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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Architecture Of Law: Building Law In The Classical Tradition, Brian M. Mccall May 2018

The Architecture Of Law: Building Law In The Classical Tradition, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

The Architecture of Law explores the metaphor of law as an architectural building project, with eternal law as the foundation, natural law as the frame, divine law as the guidance provided by the architect, and human law as the provider of the defining details and ornamentation. Classical jurisprudence is presented as a synthesis of the work of the greatest minds of antiquity and the medieval period, including Cicero, Artistotle, Gratian, Augustine, and Aquinas; the significant texts of each receive detailed exposition in these pages.
Along with McCall’s development of the architectural image, he raises a question that becomes a running …


Why Is It Good To Stop At A Red Light_ The Basis Of Authority And Obligation, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2015

Why Is It Good To Stop At A Red Light_ The Basis Of Authority And Obligation, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

Throughout history, some have questioned whether the authority exercised by some over others is consistent with human nature.  Is it possible for a law made by one human being to bind the conscience of another, or is such a claim merely tyranny?  If such a power to bind to laws made by humans is justified, what is its scope?  The answers to these related questions explored in this Article are both descriptive and normative.  This Article explains the nature of authority and the extent of the obligation to obey the law as well as explains how the architecture of natural …


El Nuevo Pacto Protestante: La Influencia De La Teología Protestante En El Derecho De Bienes Y Contratos, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2015

El Nuevo Pacto Protestante: La Influencia De La Teología Protestante En El Derecho De Bienes Y Contratos, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

Es imposible disociar la moral (o la ética) de la doctrina teológica. Como Richard Weaver explicó en el pasado siglo, las ideas tienen consecuencias.
Por lo tanto, un cambio de doctrina teológica irá inevitablemente acompañado por un cambio en las normas que gobiernan la conducta. Dado que la ley humana es relativa a los usos y costumbres de la comunidad para la cual se dicta y se desarrolla a la luz de aquéllos, tales cambios terminarán abriéndose paso en las leyes.
Después de quinientos años, las nuevas doctrinas del protestantismo han producido sus efectos sobre la moral y el derecho. …


Testimony To The Committee On Financial Institutions, Kansas House Of Representatives March 13, 2014, Brian M. Mccall Mar 2014

Testimony To The Committee On Financial Institutions, Kansas House Of Representatives March 13, 2014, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

This document contains the text of testimony given before the Committee on Financial Institutions, Kansas House of Representatives March 13, 2014, in a hearing to address potential changes to the regulation of payday lending in Kansas.


Gambling On Our Financial Future: How The Federal Government Fiddles While State Common Law Is A Safer Bet To Prevent Another Financial Collapse, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2013

Gambling On Our Financial Future: How The Federal Government Fiddles While State Common Law Is A Safer Bet To Prevent Another Financial Collapse, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

No abstract provided.


Decorating The Structure: The Art Of Making Human Law, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2013

Decorating The Structure: The Art Of Making Human Law, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

This article continues to develop the theme of law as architecture begun in two published articles, The Architecture of Law: Building Law on a Solid Foundation, the Eternal and Natural Law and Consulting the Architect when Problems Arise: The Divine Law. Having considered the foundation and framework of human law, this article turns to the decoration of the structure through the craft of human law making. It examines the process whereby the natural law is determined in particular political communities. Human law is the craft of particularizing the general principles of natural law in a community’s laws. It relies on …


Entender Los Males Económicos Modernos A La Luz De La Doctrina Social Católica, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2013

Entender Los Males Económicos Modernos A La Luz De La Doctrina Social Católica, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

In a general sense, St. Thomas Aquinas predicted the paralysis and chaos of the financial and economic systems in America and Europe which occurred in 2008, when he predicted that in a society where unjust exchanges dominate, eventually all exchanges will cease. St. Thomas also points out that although human law cannot prohibit all injustice, society cannot escape the consequences of transgressing the divine law which leaves “nothing unpunished.” Thus, at least part of the explanation for that crisis whose effects remain with us today lies in continuous violations of natural justice by our economic system. Neither one product nor …


