Law Commons^™

Reconsidering The Employment Contract Exclusion In Section 1 Of The Federal Arbitration Act: Correcting The Judiciary's Failure Of Statutory Vision, Jeffrey W. Stempel

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The Federal Arbitration Act (the Act), seeks to eliminate centuries of perceived judicial hostility toward arbitration agreements. The Act made written arbitration agreements involving interstate commerce specifically enforceable. It also provided a procedural structure for enforcing awards, which were protected through deferential judicial review. The Act intended to have a wide reach, employing a broad definition of commerce that has presumably grown in breadth along with the expansion of judicial notions of commerce. Although courts applied the Act in tentative and cautious fashion until the 1960's, arbitration gained momentum during the 1970's and the 1980's. Despite growing judicial enthusiasm for …

International Year In Review: Developments In International Criminal Law, Christopher L. Blakesley

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In this piece Professor Blakesley provides remarks on recent developments in International Criminal Law.

The Rehnquist Court, Statutory Interpretation, Inertial Burdens, And A Misleading Version Of Democracy, Jeffrey W. Stempel

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No abstract provided.

Comparative Law: Its Purposes And Possibilities, Christopher L. Blakesley

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Comparative law is much more than “matching laws.” Professor Grossfield’s short, lively book will certainly awaken its German reader to the value, indeed necessity, of comparative law and comparative insights in his or her own practice or scholarly work. This, he aims at the skeptic who may think of comparative law or foreign legal systems as arcane and useless fluff, too luxurious for the hard working “practical-minded” practitioner. Professor Grossfield throws the cold water of realization into this skeptic’s face. The message being that considering comparative approaches and theory about similar problems may indeed be as practical as one can …

International Law Principles Governing The Extraterritorial Application Of Criminal Law, Christopher L. Blakesley

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In this piece Professor Blakesley provides remarks on the differences and similarities between Germany and the United States on international principles of jurisdiction over extraterritorial crime.

Immunity From Regulatory Price Squeeze Claims: From Keogh, Parker, And Noerr To Town Of Concord And Beyond, Keith A. Rowley

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On September 21, 1990, the First Circuit handed down its decision in Town of Concord, Massachusetts v. Boston Edison Co. This case, the most recent in a growing line of court of appeals decisions examining the antitrust implications of public utility rate structures, represents the first time a United States court of appeals has unequivocally stated that an antitrust action based upon a “price squeeze” could not be maintained against a utility whose wholesale and retail rates were both fully regulated. Town of Concord notwithstanding, the courts are far from agreeing whether investor-owned electric or natural gas utilities are immune …

Pitfalls Of Public Policy: The Case Of Arbitration Agreements, Jeffrey W. Stempel

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As the juxtaposition of these quotations suggests, judges have long held disparate views on the legitimacy and value of “public policy” considerations as a basis for legal decision making. The popular notion posits that Justice Holmes and legal realists carried the day, making public policy analysis an ordinary part of the adjudication process. The story, of course, is more complex than this legal version of Don Quixote. Many judges and lawyers, including Justice Holmes in other writings, continued to speak of adjudication in more formalist and positivist terms, with most laypersons in apparent agreement. Judge Burroughs' view of public policy …

Untangling The Market-Participant Exemption To The Dormant Commerce Clause, Dan T. Coenen

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This article focuses on an important vehicle through which the modern Court has moved to protect local prerogatives: the market-participant exemption to the dormant commerce clause. The core of the Court's dormant commerce clause jurisprudence is well-settled: "The commerce clause, by its own force, prohibits discrimination against interstate commerce, whatever its form or method...” Over the past two decades, however, the Court has lifted this prohibition when states act as "market participants" rather than as "market regulators." Invoking this distinction, the Court has shielded from commerce clause attack blatant favoritism of local interests when a state or municipality buys printing …

Uniform Status Of Children Of Assisted Conception Act: A View From The Drafting Committee, Robert C. Robinson, Paul M. Kurtz

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The "Status of Children of Assisted Conception" Act was designed primarily to effect the security and well-being of children born and living in our midst as a result of assisted conception. The Conference's Executive Committee and the general Conference, considering the plight of these children, some with five biological parents, some with no readily identifiable biological parents, and some with other deprivations, determined that the greatest priority and first call on the energy and talent of the Drafting Committee was to provide an act which addressed these and other deficiencies.

There was great urgency on the part of the Drafting …

A Democratic Response To Foreign Political Offenses: The Need For Legislation To Counter Anti-Terrorism Excesses, Daniel H. Derby

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No abstract provided.

