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Full-Text Articles in Law
Trafficking In Human Blood: Titmuss (1970) And Products Liability, Clark C. Havighurst
Trafficking In Human Blood: Titmuss (1970) And Products Liability, Clark C. Havighurst
Law and Contemporary Problems
No abstract provided.
Altruism, Markets, And Organ Procurement, Julia D. Mahoney
Altruism, Markets, And Organ Procurement, Julia D. Mahoney
Law and Contemporary Problems
For decades, the dominant view among biomedical ethicists, transplantation professionals, and the public at large has been that altruism, not financial considerations, should motivate organ donors. Proposals to compensate sources of transplantable organs or their survivors, although endorsed by a number of economists and legal scholars, have been denounced as unethical and impracticable. Organ transplantation is said to belong to the world of gift, as distinct from the market realm. Paying for organs would inject commerce into a sphere where market values have no place and would transform a system based on generosity and civic spirit into one of antiseptic, …
Surrogacy And The Politics Of Commodification, Elizabeth S. Scott
Surrogacy And The Politics Of Commodification, Elizabeth S. Scott
Law and Contemporary Problems
Scott explores the history of surrogacy over the past twenty years. She also offers a historical account of the legal and social issues surrounding surrogacy over the past twenty years. She seeks to explain how and why the social and political meanings of surrogacy have changed over the past decade. Furthermore, she examines how surrogacy was framed as commodification in the Baby M context.
The Debt Financing Of Parenthood, Melissa B. Jacoby
The Debt Financing Of Parenthood, Melissa B. Jacoby
Law and Contemporary Problems
Jacoby discusses the significant role of lenders in the parenthood market and how they might facilitate access and shape this industry in more profound ways. Second, she introduces the issue of financing assisted reproduction and adoption. Third, she reviews specialty loans for assisted reproduction and adoption, reflecting traditional research in case law and legal and nonlegal scholarly literature, as well as results from a review of news media and Web sites of prominent intermediaries and service suppliers. Lastly, she presents a sampling of political-economy implications relevant to assisted reproduction, leaving other issues for future investigation.
Gender And The Value Of Bodily Goods: Commodification In Egg And Sperm Donation, Rene Almeling
Gender And The Value Of Bodily Goods: Commodification In Egg And Sperm Donation, Rene Almeling
Law and Contemporary Problems
Listing a child for sale in the local paper's classified section is unthinkable, and it is illegal for donors to sell organs in the US. Yet fertility programs routinely recruit young women and men to "donate" eggs and sperm in return for financial compensation. Payments to women vary substantially, both within particular agencies and in different regions of the US, but the national average is around $4,200. Here, Almeling constructs a theoretical framework analyzing the social process of assigning value to the human body. He further describes the historical emergence of the market in eggs and sperm before turning to …
Sunny Samaritans And Egomaniacs: Price-Fixing In The Gamete Market, Kimberly D. Krawiec
Sunny Samaritans And Egomaniacs: Price-Fixing In The Gamete Market, Kimberly D. Krawiec
Law and Contemporary Problems
Krawiec compares the egg market to sperm market to illustrate the extent to which public-interest rhetoric enables private wealth transfers in the egg market. She also illuminates why such rhetoric is so effective, playing on deeply held societal norms. In addition, she provides an overview of the oocyte business, highlighting issues relating to recruitment, compensation, controversy, retrieval, and risk. She does the same for the sperm business. Furthermore, she discusses the anticompetitive behavior in the egg market and argues that the horizontal price-fixing embodied in the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's pricing guidelines violates the Sherman Act. Lastly, she concludes …
Odious Debt Wears Two Faces: Systemic Illegitimacy, Problems, And Opportunities In Traditional Odious Debt Conceptions In Globalized Economic Regimes, Larry Catá Backer
Odious Debt Wears Two Faces: Systemic Illegitimacy, Problems, And Opportunities In Traditional Odious Debt Conceptions In Globalized Economic Regimes, Larry Catá Backer
Law and Contemporary Problems
Backer examines how the traditional notion of odious debt as a method of repudiating sovereign debt may undergo a conceptual revolution as it changes focus from the illegitimacy of governments obtaining loans to the illegitimacy of the systems through which such loans are made and enforced generally. He focus his analysis on the conceptual framework Fidel Castro sought to introduce into the debate about the legitimacy of sovereign debt and the extent to which this reframing might influence international institutional approaches.