Gambling On Our Financial Future: How The Federal Government Fiddles While State Common Law Is A Safer Bet To Prevent Another Financial Collapse, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2013

Gambling On Our Financial Future: How The Federal Government Fiddles While State Common Law Is A Safer Bet To Prevent Another Financial Collapse, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

Many politicians and commentators agree that credit default swaps (CDS) played a significant role in the financial crisis of 2008. Yet, few who observe this role are aware that CDS were set loose on the economy by the federal pre-emption of thousands of years of public policy. Since the time of Aristotle law, philosophy and public policy have been hostile to gambling. Viewed as a socially unproductive zero sum wealth transfer, the law has generally refused to permit parties to use the courts to enforce wagers. Courts and legislatures worked in harmony to control and in some cases punish financial …


Entender Los Males Economómicos Modernos A La Luz De La Doctrina Social Cátolica (Understanding Modern Economic Woes In Light Of Catholic Social Doctrine), Brian M. Mccall Dec 2013

Entender Los Males Economómicos Modernos A La Luz De La Doctrina Social Cátolica (Understanding Modern Economic Woes In Light Of Catholic Social Doctrine), Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

En sentido general, Santo Tomás Aquino predijo la parálisis y el caos del sistema financiero económico en Estados Unidos y Europa que ocurrió en 2008, cuando predijo que en una sociedad donde los intercambios injustos dominan, eventualmente todos los intercambios podrán cesar. Santo Tomás también señala que aunque la ley humana no pueda prohibir todas las injusticias, la sociedad no puede escapar de las consecuencias de trasgredir la ley divina que no deja nada en la impunidad. Así, al menos una parte de la explicación para esta crisis cuyos efectos permanecen con nosotros en la actualidad se encuentra en las …


The Natural Relationship Of Church And State Within The Kingdom Of Christ Based On The Encyclical Immortale Dei Of Pope Leo Xiii, Brian M. Mccall Oct 2013

The Natural Relationship Of Church And State Within The Kingdom Of Christ Based On The Encyclical Immortale Dei Of Pope Leo Xiii, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

This lecture addresses the natural relationship between Church and State and explains Catholic Social Teaching regarding the organization of civil society.


The Church And The Usurers: Unprofitable Lending For The Modern Economy, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2012

The Church And The Usurers: Unprofitable Lending For The Modern Economy, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

Professor McCall explains in a scholarly yet accessible manner the core principles of the usury doctrine. Tracing its history from Biblical texts, through Aristotelian philosophy and Roman law, to the great scholastic synthesis, Professor McCall separates the unchanging principles from the changes in their applications to new economic realities. With debt, personal, business and government spiraling out of control and massive insolvencies of ancient nations like Greece, contemporary economic theory has offered little in response. Professor McCall contributes the wisdom of the centuries in a concise and readable study.

Endorsements

"Professor McCall places the issues confronting our debt based economy …


Can A Pluralistic Commonwealth Endure?, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2012

Can A Pluralistic Commonwealth Endure?, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

This article considers whether the American pluralist system can satisfy Cicero's definition of a commonwealth as a multitude united in a definition of law and justice. The analysis is based upon a review of Thaddeus Kozinski's book, The Problem or Religious Pluralism and Why Philosophers Can't Solve It. This book critiques the philosophy of John Rawls, Jacques Maritain and Alisdaire MacIntyre. The critique is based upon Cicero's definition of a commonwealth and the article concludes that a society which maintains a deep pluralism over the first principles of law and justice cannot survive as a commonwealth.