Rationality - And The Irrational Underinclusiveness Of The Civil Rights Laws, Peter Brandon Bayer

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Congress has enacted a series of civil rights laws designed to protect individuals from public an private forms of irrational discrimination. To be lawful, such civil rights statutes must conform with the definition of rationality required by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Yet, in one fashion, these statutes are as irrational as the behavior they seek to control. The statutes protect only certain classes of individuals in limited instances. This article argues that the existing civil rights laws, although integral to a free society, are but a first step. The statute will never be fully rational, never completely fair, until …

Terrorism And The Constitution, Christopher L. Blakesley

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How do terrorism and the Iran-Contra hearings relate to the Constitution? My thesis is that there is a tendency for the executive of this or any nation to eschew even constitutionally mandated avenues of problem solving considered to be cumbersome, inefficient, or inimical to the executive’s vision of the national interest in foreign affairs. There is also a tendency to consider one’s own conduct and the conduct of one’s allies and friends to be justified when it is directed at goals deemed by the executive branch to be good. Constitutional provisions based on the checks and balances and separation of …

Legal Evolution And Legislation, Alan Watson

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For several years I have been working on two relationships: the relationship between legal rules and the society in which they operate, and the relationship between sources of law and the way law evolves. Some critics have suggested that in discussing the evolution of law, I have understated the revolutionary force of legislation and statutory law. This issue will be the focus of this article.

The Evisceration Of The Political Offense Exception To Extradition, Christopher L. Blakesley

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The Supplementary Convention to the Extradition Treaty between the Government of the United States of American and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was signed on June 25, 1985, and transmitted to the U.S. Senate on July 17, 1985. This article will focus on the portion of the supplementary treaty which effectively eliminates the political offense exception, and on the statement made by the Legal Adviser to the Department of State, the honorable Judge Abraham D. Sofaer, made in favor of the Supplementary Treaty, on August 1, 1985. This article suggests that approval of …

Electoral Folklore: An Empirical Examination Of The Abortion Issue, Jeffrey W. Stempel

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Though partisans on both sides claim credit for electoral victories and defeats, and politicians treat both groups with deference, few studies have attempted to gauge the impact of the abortion issue in more than an anecdotal manner. In 1976, NARAL noted that of the 13 members of the U.S. Representatives that lost re-election bids, nine were pro-life, and four were pro-choice. A study conducted by the Alan Guttmacher Institute of the 1974 House races found that, in “competitive” districts, 92 percent of the pro-choice candidates studied were re-elected while only 61 percent of the pro-life candidates were returned to Congress, …

The Practice Of Extradition From Antiquity To Modern France And The United States: A Brief History, Christopher L. Blakesley

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In order to understand the perceptions of extradition’s function and purpose in modern France and the United States, it is important to consider the evolution of thought regarding extradition. This article will focus on the history of extradition law as it has influenced contemporary law in the United States and France. The purpose of the article is to provide insight into the development of the “modern” extradition. Although the process has not always been executed by use of a treaty agreement, treaty authorized extraditions have existed since antiquity. Moreover, a treaty authorized extradition for common crimes, as opposed to political …

Codification And Consequences: The Georgian Motif, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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For roughly the last 45 years, the Georgia statutory scene has featured both codification species--a statutorily sanctioned code of 1933, and a supplemented and "annotated" code of private publication. For many purposes this situation was of little interest or importance; on occasion, however, the point could become one of ominous significance, particularly for lawyers (and their clients). Perhaps a brief account of a few of those occasions and a summary description of the current codification effort--itself already the subject of litigation--will prove of general interest.

A Model First-Party Insurance Excess-Liability Act, Eric M. Holmes

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The purpose of this article is to study the various statutes concerning first-party, excess-liability in an effort to compose a model act. The primary issues affecting this problem are two-fold: First, what type of extra-contract damages should be available (e.g., attorney fees, litigation expenses, consequential losses, emotional distress, punitive damages); and second, should these extra-contract damages be based on an equitable standard of good-faith conduct (fault) or on strict liability principles (no fault)? These are crucial questions as the division between contract and tort becomes ever more blurred in modern law.

Statutes Of Nonstatutory Origin, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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It is appealing, perhaps, to envision the legislative process as the fountainhead of public policy, most representative of society's felt needs, and the branch of government most unrestrained in responding to those needs. Shackled by neither the presence of a specific litigated controversy nor the absence of the power of appropriation, the legislative branch presumably possesses the most peripheral perspective and the most undiluted source of solution. Bounded only by the vague confines of practical politics, the legislature enjoys unique theoretical status in foreseeing and formulating rather than merely reflecting and reacting.

