Law Commons^™

The Net Profits Puzzle, Victor P. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

The use of "net profits" clauses in the movie business poses a problem. The standard perception is that Hollywood accounting results in successful films showing no net profits. If that is indeed so, then why have they survived for over four decades? This Essay argues that a successful movie will fail to yield net profits only if a "gross participant" (a major star whose compensation is in part a function of the film's gross receipts) becomes associated with the film. Since the net profits participants typically are associated with a project first, the question becomes: Why would they be willing …

The "Battle Of The Forms": Fairness, Efficiency, And The Best-Shot Rule, Victor P. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

After the parties agree to a sale, the buyer sends a purchase order with one set of boilerplate terms on the reverse side; the seller responds with an acknowledgment and invoice with another set of boilerplate terms. Do they have a contract? If so, on what terms? This so-called "battle of the forms" has given rise to a great outpouring of scholarship and a legislative solution widely perceived as inartfully drafted and generally unsatisfactory. In particular, the Code solution has been criticized because it attempted to solve both the formation and interpretation problems with one rule. The Uniform Commercial Code …

Asteroids And Comets: U.S. And International Law And The Lowest-Probability, Highest Consequence Risk, Michael B. Gerrard, Anna W. Barber

Faculty Scholarship

Asteroids and comets pose unique policy problems. They are the ultimate example of a low probability, high consequence event: no one in recorded human history is confirmed to have ever died from an asteroid or a comet, but the odds are that at some time in the next several centuries (and conceivably next year) an asteroid or a comet will cause mass localized destruction and that at some time in the coming half million years (and conceivably next year), an asteroid or a comet will kill several billion people. The sudden extinction of the dinosaurs, and most other species 65 …

Old Chief V. United States: Stipulating Away Prosecutorial Accountability?, Daniel Richman

Faculty Scholarship

Earlier this year, in Old Chief v. United States, the Supreme Court finally resolved a circuit split on a nagging evidentiary issue: When a defendant charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm offers to satisfy one of the statute's elements by stipulating to the existence of a prior felony conviction, may the government decline the stipulation and prove the existence and the nature of that prior felony?

The question of evidence law resolved in Old Chief is not particularly earth-shattering. Indeed, while the Court divided five to four on the issue, neither Justice Souter's opinion …

Territoriality, Risk Perception, And Counterproductive Legal Structures: The Case Of Waste Facility Siting, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

The siting of hazardous and nuclear waste facilities has proven to be a task of enormous difficulty in our federal system. In this Article, the Author argues that one of the major causal factors for this difficulty is that the legal regime surrounding waste facility siting decisions is not structured in a manner sensitive to the human factors involved. The siting of a hazardous waste facility is likely to generate a negative community response where the imposition of externally made decisions and externally generated wastes fails to take into account the innate human trait of territoriality. Territoriality is a powerful …

Does Public Choice Theory Justify Judicial Activism After All?, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

Some legal scholars have argued that public choice theory justifies certain kinds of judicial activism. Others have said it does not. Given the present state of the debate, it would appear that those finding no necessary support for judicial activism have the stronger argument. I will suggest, however, that if we tweak the analysis a little further, it may turn out that public choice theory provides limited support for judicial activism after all.

Ethics, Professionalism, And Meaningful Work, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

Much of the anxiety and dissatisfaction associated with legal ethics arises from the categorical quality of the bar's dominant norms. These norms take the form of relatively inflexible rules insensitive to all but a few of the circumstances of the cases they govern. Hence they often require the lawyer to take actions that contribute to injustice or to refrain from actions that would avert injustice.

For example, many lawyers believe that a criminal defender is obliged to impeach a truthful complaining witness even though the only immediate purpose of this tactic is to encourage the trier to draw a mistaken …

The Rise Of Sublocal Structures In Urban Governance, Richard Briffault

Faculty Scholarship

The dominant law and economics model of local government, based on the work of Charles M. Tiebout, assumes that decentralization of power to local governments promotes the efficient delivery of public goods and services. In his seminal article, A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures, Tiebout contended that the existence of a large number of local governments in any given area permits a "market solution" to the question of how to determine the level and mix of government services that people desire. The multiplicity of local governments in an area means that, as long as each locality is free to …

