Law Commons^™

Three Legal Frameworks For Regulating Genetic Technology, Wilson R. Huhn

Wilson R. Huhn

The Genetic Age promises another exponential increase in human knowledge and potential. ... This article describes three frameworks the law uses to regulate genetic technology: (1) Individual Rights and Duties; (2) Scientific Regulation by Administrative Agencies; and (3) Legislative Preemption. ... This framework involves the lowest level of government oversight over genetic technology. ... At present, the FDA and National Institutes of Health (NIH) administer regulatory control of genetic technology as applied to human beings, but the jurisdiction of these agencies is limited. ... Attorney Judith Cregan has recorded a number of "serious problems" with FDA and NIH regulation of …

Stages Of Legal Reasoning: Formalism, Analogy, And Realism, Wilson R. Huhn

Wilson R. Huhn

In the late 19th Century, legal reasoning was dominated by formalistic analysis. Judges and lawyers reasoned deductively from base principles. Legal historians have persuasively described how leading judges and scholars fomented a revolution in legal thought in the 20th Century. Starting about 1910, legal realism--or policy analysis-- entered legal reasoning to the point that today it would be unusual to find a judicial opinion or brief that fails to explore the policy implications of an interpretation of the law. This historical shift from formalism to realism suggests that there are stages of legal reasoning.

In this Article, I argue that …