Law Commons^™

Difficulties In Achieving Coherent State And Local Fiscal Policy At The Intersection Of Direct Democracy And Republicanism: The Property Tax As A Case In Point, Mildred Wigfall Robinson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Professor Robinson explores the uneasiness present when acts of "direct democracy" through means of voter referenda and ballot initiatives conflict with the ideals of representative government, using fiscal matters, such as the property tax, as an example.

Part I explores the changes that have taken place in the last two decades in voter strategy and in patterns of judicial interpretation, briefly reviewing the history of the property tax focusing on taxpayer reaction to long overdue attempts at administrative reform, and showing how that effort indirectly contributed to the "taxpayer revolt. "It further examines how and why broad-scale attempts to utilize …

Let One Hundered Flowers Bloom, One Hundred Schools Contend: Debating Rule Of Law In China, Randall Peerenboom

Michigan Journal of International Law

The Article proceeds in three stages. Part I provides a brief overview of thin versions of rule of law and their relation to thick theories. Part II then takes up the four thick versions of rule of law. Part III addresses a number of thorny theoretical issues that apply to rule of law theories generally and more specifically to the applicability of rule of law to China. For instance, can the minimal conditions for rule of law be sufficiently specified to be useful? Should China's legal system at this point be described as rule by law, as in transition to …