The Odious Debt Doctrine After Iraq, Jai Damle
The Odious Debt Doctrine After Iraq, Jai Damle
Law and Contemporary Problems
The odious debt doctrine has experienced renewed popularity in the past few years; it has been heralded by academics, political commentators, economists, and politicians as a mechanism to alleviate burdens imposed by illegitimate rulers. In its classic formulation, the doctrine provides that a regime's debt is odious, and thus unenforceable, if the state's people did not consent to the debt, the proceeds from the debt were not used for the benefit of the people, and the regime's creditors had knowledge of the first two conditions. In 2003, the newly instated Iraqi regime began negotiations to restructure that country's debt, much …
Odious Debts Or Odious Regimes, Patrick Bolton, David Skeel
Odious Debts Or Odious Regimes, Patrick Bolton, David Skeel
Law and Contemporary Problems
Odious regimes have always been there. That there is no silver-bullet solution that will prevent odious regimes from arising, or stymie them once they do, is evident from the plethora of responses employed by the international community once a regime's odiousness becomes clear. Current odious debt doctrine dates back to a 1927 treatise by a wandering Russian academic named Alexander Sack. The Sack definition contemplates a debt-by-debt approach to questionable borrowing. If a loan is used to benefit the population--to build a highway or water-treatment plant, for instance--the obligation would be fully enforceable, no matter how pernicious the borrower regime. …
Partially Odious Debts?, Omri Ben-Shahar, Mitu Gulati
Partially Odious Debts?, Omri Ben-Shahar, Mitu Gulati
Law and Contemporary Problems
Ben-Shahar borrows from a rich private-law tradition to explore the treatment of odious debt as a problem analogous to allocation of liability in private law. Drawing on the economic analysis of private law, it develops insights as to the structure of an optimal liability scheme. Under this approach, liability is imposed not on the basis of some intrinsic judgment as to the parties' relative blameworthiness, but rather in a forward-looking fashion, on parties who are best suited to take actions to prevent the loss. In addition, liability is imposed on a magnitude tailored to induce an optimal level of precautionary …
Odious Debt, Old And New: The Legal Intellectual History Of An Idea, James V. Feinerman
Odious Debt, Old And New: The Legal Intellectual History Of An Idea, James V. Feinerman
Law and Contemporary Problems
In a sense, all debts are odious; that is, to use dictionary definitions, "hateful; disgusting; offensive." Yet insofar as international economic law today is concerned, only a certain few debts can be considered "odious debts" in order to contest and perhaps eventually to repudiate them. Here, Feinerman examines the concepts of odious debt and related international legal phenomena, in both historical and contemporary context, with a view of determining the role that denomination of certain debts as odious may play in the overall process of sovereign debt rescheduling.
Odious, Not Debt, Anna Gelpern
Odious, Not Debt, Anna Gelpern
Law and Contemporary Problems
The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 revived public and academic debate about a wobbly old doctrine of international law: the Doctrine of Odious Debt. This doctrine allows governments to disavow debts incurred by their predecessors without the consent of or benefit for the people, provided creditors knew of the taint. It has roots in nineteenth century jostles over colonial possessions. However, for the past eighty years, Odious Debt's rhetorical appeal has vastly outstripped its "legal vitality." Here, Gelpern argues that the Doctrine of Odious Debt frames the problem of odious debt in a way that excludes a large number, …
Odious Debt, Odious Credit, Economic Development, And Democratization, Tom Ginsburg, Thomas S. Ulen
Odious Debt, Odious Credit, Economic Development, And Democratization, Tom Ginsburg, Thomas S. Ulen
Law and Contemporary Problems
When a country signs an international treaty, it is not the government but the state that is bound, and the obligation will stand until a subsequent government formally exits the treaty. Exit is presumed to be costly: a government that "repudiates" earlier treaty obligations will suffer reputational harm in its international relations. Moreover, this general background norm of international law applies as well to debt: a government can announce that it is renouncing debt, but it will suffer severe reputational harm in the debt marketplace, much as a government that repudiates public international law obligations suffers a reputational harm. Here, …
Devilry, Complicity, And Greed: Transitional Justice And Odious Debt, David C. Gray
Devilry, Complicity, And Greed: Transitional Justice And Odious Debt, David C. Gray
Law and Contemporary Problems
Several issues relating to odious debt and contemporary efforts to expand the odious debt doctrine to cover all debts of odious regimes are maddeningly complex, implicating difficult issues in areas ranging from the international law of state succession to the law of commercial paper--itself a source of biannual trauma for thousands of bar aspirants. However, the scope of the debate as it has been developed in the literature is too narrow and, therefore, the questions posed too simple. In particular, any analysis of odious debt must account for issues that inhere to transitions and transitional justice. Here, Gray make some …
Renegotiating The Odious Debt Doctrine, Tai-Heng Cheng
Renegotiating The Odious Debt Doctrine, Tai-Heng Cheng
Law and Contemporary Problems
Following the United States' invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq,' the US government argued that the successor government in Iraq was not responsible for Iraq's Saddam-era debt under the purported doctrine of odious-regime debt. This purported doctrine apparently excused--by operation of law--all successor regimes from repaying debts that were incurred by oppressive predecessor regimes. Here, Cheng presents three-part response regarding the purported rule that oppressive debts of a predecessor government do not bind its successor.
