Law Commons^™

Criminal Laws: Materials And Commentary On Criminal Law And Process In Nsw, Alex Steel, David Brown, David Farrier, Sandra Egger, Luke Mcnamara, Michael Grewcock, Donna Spears

David C. Brown

The success of Criminal Laws lies both in its distinctive features and in its appeal to a range of readerships. As one review put it, it is simultaneously a “textbook, casebook, handbook and reference work”. As such it is ideal for criminal law and criminal justice courses as a teaching text, combining as it does primary sources with extensive critical commentary and a contextual perspective. It is likewise indispensable to practitioners for its detailed coverage of substantive law and its extensive references and inter-disciplinary approach make it a first point of call for researchers from all disciplines. This fifth edition …

Horizontal Product Differentiation In Auctions And Multilateral Negotiations, Bart Wilson, Charles Thomas

Bart J Wilson

We experimentally compare first-price auctions and multilateral negotiations after introducing horizontal product differentiation into a standard procurement setting. Both institutions yield identical surplus for the buyer, a difference from prior findings with homogeneous products that results from differentiation’s influence on sellers’ pricing behavior. The data are consistent with this finding being driven by concessions from low-cost sellers in response to differentiation reducing their likelihood of being the buyer’s surplus-maximizing trading partner. Further analysis shows that introducing product differentiation increases or leaves unchanged the intensity of price competition among sellers, which contrasts with the conventional wisdom that product differentiation softens competition.

The Effectiveness Of Acceptances Communicated By Electronic Means, Or – Does The Postal Acceptance Rule Apply To Email, Eliza Karolina Mik

Eliza Mik

The ‘traditional’ classi?cation into ‘instantaneous’ and ‘non-instantaneous’ methods of communication must be abandoned. As all Internet transmissions are instantaneous, the choice between the principle of receipt and the postal exception must be based on other criteria. The focus must be shifted from communication devices to the characteristics of the communication process. The latter resembles either dealings face-to-face or dealings at a distance. This simple division should remain the basis for all analyses. Instantaneity and control are two of many characteristics of face-to-face dealings and are not the only factors to be taken into account when making the choice between the …

The Gulf Cooperative Council And The Arab Spring, Ahmed Souaiaia

Ahmed E SOUAIAIA

No abstract provided.

Economic Approaches To Global Regulation: Expanding The International Law And Economics Paradigm, Dan Danielsen

Dan Danielsen

The recent economic crisis has demonstrated with startling clarity the importance of developing a more robust framework for assessing the effects of national rules on global welfare. For more than fifty years, law and economics scholars have examined the effects of domestic legal rules on economic activity and general welfare in the United States. More recently, international law scholars have begun to use economic methods to analyze the international legal order. In this article I survey this evolving body of “international law and economics scholarship” with a view to articulating its principle methodological innovations as well as assessing its contributions …

Local Rules And A Global Economy: An Economic Policy Perspective, Dan Danielsen

Dan Danielsen

This article explores the growing significance and theoretical implications of ‘local rules’—such as Chinese labour standards, US financial regulation and Swiss bank secrecy rules—in the global economy. In particular, the argument developed is that Ronald Coase’s framework for analysing the effects of legal rules on economic welfare can help to reveal important weaknesses in current international legal approaches to analysing the transnational impact of local rules as well as contribute to a ‘global economic policy perspective’ better attuned to problems of power in the global regulatory order. Such a perspective will help us to see the effects of power differences …

On Tax Increase Limitations: Part I - A Costly Incoherence, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

David Gamage

In this essay, the first of a series, we explore the theoretical implications of one particular type of fiscal limitation on state legislatures - namely, special rules limiting tax increases. In this first essay we will explore the analytic soundness of these tax increase limitations (TILs). In future essays in this series we will analyze some of the consequences of TILs and in particular how they can be 'evaded.' We will argue over the course of this series of essays that because there is no meaningful content to the term 'tax increase' as it is used in TILs, legislative majorities …

Apathy In The Face Of Cruelty, Ahmed Souaiaia

Ahmed E SOUAIAIA

No abstract provided.

Building A Global Knowledge Network Among Geospatial Specialists, Harlan Onsrud

Harlan J Onsrud

This presentation discusses the idea for, progress made and challenges confronted by the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association in pursuing development of the Geographic Information Knowledge Network found at http://www.giknet.org Objectives and goals of the network are explained as well as suggestions for supporting the network.

