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Full-Text Articles in Law
Constructive Ambiguity: Ip Licenses As A Case Study, Michal Shur-Ofry, Ofer Tur-Sinai
Constructive Ambiguity: Ip Licenses As A Case Study, Michal Shur-Ofry, Ofer Tur-Sinai
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Ambiguity in contracts is often perceived as undesirable. A certain level of ambiguity, however, can have significant virtues: reducing transaction costs associated with foreseeing and negotiating remote contingencies; facilitating the closing of efficient transactions that would not otherwise close; increasing the adaptability and “anti-fragility” of contracts in the face of unforeseen developments; and preserving trust between the parties. Some contracts are more likely to benefit from a certain degree of ambiguity. Relying on multi-disciplinary literature, this Article systematically analyzes ambiguity’s merits and identifies three principal features of transactions that are positively correlated to the virtues of ambiguity: (1) long duration, …
Admit Or Deny: A Call For Reform Of The Sec's "Neither-Admit-Nor-Deny" Policy, Priyah Kaul
Admit Or Deny: A Call For Reform Of The Sec's "Neither-Admit-Nor-Deny" Policy, Priyah Kaul
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
For four decades, the SEC’s often-invoked policy of settling cases without requiring admissions of wrongdoing, referred to as the “neither-admit-nor-deny” policy, went unchallenged by the courts, the legislature, and the public. Then in 2011, a harshly critical opinion from Judge Jed Rakoff in SEC v. Citigroup incited demands for reform of this policy. In response to Judge Rakoff’s opinion, the SEC announced a modified approach to settlements. Under the modified approach, the Commission may require an admission of wrongdoing if a defendant’s misconduct was egregious or if the public markets would benefit from an admission. Many supporters of the neither-admit-nor-deny …
Reviving Lenity And Honest Belief At The Boundaries Of Criminal Law, John L. Diamond
Reviving Lenity And Honest Belief At The Boundaries Of Criminal Law, John L. Diamond
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
It is a common misconception that there is a line between criminal and innocent conduct that is transparent and fixed. In fact, much of criminal law is fluid and elastic, free, if strategically applied, to label conduct as legal or illegal. In some cases, this reflects crimes that are vaguely defined or imprecise. In other cases, the prohibited conduct simply includes what is so conventionally accepted as legal that the criminal label is perceived as inapplicable until a prosecutor chooses to apply it. The problem of a fluid rather than a fixed line for criminality is that prosecutorial discretion becomes …
Against Dictionaries: Using Analogical Reasoning To Achieve A More Restrained Textualism, Jason Weinstein
Against Dictionaries: Using Analogical Reasoning To Achieve A More Restrained Textualism, Jason Weinstein
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note argues that new textualists should abandon dictionaries as a source for legal interpretation. Textualists believe in restricting judges to the intent discernible from the words of a statute and contend that legislative history is unacceptable as a source of this intention. Both of these sentiments lead textualists to dictionaries as the intuitively correct solution for ambiguities in a text. The author argues, however, that dictionaries by their very nature cannot help discern between reasonable definitions at the margins of meaning. The use of dictionaries in these situations allows for a sham formalism, unrestrictive in result and unrevealing of …
A Reasonable Approach To The Doctrine Of Reasonable Expectations As Applied To Insurance Contracts, Karen K. Shinevar
A Reasonable Approach To The Doctrine Of Reasonable Expectations As Applied To Insurance Contracts, Karen K. Shinevar
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Part I of this article examines standard insurance contract analysis and the existing confusion within that analysis. Part II examines the doctrine of reasonable expectations. In Part Ill, Professor Keeton's expansion of the reasonable expectations doctrine is explained and analyzed. This article concludes in Part IV that Keeton's expanded doctrine has the effect of confusing most courts, which continue to discuss reasonable expectations in relation to conventional rules of contract construction. The article proposes that the reasonable expectations doctrine be limited to contractual language and surrounding circumstances in order to establish clearer guidelines for insurers and consumers.
Standing To Sue Under The Model Land Development Code, Richard L. Epling
Standing To Sue Under The Model Land Development Code, Richard L. Epling
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The Model Land Development Code was promulgated by the American Law Institute as the paradigm for state legislatures to follow when enacting land use laws for the future. The Code is not intended to create uniformity among state laws. Instead, states may use the articles of the Code as models in drafting legislation that is more specifically suited to their needs. Article Nine, which states rules of standing to participate in land use disputes, poses a potential obstacle to would-be public interest litigants. This note will explore the effect of Article Nine on citizen plaintiffs and demonstrate how its ambiguous …
Logic And Laws: Relief From Statutory Obfuscation, Rudy Engholm
Logic And Laws: Relief From Statutory Obfuscation, Rudy Engholm
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Ever-expanding use of the legislative process in recent years has resulted in a vast proliferation of statutes and regulations. The Public Acts of the First United States Congress (1789-91) filled only 203 pages. The Public Acts of the Thirty-first Congress (1850-51) filled 227 pages, those of the Sixty-first Congress (1909-11) filled 1459 pages, and those of the Ninety-first Congress (1969-71) filled 2938 pages. In addition, publication of new and recently amended federal regulations contributed to a Federal Register exceeding 45,000 pages in length in 1974. The growth of state statutory materials parallels this trend. Unfortunately, the technology of statutory expression …