Law Commons^™

Copyright And Inequality, Lea Shaver

Lea Shaver

The prevailing theory of copyright law imagines a marketplace efficiently serving up new works to an undifferentiated world of consumers. Yet the reality is that all consumers are not equal. The majority of the world’s people experience copyright law not as a boon to consumer choice, but as a barrier to acquiring knowledge and taking part in cultural life. The resulting patterns of privilege and disadvantage, moreover, reinforce and perpetuate preexisting social divides. Class and culture combine to explain who wins, and who loses, from copyright protection. Along the dimension of class, the insight is that just because new works …

Macao’S Legal System Under Globalization And Regional Integration: Between Tradition And Evolution, Dan Wei

DAN WEI

No abstract provided.

The Language Of The Roberts Court, Frank B. Cross

Frank B Cross

Abstract: It is widely recognized that it is the language of the Supreme Court’s opinion, not the outcome, that is legally most salient. Yet the language of opinions has seen little research. Linguistic analysis programs are now commonly used in other disciplines to compare language choices. We apply the leading program to evaluate Roberts Court opinions. We find significant differences, depending on whether the opinion is for the majority or separate, revealing the significance of compromise at the Court. In addition, we find some differences in language content, depending upon who authored the opinion.

Breakdown In The Language Zone: The Prevalence Of Language Impairments Among Juvenile And Adult Offenders And Why It Matters, Michele M. Lavigne

Michele M LaVigne

For over eighty years, social scientists have known that poor language skills are closely associated with the constellation of emotional and behavioral disturbances routinely seen in juvenile and criminal court. These include conduct disorder, academic deficits, social incompetence, impulsivity, and even aggression. As we might expect, researchers have also found that language impairments are present at a high rate within juvenile and adult correctional institutions. So far however, the law has yet to acknowledge even the existence of this body of social science, let alone its significance for the administration of justice, rehabilitation, and public safety. This article is an …

The United States Are But One Country: A Short History Of Grammar And Liberty, Charles R. Gardner

Charles Gardner

This legal essay traces the conversion of “the United States” from a plural to a singular noun in United States Supreme Court decisions, in presidential proclamations and inaugural addresses, in diplomatic correspondence and in public discourse. It did not happen with a bang at the end of the Civil War, but with a whimper at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Today, at the beginning of the twenty-first, the singularity of humanity, for which that conflagration was allegedly fought, still eludes us. It is that latter singularity that inspires and organizes this essay.

Not until the digital age was it …

Breakdown In The Language Zone: The Prevalence Of Language Impairments Among Juvenile And Adult Offenders And Why It Matters, Michele M. Lavigne

Michele M LaVigne

For over eighty years, social scientists have known that poor language skills are closely associated with the constellation of emotional and behavioral disturbances routinely seen in juvenile and criminal court. These include conduct disorder, academic deficits, social incompetence, impulsivity, and even aggression. As we might expect, researchers have also found that language impairments are present at a high rate within juvenile and adult correctional institutions. So far however, the law has yet to acknowledge even the existence of this body of social science, let alone its significance for the administration of justice, rehabilitation, and public safety. This article is an …

Breakdown In The Language Zone: The Prevalence Of Language Impairments Among Juvenile And Adult Offenders And Why It Matters, Michele M. Lavigne

Michele M LaVigne

For over eighty years, social scientists have known that poor language skills are closely associated with the constellation of emotional and behavioral disturbances routinely seen in juvenile and criminal court. These include conduct disorder, academic deficits, social incompetence, impulsivity, and even aggression. As we might expect, researchers have also found that language impairments are present at a high rate within juvenile and adult correctional institutions. So far however, the law has yet to acknowledge even the existence of this body of social science, let alone its significance for the administration of justice, rehabilitation, and public safety. This article is an …

Breakdown In The Language Zone: The Prevalence Of Language Impairments Among Juvenile And Adult Offenders And Why It Matters, Michele M. Lavigne, Gregory J. Vanrybroek

Michele M LaVigne

For over eighty years, social scientists have known that poor language skills are closely associated with the constellation of emotional and behavioral disturbances routinely seen in juvenile and criminal court. These include conduct disorder, academic deficits, social incompetence, impulsivity, and even aggression. As we might expect, researchers have also found that language impairments are present at a high rate within juvenile and adult correctional institutions. So far however, the law has yet to acknowledge even the existence of this body of social science, let alone its significance for the administration of justice, rehabilitation, and public safety. This article is an …

The Word And The State, Hadley Ajana

Hadley Ajana

J.M Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians has been widely interpreted as a political allegory about the use of torture in a security state. This interpretation, though valid, limits the story’s significance. The novel has a broader theme that transcends apartheid and European colonization of Africa in the twentieth century. Coetzee broadcasts a universal message: when words are divorced from truth, the law will not serve justice. This insight applies to contemporary America’s War on Terror.

Confessing In The Human Voice: A Defense Of The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination, Andrew Taslitz

Andrew E. Taslitz

ABSTRACT OF CONFESSING IN THE HUMAN VOICE: A DEFENSE OF THE PRIVILEGE AGAINST SELF-INCRIMINATION

By Andrew E. Taslitz

The privilege against self-incrimination has fallen on hard times. Miranda rights shrink, as do those more traditional “core” aspects of the privilege. Partly this is due to an implicit skepticism by the courts about the value of the privilege, despite their occasional explicit words of praise for its role in our constitutional scheme. Scholars largely, though not uniformly, agree that the privilege cannot be justified as a philosophical matter, viewing it as an unfortunate burden we are stuck with because of its …

English Only At Work, Por Favor, Natalie Prescott

Natalie Prescott

Whether or not employees can be required to speak only English at work is a very delicate question. This issue has caused considerable disagreement among courts and legal scholars and gained greater prominence in 2006, when the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals created a circuit split by allowing for the possibility that an English-only rule may violate Title VII. Some scholars have attempted to address the legality of an English-only rule, mostly arguing that the rule violates Title VII. This Article, however, explains why Title VII does not apply to an English-only rule. The Article addresses a wide range of …