Law Commons^™

Legal Theory And The Obligation Of A Judge: The Hart/Dworkin Dispute, Philip Soper

Book Chapters

Confronted with standards beyond those obvious in purpose and rule, the positivist, says Dworkin, has two choices. He must either claim that such standards are only discretionary and hence not legally binding, or he may concede their binding status and argue that he identifies them as legal standards through reference, in some more complex way, to his theoretical master test.

There is, however, a third possibility. The positivist might admit that some standards bind judges but explain that they play a role in the legal system sufficiently different from that of ordinary rules and principles to justify excluding them from …

The First Year Courses: What's There And What's Not, David L. Chambers

Book Chapters

At the great majority of American law schools, students begin with a set of required courses that bear the titles of our next six chapters: Civil Procedure, Contracts, Criminal Law, Property, Torts, and Constitutional Law. The six are likely to be taught in ways that resemble each other on the surface. Each will have a "casebook" slightly heavier than a Sears catalog. Each casebook will devote more pages to the decisions of courts of appeals. than any other form of material, and your assignments will come almost entirely from the casebook. In class, the professors will have an arched eyebrow …

The Jury, Seditious Libel And The Criminal Law, Thomas A. Green

Book Chapters

The seditious libel trials of the eighteenth century constitute an important chapter in the history of freedom of the press and the growth of democratic government. While much has been written about the trials and about the administration of the criminal law in eighteenth-century England, little has been said about the relationship between the libel prosecutions and the more pervasive and long-standing problems of the criminal law. We have perhaps gone too far in positing-or simply assuming-a separation between political high misdemeanors and common-run felony cases such as homicide and theft. For there were points of contact between the two: …

Reformulating The Structure Of Estates: A Proposal For Legislative Action, Lawrence W. Waggoner

Book Chapters

Professor Waggoner points out various major inadequacies of the present structure of estates and traces them to the distinctions between conditions and limitations, between conditions precedent and conditions subsequent, and between reversionary and nonreversionary interests. Eschewing such distinctions as artificial, he pre- sents a reformulated structure of possessory and future interests and urges its enactment into law.

Drafting The Arbitration Clause, Whitmore Gray

Book Chapters

Providing in the contract for ways to resolve disputes that may arise presents a substantial challenge to the lawyer. In one sense this is what he or she is doing in general in contract drafting--anticipating misunderstandings or problems which experience indicates are likely to arise, and trying to provide clear answers in advance. When it comes to drafting a specific clause for the resolution of further disputes which may arise, however, many lawyers are at a substantial disadvantage. The task comes at the end of the substantive negotiations. The client does not want to focus on or draw the other …