Law Commons^™

Constitutional Injury And Tangibility, Rachel Bayefsky

William & Mary Law Review

The Supreme Court, in the 2016 case Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, announced a framework for determining whether a plaintiff had alleged an injury that would permit entry into federal court. The Court indicated that a plaintiff, in order to have constitutional standing, needed to suffer harm that was “concrete” or “real.” In explaining how courts could ascertain whether an alleged harm was concrete, the Court created a category of “intangible” harm subject to a distinctive, and arguably more demanding, concreteness inquiry than “tangible” harm, a category that seemingly includes only physical or economic harm. In particular, Spokeo directed courts …

Contract, Promise, And The Right Of Redress, Andrew S. Gold

William & Mary Business Law Review

This Essay reviews Nathan Oman’s recent book, The Dignity of Commerce. The book is compelling, and it makes an important and original contribution to contract theory—a contribution that insightfully shows how markets matter. Yet, in the course of developing a market-centered justification for contract law, The Dignity of Commerce also downplays the significance of consent and promissory morality. In both cases, the book’s argument is problematic, but this Essay will address questions of promissory morality. Oman contends that promise-based accounts struggle with contract law’s bilateralism and with its private standing doctrine. Yet, promissory morality is a very good fit …

A Pragmatist’S View Of Promissory Law With A Focus On Consent And Reliance, Robert A. Hillman

William & Mary Business Law Review

This Article discusses Professor Nate Oman’s excellent new book, The Dignity of Commerce, which makes an impressive case for how markets can produce “desirable” outcomes for society. In addition to a comprehensive account of what he calls “virtues” of markets, such as their tendency to produce cooperation, trust, and wealth, the book is full of useful and persuasive supporting information and discussions.

Oman is not only a fan of markets, but he asserts that markets are the “center” of contract theory, and provide its normative foundation. Elaborating, Oman concludes that “contract law exists primarily to support markets” and that …

Does Contract Law Need Morality?, Kimberly D. Krawiec, Wenhao Liu

William & Mary Business Law Review

In The Dignity of Commerce, Nathan Oman sets out an ambitious market theory of contract, which he argues is a superior normative foundation for contract law than either the moralist or economic justifications that currently dominate contract theory. In doing so, he sets out a robust defense of commerce and the marketplace as contributing to human flourishing that is a refreshing and welcome contribution in an era of market alarmism. But the market theory ultimately falls short as either a normative or prescriptive theory of contract. The extent to which law, public policy, and theory should account for values …

Equal Liberty In Proportion, Joshua E. Weishart

William & Mary Law Review

As federal law continues to devolve more education policy making to states, state courts will remain a primary forum for settling education rights. State fora do not inspire confidence, however, because their doctrine is so uncertain. A majority of state supreme courts do not specify a level of scrutiny and at times seem to be improvising judicial review. The resulting decisions can exhibit a troubling lack of foresight. Most notably, while federal doctrine increasingly reveals the interrelation of liberty and equality claims, state courts have failed to capitalize on that point—even though their decisions were among the first to concede …

Legislative Exhaustion, Michael Sant’Ambrogio

William & Mary Law Review

Legislative lawsuits are a recurring by-product of divided government. Yet the Supreme Court has never definitively resolved whether Congress may sue the executive branch over its execution of the law. Some scholars argue that Congress should be able to establish Article III standing when its interests are harmed by executive action or inaction just like private parties. Others, including most prominently the late Justice Antonin Scalia, argue that intergovernmental disputes do not constitute Article III “cases” or “controversies” at all. Rather, the Framers envisioned the political branches resolving their differences through nonjudicial means.

This Article proposes a different approach to …

Protean Statutory Interpretation In The Courts Of Appeals, James J. Brudney, Lawrence Baum

William & Mary Law Review

This Article is the first in-depth empirical and doctrinal analysis of differences in statutory interpretation between the courts of appeals and the Supreme Court. It is also among the first to anticipate how the Supreme Court’s interpretive approach may shift with the passing of Justice Scalia.

