Law Commons^™

A Case Study On Court Of Appeals Finality, Michael J. Nolan

Michael J. Nolan

The article illustrates the New York Court of Appeals jurisdictional requirement of finality by tracing the history of a case in which leave to appeal was sought, and dismissed, 5 separate times.

Disaggregating Corpus Christi: The Illiberal Implications Of Hobby Lobby's Right To Free Exercise, Katharine Jackson

Katharine Jackson

This paper first examines and critiques the group rights to religious exercise derived from the three ontologies of the corporation suggested by different legal conceptions of corporate personhood often invoked by Courts. Finding the implicated groups rights inimical to individual religious freedom, the paper then presents an argument as to why a discourse of intra-corporate toleration and voluntariness does a better job at protecting religious liberty.

Extract From Heidi Kitrosser, Interpretive Modesty, Geo. L.J. (Forthcoming 2016), Citing Bailey-Tillman Exchange, Seth Barrett Tillman

Seth Barrett Tillman

Heidi Kitrosser, Interpretive Modesty, 104 Geo. L.J. (forthcoming 2016) (manuscript at 38 n.161), citing Bailey-Tillman exchange.

[13 May 2015]

What Notice Did, Jessica Litman

Jessica Litman

In this article, I explore the effect of the copyright notice prerequisite on the law's treatment of copyright ownership. The notice prerequisite, as construed by the courts, encouraged the development of legal doctrines that herded the ownership of copyrights into the hands of publishers and other intermediaries, notwithstanding statutory provisions that seem to have been designed at least in part to enable authors to keep their copyrights. Because copyright law required notice, other doctrinal developments were shaped by and distorted by that requirement. The promiscuous alienability of U.S. copyrights may itself have been an accidental development deriving from courts' constructions …

Single-Firm Event Studies, Securities Fraud, And Financial Crisis: Problems Of Inference, Andrew Baker

Andrew Baker

Lawsuits brought pursuant to section 10(b) of the Securities and Exchange Actdepend on the reliability of a statistical tool called an event study to adjudicate issues ofreliance, materiality, loss causation, and damages. Although judicial acceptance of theevent study technique is pervasive, there has been little empirical analysis of the ability ofevent studies to produce reliable results when applied to a single company’s security.
Using data from the recent financial crisis, this Note demonstrates that the standardmodelevent study used in most court proceedings can lead to biased inferences sanctionedthrough the Daubert standard of admissibility for expert testimony. In particular, in thepresence …

Revisiting The Notion Of Full Protection And Security Of Foreign Direct Investments In Post-Gadhafi Libya: Two Governments, Tribal Violence, Militias, And Plenty More, Nasser A. Alreshaid

Nasser A Alreshaid

The escalating violence and deteriorating conditions in today’s Libya have questioned the very likelihood of the survival of foreign investments there. Deemed an oil-producing hub, many oil concessions have been granted to foreign investors in Libya. The challenge that follows is how to legally ensure the full protection and security of investors. This notion is tested in the post-Gadhafi Libya situation in the context of a two-government state, where militias with extremist ideologies in most instances, defy an internationally recognized government and take control over Libyan territories. Such territories contain oil terminals, which leads to a partial or complete disruption …

James Wilson And The Moral Foundations Of Popular Sovereignty, Ian C. Bartrum

Ian C Bartrum

This paper explores the moral philosophy underlying the constitutional doctrine of popular sovereignty. In particular, it focuses on the Scottish sentimentalism that informed James Wilson’s understanding of that doctrine. Wilson, a transplanted Scotsman, was perhaps the nation’s preeminent lawyer in the middle 1780s. He was one of the most important delegates to the Constitutional Convention, one of the nation’s first law professors, and served as Associate Justice on the first Supreme Court. In these capacities, he developed the most sophisticated and coherent account of popular sovereignty among the founding generation. My initial effort is to enrich our understanding of Wilson’s …

Extract From Brian Hunt, Murdoch's Dictionary Of Irish Law (Dublin, Bloomsbury Professional 6th Ed. Forthcoming Circa Spring 2016), Citing Tillman & Tillman's A Fragment On Shall And May, Seth Barrett Tillman

Seth Barrett Tillman

This is an extract from Brian Hunt, Murdoch's Dictionary of Irish Law (Dublin, Bloomsbury Professional 6th ed. forthcoming circa Spring 2016), citing Tillman & Tillman's A Fragment on Shall and May.

