation And The Optimal Combination Of Vague And Precise Clauses In Contracts, Alvaro E. Bustos
Faculty Working Papers
In this paper we determine the optimal combination of precise and vague clauses written in contracts when the parties face writing and enforcement costs, the second ones in the form of litigation. We show that the parties may prefer to write vague instead of precise clauses not only because they are cheaper to write but also because they are cheaper to enforce. We extend Battigalli and Maggi (2002) to model the decision of a principal who chooses clauses to describe the actions that an agent has to perform. As both players observe nature imperfectly they may call for a court …
Rediscovering Discovery: State Procedural Rules And The Level Playing Field, Seymour Moskowitz
Rediscovering Discovery: State Procedural Rules And The Level Playing Field, Seymour Moskowitz
Law Faculty Publications
In the modern era of few trials, the pretrial process is critical to the disposition of most cases. Discovery has been a fiercely debated subject for may years. Many commentators believe that discovery has become too expensive, very time consuming, and often abusive. Others disagree, and articulate an entirely different diagnosis of the problems in our civil justice system. Regardless, the scope of discovery, and the process for undertaking it, create predictable advantages and disadvantages for many types of litigants. Although state courts dispose of the vast majority of cases in the United States, academic writings on procedural matters, particularly …