Defining 'Reasonable Doubt' Proves Challenging, Timothy O'Neill

Timothy P. O'Neill

Physiological And Psychosocial Assessment And Treatment Of Sex Offenders: A Comprehensive Victim-Oriented Program, Robert Marsh, Anthony Walsh

Robert L. Marsh

This paper attempts to define the "optimal" sex offender treatment program based on a review of the empirical literature and on the authors' clinical experience with sex offenders. An important first step in any treatment program is the proper assessment of the condition to be treated. Assessment of sex offenders should include the use of the penile plethysmograph and the polygraph, as well as the more traditional methods of psychosocial assessment. These physiological tools are also useful as adjunct treatment tools. It is asserted that restitution therapy be the operating philosophy of any good treatment program, and that various aspects …

Control Group Study Of Juvenile Diversion Programs: An Experiment In Juvenile Diversion—The Comparison Of Three Methods And A Control Group, Steven Patrick, Robert Marsh, Wade Bundy, Susan Mimura, Tina Perkins

Robert L. Marsh

Juvenile diversion methods have been tested in many states in an effort to reduce recidivism. This paper reports on an experimental juvenile diversion program and the evaluation to assess the effects on recidivism during the experimental period. In this control group design first-time juvenile status offenders were randomly assigned to three experimental groups: Juvenile Accountability Program, Youth Court, or Magistrate Court and compared with an Educational Control group. The data revealed that the Juvenile Accountability diversion program, which diverted offenders from the justice system and held them accountable of their offenses, showed positive signs for reducing recidivism.

Perceptions Of Punishment And Rehabilitation Among Inmates In A Medium Security Prison, Steven Patrick, Robert Marsh

Robert L. Marsh

Inmate perceptions are examined in relation to punishment and rehabilitation as goals of prison. The results from a random sample of inmates in a medium security prison appear to show that inmate perceptions of punishment and rehabilitation are independent of one another but are simultaneously related to different types of inmate relationships with others in the prison. Additionally, inmate perceptions of punishment appear to be related to the physical environment of the prison. This paper discusses structural and policy implications of these findings. It seems that, because perceptions of punishment and rehabilitation are independent it may be possible to increase …

The Practice Of Native American Spirituality In Prison: A Survey, Robert Marsh, T. Cox

Robert L. Marsh

Native Americans have been severely restricted in practicing their traditional religions and spiritual traditions in the United States although the First Amendment specifically guarantees religious freedom. A discussion is presented of the differences in Native American spirituality compared to the Euro‐American concept of religion and the subsequent passage of Native American Religious Freedom Act of 1978 to guarantee religious expression for this group. A nationwide survey was conducted of all state correctional departments to determine the numbers of Native Americans incarcerated in state prisons and the access of this group to practice traditional religions while incarcerated. Data is presented on …

It's Time To Reform Donor Advised Funds, Ray Madoff

Ray D. Madoff

In this article, Madoff argues that the current law governing donor-advised funds provides too much of a benefit to donors and sponsoring organizations, without ensuring sufficient benefit to the charitable sector as a whole. Moreover, the current rules undermine the integrity of the tax system by implicating the government in a ‘‘wink and a nod’’ system that disproportionately benefits the wealthy. To remedy these problems, donor-advised funds should be subject to a seven-year payout requirement, and the rules should be revised to ensure that private foundations cannot satisfy their payout obligations simply by making transfers to a donor-advised fund.

“Reasoning-Lite” In The Violent Video Game Case, Alan Garfield

Alan E Garfield

One might have expected that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in the violent video game case, Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass’n, would have been a thoughtful balancing of society’s competing interests in protecting freedom of speech and protecting children from harm. After all, the Supreme Court had held decades earlier that the government could deny minors access to soft-porn, or what the Court called “girlie magazines.” So one could have assumed the Court would seriously consider California’s claim that minors also needed sheltering from the grittier world of violent video game rapes, beheadings, and ethnic cleansings. Yet, as Justice Scalia’s …

Religious Arbitration And The New Multiculturalism: Negotiating Conflicting Legal Orders, Michael A. Helfand

Michael A Helfand

This Article considers a trend towards what I have termed the "new multiculturalism," where conflicts between law and religion are less about recognition and symbolism and more about conflicting legal orders. Nothing typifies this trend more than the increased visibility of religious arbitration, whereby religious groups use current arbitration doctrine to have their disputes adjudicated not in U.S. courts and under U.S. law, but before religious courts and under religious law. This dynamic has pushed the following question to the forefront of the multicultural agenda: under what circumstances should U.S. courts enforce arbitration awards issued by religious courts in accordance …

The Case For Reducing The Market Salience Of Taxation, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

David Gamage

This paper considers a narrow but important question that has arisen in the literature on tax salience. Contrary to the predictions of neoclassical economic theory, a number of studies have demonstrated that, in response to certain presentations of tax prices, consumers do not always fully factor tax costs into their market decisions. This result indicates that policy makers could opt for tax price presentation techniques that would reduce the market salience of taxation, thereby likely also reducing the deadweight loss otherwise caused by taxpayers distorting their behavior to avoid taxation. Assuming that these experimental results are sound, and bracketing the …

Marbury Versus Madison: Documents And Commentary, Mark Graber, Michael Perhac

Mark Graber

Marbury versus Madison combines documents and analytical essays timed for the bicentennial year (2003) of one of the most important Supreme Court cases. This timely collection will explain: the constitutional, political, philosophical background to judicial review the historical record leading to this landmark case the impact of the decision since 1803 its impact on the world stage, especially for new and emerging democratic nations. Also includes a listing of all the Supreme Court cases citing Marbury an an annotated Marbury v. Madison.

