Law Commons^™

The Ballad Of Hicks Carmichael: Law, Music, And Popular Justice In Urban Appalachia, William Davenport Mercer

Scholarly Works

This article examines a rare folk ballad to revisit an 1888 Tennessee trial that newspapers referred to as the fastest in the country in which the death penalty was involved. If we look at this event using court records and newspapers, it tells a regrettably common story of a court under pressure from the populace skirting the protections of law. However, if we consider the trial as a performative endeavor, we can rightly consider other performative events, like folk songs, not as reflective of official events but as equivalents that help provide insight into the larger motives behind the court’s …

Choice Of Law And The Right Of Publicity: Rethinking The Domicile Rule, Mary Lafrance

Scholarly Works

Determining the best choice of law principle for right of publicity claims, and persuading courts to adopt this principle, will enhance predictability for potential plaintiffs and defendants in the foreseeable future. To begin this process, this article by Professor Mary LaFrance takes a critical look at the widespread practice of applying the law of the celebrity's domicile to determine the existence of an enforceable right of publicity.

This article suggests that there are strong policy arguments against the domicile rule, and that courts adhering to the rule are confusing disputes over property ownership with disputes over liability for tortious injury …

New York Right Of Publicity Law: Panel Discussion, Mary Lafrance

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Basketball Court: How Brittney Griner's In My Skin Illustrates Title Ix's Failure To Protect Lgbt Athletes At Religious Institutions, Leslie C. Griffin

Scholarly Works

Symposium: Playing with Pride: LGBT Inclusion in Sports.

Unlike schoolteachers, janitors, coaches, food-service directors, organists, and other workers, professional athletes usually command center stage in society. Their successes and failures loom larger than life. Sometimes their prominent lives highlight themes hidden from public discussion or neglected by the majority. Professional basketball player Brittney Griner's autobiography does just that, by illuminating how "religious freedom" can undermine equality, especially LGBT equality.

Gambling Disorder, Vulnerability, And The Law: Mapping The Field, Stacey A. Tovino

Scholarly Works

This Article seeks to descriptively map the sub-field of gambling disorder and the law and ask whether individuals with gambling disorder are vulnerable under the law. Like other scholarship that descriptively maps ethical, legal, and social implications of lesser known conditions and developments, this Article seeks to describe the treatment of individuals with gambling disorder in a variety of illustrative, but not exhaustive, legal contexts, to identify the limited scholarship assessing the application of the law to individuals with gambling disorder, and to invite members of the health law academy to bring their significant expertise to bear on these issues …

Clearing Rights For Entertainment Projects, Mary Lafrance

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Concussions And Sports: Introduction, David Orentlicher

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Racial Upside: Deconstructing The "Merits" Of Jeremy Lin's Nba Contract, Stewart Chang

Scholarly Works

In this Article, Professor Stewart Chang disputes the common misperception that sports are a colorblind meritocracy that should serve as a model for the rest of society. The capacity of players to break into and succeed in professional sports is believed to be based purely on merit, with no consideration of race. Controversies that surfaced around the rise of professional basketball player Jeremy Lin, an Asian American not expected to succeed in a sport dominated by blacks and whites, challenged this popularly-held notion. He argues, not in a derisive way, that Lin's ability to secure a lucrative $28.8 million contract, …

The Empty Promise Of Vara: The Restrictive Application Of A Narrow Statute, David E. Shipley

Scholarly Works

The Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) was enacted by Congress in 1990 in order to bring our laws into compliance with Article 6bis of the Berne Convention and to acknowledge that protecting moral rights will foster “a climate of artistic worth and honor that encourages the author in the arduous act of creation.” The passage of this legislation is said to show Congress’s “belief that the art covered by the Act ‘meet[s] a special societal need, and [its] protection and preservation serves an important public interest.’”

Notwithstanding these lofty statements about artistic worth, honor and encouraging creation, VARA is a …

Ignorance, Harm, And The Regulation Of Performance-Enhancing Substances, Lisa Milot

Scholarly Works

There is a disconnect between how legal and sporting authorities, on the one hand, and many elite athletes, on the other, view the use of performance-enhancing substances. While official and popular narratives portray the use of these substances as isolated examples of deviant behavior, to the elite athletes who daily push their bodies beyond societally normal limits of pain and risk, enhancement is oftentimes an accepted part of the job. As a result, efforts to regulate and detect athletes’ use of these substances have consistently captured only a small fraction of the use that exists.

This Article describes the ways …

The Law Professor As Faculty Athletics Representative: Some Random Thoughts After Two Years, David E. Shipley

Scholarly Works

It is a pleasure to write an essay about something I really enjoy, and it is especially pleasing not to worry about footnotes. I have been a law professor since 1977, and in August 2012, I started my 35th year of teaching. It is still fun to be in the classroom; my students energize me, teaching remains a challenge and being a productive scholar is important. I am one of those professors who likes his law school, university and professional service commitments. I am fortunate to have the best job in higher education: being a tenured law professor. My service …

Concussion And Football: Failures To Respond By The Nfl And The Medical Profession, David Orentlicher

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Disappearing Fourth Wall: Law, Ethics, And Experiential Theatre, Mary Lafrance

Scholarly Works

The cutting edge of experiential theatre blurs the lines between performer and audience. Both the performer and the audience are vulnerable. Audiences may be subject to assaultive or disturbing behavior or images. The performance may take place in an unconventional venue that poses safety hazards. A single audience member may be alone with a performer, who may engage in provocative or shocking behavior, including verbal abuse or touching. The performer may invite similar conduct from the participant. Typically, the participant does not know in advance what will take place and does not sign a waiver. While the performer has a …