A Primer On The Basics Of Directors' Duties In Delaware: The Rules Of The Game (Part Ii), Craig W. Palm, Mark A. Kearney

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

If The International Shoe Fits, Wear It: Applying Traditional Personal Jurisdiction Analysis To Cyberspace In Compuserve, Inc. V. Patterson, Daniel V. Logue

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cigna Healthplan Of Louisiana, Inc. V. Louisiana: Unwilling To Save Louisiana's Any Willing Provider Statute From Erisa Preemption, Colleen C. Donnelly

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Perry, Perry Poor Policy Promoting Prejudice Rebuked By The Reality Of The Romer Ruling: Thomasson V. Perry, Amy E. Pizzutillo

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Personal Reflections On Creation Of The Third Circuit Task Force On Equal Treatment In The Courts, Dolores K. Sloviter

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law - To Punish Or Not To Punish - That Is The Question - Taylor V. Cisneros: Addressing The Constitutional Prohibitions Against Civil Sanctions In The Third Circuit, Caroline J. Patterson

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Disability Law - Susquenita School District V. Raelee S., Pendent Placement And Financial Responsibility Under The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act: The Third Circuit's Extension Of Burlington, Christine Moyles Kovan

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Estate Tax - Estate Of D'Ambrosio V. Commissioner: Reinterpretation Of Internal Revenue Code Section 2036(A) Nets Estate $330,000 In Tax Savings, Scott B. Connolly

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Labor Law - Antol V. Esposto: The Third Circuit Expands Preemption Under The Labor Management Relations Act, Joshua H. Grabar

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Report Of The Third Circuit Task Force On Equal Treatment In The Courts, Various Editors

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Space Resources, Common Property, And The Collective Action Problem, Glenn Reynolds, Robert Merges

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

The subjects of lunar mining, asteroidal resource extraction, and orbital solar power are again attracting considerable attention, leading to more discussion of space property rights regimes. This article discusses both private-property regimes and centralized regulatory regimes of the sort envisioned by the 1979 Moon Treaty, and also notes that private property regimes may actually be both more productive of wealth and more beneficial for the space environment than centralized regulatory schemes.

Basic Brownfields, Becky Jacobs

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

It seems as if everyone is talking about brownfields these days. You hear about brownfields on the news, and you can select from a variety of books and articles on the subject. Brownfields forums and seminars are being organized nationwide. Government agencies and officials at all levels consider brownfields a top priority. President Bill Clinton even remarked upon the issue in his 1997 State of the Union Address: "We should restore contaminated urban land and buildings to productive use." This article is a basic guide to the brownfields problem. It will define the problem and will attempt to identify the …

"‘Fairness’ And Joint And Several Liability In Government Cost Recovery Actions Under Cercla,", John Hyson

John Hyson

No abstract provided.

E-Foia And The "Mother Of All Complaints:" Information Delivery And Delay Reduction, Mark Grunewald

Mark H. Grunewald

No abstract provided.

Child Custody And Full Faith And Credit, Nancy Lemon

Nancy K.D. Lemon

With Deborah Goelman, Billie Lee Dunford-Jackson, and Roberta Valente

"Automobile Searches." Chapter 4d, 4d-1– 4d-62, "Suppression Of Illegally Obtained Evidence: Pretext Searches." Chapter 83, 83-1 - 83-18, Robert Bloom

Robert M. Bloom

No abstract provided.

Asylum Changes And Expedited Removal, Michele Pistone, Philip Schrag

Michele R. Pistone

No abstract provided.

Government By Trade Agreement, David Wirth

David A. Wirth

No abstract provided.

The Sound Of (Rap) Music: Sampling, Copyright Law And The Production Of Cultural Change, Kembrew Mcleod

Kembrew McLeod

No abstract provided.

Talk To The Media About Your Client? Think Again, Elisabeth Semel, C. Sevilla

Elisabeth Semel

No abstract provided.

Moore's Federal Practice, Daniel Coquillette, Gregory Joseph, Sol Schreiber, Jerold Solovy, Georgene Vairo

Daniel R. Coquillette

No abstract provided.

Biotechnology And The Patenting Of Living Organisms, Matthew Mcgovern

Matthew McGovern

No abstract provided.