A Critique Of The Odious Debt Doctrine, Albert H. Choi, Eric A. Posner
A Critique Of The Odious Debt Doctrine, Albert H. Choi, Eric A. Posner
Law and Contemporary Problems
Choi and Posner indicate that it is unclear whether the doctrine will improve the welfare of the population that might be subject to a dictatorship in terms of the odious debt doctrine. The traditional backward-looking defense of the odious debt doctrine, which suggests that the doctrine is costless because it releases a suffering population from an unjust debt, is seriously incomplete. Although in specific cases the benefits of loan sanctions may exceed the costs, the defenders of the doctrine have not made the empirical case that the net benefits are sufficiently high in the aggregate as to warrant routine application …
Sovereigns, Trustees, Guardians: Private-Law Concepts And The Limits Of Legitimate State Power, Jedediah Purdy, Kimberly Fielding
Sovereigns, Trustees, Guardians: Private-Law Concepts And The Limits Of Legitimate State Power, Jedediah Purdy, Kimberly Fielding
Law and Contemporary Problems
One major tradition of understanding the powers and duties of sovereigns has particular relevance to arguments for revival and refurbishment of the odious debt doctrine. Here, Purdy and Fielding survey the critical role of private-law concepts in the development of this tradition. In this account, the state is a constructed and purposive legal actor, composed of a set of powers assigned by its subjects for the pursuit of certain human interests and bound by the obligation to secure and respect those interests. Moreover, they narrate that if there are inherent powers in a sovereign, they are only those that are …
Farm-Animal Welfare, Legislation, And Trade, Gaverick Matheny, Cheryl Leahy
Farm-Animal Welfare, Legislation, And Trade, Gaverick Matheny, Cheryl Leahy
Law and Contemporary Problems
The US has among the weakest farm-animal-welfare standards in the developed world. Although improvements in farm-animal welfare are economically feasible, nations and states enacting protective regulation are threatened by competition with cheaper, non-compliant imports. Although recognition in trade agreements and restrictions on sale could help to protect animal welfare, they may rarely be politically feasible. Campaigns directed at consumers and retailers are likely to be more cost-effective than production-related regulations in improving animal welfare and are also compatible with abolitionist objectives.
Overregulation Of Health Care: Musings On Disruptive Innovation Theory, Lesley H. Curtis Ph.D., Kevin A. Schulman M.D.
Overregulation Of Health Care: Musings On Disruptive Innovation Theory, Lesley H. Curtis Ph.D., Kevin A. Schulman M.D.
Law and Contemporary Problems
Disruptive innovation theory provides one lens through which to describe how regulations may stifle innovation and increase costs. Basing their discussion on this theory, Curtis and Schulman consider some of the effects that regulatory controls may have on innovation in the health sector.
Capitalism And Freedom — For Whom?: Feminist Legal Theory And Progressive Corporate Law, Kellye Y. Testy
Capitalism And Freedom — For Whom?: Feminist Legal Theory And Progressive Corporate Law, Kellye Y. Testy
Law and Contemporary Problems
Progressive corporate law has the potential to realign corporate activity and market economies with human benefit. The present state of disruption in the economy is a key moment: with disruption comes the opportunity for change.