[23 July 2015]

Nonmoral Theoretical Disagreement In Law, Alani Golanski

Alani Golanski

I agree with Dworkin that there is widespread theoretical disagreement in law. I hope to show, however, why this disagreement should not be seen as moral in nature. Legal philosophers have nearly always viewed the existence of theoretical disagreement in law as the indicium of moral dispute. If that is so, and if such disagreement is widespread, then this would be compelling evidence of law’s incorporation of moral standards. Thus, theoretical disagreement has posed a powerful challenge to the "positivist" approach, which claims that, for the most part, legality can be determined without resort to moral criteria. This paper draws …

Algunas Reflexiones En Torno A La Prescripción Extintiva En La Acción Pauliana O Revocatoria, Ricardo Geldres Campos

Ricardo Geldres Campos

El autor analiza la figura de la acción pauliana como mecanismo de tutela a favor del acreedor. Explica que el fundamento de su prescripción viene a ser la tutela del interés del tercero adquiriente, para que de esa forma no se encuentre sometido eternamente a la revocatoria, y no afecte gravemente su patrimonio; de igual forma, señala que aquella deberá computarse desde que el acreedor toma conocimiento del acto de disposición efectuado por el deudor a favor del tercero. Asimismo, afirma que las causales de suspensión y de interrupción previstas en el código han sido pensadas para las relaciones obligatorias, …

La Representación Sin Poder: El Requerimiento Y La Revocación Unilateral, Ricardo Geldres Campos

Ricardo Geldres Campos

En este artículo, el autor analiza y reflexiona sobre la normativa del derecho comparado (BGB, Codice italiano y los Principios de Unidroit) en relación a los supuestos en que pueda encontrarse el dominus ante la representación sin poder (ratificar el contrato, no ratificar el contrato y, permanecer en silencio) y las consecuencias jurídicas derivadas de las misma en nuestro ordenamiento jurídico; asimismo, se denota las consecuencias jurídicas negativas en contra del tercero contratante, por la expectativa indefinida sometida a la ratificación, al no contar con una tutela efectiva en nuestro ordenamiento jurídico; ante esto se plantea la posibilidad de aplicar …

Castles In The Sand: Engineering Insular Formations To Gain Legal Rights Over The Oceans, Joshua L. Root

Joshua L. Root

This article examines States' attempts to engineer rocks into islands proper, and low-tide elevations into islands for the purposes of gaining legal rights over the oceans. It pays particular attention to the South China Sea.

Crashing Into The Unknown: An Examination Of Crash Optimization Algorithms Through The Two Lanes Of Ethics And Law, Jeffrey K. Gurney

Jeffrey K Gurney

Autonomous vehicles will encounter situations where an accident is truly unavoidable, requiring the vehicle to decide whom or what to hit. In such situations, the vehicle will make difficult ethical decisions based upon its programming — more specifically, how its crash-optimization algorithm is programmed.This Article examines crash-optimization algorithms from an ethical and legal standpoint through the lenses of six moral dilemmas. Ethically, the Article focuses specifically on utilitarian and Kantian ethics. Legally, the Article considers the tort and criminal law implications of crash-optimization algorithms.In addition, the Article discusses whether autonomous vehicles should even make ethical decisions. Concluding that they should …

Democracy And Torture, Patrick A. Maurer

Patrick A Maurer

September 11th spawned an era of political changes to fundamental rights. The focus of this discussion is to highlight Guantanamo Bay torture incidents. This analysis will explore the usages of torture from a legal standpoint in the United States.

The Myth Of The Trade Secret Troll: Why We Need A Federal Civil Claim For Trade Secret Misappropriation, James Pooley

James Pooley

Trade secret theft is a federal crime, but civil cases must be brought in state court. Because commerce is now global and most assets are information-based, misappropriation is easier, faster and quicker. State court processes are insufficient for interstate or international disputes. The proposed Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2015 would address the problem by adding a civil claim to the Economic Espionage Act. Arguments against it tend to be based on incorrect assumptions or speculation. The legislation provides sufficient safeguards against abuse, and would not inhibit labor mobility or lead to the appearance of "trade secret trolls."

“And Ain’T I A Woman?”: Feminism, Immigrant Caregivers, And New Frontiers For Equality, Shirley Lin Esq.

Shirley Lin Esq.