We begin by identifying factors that may contribute to interpretive divergence between the two judicial levels, based on their different institutional structures and operational realities. In doing so, we discuss normative implications that may follow from the prospect of such interpretive divergence. We then examine how three circuit courts have used dictionaries and legislative …

A Concept-Sensitive Managerial Analysis With Law: Applying A Business Concept To A Legal Rule To Identify The Domain Of Business Situations, James E. Holloway

William & Mary Business Law Review

The traditional fact-sensitive managerial analysis with law analyzes business situations to identify legal issues and applies legal rules to facts to make judicial decisions. The fact-sensitive managerial analysis takes decades to identify a family of business situations and lacks the analytical capacity to use business knowledge (concepts) and analytical methods to identify business situations. Alternatively, a concept-sensitive managerial analysis with law increases factual sensitivity by applying a business concept to a legal rule to shorten the duration of identifying an extensive family of business situations. All situations are not useful or effective when making business decisions or managing a business. …

Speech, Intent, And The Chilling Effect, Leslie Kendrick

William & Mary Law Review

Speaker’s intent requirements are a common but unremarked feature of First Amendment law. From the “actual malice” standard for defamation to the specific-intent requirement for incitement, many types of expression are protected or unprotected depending on the state of mind with which they are said. To the extent that courts and commentators have considered why speaker’s intent should determine First Amendment protection, they have relied upon the chilling effect. On this view, imposing strict liability for harmful speech, such as defamatory statements, would overdeter, or chill, valuable speech, such as true political information. Intent requirements are necessary prophylactically to provide …

Charitable Deductions For Rail-Trail Conversions: Reconciling The Partial Interest Rule And The National Trails System Act, Scott Andrew Bowman, Danaya H. Rosenberg

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Article examines an undeveloped legal topic at the intersection of tax law and real property law: charitable deductions from income tax liability for donations of railroad corridors that are to be converted into recreational trails. The very popular rails-to-trails program assists in the conversion of abandoned railroad corridors into hiking and biking trails. However, the legal questions surrounding the property rights of these corridors have been complex and highly litigated. In 1983, Congress amended the National Trails System Act to provide a mechanism for facilitating these conversions, a process called railbanking. In essence, a railroad transfers its real property …

The Best Scientific Evidence Available: The Whaling Moratorium And Divergent Interpretations Of Science, A. W. Harris

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Communis Opinio And The Method Of Statutory Interpretation: Interpreting Law Or Changing Law, Michael P. Healy

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Strategy For Mercy, Robert L. Misner

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pansexuality And The Law, Jennifer Ann Drobac

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Gazing Into The Crystal Ball: Reflections On The Standards State Judges Should Use To Ascertain Federal Law, Donald H. Zeigler

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crimes Against Autonomy: Gerald Dworkin On The Enforcement Of Morality, Lawrence C. Becker

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Devlin Was Right: Law And The Enforcement Of Morality, Gerald Dworkin

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Stevens's Professionalism And Ours, David Luban

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Triggering Coverage Of Progressive Property Loss: Preserving The Distinctions Between First- And Third-Party Insurance Policies, Chandra Lantz

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Imposition, Richard Delgado, Jean Stefancic

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Word On Trial, Robin West

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Scorn, Richard Delgado, Jean Stefancic

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Class, Personality, Contract, And Unconscionability, Jeffrey L. Harrison

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dna Fingerprinting: The Virginia Approach, James P. O'Brien Jr.

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The National Flood Insurance Program: Unattained Purposes, Liability In Contract, And Takings, Charles T. Griffith

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Harmless Error In Federal Habeas Corpus After Brecht V. Abrahamson, John H. Blume, Stephen P. Garvey

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

To Serve And Yet To Be Protected: The Unconstitutional Use Of Coerced Statements In Subsequent Criminal Proceedings Against Law Enforcement Officers, Andrew M. Herzig

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Religiously Motivated "Outrageous" Conduct: Intentional Infliction Of Emotional Distress As A Weapon Against "Other People's Faiths", Paul T. Hayden

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Litigation And Rule 11, Carl Tobias

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Textualism, Constitutionalism, And Federal Statutes, Jerry L. Mashaw

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.