Streaming While Teaching: The Legality Of Using Person Streaming Video Accounts For The Classroom, Jonathan I. Ezor

Scholarly Works

Educators are constantly seeking new sources of relevant material to illustrate doctrinal and practice topics. With the growing understanding of students’ different learning styles, as well as the expansion of high-speed network connections and large displays in the classroom, streaming video has begun gaining popularity as an educational tool. Films, television programs, and real-time and archived legislative and court sessions may provide examples (both positive and negative) to enhance pedagogy. One increasingly common source for streaming content is a commercial video provider such as Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. Even where such providers do not offer educational or institutional services, educators …

Proposal For An International Convention On Online Gambling, Marketa Trimble

Scholarly Works

The proposal, which will be published as a chapter in a volume from the Internet Gaming Regulation Symposium co-organized by the William S. Boyd School of Law of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in May 2012, presents the outline of an international convention ('Convention') that will facilitate cooperation among countries in enforcement of their online gambling regulations while allowing the countries to maintain their individual legal approaches to online gambling. Countries continue to vary in their approaches - some permit and regulate, and others prohibit online gambling, and even countries that permit and regulate online gambling approach the issue …

Graduated Response By Industry Compact: Piercing The Black Box, Mary Lafrance

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Ncaa Transgender Student-Athlete 'Policy': Analysis, Shawn Crincoli

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Iaaf Hyperandrogenism Regulations And Discrimination, Shawn Crincoli

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Story Of Us: Resolving The Face-Off Between Autobiographical Speech And Information Privacy, Sonja R. West

Scholarly Works

Increasingly more “ordinary” Americans are choosing to share their life experiences with a public audience. In doing so, however, they are revealing more than their own personal stories, they are exposing private information about others as well. The face-off between autobiographical speech and information privacy is coming to a head, and our legal system is not prepared to handle it.

In a prior article, I established that autobiographical speech is a unique and important category of speech that is at risk of being undervalued under current law. This article builds on my earlier work by addressing the emerging conflict between …

Perelman's Theory Of Argumentation And Natural Law, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Scholarly Works

Chaim Perelman resuscitated the rhetorical tradition by developing an elegant and detailed theory of argumentation. Rejecting the single-minded Cartesian focus on rational truth, Perelman recovered the ancient wisdom that we can argue reasonably about matters that admit only of probability. From this one would conclude that Perelman’s argumentation theory is inalterably opposed to natural law, and therefore that I would have done better to have written an article titled “Perelman’s Th eory of Argumentation as a Rejection of Natural Law.”

However, my thesis is precisely that Perelman’s theory of argumentation connects to the natural law tradition in interesting and productive …

Are We All Dopes? A Behavioral Law & Economics Approach To Legal Regulation Of Doping In Sports, Shawn Crincoli

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Habeas Corpus And Baseball, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

Scholarly Works

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries playing baseball on Sundays was a criminal offense in many states, where police often aggressively intervened to prevent or stop baseball games from being played on the Sabbath. In 1894, “the police of the city of Brooklyn took it upon themselves to chase, club and lock up all boys and men found playing ball on Sunday,” People ex rel. Poole v. Hesterberg, 43 Misc. 510, 89 N.Y.S. 498, 499 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Kings County 1904); on two consecutive Sundays in July 1910, two professional baseball teams attempting to play in Chemung County, …

Shielding The Unmedia: Using The Process Of Journalism To Protect The Journalist's Privilege In An Infinite Universe Of Publication, Linda L. Berger

Scholarly Works

When a computer and a connection to the Internet allow almost anyone to claim to be a journalist, the question of who should be covered by media shield laws becomes especially difficult. Based on the premise that it is important to preserve the journalist's privilege and to accommodate the "unmedia" if that can be done without undermining journalism's values, this article suggests that the best way to limit the journalist's privilege is not to define "who is a journalist?" or "what is news?" Instead, the privilege should extend protection to anyone who is engaged in the work process of journalism. …

Law, Art, And The Killing Jar, Louise Harmon

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Three Strikes And They're Out At The Old Ball Game: Preemption Of Performers' Rights Of Publicity Under The Copyright Act Of 1976, David E. Shipley

Scholarly Works

Presently, broadcasters and cable television companies deal directly with the two baseball leagues and the individual clubs, which in turn purport to sell all of the rights regarding the televising of the games. The players wanted to be a part of those contracts to get a bigger share of the television revenues. In the Baltimore Orioles case both sides sought a judicial resolution of their rights in the telecasts. The baseball players' demand was based on their rights of publicity in their performances. This common law right allegedly precluded the clubs and the leagues from contracting with the broadcasters for …

Publicity Never Dies; It Just Fades Away: The Right Of Publicity And Federal Preemption, David E. Shipley

Scholarly Works

This Article explores the nature and developing boundaries of the state law doctrine of the right of publicity. It investigates the doctrine's conflict with the 1976 Copyright Act and federal policy concerning intellectual property, and concludes that the 1976 Act precludes publicity actions aimed at protecting certain types of publicity interests. In other situations, the overriding objectives of federal copyright policy preempt the right to the extent that the right defined as perpetual; moreover, such protection in perpetuity violates the supremacy clause of the Federal Constitution. Many types of publicity actions, however, should escape preemption either because the asserted rights …