Part I draws from a body of feminist political and social science theories regarding social reproduction to assess the situation of immigrant domestic workers and their recent efforts to claim inclusion in workplace laws and protections. It locates the increasingly carceral dynamics that are expressed in the law and in state infrastructure that continually undermine immigrant women’s economic and social stability. Part II examines the importance of immigrant women workers in the United States and their disproportionate share in the “feminization” of low-wage work at a time when society’s critical social-reproductive work has been shifted to them. Part III analyzes …

Vacatur Of Awards Under The Tennessee Uniform Arbitration Act: Substance, Procedure, And Strategies For Practitioners, Steven Feldman

Steven Feldman

Currently, a lively debate exists in the academic community about the fairness of contractual arbitration clauses. The commentators, however, rarely explore the doctrinal aspects of arbitration as found in the Uniform Arbitration Act, the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act, and the Federal Arbitration Act.

This oversight is regrettable because standard form arbitration clauses are a fixture on the current legal landscape and the odds are high that arbitration in its current form will continue for many years to come.

This article analyzes the Tennessee Uniform Arbitration Act (TUAA). One of the most challenging TUAA topics is the action for vacatur (annulment) …

Standing And Collective Cultural Rights, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

The procedural question of standing has deep implications for the definition and enforcement of cultural rights. Cultural rights have individual and collective elements that can lead to several entities seeking access to justice when these rights are violated. This chapter focuses on the question of standing to explore the contours of existing cultural human rights and possible reparations flowing from their violation. It considers claims by (1) an individual member of the group who has been wronged because of their membership of the group; (2) a collective action brought by the group; and (3) a representative action on behalf of …

Indigenous Peoples, Intangible Cultural Heritage And Participation In The United Nations, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

This chapter concentrates on the participation of indigenous peoples in multilateral initiatives to protect cultural heritage, with specific reference to intangible heritage. While an international instrument for the protection of intangible heritage was adopted over a decade ago, the importance of intangible heritage for indigenous peoples is evident in their work in various UN fora. I examine indigenous peoples’ interventions before UNESCO and bodies established to implement the Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage; within WIPO in respect of ongoing moves to adopt specialist instruments on traditional knowledge and cultural expressions; and finally, within UNEP and the implementation …

The Criminalisation Of The Illicit Trade In Cultural Property, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

This chapter considers the criminalisation of illicit traffic of cultural objects in international law and its impact for domestic law. The regulation of the trade in cultural objects has long been resisted in so-called market States, which host major auction houses and art and antiquities dealers. The lobbying was particularly directed against the enforcement of foreign public laws covering export controls in domestic courts. However, the Security Council’s adoption of resolutions that condemned the pillage of Iraqi and Syrian cultural sites has transformed this debate. These resolutions enunciate an obligation to prosecute in domestic courts which is covers all UN …

The Criminalisation Of The Intentional Destruction Of Cultural Heritage, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

This chapter examines how modern international law is protecting world heritage (‘the cultural heritage of all humanity’) by criminalising the intentional destruction of cultural heritage. In the digital age of the twenty-first century has witnessed a proliferation of deliberate acts of destruction, damaging and pillaging of World Heritage sites and their broadcasting via social media and the Internet. This chapter examines the evolving rationales for the intentional destruction of cultural heritage since the early twentieth century and international law’s response to such acts. First, there is an analysis of its initial criminalisation with the codification of the laws and customs …

Cultural Heritage, Human Rights And The Privatisation Of War, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

This chapter focuses on the legal issues raised by the impact of the privatisation of war on cultural rights and cultural heritage during military engagements. It is divided into four parts. First, there is an examination of the current debate amongst heritage practitioners, particularly archaeologists and anthropologists, about their professional engagement with PMSCs in recent conflicts and belligerent occupation. Second, there is an overview of existing international humanitarian law and human rights provisions covering cultural rights and cultural heritage during armed conflict and occupation. Third, the response of professional bodies and associations of heritage practitioners through their codes of ethics …

New Kids On The Blockchain: How Bitcoin's Technology Could Reinvent The Stock Market, Larissa Lee

Larissa Lee

Bitcoin is the first and most successful digital currency in the world. It is polarized in the news almost daily, with either glowing reviews of the many benefits of an alternative and international currency, or doomsday predictions of anarchy, deflation, and another tulip bubble.This Article focuses on the truly innovative aspect of Bitcoin—and that which has gone mostly unnoticed since its inception—the technological platform used to transfer Bitcoin from one party to another. This technology is called the Blockchain. The Blockchain eschews a bank or other middleman and allows parties to transfer funds directly to one another, using a peer-to-peer …