Redimir Nuestro Futuro, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2012

Redimir Nuestro Futuro, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

Este artículo en español se basa en la conclusión del libro del profesor McCall, La iglesia y los usureros: préstamos no rentables para la economía moderna (Sapientia Prensa 2013). Se argumenta a favor de la restauración de los antiguos principios de la justicia en relación con la usura. Después de explicar cómo el proceso democrático fué subvertido por la primacía federal a mutilar las leyes de usura que precedió la fundación de la república norteamericana, el artículo recomienda una restauración de la Ley de usura, la cual permita compensación por pérdidas resultantes de un préstamo monetario pero restringe los préstamos …


Consulting The Architect When Problems Arise – The Divine Law, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2010

Consulting The Architect When Problems Arise – The Divine Law, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

In The Architecture of Law: Building Law on a Solid Foundation- The Eternal and Natural Law, I began laying the foundation for a particular form of legal architecture. Taking inspiration from St. Thomas Aquinas’ description of God as the artificer or architect, I argued that the Law is a multi storied edifice comprised of different types of law. I explored the nature of the foundational law, the Eternal Law and its relationship to justice. I considered how the frame of Natural Law is erected upon or participates in the foundation of Eternal Law. Finally, I discussed some of the most …


The Corporation As Imperfect Society, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2010

The Corporation As Imperfect Society, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

Corporations are ubiquitous in modern society. They pervade every aspect of our life, consumer, professional, investment activity. Probably, people have more contact with corporations on a daily basis than any other institution, including government. From the South Sea Bubble to the Stock market Crash of 1929 to Enron to General Motors and Countrywide Mortgage, corporate scandals and controversies invite fundamental questions about corporate law. This article attempts to bring a fresh perspective to the question: “what is a corporation and how should the law treat it?” The article articulates a corporate metaphysics rooted in political philosophy. The dominant models of …


The Corporation As Imperfect Society, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2009

The Corporation As Imperfect Society, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

Corporations are ubiquitous in modern society. They pervade every aspect of our life, consumer, professional, investment activity. Probably, people have more contact with corporations on a daily basis than any other institution, including government. From the South Sea Bubble to the Stock market Crash of 1929 to Enron to General Motors and Countrywide Mortgage, corporate scandals and controversies invite fundamental questions about corporate law. This article attempts to bring a fresh perspective to the question: “what is a corporation and how should the law treat it?” The article articulates a corporate metaphysics rooted in political philosophy. The dominant models of …


Learning From Our History: Evaluating The Modern Housing Finance Market In Light Of Ancient Principles Of Justice, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2008

Learning From Our History: Evaluating The Modern Housing Finance Market In Light Of Ancient Principles Of Justice, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

Since I first accepted an invitation to join this symposium, the subprime mortgage crisis has exploded into a systemic financial crisis. Analysis and pundits alike seem on a quest to outdo each other in using dramatic phrases to describe its historic proportions. The causes of a crisis so large must have a multiplicity of causes lying in the realms of bank regulation and supervision, the operation and regulation of the securitization market and the derivatives and insurance markets. Yet, the root and spark of the various financial reverberations initiated in the home mortgage finance market. My presentation will focus on …


Exploring The Foundations Of Dworkin's Empire: The Discovery Of An Underground Positivist, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2008

Exploring The Foundations Of Dworkin's Empire: The Discovery Of An Underground Positivist, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

This review essay examines the jurisprudence of Ronald Dworkin as presented in the anthology: Exploring Law's Empire: The Jurisprudence of Ronald Dworkin, edited by Scott Hershovitz. Notwithstanding the influence Dworkin's jurisprudence has had on the reconsideration of moral reasoning within legal reasoning, the essay concludes that at its foundation Dworkin's jurisprudence is based upon Legal Positivist principles. The essay first summarizes the jurisprudence of Dworkin and then contrasts his jurisprudence with traditional Natural Law Legal Theory and finally exposes the Positivist foundations of Dworkin's Legal Empire.


