Law Commons^™

Federalizing Public Education, Thomas Kleven

Thomas Kleven

This article assesses the case for federalizing public education in the United States. The starting point is a conception of democracy I call equitable sharing, meaning that the goods of social life must be equitably distributed among all society’s members. I argue that equitable sharing mandates society to ensure that all children have access to a relatively equal educational opportunity—i.e., a comparable opportunity to advance educationally as far as their abilities, interests and willingness to strive allow—at least through elementary and secondary school. To set the stage for discussing the merits of federalization, I examine various models through which society …

For Msnbc, Comcast Represents Not A Threat, But An Opportunity, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.

What Do We Mean By An Independent Judiciary, Michael P. Seng

Michael P. Seng

Judicial independence has roots in separation of powers and in ethical standards that require judges to be competent and impartial. Judicial independence depends upon society having faith in the integrity of the courts. Accountability is thus the handmaid of an independent judiciary. This article defines both the structure and the ethical standards that insure an independent judiciary.

Property & Transitional Justice: The Collected Works Of Prof. Bernadette Atuahene, Bernadette Atuahene

Bernadette Atuahene

No abstract provided.

The Fiduciary Theory Of Governmental Legitimacy And The Natural Charter Of The Judiciary, Luke A. Wake

Luke A. Wake

In legal academia, there are various claims as to the proper role of the courts and the standard of review to be employed in evaluating claims of right. These competing judicial philosophies have been the subject of great debate in recent years. Yet underlying these debates is the question of rights and whether men are entitled, in justice, to assurances of personal autonomy, or whether the concept of rights is a mere legal fiction.

In a recent article in the Journal of Law and Philosophy, Evan Fox-Decent argues that individuals are entitled, at a minimum, to certain guarantees of bodily …

The Coming Fifth Amendment Challenge To Net Neutrality Regulation, Daniel Lyons

Daniel Lyons

No abstract provided.

Making Debtor Remedies More Effective, Melissa B. Jacoby

Melissa B. Jacoby

Commissioned for a conference on credit markets at Harvard Business School in February 2010, this paper explores functional system design and the role of lawyers and intermediaries in providing debtor remedies in a complex legal system. The thesis of this paper, which proceeds in the “law and society” tradition, is that the location of a remedial right within the debtor-creditor system substantially affects the costs and benefits of the remedy for debtors, creditors, the system, and society. In other words, merely adding specific substantive provisions does not directly translate into actual protection. Relatedly, policymakers must recognize that lawyers and other …

Federal Hill Protest Targets Landlords, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Melanie Shapiro Esq

Donna M. Hughes

Federal Hill Resident And Restaurateur Forced To Move Because Of Spa-Brothel, Melanie Shapiro Esq, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Constructing Commons In The Cultural Environment, Katherine J. Strandburg, Michael J. Madison, Brett M. Frischmann

Brett Frischmann

This Article sets out a framework for investigating sharing and resource pooling arrangements for information and knowledge-based works. We argue that the approach to commons arrangements in the natural environment pioneered by Elinor Ostrom and collaborators provides a template for examining the construction of commons in the cultural environment. The approach promises to lead to a better understanding of how participants in commons and pooling arrangements structure their interactions in relation to the environments in which they are embedded, in relation to information and knowledge resources that they produce and use, and in relation to one another.

An improved understanding …

When Users Are Authors: Authorship In The Age Of Digital Media, Alina Ng

Alina Ng

This Article explores what authorship and creative production means in the digital age. Notions of the author as the creator of the work provided a point of reference for recognizing ownership rights in literary and artistic works in conventional copyright jurisprudence. The role of the author, as the creator and producer of a work, has been seen as distinct and separate from that of the publisher and user. Copyright laws and customary norms protect the author’s rights in his creation to provide the incentive to create and allow him to appropriate the social value generated by his creativity as recognition …

Federalizing Public Education, Thomas Kleven

Thomas Kleven

This article assesses the case for federalizing public education in the United States. The starting point is a conception of democracy I call equitable sharing, meaning that the goods of social life must be equitably distributed among all society’s members. I argue that equitable sharing mandates society to ensure that all children have access to a relatively equal educational opportunity—i.e., a comparable opportunity to advance educationally as far as their abilities, interests and willingness to strive allow—at least through elementary and secondary school. To set the stage for discussing the merits of federalization, I examine various models through which society …

Using Podcasts To Support Students In A Land Law Class, Michael Lp Lower, Keith Thomas, Annisa Ho

Michael LP Lower

This paper describes the experience of creating and using podcasts to support student learning of land law for JD and LL.M. students in Hong Kong. Podcasting involves preparing a series of audio or video broadcast files for download onto a digital media player by students. Four different types of podcast were prepared for the law class in question. Some were simply podcasts, while others were embedded in PowerPoint slides and converted into flash files using ‘Authorpoint’. Together, the podcasts sought to give students an introduction/ review of the main topics and of the problem questions discussed in class.

The aim …

Cohousing: Joining Affordable, Sustainable And Collaboratively-Govened, Single Family Neighborhoods, Michael N. Widener

Michael N. Widener

This article arises from the residential lending mess on the American middle class (however defined today), proposing a few innovative, forward-looking solutions for Americans whose credit has been ruined or whose largest (and frequently illiquid) economic asset cannot be sold or leased to offset their households’ obligations. The purpose of my essay is to invite conversations among civic leaders from the government, design, lending and residential development sectors, and academic opinion-makers, on how to stem the current foreclosure tide and restore confidence in owner-occupied housing markets, overcoming public anxieties about whether future economic downturns will bury those dwellers anew.

Safeguarding "The Precious": Counsel On Law Journal Publication Agreements In Digital Times, Michael N. Widener

Michael N. Widener

No abstract provided.

Laying To Rest An Ancien Regime: Antiquated Institutions In Louisiana Civil Law And Their Incompatibility With Modern Public Policies, Christopher K. Odinet

Christopher K. Odinet

What Virtual Worlds Can Do For Property Law, Juliet M. Moringiello

Juliet M. Moringiello

Guardians Ad Litem In Housing Court, Gerald Lebovits

Hon. Gerald Lebovits

No abstract provided.

Private Ownership, Avihay Dorfman

Avihay Dorfman

Habeas And (Non-)Delegation, Paul Diller

Paul Diller

No abstract provided.

In Defense Of Intellectual Property Anxiety: A Response To Professor Fagundes, Aaron K. Perzanowski

Aaron K. Perzanowski

In this Response to Professor Fagundes’s Property Rhetoric and the Public Domain, Professor Perzanowski expresses skepticism about two assumptions underlying the argument for embracing property rhetoric to promote the public domain. This argument assumes, first, public recognition of social discourse theory as an account of property and, second, rhetorical advantages of social discourse theory that are comparable to those of more familiar notions of private property. Perzanowski concludes that the simple intuitive appeal of Blackstonian property cautions against styling the struggle for balanced copyright and patent policy as a debate over competing property interests.