Rethinking Abortion: Equal Choice, The Constitution, And Reproductive Politics, Mark Graber

Mark Graber

Mark Graber looks at the history of abortion law in action to argue that the only defensible, constitutional approach to the issue is to afford all women equal choice--abortion should remain legal or bans should be strictly enforced. Steering away from metaphysical critiques of privacy, Graber compares the philosophical, constitutional, and democratic merits of the two systems of abortion regulation witnessed in the twentieth century: pre-Roe v. Wade statutory prohibitions on abortion and Roe's ban on significant state interference with the market for safe abortion services. He demonstrates that before Roe, pro-life measures were selectively and erratically administered, thereby …

Transforming Free Speech; The Ambiguous Legacy Of Civil Libertarianism, Mark Graber

Mark Graber

Contemporary civil libertarians claim that their works preserve a worthy American tradition of defending free-speech rights dating back to the framing of the First Amendment. Transforming Free Speech challenges the worthiness, and indeed the very existence of one uninterrupted libertarian tradition.

Mark A. Graber asserts that in the past, broader political visions inspired libertarian interpretations of the First Amendment. In reexamining the philosophical and jurisprudential foundations of the defense of expression rights from the Civil War to the present, he exposes the monolithic free-speech tradition as a myth. Instead of one conception of the system of free expression, two emerge: …

Dred Scott And The Problem Of Constitutional Evil, Mark Graber

Mark Graber

Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil concerns what is entailed by pledging allegiance to a constitutional text and tradition saturated with concessions to evil. The Constitution of the United States was originally understood as an effort to mediate controversies between persons who disputed fundamental values, and did not offer a vision of the good society. In order to form a "more perfect union" with slaveholders, late-eighteenth-century citizens fashioned a constitution that plainly compelled some injustices and was silent or ambiguous on other questions of fundamental right. This constitutional relationship could survive only as long as a bisectional consensus …

Contract Law, Party Sophistication And The New Formalism, Meredith Miller

Meredith R. Miller

With increasing frequency, courts are mentioning party sophistication as relevant to whether a contract has been formed, whether a contract is enforceable, how the contract should be interpreted, and even, in some instances, the determination of an appropriate remedy. Sophisticated parties are held to a different set of rules, grounded in freedom of contract. It is presumed that a sophisticated party was aware of what to bargain for and read (or should have read) and understood (or should have understood) the terms of a written agreement. But, just what do courts mean when they call a contracting party “sophisticated”? “Sophistication” …

Investment Arbitration Panel Upholds Jurisdiction To Hear Mass Bondholder Claims Against Argentina, Karen Cross

Karen Halverson Cross

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Differential Treatment In International Environmental Law, Maxwell Chibundu

Maxwell O. Chibundu

A review of Differential Treatment in International Environmental Law by Phillippe Cullet. Brookfield, Ashgate Publishing Co., 2003.

Book Review: International Environmental Treaties And State Behavior: Factors Influencing Cooperation, Maxwell Chibundu

Maxwell O. Chibundu

No abstract provided.

Tort Law: Cases, Perspectives, And Problems. 4th Edition, Thomas Galligan, Phoebe Haddon, Frank Maraist, Frank Mcclellan, Michael Rustad, Nicolas Terry, Stephanie Wildman

Phoebe A. Haddon

The Fourth Edition of this unique casebook has been dramatically revised. This new edition presents the important cases, statutes, empirical data, and competing tort theories in a problems-oriented format that is designed to help students acquire a sophisticated understanding of tort law through active learning. As before, the text includes a large number of problems Now, however, the Problems, updated and considerably expanded, are organized in Sets at the end of each substantive chapter. This extensively re-written and reorganized edition includes the classic common law torts cases, but is updated throughout with teachable, cutting-edge decisions that will demand student interest …

Scientists And Legal Scholars Study 'Moral Luck', Timothy O'Neill

Timothy P. O'Neill

Rescuing Science From Politics: Regulation And The Distortion Of Scientific Research, Wendy Wagner, Rena Steinzor

Rena I. Steinzor

Rescuing Science from Politics debuts chapters by the nation's leading academics in law, science, and philosophy who explore ways that the law can be abused by special interests to intrude on the way scientists conduct research. The high stakes and adversarial features of regulation create the worst possible climate for the honest production and use of science especially by those who will ultimately bear the cost of the resulting regulatory standards. Yet an in-depth exploration of the ways in which dominant interest groups distort the available science to support their positions has received little attention in the academic or popular …

Public Choice Concepts And Applications In Law, Maxwell Stearns, Todd Zywicki

Maxwell L. Stearns

This is the only course book specifically designed to instruct law students in the discipline of public choice. The book provides a comprehensive, but nontechnical, overview of interest group theory, social choice theory, and game theory (along with elementary price theory), and ties these concepts to a wide range of topics in both public and private law. The book contains chapters devoted to each set of methodological tools and to specific institutional settings: legislatures, courts, executive branch (and bureaus), and constitutions.