Law Commons^™

Reconsidering Section 1983'S Nonabrogation Of Sovereign Immunity, Katherine Mims Crocker

Faculty Publications

Motivated by civil unrest and the police conduct that prompted it, Americans have embarked on a major reexamination of how constitutional enforcement works. One important component is 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which allows civil suits against any "person" who violates federal rights. The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that "person" excludes states because Section 1983 flunks a condition of crystal clarity.

This Article reconsiders that conclusion--in legalese, Section 1983's nonabrogation of sovereign immunity--along multiple dimensions. Beginning with a negative critique, this Article argues that because the Court invented the crystal-clarity standard so long after Section 1983's enactment, the caselaw …

Fiction In The Code: Reading Legislation As Literature, Thomas J. Mcsweeney

Faculty Publications

One of the major branches of the field of law and literature is often described as "law as literature." Scholars of law as literature examine the law using the tools of literary analysis. The scholarship in this subfield is dominated by the discussion of narrative texts: confessions, victim-impact statements, and, above all, the judicial opinion. This article will argue that we can use some of the same tools to help us understand non-narrative texts, such as law codes and statutes. Genres create expectations. We do not expect a law code to be literary. Indeed, we tend to dissociate the law …

Creating A Literature For The King’S Courts In The Later Thirteenth Century: Hengham Magna, Fet Asaver, And Bracton, Thomas J. Mcsweeney

Faculty Publications

The early common law produced a rich literature. This article examines two of the most popular legal treatises of the second half of the thirteenth century, Hengham Magna and Fet Asaver. It has long been recognized that these two treatises bear some relationship to each other. This article will attempt to establish that relationship, arguing that Hengham Magna and Fet Asaver were written by different people; that Fet Asaver borrows from Hengham Magna; and that the authors of both texts had independent access to the Bracton treatise. The article concludes by suggesting a new way to think about the legal …

Book Review Of The Oxford History Of The Laws Of England, Volume Ii, Thomas J. Mcsweeney

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Magna Carta And The Right To Trial By Jury, Thomas J. Mcsweeney

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Magna Carta, Civil Law, And Canon Law, Thomas J. Mcsweeney

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Between England And France: A Cross-Channel Legal Culture In The Late Thirteenth Century, Thomas J. Mcsweeney

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Priestley V. Fowler (1837) And The Emerging Tort Of Negligence, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

Priestly v. Fowler has long been noted as the source of the doctrine of common employment. This Article, however, argues that the case is better understood in the context of the then-emerging independent tort of negligence-specifically, as an unsuccessful attempt to require of masters a duty of care towards their servants. The Article re-examines the facts, arguments, personalities, and various reported versions of the case in tracing the effort to establish a new duty of care. The Article traces, as well, to another case, Hutchinson v. York, the true origins of the common employment doctrine. Finally, the Article compares the …

Book Review Of Sarah Barringer Gordon's The Mormon Question: Polygamy And Constitutional Conflict In Nineteenth-Century America, Nathan B. Oman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Rhetoric Of Moderation: Desegregating The South During The Decade After Brown, Davison M. Douglas

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

John Marshall's Preparation For The Bar -- Some Observations On His Law Notes, William F. Swindler

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Legal History – Unhappy Hybrid, William F. Swindler

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Common Law At Jamestown Celebration, William F. Swindler

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.