Law Commons^™

Innovation In A Legal Vacuum: The Uncertain Legal Landscape For Shared Micro-Mobility, David Pimentel, Michael B. Lowry, Timothy W. Koglin, Ronald W. Pimentel

Journal of Law and Mobility

The last few years have seen an explosion in the number and size shared micro-mobility systems (“SMMS”) across the United States. Some of these systems have seen extraordinary success and the potential benefit of these systems to communities is considerable. However, SMMS have repeatedly ran into legal barriers that either prevent their implementation entirely, confuse and dissuade potential users, or otherwise limit SMMS’s potential positive impact.

This paper reflects a detailed study of state laws relating to SMMS and the platforms commonly used in these systems. The study uncovered many inconsistencies with micro-mobility laws across the country. Currently, many states …

What A Difference A State Makes: California’S Authority To Regulate Motor Vehicle Emissions Under The Clean Air Act And The Future Of State Autonomy, Chiara Pappalardo

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Air pollutants from motor vehicles constitute one of the leading sources of local and global air degradation with serious consequences for human health and the overall stability of Earth’s climate. Under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”), for over fifty years, the state of California has served as a national “laboratory” for the testing of technological solutions and regulatory approaches to improve air quality. On September 19, 2019, the Trump Administration revoked California’s authority to set more stringent pollution emission standards. The revocation of California’s authority frustrates ambitious initiatives undertaken in California and in other states to reduce local air pollution …

The Future Of Law And Mobility, Daniel A. Crane

Articles

With the launch of the new Journal of Law and Mobility, the University of Michigan is recognizing the transformative impact of new transportation and mobility technologies, from cars, to trucks, to pedestrians, to drones. The coming transition towards intelligent, automated, and connected mobility systems will transform not only the way people and goods move about, but also the way human safety, privacy, and security are protected, cities are organized, machines and people are connected, and the public and private spheres are defined.

World Trade And The Environment: The Cafe Case, Eric Phillips

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note examines the CAFE case in the context of the debate over trade and the environment. It argues that the panel decision has aspects that support the notion that the international trading system can be compatible with efforts to protect the environment, and also has aspects that demonstrate that these do indeed clash, limiting efforts to protect the environment. Part I of this Note describes the CAFE law and places it in the context of domestic and international efforts to prevent global warming. Part II examines the panel's decision, arguing that the panel acted well within the scope of …

Regulatory Reform In The Intercity Bus Industry, Cornish F. Hitchcock

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article will analyze the economic structure of the intercity bus industry and the type of service received by the public under the present regulatory scheme. It will then discuss what regulatory reforms could improve service, how these issues are addressed in the recent House-passed bill, and what further legislative reforms should be made.

Recent Trends In Transport Rate Regulation, Leonard S. Goodman

Michigan Law Review

The object of this Article is to describe the trends in the Commission's work during the 1960's in some of the areas of rate regulation that could not be settled by mere reference to costs, and in other areas of changing rate policy. This was a prolific period for the Commission, one that involved many rate innovations and a sense of new direction in certain aspects of rate regulation. The present discussion of the Commission's rate work is in no sense complete; and there is no intention to make it so. By emphasizing the decisions of the recent decade, I …

Regulation Of Intermodal Rate Competition In Transportation, Joseph R. Rose

Michigan Law Review

The controversy over intermodal rate competition comprehends both legal and economic issues. Clarity requires that each be explicitly stated and separately treated. The legal issues center on the meaning of section 15a(3) of the Interstate Commerce Act and the declaration of the National Transportation Policy that precedes the Act, which are the sources of the Commission's authority. The economic issues involve the effect on resource allocation of rate-making proposals devised to carry out these provisions of the Act.

Motor Vehicle Air Pollution: State Authority And Federal Pre-Emption, David P. Currie

Michigan Law Review

The problem of state authority over motor vehicle air pollution was recently highlighted when the Illinois Air Pollution Control Board, for the first time, adopted regulations to deal with vehicle emissions. Those regulations are disappointingly feeble. Except for outlawing visible smoke and for making it unlawful to dismantle pollution control devices, the new rules do nothing but state that the Board may decide to do something in the future about pollution from automobiles.

In attempting to improve upon these regulations, however, one is struck with a sense of considerable futility. Given the present limits of technology and the necessarily legislative …

The Passing Of State Control Over Railway Rates, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

Congress has exclusive power to regulate interstate commerce, so far as it admits of a uniform system of regulation, and a failure on its part to regulate in a given case is tantamount to a declaration that such commerce shall remain free and unrestricted. Brown v. Houston, 114 U. S. 622; Leisy v. Hardin, 135 U. S. 100. The states are, in all such cases, without jurisdiction to regulate, irrespective of what Congress has or has not done.

Police Regulation Of Sleeping Car Berths, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

From the time of the introduction of the sleeping car there has been a constant feud between the sleeping car companies and the travelling public in regard to the upper berths. The exigencies of the situation have, of course, made economy of space a prime requisite in sleeping car construction, and there is no doubt but that a high degree of success in this respect has attended the efforts of the sleeping car builders.

State Regulation Of Corporate Profits, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

At the time when the Federal Constitution was adopted, municipal government in America was a very simple affair, and was managed with ease and economy through local officers, who provided for the making and repairing of roads, looked after disorderly characters, abated local nuisances, and levied rates for the few and simple public needs. When the growing population of a particular locality appeared to need larger powers of local government, the legislature granted them, but they often involved little more than the holding of fairs as a means of building up local trade, the institution of a local court for …