Law Commons^™

The Situational Character: A Critical Realist Perspective On The Human Animal, Jon Hanson, David Yosifon

Faculty Publications

This Article is dedicated to retiring the now-dominant "rational actor" model of human agency, together with its numerous "dispositionist" cohorts, and replacing them with a new conception of human agency that the authors call the "situational character." This is a key installment of a larger project recently introduced in an article titled

The Situation: An Introduction to the Situational Character, Critical Realism, Power Economics, and Deep Capture. That introductory article adumbrated, often in broad stroke, the central premises and some basic conclusions of a new approach to legal theory and policy analysis. This Article provides a more complete version of …

Broken Scales: Obesity And Justice In America, Adam Benforado, Jon Hanson, David Yosifon

Faculty Publications

This Article is not so much about the scales we use to measure weight, but the scales we use to infer causation and assign responsibility-including the scales of justice. Ultimately, the problem we face is not obesity itself. Obesity is only a symptom of the problem. When scientists and public health experts point to various environmental agents-whether larger portion sizes, corn subsidies, video games, or urban sprawl-they, too, overlook the deeper source of our troubles. Our real problem is that we have an extremely difficult time seeing and understanding the role of unseen features in our environment and within us …

Politics Of Embryonic Discourse, Kevin Quinn

Faculty Publications

In our brave new world of stem cells, clones, and parthenotes, how should we talk about early human embryos? In fashioning a response to this very thorny question, Ann Kiessling has a core message. It is: (1)that new science produces "new" conceptuses;(2) that science and scientists have failed to differentiate (with appropriate clarity) these new ex vivo conceptuses from those createdin vivo; (3) that new, more appropriate and scientifically-informed, terms are necessary; and (4) that this new language should transform the public discourse about human embryos. No one would deny that the subtleties of human embryology are neglected in public …

Impact Of Stock Option Expensing On Small Businesses, Stephen F. Diamond, United States Senate, Committee On Small Business And Entrepreneurship

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Protecting Products That Go Hollywood [Mcle Self Study], Pratheepan Gulasekaram, Robert C. Welsh

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Rethinking The Role Of The Dormant Commerce Clause In State Tax Jurisdiction, Bradley W. Joondeph

Faculty Publications

Perhaps the biggest controversy in state and local taxation today concerns the constitutional authority of the states to impose taxes on goods purchased over the Internet. Some argue that the current, bright-line rule of "physical presence" is the appropriate standard for determining a state's jurisdiction under the dormant Commerce Clause. Others contend that jurisdiction should instead be resolved on the more pragmatic basis of a firm's "economic presence" in the taxing state. Regardless, commentators seem to agree that the dormant Commerce Clause imposes jurisdictional limits on state taxation; the dispute concerns the content of those standards. This article contends that …

Self-Executing Treaties And Domestic Judicial Remedies, David Sloss

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Availability Of U.S. Courts To Detainees At Guantanamo Bay Naval Base - Reach Of Habeas Corpus - Executive Power In War On Terror (Rasul V. Bush), David Sloss

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Privacy On The Open Road, Dorothy J. Glancy

Faculty Publications

The discussion begins by describing some of the surveillance techniques and technologies that can affect the privacy of travelers along public roadways. Then the article turns to examine some of the privacy interests of people on the open road. The next part considers some of the many types of legal rights that protect the privacy of people on public roads or highways. The article concludes by addressing the principle that people on the open road have important rights to freedom from intrusions and interferences with their on-the-road activities.

Copyright, Derivative Works And Fixation: Is Galoob A Mirage, Or Does The Form (Gen) Of The Alleged Derivative Work Matter?, Tyler T. Ochoa

Faculty Publications

The Copyright Act gives a copyright owner the exclusive right "to prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work." Does the Copyright Act require that a derivative work be "fixed in a tangible medium of expression" in order to be infringing? Existing case law is contradictory, stating both that a derivative work does not need to be "fixed" but that it does need to be embodied in some "concrete or permanent form." This contradiction stems from the fact that although the statutory language does not appear to require fixation, reading the statutory language literally would render illegal merely imagining a …

The International Significance Of An Instance Of Urban Environmental Inequity In Tijuana, Mexico, Tseming Yang

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Decollectivization And Democracy: Current Law Practice In Romania, Kandis Scott

Faculty Publications

Why have decollectivized Romanian lawyers failed to become important actors in the consolidation of their nation's democracy? Interviews of legal professionals in four Romanian cities suggest that their failure to participate in civil society inhibits avocats from becoming agents of change.

Notwithstanding the 1990-2002 statutes privatizing the bar, daily Romanian law practice differs little from collectivized practice. A similar resemblance to United States solo and small-firm practice is so striking as to belie the influence of the communist past in determining the behavior of typical Romanian lawyers today. The economics of law practice seem to explain consistent behavior in both …

Snipping Private Ryan: The Clean Flicks® Fight To Sanitize Movies, Nikki Pope

Faculty Publications

Digital technology scares the entertainment industry, and rightly so. Not only are they losing control over the distribution of their products, they are also losing control over the actual product. For example, a backlash against the character Jar-Jar Binks in STAR WARS® THE PHANTOM MENACE (Lucasfilm, 2001) resulted in an underground version of the movie with Jar-Jar removed from the film. Bootleg copies of movies that have not even opened in theaters yet are showing up on the sidewalks of New York, China, and Russia. The entertainment industry is grappling with how to reclaim control over its product and protect …

Mothers Who Kill: Coming To Terms With Modern American Infanticide, Michelle Oberman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.