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Full-Text Articles in Law

Introduction Symposium: The Jurisprudence Of Slavery Reparations: Introduction, Keith N. Hylton Dec 2004

Introduction Symposium: The Jurisprudence Of Slavery Reparations: Introduction, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

On April 9th and 10th, 2004, Boston University School of Law sponsored a symposium titled The Jurisprudence of Slavery Reparations. As the principal conference organizers, we are pleased and a bit awestruck to see the symposium contributions published in this issue of the Boston University Law Review. The papers published here - in the first symposium of its kind in a major law review - should serve as an immensely valuable reference on the jurisprudence of reparations


The New Moralizers: Transforming The Conservative Legal Agenda, David A. Super Jan 2004

The New Moralizers: Transforming The Conservative Legal Agenda, David A. Super

Faculty Scholarship

The essential elements of a wide range of social policies can be described in terms of responses to three basic questions. First, what burdens must the innocent carry? Second, what burdens must the blameworthy bear? And third, how does society assess blame? This Essay examines the increasingly successful efforts of a faction of social conservatives, called here the new moralizers, to reshape the resolution of each of these three issues and with them a wide range of social policies. Although the relative importance of these three questions has varied over time, the twentieth century saw a movement away from costly …


The Quiet "Welfare" Revolution: Resurrecting The Food Stamp Program In The Wake Of The 1996 Welfare Law, David A. Super Jan 2004

The Quiet "Welfare" Revolution: Resurrecting The Food Stamp Program In The Wake Of The 1996 Welfare Law, David A. Super

Faculty Scholarship

Cash-assistance programs have long been a focus of both liberal and conservative efforts to make symbolic statements. In this regard, the 1966 dismantlement of federal entitlement to cash assistance was nothing new. Although the 1996 welfare law also made deep cuts to in-kind programs, such as food stamps, these programs had less symbolic significance and hence were less often the target of public attacks. This lower political profile gave the Food Stamp Program room to find positive ways to adapt to the key themes that drove the enactment of the 1996 welfare law. In the 1996 welfare law’s wake, the …


Counting The Dragon's Teeth And Claws: The Definition Of Hard Paternalism, Thaddeus Mason Pope Jan 2004

Counting The Dragon's Teeth And Claws: The Definition Of Hard Paternalism, Thaddeus Mason Pope

Faculty Scholarship

n his classic 1897 essay, The Path of the Law, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. warned against blind imitation of the past and called for "enlightened skepticism" toward the law. He described the first step of this critical examination as getting "the dragon out of his cave and on to the plain and in the daylight" so that "you can count his teeth and claws and see just what is his strength." Over the past thirty years, disagreements over the appropriate definition of "paternalism" have often masked further disputes over the circumstances under which the restriction of substantially autonomous self-regarding conduct …


A Key Influence On The Doctrine Of Actual Malice: Justice William Brennan's Judicial Philosophy At Work In Changing The Law Of Seditious Libel, Carlo A. Pedrioli Jan 2004

A Key Influence On The Doctrine Of Actual Malice: Justice William Brennan's Judicial Philosophy At Work In Changing The Law Of Seditious Libel, Carlo A. Pedrioli

Faculty Scholarship

In light of the historical change in the law of seditious libel that New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) prompted and the need for further exploration of the human factors behind the case, this article gives attention to William Brennan’s judicial philosophy at work in the case. The article defines judicial philosophy as a system of guiding principles upon which a judge calls in the process of legal decision-making. Specifically, the article explains how, through Times v. Sullivan, Brennan’s instrumentalist judicial philosophy had an important influence on changing the course of legal protection for criticism of the government in the …


Religious Lawyering In A Liberal Democracy: A Challenge And An Invitation William A. Brahms Lecture On Law & Religion, Russell G. Pearce Jan 2004

Religious Lawyering In A Liberal Democracy: A Challenge And An Invitation William A. Brahms Lecture On Law & Religion, Russell G. Pearce

Faculty Scholarship

At a time when many believe that law is no longer a noble profession, many lawyers see no reason to devote time and energy to promoting the public good. Religious lawyering may offer a powerful antidote: a robust framework for lawyers to integrate into their professional lives their most deeply rooted values, perspectives and critiques, and persuasive reasons to improve the quality of justice and work for the common good. At its best, religious lawyering echoes Martin Luther King's advice to the street sweeper. How wonderful it would be, indeed, if we practiced law so well that the host of …


[N]Ot A Story To Pass On: Constructing Mothers Who Kill, Susan Ayres Jan 2004

[N]Ot A Story To Pass On: Constructing Mothers Who Kill, Susan Ayres

Faculty Scholarship

Toni Morrison has said in her Nobel acceptance speech, “We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” How we “do language” in judicial decisions about infanticide can perhaps be compared to and informed by fiction such as Toni Morrison’s Beloved.

Beloved provides a fictional account of the life of a historical woman, a slave who escaped to freedom and then attempted to kill all four of her children, successfully killing one when her master came to claim her under the Fugitive Slave Act. In addition to …


Monogamy's Law: Compulsory Monogamy And Polyamorous Existence, Elizabeth F. Emens Jan 2004

Monogamy's Law: Compulsory Monogamy And Polyamorous Existence, Elizabeth F. Emens

Faculty Scholarship

Right now, marriage and monogamy feature prominently on the public stage. Efforts to lift prohibitions on same-sex marriage in this country and abroad have inspired people on all sides of the political spectrum to speak about the virtues of monogamy's core institution and to express views on who should be included within it. The focus of this article is different. Like an "unmannerly wedding guest," this article invites the reader to pause amidst the whirlwind of marriage talk and to think critically about monogamy and its alternatives.


Neighborhood, Crime, And Incarceration In New York City, Jeffery Fagan, Valerie West, Jan Holland Jan 2004

Neighborhood, Crime, And Incarceration In New York City, Jeffery Fagan, Valerie West, Jan Holland

Faculty Scholarship

Several new studies suggest that social and spatial incarceration of young males has become part of the developmental ecology of adolescence in the nation's poorest neighborhoods. This concentration began in the 1970s, and has grown steadily through the last quarter century.The story of young men such as Cesar in Random Family illustrates the pervasive effects of both direct and vicarious prison experiences for young men and women in poor neighborhoods. Studies of street life such as Random Family, Code of the Streets, and American Project show how these experiences are now internalized in the social and psychological fabric of neighborhood …