Extradition Between France And The United States: An Exercise In Comparative And International Law, Christopher L. Blakesley

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In 1878 Cardaillac defined extradition as “the right for a State on the territory of which an accused or convicted person has take refuge, to deliver him up to another State wich has requisitioned his return and is competent to judge and punish him.” The term “extradition” was imported to the United States from France, where the decret-loi of Febraury 19, 1791, appears to be the first official document to have used the term. The term is not found in treaties or conventions until 1828. The Latin equivalent to extradition, “tradere”, is not found in early Latin works, but the …

Material Witness And Material Injustice, Ronald L. Carlson, Mark S. Voelpel

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No serious student of the adversary system can ignore the grave threat to the integrity of the American witness process posed by this nation’s material witness statutes. These outmoded laws, some dating back to the territorial period of a state’s history, are not invoked in every case, perhaps not even routinely, but when dusted off and put into operation, these archaic statutes result in innocent citizens spending weeks – even months – in custody. To remedy such injustices the authors, after examining cases decided and legislation adopted during the last ten years, will propose a model material witness law that …

Production And Consumption Of Informal Law: A Model For Identifying Information Loss, Sandra M. Huszagh, Fredrick W. Huszagh

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This Article seeks to indicate where the probability of citizen ignorance is greatest, and to identify the important independent variables that determine the probable level of ignorance. On the basis of this analysis, the Article sets forth a model designed to facilitate development of law communication reforms that can restore legitimacy to the government's assumption that ignorance is not a proper defense to noncompliance. The model can be applied at any jurisdictional level. The nine charts at the end of the Article illustrate how various communication factors individually and cumulatively condition information flow at each level.

A Model Of The Law Communication Process: Formal And Free Law, Sandra M. Huszagh, Fredrick W. Huszagh

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This Article and the one to be published in the next issue depict how government decrees are made available to citizens and identify those conditions under which various citizens are not likely to acquire the knowledge essential for the deference that American government requires. The process by which government communicates its commands to citizens is often inadequate to make individuals or organizations aware of applicable laws. Even if the citizen receives the law, he may fail to understand or respond to the law as the law-drafters intended. The roots of these failures can be examined alternatively by (1) analyzing the …

"Reference Statutes"--Borrow Now And Pay Later?, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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In 1923, the General Assembly of Nod enacted the "Statute of Paul" (so designated because of the sponsoring legislator, Paul Perfect), which empowered municipalities of Nod (called "sleepy hollows") to issue licenses to individuals wishing to engage in legitimate private enterprises. One provision of the Paul Statute directed that applicants for such licenses "must make application in the mode prescribed by Code Section 23-112, dealing with county licesning [sic] of pickle processors" (popularly known as the "Peter Pickle Statute"). In 1923, Code Section 23-112 required that an applicant for a pickle processing license submit his application to county licensing authorities …

Union Discipline Of Its Membership Under Section 101(A)(5) Of Landrum-Griffin: What Is "Discipline" And How Much Process Is Due?, J. Ralph Beaird, Mack A. Player

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Analogies between criminal trials and union disciplinary hearings are easily drawn. Both involve charges of prohibited conduct, the presentation of evidence, and decisions by competent and impartial tribunals. Whereas one’s physical freedom is at stake in a criminal proceeding, his economic freedom is often imperiled in a union disciplinary hearing. It is not surprising therefore that the requirements of due process have been extended to the labor setting. Embodied in section 101(a)(5) of the Landrum-Griffin Act, due process in the union sphere has been as elusive of definition as in judicial proceedings. Examining section 101(a)(5), Professors Beaird and Player attempt …

Local Legislation In Georgia: The Notice Requirement, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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Professor Sentell's commentary concerns Georgia's efforts to curb potential abuses of local or special legislation by requiring notice of such legislation to the affected locality. After examining the ineffectiveness of the notice requirement under Georgia's Constitution of 1877, Professor Sentell focuses upon various aspects of the notice requirement under the Constitution of 1945, and concludes that despite its rather erratic history in Georgia, the notice requirement reasonably serves its purpose as a compromise between the extremes of unrestricted special legislation and no special legislation.

The Legislative Process In Georgia Local Government Law, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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What our city fathers do as legislators and how they do it impinges upon the daily lives of most of us. Those involved in the production of municipal law and those affected by it will find this study of legislative procedure at the local level of great interest and help. Here is a solid piece of research which will stand for a long time to come.