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The United Mall Of America: Free Speech, State Constitutions, And The Growing Fortress Of Private Property, Jennifer Niles Coffin
The United Mall Of America: Free Speech, State Constitutions, And The Growing Fortress Of Private Property, Jennifer Niles Coffin
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Scholars have called the shopping mall the modern replacement for the traditional town square, a claim that is supported by both public investment in infrastructure through municipal and state bond issues and by the presence of public services and events in many malls. Mall owners and tenants have exploited this quasi public character by inviting government agencies to become tenants in the malls ("City Hall at the Mall") despite claiming that malls are private property where constitutionally protected freedoms do not apply. After an initial and shortlived ruling that mall visitors do indeed have free speech rights, the Supreme Court …
Naked Land Transfers And American Constitutional Development, Mark A. Graber
Naked Land Transfers And American Constitutional Development, Mark A. Graber
Vanderbilt Law Review
The constitutional prohibition on naked land transfers, laws granting to B property that belonged to A, played a far greater role in American constitutional development than is generally realized. The Marshall and Taney Courts heard numerous cases in which government officials were accused of expropriating private property, typically by legislative oversight rather than by deliberate intent. When resolving these cases, antebellum justices relied heavily on "certain great principles of justice" rather than on specific constitutional provisions. Supreme Court majorities on several occasions probably exercised the judicial power to declare federal laws unconstitutional. More frequently, Marshall and Taney Court decisions in …