Law Commons^™

Conditional Probative Value: Neoclassicism Without Myth, Richard D. Friedman

Articles

The concept of conditional relevance is an essential aspect of the classical model of evidentiary law. Some of the great scholars of evidence have endorsed and shaped it.1 Under Federal Rule of Evidence 104(b) it plays a crucial role in the division of responsibility between judge and jury,2 as well as in the application of the personal knowledge3 and authentication 4 requirements. And the Supreme Court has applied it with great force.5 In recent years, though, the concept has come under attack from several notable scholars. The late Vaughn Ball led the assault, calling the concept a "myth."'6 Peter Tillers, …

Vol. 45, No. 3, November 3, 1994, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Public Interest Update '95 •New v. Neoclassical •Hail from the Chief •Jeff Lehman •Professor Evaluation Act of 1994 •Doctor G Princesses

The Frail Old Age Of The Socratic Method, Carl E. Schneider

Other Publications

We are gathered here to honor you for your seriousness about and success in your legal education. It is fitting and proper that we should do this, for law is a learned profession, and mastery of it is a critical and continuing duty, as well, I hope, as a pleasure. But this convocation is also, as Holmes put it, a time when the Law School "becomes conscious of itself and its meaning." I want to combine these two purposes by discussing with you our common enterprise of education for a learned profession. Specifically, I want to consider a distinctive feature …

Vol. 45, No. 2, October 13, 1994, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•3Ls Cope with Dings •Law Review Admission Criteria Aimed for Diversity •Paper Chase Ends in Computer Lab •Student Arrested in Dean's Office Gets Case Dismissed •Hail from the Chief •MacKinnon Q&A •Crossword •The Four-Headed Beast from the South •Regally Hungover & Fiscally Under Siege

Bioethics With A Human Face, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

This Article and the successor article I will shortly publish grow out of one reaction I have had to years of reading bioethical and legal literature. Let me begin by putting the point in its simplest, even crudest, form: That literature too often discusses the problems of health care in so disembodied and denatured a way that the patients and physicians, the family and friends, the dread and the disease are quite abstracted from the scene. The result is a literature that critically limits itself and that crucially oversimplifies the issues it confronts. There are, of course, reasons bioethical and …

Vol. 45, No. 1, September 29, 1994, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Law Students Start Two New Journals •Job Hunt Resumes •Hail from the Chief •Rare Books Get a Rare Look •Cross Exam •Doctor G's Love Prescription •Prince, Sinead: Nothing Compares 2 Them •Royal Wisdom and Summer Exploits •Law in the Raw

Bioethics In The Language Of The Law, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

What happens when the language of the law becomes a vulgar tongue? What happens, more particularly, when parties to bioethical discourse are obliged to borrow in their daily controversies the ideas, and even the language, peculiar to judicial proceedings? How suited are the habits, taste, and language of the judicial magistrate to the political, and more particularly, the bioethical, questions of our time? We ask these questions because, as the incomparable Tocqueville foresaw, Americans today truly do resolve political-and moral--questions into judicial questions. As Abraham Lincoln hoped, the Constitution "has become the political religion of the nation," and many Americans …

Comment: Theory And Practice In Dna Fingerprinting, Richard O. Lempert

Articles

Throughout her useful paper on DNA identification, Professor Roeder properly attends to both theory and practice. Thus she acknowledges the theoretical soundness of certain criticisms that have been made of the standard paradigm used to evaluate DNA random match probabilities but argues that in practice these criticisms matter little. I am thinking here of the arguments that those cautioning against overweighing DNA evidence have made regarding the undeniable existence of population substructure and its potential implications for independence assumptions supporting the application of the product rule and for the use of convenience samples, such as data garnered from no more …

Vol. 44, No. 12, April 18, 1994, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Search for Dean, New Profs Dominates News •Dean Confirms Funding for Public Interest Office •Student Protester Brooks Arraigned in Local Court •Student Participant Seeks Moot Court Improvements •Law Review Revises Selection Procedures •Enjoy the Free Beer While It Lasts •The Docket

Vol. 44, No. 11, April 4, 1994, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Permanent Public Interest Funding in Doubt •BLSA to Hold Symposium on Civil Rights •First-Year Student Arrested in Dean's Office for Protest •Student Groups Condemn Poster Vandals •LSSS Urges Continued Public Interest Funding •An Open Letter to the Class of 1994 •Soundgarden, NIN: Knights in Black Satin •The Docket •The Wyoming Connection: A Job-Hunting Fiction •Casino Night and Other Sundry Matters •Law in the Raw

