Law Commons^™

Why Coastal Maine Needs A Wrap Around Drug Court, Haley K. Hunter

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

Opioid use and abuse is a national crisis that has taken its toll on small Maine communities. Among those hardest hit, are the small coastal communities that are the heart of Maines lobster and fishing industries. These areas are remote, and do not have the resources to deal with the opioid crisis as it continues to grow, which could have detrimental effects on an industry that makes up a large part of Maine’s economy. Further, while many lobstermen and fishermen suffer from opioid addiction, very few seek help or treatment for the disease. This comment suggests that the Maine judicial …

Reflections On Feminism, Law & Culture: Law Students’ Perspectives, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This essay is a collective reflection by thirty-nine law students on feminism, law and culture. In the Spring 2020 semester, the students who enrolled in the Feminist Legal Theory course taught by Professor Bridget Crawford at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University were a mixed-gender group of second-year, third-year, and fourth-year students. The course focused on the themes and methods of feminist analysis and the application of feminist legal theories to topics such as intimate partner violence, prostitution, pornography, sexual harassment, reproductive rights, and economic rights. Students attended a traditional seminar meeting once each week. Conversations continued …

Is This A Christian Nation?: Virtual Symposium September 25, 2020, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

The Dangers Of Humanitarian Intervention And The Responsibility To Protect Doctrine, And A Partial Solution, Matthew Bellinger

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

When the United Nations (UN) was formed, one of its most important goals was to render war obsolete. The UN Charter states as a goal the hope to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." When President Franklin D. Roosevelt first described his vision for a post-World War II international organization, he envisioned an organization that would promote and facilitate "international cooperation . . . to consider and deal with the problem of world relations." He also wanted a council that would "concern itself with peaceful settlement of international disputes." The UN Charter itself took the then-unprecedented step of …

The Low Usage Of Bankruptcy Procedures: A Cultural Problem? Lessons From Spain, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

While filing for bankruptcy does not seem appealing for any debtor regardless of the jurisdiction, the reluctance to use the bankruptcy system varies across countries. This article explores the underlying reasons and economic effects of the low usage of bankruptcy procedures in Spain, where the rate of business bankruptcies is one of the lowest in the world. Some authors have argued that the low usage of bankruptcy procedures in Spain is due to a “cultural” problem faced by Spanish entrepreneurs. According to this hypothesis, the lack of a “bankruptcy culture” makes Spanish entrepreneurs afraid to use the bankruptcy system. In …

Law School News: Introducing Rwu Law's Sixth Dean 07-01-2020, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

The Problem Of Modern Monetization Of Memes: How Copyright Law Can Give Protection To Meme Creators, Mark Marciszewski

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

Some legal questions answered in this article on the horizon for the courts and lawyers is how should courts apply copyright law to popular media made by small scale creators and shared on the internet, otherwise known as "memes."

Part II of this article will focus on validity of potential copyright protection in internet memes. It will start by describing the increased monetization surrounding memes and how this monetization calls for greater interest for meme creators to protect their work. It will then describe the merits of individual copyright interests in internet memes.

Part III of this article will focus …

Kuasa Atas Ruang Pembebasan’: The Resilience Ofwomen In Sasak Culture, Lucky Wijayanti

International Review of Humanities Studies

The Sasak tribe on Lombok island - West Nusa Tenggara, have traditional values and are applied through the social structure of their communities in daily life. Some existing customary values place women in irreplaceable positions. Even so, the existence of financial needs makes them work abroad as laborers, which indirectly results in the occurrence of divorce and early marriage. This is a problem for Sasak women in terms of survival in the Sasak culture. An ethnographic approach derived from Malinowski, the opinion of Svasek, and the value system framework from Kluckhohn are used in this study. This research concludes that …

Internet Architecture And Disability, Blake Reid

Indiana Law Journal

The Internet is essential for education, employment, information, and cultural and democratic participation. For tens of millions of people with disabilities in the United States, barriers to accessing the Internet—including the visual presentation of information to people who are blind or visually impaired, the aural presentation of information to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and the persistence of Internet technology, interfaces, and content without regard to prohibitive cognitive load for people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities—collectively pose one of the most significant civil rights issues of the information age. Yet disability law lacks a comprehensive theoretical approach …

Law Library Blog (April 2020): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

The City And The Soul: Character And Thriving In Law And Politics, Sherman J. Clark

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article describes a way of thinking about law and politics that is ancient in origins but largely absent from modern legal scholarship. It poses a two-part question: how do our law and politics influence our character, and how does that in turn influence how well and fully we live?

Much legal scholarship asks how law can be more efficient and effective in making us richer, healthier, safer, and such. This is good: wealth, health, and safety are—or can be—good things. But material conditions are not the only things that make for a rich and full life. What also matters—and …

"Christian Traditions, Culture, And Law": An Update And A Few Reflections, Robert F. Cochran Jr.

