Law Commons^™

First-Party Bad Faith: The Search For A Uniform Standard Of Culpability, Dominick C. Capozzola

UC Law Journal

For almost thirty years, courts have been experimenting with the tort of First-Party Bad Faith. As a consequence, insurance companies are receiving mixed signals about how careful they should be when assessing their first-party claims. This becomes even more confusing when one considers that only half of the states have accepted First-Party Bad Faith. In this Note, Dominick Capozzola argues first that all of the states should accept the tort of First-Party Bad Faith. In so doing, he discusses the reasons for and against First-Party Bad Faith, concluding that the policy reasons supporting the tort far outweigh the traditional contract …

An Observation And A Strange But True "Tale": What Might The Historical Trials Of Animals Tell Us About The Transformative Potential Of Law In American Culture, Paul Schiff Berman

UC Law Journal

Few would dispute that law and legal procedures lie at the core of American self-identity and are woven deeply into the fabric of our culture. Indeed, our nation's faith in law has frequently been the subject of criticism. Most recently, self-proclaimed "communitarian" commentators have warned that our insistence on legal solutions is encouraging us to become a society of litigants whose attachment to "rights talk" and legal battles is thwarting our ability to reach consensus on social issues or instill shared values in our communities. While there are many possible responses to such a critique, this Essay offers one that …

Constitutional Change And International Government, Chantal Thomas

UC Law Journal

This Article argues that the rise of economic regulation by international organizations is transforming federal government in much the same way as the rise of administrative agencies transformed it at the beginning of the twentieth century. Just as administrative agencies came to be recognized as a de facto "fourth branch" of federal government, United States participation in international economic organizations has generated a de facto "international branch" of federal government.

There are striking similarities between this international branch and the administrative branch; the differences that exist suggest the rise of international government may be even more revolutionary. The construction of …

Envy And Jealousy: A Study Of Separation Of Powers And Judicial Review, Laura E. Little

UC Law Journal

In the enclosed study, Professor Little analyzes judicial review from a perspective never before explored: civilization's understanding of jealousy and envy. For her raw material, Professor Little uses the recently aggressive decisions of the United States Supreme Court interpreting federalism and separation of powers issues. She scrutinizes the decisions in light of scholarship in philosophy, psychology, and other social sciences studying the sources and cures for envy and jealousy. In particular, Professor Little uses the jealousy and envy literature to navigate several questions seizing the attentions of federal jurisdiction and constitutional law scholars: Can we justify supreme judicial review? Is …

Shall The Sins Of The Son Be Visited Upon The Father--Video Game Manufacturer Liability For Violent Video Games, David C. Kiernan

UC Law Journal

In the wake of the perverse pattern of horrifying schoolyard shootings in Littleton, Colorado, and in Paducah, Kentucky, the video game industry has increasingly come under fire for its excessively violent video games. In particular, the potential for tort liability for video game manufacturers has attracted significant attention. This raises questions of whether the video game manufacturers can be held liable for the deaths or injuries of those students and teachers under traditional tort principles and whether the First Amendment will preclude such an action. This dialogue takes on new urgency following the recently published FTC report Marketing Violent Entertainment …

Faculty Diversity As A Clinical Legal Education Imperative, Jon C. Dubin

UC Law Journal

Clinical legal education has rapidly evolved from a novelty or boutique offering in law school curricula to a relatively settled and accepted component of the academy. Much has been written about the composition of law and university faculties, the value of faculty diversity in university and traditional law school educational settings, and proposals for reform. However, scant attention has been paid to the composition of the increasingly significant cadre of law professors engaging in clinical teaching and scholarship and the educational and social consequences of the demographic distribution of clinical faculty positions. In this article, Professor Dubin examines and analyzes …

"The Local Mindset", D. Lowell Jensen

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Biotechnology And The Legal Constitution Of The Self: Managing Identity In Science, The Market, And Society, Jonathan Kahn

UC Law Journal

This article revisits the case of Moore v. Regents of the University of California to explore and elaborate an approach that points toward a more effective and just manner of ordering the legal management of identity in the realm of biotechnology-and perhaps beyond.