Open Sesame: The Myth Of Alibaba’S Extreme Corporate Governance And Control, Yu-Hsin Lin, Thomas Mehaffy

Yu-Hsin Lin

In September 2014, Alibaba Group Holding Limited (Alibaba) successfully launched a $25 billion initial public offering (IPO), the largest IPO ever, on New York Stock Exchange. Alibaba’s IPO success witnessed a wave among Chinese Internet companies to raise capital in U.S capital markets. A significant number of these companies have employed a novel, but poorly understood corporate ownership and control mechanism—the variable interest entity (VIE) structure and/or the disproportional control structure. The VIE structure was created in response to the Chinese restriction on foreign investments; however, it carries the risk of being declared illegal under Chinese law. The disproportional control …

Machine Learning, Automated Suspicion Algorithms, And The Fourth Amendment, Michael L. Rich

Michael L Rich

At the conceptual intersection of machine learning and government data collection lie Automated Suspicion Algorithms, or ASAs, algorithms created through the application of machine learning methods to collections of government data with the purpose of identifying individuals likely to be engaged in criminal activity. The novel promise of ASAs is that they can identify data-supported correlations between innocent conduct and criminal activity and help police prevent crime. ASAs present a novel doctrinal challenge, as well, as they intrude on a step of the Fourth Amendment’s individualized suspicion analysis previously the sole province of human actors: the determination of when reasonable …

Bridging The Gap Between Intent And Status: A New Framework For Modern Parentage, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

The last few decades have witnessed dramatic changes in the conceptualization and methodologies of determining legal parentage in the U.S. and other countries in the western world. Through various sociological shifts, growing social openness and bio-medical innovations, the traditional definitions of family and parenthood have been dramatically transformed. This transformation has led to an acute and urgent need for legal and social frameworks to regulate the process of determining legal parentage. Moreover, instead of progressing in a piecemeal, ad-hoc manner, the framework for determining legal parentage should be comprehensive. Only a comprehensive solution will address the differing needs of today’s …

From Baby M To Baby M(Anji): Regulating International Surrogacy Agreements, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

In 1985, when Kim Cotton became Britain’s first commercial surrogate mother, Europe was exposed to the issue of surrogacy for the first time on a large scale. Three years later, in 1988, the famous case of Baby M drew the attention of the American public to surrogacy as well. These two cases implicated fundamental ethical and legal issues regarding domestic surrogacy and triggered a fierce debate about motherhood, child-bearing, and the relationship between procreation, science and commerce. These two cases exemplified the debate regarding domestic surrogacy - a debate that has now been raging for decades. Contrary to the well-known …

Fetishizing Copies, Jessica Litman

Jessica Litman

We have copyright laws to encourage authors to create new works and communicate them to the public, because we hope that people will read the books, listen to the music, see the art, watch the films, run the software, and build and inhabit the buildings. That is the way that copyright promotes the Progress of Science. Recently, that not-very-controversial principle has collided with copyright owners’ conviction that they should be able to control, or at least collect royalties from, all uses of their works. A particularly ill-considered manifestation of this conviction is what I have decided to call copy-fetish. This …

The Incentive Problems With The All-Or-Nothing Crowdfunding Model, Garry A. Gabison

Garry A. Gabison

This paper discusses how the all-or-nothing model can dis-incentivize crowd investors to perform due diligence over the fraud or failure risks of crowdfunding campaign. Specifically, the major upside of this model is that a project cannot be funded without a critical mass investing. If enough individual in this critical mass of crowd investors perform its due diligence to check whether projects will become successful then the model function; instead, this paper argues that this model incentivizes the crowd to produce noisy information that cannot be relied. In the all-or-nothing model, sequential investments encourages rational investors not perform due diligence because …

Lessons From The Efforts To Manage The Shift Away From Defined Benefit Plans To Defined Contribution Plans In Australia, The United Kingdom, And The United States, Elizabeth F. Brown

Elizabeth F Brown

This is an earlier version of this Article that was published in the 53 American Business Law Journal 315 (Summer 2016). Please see that journal for the final version of this Article. This Article examines what lessons may be learned from examining how Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States have tried to manage the shift away from defined benefit plans towards defined contribution plans. This shift has fundamentally changed the relationship between workers and the financial industry. While defined contribution plans provide employees with some advantages over defined benefit plans (e.g., portability, early vesting, greater autonomy), they also …