Marriage, Morals, And The Law: No-Fault Divorce And Moral Discourse, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

In this Essay, I want to reflect on no fault-divorce and the social attitudes that underlie it. In particular, I want to consider that reform in light of an article I wrote some years ago entitled Moral Discourse and the Transformation of American Family Law. There I argued that in recent years the language of American family law has changed notably: today family law issues are decreasingly discussed in the language of morality. In other words, legal institutions have decreasingly talked about those issues in moral terms. Rather, they have tended to avoid handling some moral issues altogether-often by …

Vol. 44, No. 10, March 21, 1994, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Dean Candidates Named in New York Times •Four Faculty Members to Leave Michigan •School Should Allow Computers on Exams •Ignore U.S. News Law School Rankings •Gossip, Not Editorials, Should be RG's Focus •Student, Prof Reaction to Grading System Mixed •U of M Law School Left Livingston-less •Memo, Fire Raise Questions About Library Safety •LSSS Election Candidate Statements •The Docket •The Mailbag: Advice for the Inquiring Mind •Phi Delta Phi House Announces Ethics

Vol. 44, No. 9, March 7, 1994, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Law School Step Closer to Naming Dean •Student SFF Pledges Lag Behind Last Year's Pace •Grade Curves: A Vicious Cycle Continues •Letter to the Editor •Student Sponsor Debate on Religious Expression •Elevator Music for Generation X •Love and the Golden Handcuffs: A Fiction Story •Regal Hints for a Tropical Paradise Vacation •Law in the Raw

Vol. 44, No. 8, February 7, 1994, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•One Outsider Remains in Dean Search •Number of On-Campus Interviews for 1L's Low •Job Search Provides Humorous Anecdotes •Clinton Reinvents the Government •Profs Make Curriculum Proposal •Condemn Anti-Semitism; Respect Free Speech •Students Question Course Offerings •The Docket •A Regal Trip South O' the Border for Spring •Arbitrary and Capricious? •Elvis Lives!! In My Attic, of Course •Alternative Rock n' Roll Digs Up Its Conscience •Misty Water Colored Law School Memories •Law in the Raw

Vol. 44, No. 7, January 24, 1994, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Search for New Law Dean Continues •Res Gestae Needs Your Help to Survive •Cyberlawyers: Some Thoughts on a New Breed •Heard Any Good Scandals Lately? •Professor Questions USA Patriotism •Phi Delta Phi: The Tradition Continues •The Docket •Crossword •Swarthmore Tries to Please All, Pleases No One •TV Offers Filler for Bored Student •The Year in Music: One Critic's Kvetchings •Royal Hints on Winter Recreation •How I Stopped Worrying About Law School & Learned to Love the TV

It's Worth Remembering, John W. Reed

Other Publications

A speech delivered to the Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society Annual Meeting luncheon, held in Southfield, Michigan on April 28, 1994.

Critical Rules In Negotiating Sales Contracts: The Lawyer's Job, James J. White

Other Publications

In my experience, lawyers begin negotiating only after the business people have decided upon the description and quality of the product, the time of delivery, and the mode and amount of payment. The lawyers are left with the pathological problems--who gets what in case of trouble. Most of those problems relate to the seller's responsibility if the product does not conform to the contract or otherwise fails to please the buyer. These failures can cause economic loss to the buyer, economic loss to a remote purchaser, or personal injury or property damage to immediate or remote parties. Third parties may …

Class Of 1994 Five Year Report Alumni Comments, University Of Michigan Law School

UMLS Alumni Survey Class Reports

This addendum is a compilation of alumni responses to the open-ended comments sections.

Class Of 1994 Five Year Report, University Of Michigan Law School

UMLS Alumni Survey Class Reports

This report summarizes the findings of a questionnaire sent to University of Michigan Law School alumni five years after graduation.

Art Catalog, University Of Michigan Law School

Miscellaneous Law School History & Publications

A catalog to art photographs and artwork at the University of Michigan Law School.

Honors Convocation, University Of Michigan Law School

Commencement and Honors Materials

Program for the May 13, 1994 University of Michigan Law School Honors Convocation.

Roundtable Discussion: Science, Environment, And The Law, James E. Krier

Articles

Science, environment, and the law is our topic. The problem of interest to me has to do with risk regulation and, more particularly, with the fact that technical and scientific views of risk differ dramatically from lay or public views. How is this conflict to be managed and resolved? I have to go through my account very quickly, given the time constraint, so let me mention that it is based on an article that sets out my arguments at length.'