First, Professor Kahn explores how the tort of appropriation of identity, as invoked by the California Appellate Court in Moore, opens up new approaches to inform and perhaps supplement principles of property law as a guide to managing genetic information or other materials that seem intimately bound up with a particular human subject.

Second, he analyzes how …

"The Best Thing For The Country", Herbert J. Miller Jr.

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Republican Mothers, Bastards' Fathers And Good Victims: Discarding Citizens And Equal Protection Through The Failures Of Legal Images, Linda Kelly

UC Law Journal

In Republican Mothers, Bastards' Fathers and Good Victims: Discarding Citizens and Equal Protection Through the Failures of Legal Images, Professor Linda Kelly uncovers the influence of gender images in immigration law. While in many areas of law gender perceptions have been exposed, in immigration law legal images of gender remain unspoken and unchallenged. In the recent decision of Miller v. Albright, the Supreme Court declared that while a woman becomes a parent immediately upon the birth of her child, a man is not legally considered a parent until he assumes post-birth responsibility for his child. Miller challenged a provision of …

The Independent Counsel Act, Kenneth W. Starr

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

First Let's Sue All The Lawyers--What Will We Get: Damages For Estate Planning Malpractice, Martin D. Begleiter

UC Law Journal

Much has been written on malpractice in estate planning, but little or nothing on the damages recoverable from the attorney in such cases. A possible reason is that many of the cases consider only the issues involved in whether a cause of action exists, such as privity and the statute of limitations. In addition, many of the cases are decided on motions for summary judgment, precluding any discussion of damages. Professor Begleiter's article attempts to fill that gap.

Following a brief review of the development and current status of the law of malpractice in estate planning, Professor Begleiter discusses the …

Watergate: What Was It?, John W. Dean Iii

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Teaching Legal Ethics A Quarter Of A Century After Watergate, Ronald D. Rotunda

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

"Volcano Of Change", Reid Weingarten

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Open-And-Shut: Senate Impeachment Deliberations Must Be Public, Marjorie Cohn

UC Law Journal

During President William Clinton's impeachment trial, Chief Justice William Rehnquist denied a request to open the deliberations to the public, relying on Senate tradition and ambiguous rules of procedure. This article examines the current Senate impeachment rules in the context of an historical tradition of Senate secrecy, and argues for rule changes to create a clear rule of openness at all stages of an impeachment trial, including deliberations.

Professor Cohn argues the rules adopted in the 19th century need to be modified to conform to 21st century America. Differences discussed include popularly elected senators, increased accountability of government stemming largely …

From Watergate To Generation Next: Opening Remarks, Rory K. Little

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Legacy Of Watergate For Legal Ethics Instruction, Kathleen Clark

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Comparing The Scope Of The Federal Government's Authority To Prosecute Federal Corruption And State And Local Corruption: Some Surprising Conclusions And A Proposal, Sara Sun Beale

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Reflections On The Legacy Of Watergate, Richard Ben-Veniste

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

"Not Yet Convinced", Charles E. Wiggins

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Pledged To Public Service, Rory K. Little

UC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Public Health Case For The Safe Storage Of Firearms: Adolescent Suicides Add One More Smoking Gun, Andrew J. Mcclurg

UC Law Journal

In this article, Professor McClurg makes the case for mandatory safe gun storage laws as a means of reducing adolescent suicides. He has argued in other articles in favor of safe storage as a means of reducing accidental shootings and criminal misuse of stolen guns. The article begins by analyzing firearms suicides in the U.S., which McClurg calls "the forgotten statistic in the gun control debate." He reviews numerous studies establishing a nexus between guns and suicide, particularly between guns in the home and adolescent suicide. He then examines ten different studies showing that large percentages of American gun owners …

A Need To Know Basis: Record Keeping, Information Access, And The Uniform Status Of Children Of Assisted Conception Act, Amy Shelf

