Law Commons^™

Energy Market And Policy Revolutions: Regulatory Process And The Cost Of Capital, James W. Coleman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

As the world embarks on a transition toward a low-carbon economy, one common characteristic of alternatives to fossil fuels has gone surprisingly unexamined: the cost of these alternative sources is disproportionately concentrated in capital expenses, rather than operating expenses. Solar, wind, and hydro power have very low operating expenses: the cost of these power sources is largely in their construction. Even nuclear power has low fuel costs compared to fossil fuel power sources. So as the world decarbonizes the power grid and electrifies the transportation sector, capital costs will grow increasingly important in the energy sector. At the same time, …

Pluralism In International Criminal Procedure, Jenia I. Turner

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Over the last two decades, international criminal procedure has become a recognized body of law, with textbooks, treatises, and law review articles discussing its rules and principles and theorizing its goals and methods. The term refers to the procedures used at the international criminal courts and tribunals created to address some of the most serious offenses, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Some of these courts are fully international, like the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). Others are “hybrid courts,” …

Mutual Mistake Or Excuse: Which Approach To Pursue When Seeking Judicial Relief From Contractual Obligations On The Basis Of Supervening Knowledge?, Gregory S. Crespi

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

When a person seeks to be relieved from their contractual obligations on the basis of supervening knowledge of a fact existing at the time of contracting that has rendered their performance impracticable or even impossible, and/or has frustrated their purpose in entering into the contract, they would appear to have choice between asserting a mutual mistake enforce-ability defense, or instead asserting one or more of the impossibility, impracticability, or frustration of purpose excuse defenses. Do they in fact have this choice, or does each of these approaches for obtaining relief have its own distinct scope of application, with little if …

You Can Lead A Horse To Water: Heller And The Future Of Second Amendment Scholarship, Eric Ruben, Joseph Blocher

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Ten years ago, there was reason to believe that Second Amendment doctrine would—following elements of District of Columbia v. Heller—become rigid and binary. Likewise, scholarship might have followed the same path; digging into the pre-Heller trenches and pitting "pro-gun" against "pro-regulation" views. In "From Theory to Doctrine: An Empirical Analysis of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms After Heller," we showed through empirical study that the doctrinal reality is far more nuanced and interesting. In this essay, we describe how Heller not only inaugurated a new era of constitutional doctrine, but it also helped create a burgeoning new field …

The U Visa's Failed Promise For Survivors Of Domestic Violence, Natalie Nanasi

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Recognizing the unique vulnerabilities of immigrants who become victims of crime in the United States, Congress enacted the U visa, a form of immigration relief that provides victims, including survivors of domestic violence, a path to legal status. Along with this humanitarian aim, the U visa was intended to aid law enforcement in efforts to investigate and prosecute crime, based on the notion that victims without legal status might otherwise be too fearful to “come out of the shadows” by reporting offenses to the police. Although these two goals were purportedly coequal, in practice, by requiring survivors to cooperate with …

International Law And Extraterritoriality: Brief Of International And Extraterritorial Law Scholars As Amici Curiae (U.S. V. Microsoft), Anthony J. Colangelo, Austen L. Parrish

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Written by international and extraterritorial law scholars, the attached amicus brief was submitted in the U.S. v. Microsoft case. That case involves whether Congress, when it enacted the Stored Communications Act, intended to provide federal and local law enforcement authority to unilaterally seize the private email communications of foreign citizens stored abroad.

The amicus brief explains how the Charming Betsy canon and the law of extraterritoriality are part of a well-defined body of law the U.S. Supreme Court has developed for determining how American law applies abroad. These doctrines exist independently: one aims to avoid unsanctioned violations of international law. …

Beat As An Element Of The Evolving Global Tax Environment, Cym H. Lowell, Christopher H. Hanna

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Final Report Of The Berkeley Center For Law & Technology Section 101 Workshop: Addressing Patent Eligibility Challenges, Jeffrey Lefstin, Peter Menell, David O. Taylor

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Over the past five years, the Supreme Court has embarked upon a drastic and far-reaching experiment in patent eligibility standards. Since the founding era, the nation’s patent statutes have afforded patent protection to technological innovations and practical applications of scientific discoveries. However, the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories imposed a new limitation on the scope of the patent system: a useful application of a scientific discovery is ineligible for patent protection unless the inventor also claims an “inventive” application of the discovery. The following year, the Court ruled that discoveries of the location and …

Emerging Technologies Challenging Current Legal Paradigms, W. Keith Robinson, Joshua T. Smith

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

U.S. patent law has made assumptions about where new inventions will be created, who will create them, and how they will be infringed. Throughout history, emerging technologies have challenged these paradigms. This decade’s emerging technologies will allow humans to create in virtual worlds, connect billions of every day devices via the Internet, and use artificial intelligence to invent across technology fields. If countries like the U.S. wish to encourage inventors to seek patent protection in these emerging areas, then a paradigm shift in the law must occur. Specifically, the law must clarify patent eligibility, recognize the increasing role of artificial …

From Theory To Doctrine: An Empirical Analysis Of The Right To Keep And Bear Arms After Heller, Eric Ruben, Joseph Blocher

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

As a matter of constitutional doctrine, the right to keep and bear arms is coming of age. But although the doctrine has begun to mature in the decade since District of Columbia v. Heller, scholars, advocates, and judges disagree about (and sometimes simply do not know) how to characterize it.

This Article is the first comprehensive empirical analysis of post-Heller Second Amendment doctrine. Beginning with a set of more than one thousand Second Amendment challenges, we have coded every available Second Amendment opinion — state and federal, trial and appellate — from Heller up until February 1, 2016. The dataset …