Interstate Consolidation: A Comparison Of The Ali Project With The Uniform Transfer Of Litigation Act (American Law Institute Complex Litigation Project: A Symposium, In Memoriam Donald Theodore Trautman), Edward H. Cooper

Articles

The Uniform Transfer of Litigation Act (UTLA) was undertaken for purposes simpler than the mass consolidation of multiparty, multiforum litigation. It seeks to create an effective tool that can be used to reduce some of the artificial barriers that tradition has erected around the sovereign separateness of the many different court systems in this country. The fact of separate sovereignty must be recognized, however, and to this end consent of both transferring and receiving courts is required. Within the consent requirement, transfer from the court system of one sovereign to the court system of another can improve on present practices …

The Effect Of Section 1-102(3) And 1-103 On Commercial Agreements Involving Ucc Tansactions: Should They Be Revised?, James J. White

Other Publications

Power to Modify Article 5 Obligations Under 1-102(3) and 1-203. see Sections 5-103(c) and 5-116(c) of Revised Article 5.

Persons speaking for issuing banks argued strongly in the Article 5 revision process that complete freedom of contract should prevail and that no provision should be made invariable . They argued successfully for the removal in current Section 5-109 of references to due care and they argued successfully against the inclusion of any similar obligation elsewhere in Article 5. Consequently Section 1-102(3) has no place to get a grip in Article 5--because no obligations of due care are expressed in the …

Proposed Revisions Concerning Products Liability Caveat Vendor, James J. White

Other Publications

Both industrial sellers and consumer sellers should look at proposals for revision of the sections relating to warranty liability in Article 2. Particularly important are the sections on warranty, express and implied, on third-party liability, disclaimers and limitation of remedy, notice, and statute of limitations. Using current law as a baseline, revised Article 2 increases sellers' liability in at least half a dozen ways and decreases it in no significant way.

Character Impeachment Evidence: The Asymmetrical Interaction Between Personality And Situation, Richard D. Friedman

Articles

In Part I of this Comment, I present a short version of my argument against the admissibility of character impeachment evidence of criminal defendants, showing how the key elements ofthis argument are present in Professor Uviller's own Article. In Part II, I suggest that, notwithstanding Professor Uviller's comments to the contrary, an asymmetrical result-never admitting character evidence to impeach criminal defendants but admitting such evidence in some circumstances to impeach other witnesses- is perfectly reasonable. Finally, in Part III, I contend that Professor Uviller's interesting judicial surveys support the solution I have proposed for the problem of character impeachment evidence.

The Making Of The Model Employment Termination Act, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Courts in about 45 states have ameliorated the harshness of employment at will, but the common-law modifications still exhibit serious deficiencies. Legislation is needed. The Model Employment Termination Act proposes a balanced compromise. It would protect most employees against discharge without good cause and it would relieve employers of the risk of devastating financial losses When liability is imposed. Arbitration procedures under the Model Act would also be simpler, faster, and cheaper than existing court proceedings.

Stress And Health In 1st-Year Law Students: Women Fare Worse, Daniel N. Mcintosh, Julie Keywell, Alan Reifman, Phoebe C. Ellsworth

Articles

The social and psychological consequences of being a female law student may include greater stress and worse health than that experienced by male students. First-year law students at a major state university were surveyed about their physical and psychological health prior to, in the middle of, and at the end of the school year. They were also asked about specific sources of strain (e.g., grades, time pressure) at mid-year. Relative to men, women reported greater strain due to sexism, lack of free time, and lack of time to spend with one’s spouse/partner. Women also displayed more depression and physical symptoms …

The Death And Transfiguration Of Frye, Richard D. Friedman

Articles

The rule of Frye v. United States was seventy years old, and had long dominated American law on the question of how well established a scientific principle must be for it to provide the basis for expert testimony. Even after the passage of the Federal Rules of Evidence, several of the federal circuits, as well as various states, purported to adhere to Frye's "general acceptance" standard. But now, unanimously, briefly, and with no apparent angst, the United States Supreme Court has held in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. that the Frye rule is incompatible with the Federal Rules.

Assisted Suicide And Euthanasia: The Cases Are In The Pipeline, Yale Kamisar

Articles

When I first wrote about this subject 36 years ago, the chance that any state would legalize assisted suicide or active voluntary euthanasia seemed minuscule. The possibility that any court would find these activities protected by the Due Process Clause seemed so remote as to be almost inconceivable. Not anymore. Before this decade ends, at least several states probably will decriminalize assisted suicide and/or active voluntary euthanasia. [Editor's note: In November, Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide, allowing doctors to prescribe lethal medication for competent, terminally ill adults who request it.] A distinct possibility also exists that …