UC Law Journal

This note examines the delicate legal issues surrounding recent medical advances in reproductive technology, which have dramatically transformed the way humans reproduce. The ability to manipulate fertility raises difficult ethical issues, particularly when embryo and gametes donors choose to remain anonymous. The note addresses the current legal system's unsuccessful attempts at dealing with requests for information made by the offspring created through these new methods. The author analyzes the Uniform Status of Children of Assisted Conception Act, and, while agreeing with the Act's goal of putting the rights of children to the fore, also notes its failure to address record-keeping …

Managerial Litigants? The Overlooked Problem Of Party Autonomy In Dispute Resolution, Sarah Rudolph Cole

UC Law Journal

In recent years we have witnessed a dramatic upsurge in litigant use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms, both inside and outside the traditional litigation system. This explosive growth in ADR utilization presents courts with a fundamental problem. The cornerstone of ADR processes, and in particular, ADR process design, is party consent. In general, parties are free (on a shared consent basis) to shape the ADR processes they employ to suit their perceived needs. When disputants request that courts use dispute resolution tools, courts have, for the most part, adopted this precept, willingly accepting efforts by "managerial litigants" to shape …

Adolescent Autonomy: Clarifying An Ageless Conundrum, Rhonda Gay Hartman

UC Law Journal

The law governing adolescence is discordant at best, impoverished at worst. Regarded as an appendage to paternalistic policy for children, present legal rules based upon presumptive decisional incapacity produce anomalous results. Most striking, a 16-year-old may confront criminal conviction with punitive and retributive sanction, including the death penalty, but is deemed decisionally incapable to refuse debilitating life-sustaining treatment. Adolescence and its accoutrement of distinct issues has hitherto remained unexamined, until now. In this Article, Professor Hartman proposes a paradigmatic shift in thinking about adolescence that entails a legal framework predicated on decisional ability, rather than presumptive decisional incapacity. By comprehensively …

The Overlooked Concern With The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act, Katy Hull

UC Law Journal

This Note examines the concerns surrounding the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act ("UCITA"), a uniform commercial code for software licenses and other computer information transactions proposed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Since case law addressing software licensing is currently inconsistent, some scholars believe that this uniform, nation-wide set of laws would provide for greater stability and predictability. Still, some critics of the UCITA worry that it fails to address consumer protection concerns. Few criticisms, however, have focussed on the UCITA's potential impact on the software licensing industry. Due to the growing importance of that industry …

Divining Regulatory Intent: The Place For A "Legislative History" Of Agency Rules, Lars Noah

UC Law Journal

This Article juxtaposes the recent debates about statutory interpretation and the judicial uses of legislative histories with the relative quiescence over methods for interpreting agency regulations. The latter subject merits more attention than it has received given the relatively greater prevalence and practical import of legislative rules issued by administrative agencies as compared with statutory commands from the legislature. Unlike attempts to understand the legislature's original intent, whether by focusing solely on statutory text or considering extrinsic aids found in various pre-enactment explanatory materials, courts routinely defer to agencies' post-promulgation interpretations of the meaning of their regulations. This grants executive …

The Freedom Of Access To Clinic Entrances Act And The Nuremberg Files Web Site: Is The Site Properly Prohibited Or Protected By Speech, Melanie C. Hagan

UC Law Journal

In 1999, a federal jury, in the case of Planned Parenthood v. American Coalition of Life Activists, returned a verdict in plaintiff's favor to the tune of $100 million. At issue was whether the Web site known as The Nuremberg Files, as well as printed "wanted style" posters dubbed The Deadly Dozen, both listing personal information regarding abortion physicians, were "threats" under The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994 (FACE).

FACE imposes liability on any person who intimidates or attempts to intimidate by force or threat of force any person because that person provides reproductive health services. …

Black Gaius: A Quest For The Multicultural Origins Of The "Western Legal Tradition", P. G. Monateri

UC Law Journal

This article is divided into two parts. The first is devoted to reconstructing the historical self-consciousness of the Western Legal Tradition, showing the emergence of a model based on the more or less explicit assumptions of Roman, and subsequently Western, legal originalism and supremacy. In the second part, different areas are investigated--contract, theories of government, dispute settlements, and legal culture-to challenge the same existence of a Roman law at the root of modem Western laws. In this way the package of received ideas in legal scholarship about the history and nature of the Western legal culture is revealed to be …