The Architecture Of Law: Building Law On A Solid Foundation The Eternal And Natural Laws, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2008

The Architecture Of Law: Building Law On A Solid Foundation The Eternal And Natural Laws, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

Employing the architectural themes used by Aquinas in his discussion of Eternal Law, this article presents Natural Law as a frame for rational thought rooted in the foundation of the Eternal Law. The argument contrasts this theory of law, based on a close reading of Aquinas and Gratian, to both a Positivist theory of law as power as well as to other Natural Law theories not incorporating the foundation. Law is presented as a product of both reason and will. The genus of law is shown to involve both specific precepts as well as more general guiding principles. Law is …


It's Just Secured Credit: The Natural Law Case In Defense Of Some Forms Of Secured Credit, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2008

It's Just Secured Credit: The Natural Law Case In Defense Of Some Forms Of Secured Credit, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

For decades scholars have been debating whether of not the institution of security can be explained and justified. After much discussion from varying points of view and hermeneutics, although some insights have been gained, the answer to the original question remains unresolved. This article attempts to bring new life to this debate by building on Professors Mooney and Harris’ idea of security interest as property right while taking account of the valid concerns of scholars such as Elizabeth Warren and Lyn Lopucki that certain results produced by the current system seem unjust. This reconciliation of these two strands of secured …


Unprofitable Lending: Modern Credit Regulation And The Lost Theory Of Usury, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2007

Unprofitable Lending: Modern Credit Regulation And The Lost Theory Of Usury, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

With almost daily news stories about the crisis in our credit markets, it seems inevitable that a new political and academic debate about credit regulation is commencing. With Americans paying billions of dollars in finance charges every year and some loosing their homes, it is time to ask fundamental questions about the liberality of credit supply and terms. Rather than readjusting usury limits or tinkering with disclosure requirements, it is time to reassess America’s philosophy of lending. Although the current socio-economic belief that more credit is better has held dominance for several centuries, history offers an alternative theory. Surprisingly, a …


Quas Primas And The Economic Ordering Of Society For The Social Reign Of Christ The King; A Third Perspective On The Bainbridge/Sargent Law And Economics Debate, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2007

Quas Primas And The Economic Ordering Of Society For The Social Reign Of Christ The King; A Third Perspective On The Bainbridge/Sargent Law And Economics Debate, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

How can it be that respected Catholic legal scholars can reach seemingly opposite conclusions about “Law and Economics?” Stephen Bainbridge has argued that both the descriptive and normative aspects of the Law and Economics movement are consistent with and even demanded by the Catholic understanding of the nature of the human person in a fallen world and our historical experience with totalitarian regimes. Mark Sargent, on the other hand, argues that at least the normative, and perhaps aspects of the descriptive, side of Law and Economics are not completely consistent with the nature and purpose of the human being as …


Money, Money Everywhere But Not A Drop To Secure: A Proposal To Amend The Perfection Rule For Security Interests In Money And Deposit Accounts, Brian M. Mccall Jan 2007

Money, Money Everywhere But Not A Drop To Secure: A Proposal To Amend The Perfection Rule For Security Interests In Money And Deposit Accounts, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

It is time that the billions of dollars of money and bank account balances held by debtors be made available as security in a manner that is commercially practical. The rules governing the perfection of security interests in money and deposit accounts need to be reformed to allow perfection by filing. This article builds a case for the proposed revisions by addressing the vexing question “what is money.” A brief history, especially drawing upon the history of the UCC, of answers to this question is presented. Various policy rationales are explored including an examination of the different forms of payment …


Money, Money Everywhere But Not A Drop To Secure: A Proposal For Amending The Perfection Rules For Security Interests In Money And Deposit Accounts, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2006

Money, Money Everywhere But Not A Drop To Secure: A Proposal For Amending The Perfection Rules For Security Interests In Money And Deposit Accounts, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

It is time that the billions of dollars of money and bank account balances held by debtors be made available as security in a manner that is commercially practical. The rules governing the perfection of security interests in money and deposit accounts need to be reformed to allow perfection by filing. This article builds a case for the proposed revisions by addressing the vexing question “what is money.” A brief history, especially drawing upon the history of the UCC, of answers to this question is presented. Various policy rationales are explored including an examination of the different forms of payment …