Democracy And Dispute Resolution: The Problem Of Arbitration, Richard C. Reuben
Democracy And Dispute Resolution: The Problem Of Arbitration, Richard C. Reuben
Law and Contemporary Problems
This article seeks to bring the submerged issue of arbitration's relationship to democracy to the surface of the mandatory arbitration debate. Its goal is relatively modest: To recognize and articulate the relationship between democracy and arbitration as an issue worth considering, to analyze the democratic character of arbitration and to suggest some implications of this assessment.
Constitutional Approaches To Privatization: An Inquiry Into The Magnitude Of Neo-Liberal Constitutionalism, David Schneiderman
Constitutional Approaches To Privatization: An Inquiry Into The Magnitude Of Neo-Liberal Constitutionalism, David Schneiderman
Law and Contemporary Problems
Schneiderman discusses whether constitutional rules in the state capitalist mode that redistribute property ownership more widely can survive the pressures generated by the neo-liberal model of constitutionalism. Schneiderman considers privatization programs that concern the divestiture of state assets, or denationalization through the sale of shares or assets to employees and employee associations.
Liberalization And Democratization: The Forum And The Hearth In The Era Of Cosmopolitan Post-Industrial Capitalism, Sol Picciotto
Liberalization And Democratization: The Forum And The Hearth In The Era Of Cosmopolitan Post-Industrial Capitalism, Sol Picciotto
Law and Contemporary Problems
Rather than the desire for economic liberalization bringing about political democratization, the struggles against autocracy have created an opening for economic liberalization. While undermining partriarchy and hierarchy, anti-authoritarian movements have also paved the way for post-industrial capitalism, with its emphasis on information management, flexible working conditions, and a global outlook.
Taxing The Market Citizen: Fiscal Policy And Inequality In An Age Of Privatization, Lisa Philipps
Taxing The Market Citizen: Fiscal Policy And Inequality In An Age Of Privatization, Lisa Philipps
Law and Contemporary Problems
Focusing on Canada, Philipps argues that recent efforts to revise important facets of the income tax system are best understood through the lens of privatization. By promoting personal responsibility, the tax code is contributing to the erosion of the ideal of social citizenship and replacing it with a new model of market citizenship.
Foreword, James T. Hamilton
On Pressing Mcnollgast To The Limits: The Problem Of Regulatory Costs, Michael Asimow
On Pressing Mcnollgast To The Limits: The Problem Of Regulatory Costs, Michael Asimow
Law and Contemporary Problems
The rationale for and the utility of the procedures that an administrative agency must follow in order to adopt rules are discussed. The Administrative Procedure Act's rulemaking procedure is examined for cost effectiveness.
Commodity Exchanges And The Privatization Of The Agricultural Sector In The Commonwealth Of Independent States—Needed Steps In Creating A Market Economy, Alexander Belozertsev, Jerry W. Markham
Commodity Exchanges And The Privatization Of The Agricultural Sector In The Commonwealth Of Independent States—Needed Steps In Creating A Market Economy, Alexander Belozertsev, Jerry W. Markham
Law and Contemporary Problems
Pre-revolutionary commodities exchanges in Russia and their extinguishment by the Bolsheviks are examined, and the role thereafter by Soviet central planners in the distribution, import and export of agricultural commodities is described. It is argued that the privatization process in the CIS must include incentives for the development of an exchange system for agricultural goods.
Information As A Commodity: New Imperatives Of Commercial Law, Raymond T. Nimmer, Patricia Ann Krauthaus
Information As A Commodity: New Imperatives Of Commercial Law, Raymond T. Nimmer, Patricia Ann Krauthaus
Law and Contemporary Problems
Modern information technology modifies how commercial transactions occur and the subject matter of commerce itself. The challenge posed to scholars and policymakers by these issues is discussed.
Exit Rights Under Federalism, Richard A. Epstein
Exit Rights Under Federalism, Richard A. Epstein
Law and Contemporary Problems
Exit rights and their self-help nature are discussed. State and federal courts should not allow state or provincial governments to destroy these important protections of individual property rights.
The Role Of Economic Analysis In Shaping Environmental Policy, Arthur Fraas
The Role Of Economic Analysis In Shaping Environmental Policy, Arthur Fraas
Law and Contemporary Problems
The experience of the US in using economic analysis to develop environmental policy is examined. Regulatory actions needed to create environmental benefits often impose substantial costs--both direct costs and indirect effects on other social goals--so it is important to consider all the effects of proposed initiatives Before imposing regulations.