Pepperdine Law Review

Using Richard Niebuhr’s description of Christian approaches to culture, this Article examines the way Christians approach law, focusing on developments over the last 20 years. During that time, synthesists have continued to develop natural law, seeking an understanding of law based on shared human goods and reason, an approach that can generate a common approach among people of all faiths and no faith. Conversionists, including those on both the political left and right, argue for changes in law that will reflect Christian understandings of the good. Separatists (including many former conversionists) argue that American culture and law have become so …

One Step Enough, Steven D. Smith

Pepperdine Law Review

The growing divide between contemporary law and culture and Christianity forces Christians both in general and in the academy to confront difficult choices. The difficulty of those choices was manifest in the most recent presidential election. In this situation, some Christians take an aggressive or triumphalist stance; others are more inclined to a retreatist approach sometimes labeled “the Benedict Option.” What the right response is poses both prudential and theological questions about which Christians disagree, and about which confident answers are elusive. In this context, Professor Bob Cochran’s distinguished career exemplifies a path of humility in which the Christian citizen …

Jesus Came "Not To Abolish The Law But To Fulfill It": The Sermon On The Mount And Its Implications For Contemporary Law, David Vandrunen

Pepperdine Law Review

This Article interprets Matthew 5:17–48 and argues that, because Jesus came not to abolish but to fulfill the law and the prophets, the Old Testament law takes on a new form for New Testament Christians. The law of God has been refracted through the ministry of Christ. While Matthew 5 does not address contemporary human law directly, its teaching does have radical implications for it. These implications flow particularly from the fact that Matthew 5 marks a decisive shift from the Mosaic theocracy to the worldwide new-covenant church that has no civil jurisdiction.

Divided By The Sermon On The Mount, David Skeel

Pepperdine Law Review

This Essay, written for a festschrift for Bob Cochran, argues that the much-discussed friction between evangelical supporters of President Trump and evangelical critics is a symptom of a much deeper theological divide over the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus told his disciples to turn the other cheek when struck, love their neighbor as themselves, and pray that their debts will be forgiven as they forgive their debtors. Divergent interpretations of these teachings have given rise to competing evangelical visions of justice. One side of today’s divide—the religious right—can be traced directly back to the fundamentalist critics of the early …

Comparing Literary And Biblical Hermeneutics To Constitutional And Statutory Interpretation, Robert J. Pushaw Jr.

Pepperdine Law Review

Interpreters determine the meaning of language. To interpret literary and biblical texts, scholars have developed detailed rules, methods, and theories of human understanding. This branch of knowledge, “hermeneutics,” features three basic approaches. First, “textualists” treat words as directly conveying their ordinary meaning to a competent reader today. Second, “contextualists” maintain that verbal meaning depends on generally shared linguistic conventions in the particular historical and cultural environment of the author—and that therefore translations or commentaries are necessary to make the writing intelligible to a modern reader. Third, “hermeneutic circle” scholars argue that texts have no objective meaning. Rather, a person’s subjective …

The Metaphorical Bridge Between Law And Religion, John Witte Jr.

Pepperdine Law Review

This Article explores the role of metaphors in shaping our thought and language in general, and in the fields of law and religion in particular. Drawing on modern cognitive theorists like George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, the Article distinguishes and illustrates the roles of “orientation,” “structural,” and “ontological” metaphors in everyday life and language. Drawing on jurists like Robert Cover and Steven Winter, it shows how metaphors work both in describing the law in terms like “the body,” and in prescribing the foundational beliefs and values on which the legal system depends. Finally, the Article explores the ample use of …

The Dutch Effect: Kuyper And Neo-Calvinism In Professor Cochran's Scholarship, David S. Caudill

Pepperdine Law Review

One of the obvious influences on Bob Cochran’s scholarship is the Dutch Calvinist tradition, especially as represented in the writings by or about Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920). Even though Cochran was neither Dutch nor a member of a Reformed church, Cochran found inspiration and compelling insights (with respect to legal processes and institutions) in the Dutch Calvinist tradition. This interest reflected Cochran’s generous ecumenism and his well-known respect for religious diversity. Three prominent conceptions—the trilogy of sphere sovereignty, antithesis, and common grace—provide a guide to Cochran’s recourse to Kuyper and Calvinism in his scholarly writing. Following a brief explanation of the …

Celebrating Robert Cochran And The Future Of "Embodied" Christian Legal Scholarship, Barbara Armacost

Pepperdine Law Review

The occasion for this Article is a festschrift for Professor Robert (“Bob”) Cochran. I celebrate Bob’s significant scholarly contributions to the maturing of Christian Legal Scholarship. He applied a Christian perspective to legal issues, hosted conferences, mentored Christian Legal Scholars, and edited books of essays featuring Christian perspectives on law. Bob’s work in this area had a huge influence on the flourishing of Christian Legal Scholarship. This Article considers the future of Christian Legal Scholarship. It enters an ongoing conversation (disagreement) between law Professors David Skeel and David Caudill. In a 2008 article, Skeel defined Christian Legal Scholarship so narrowly …

Bob Cochran On Law And Lawyering: A Catholic Perspective, Stephen M. Bainbridge

Pepperdine Law Review

This Essay is a contribution to a festschrift honoring Pepperdine law professor Robert Cochran. In addition to his many other professional accomplishments, Professor Cochran is a leading figure in the study of Law and Christianity. One strain of Law and Christianity scholarship focuses on normative critiques of substantive legal issues based on Christian theology. In other words, it seeks to make the civil law more moral; i.e., to conform Man’s Law to God’s Law. A second strain seeks to help lawyers deal with the difficulties inherent in being a Christian and a lawyer. As Cochran has put it, one might …

The Communitarian Work And Vision(S) Of Robert Cochran (And Thomas Shaffer), Richard W. Garnett

Pepperdine Law Review

Professor Robert Cochran’s work and thought were powerfully shaped by those of his friend, mentor, and teacher, the late Professor Thomas Shaffer, a towering figure in the religious lawyering movement. A leading theme in Shaffer’s writing, one that has continued through and been developed in Cochran’s, is “community.” This Essay explores and unpacks this theme and highlights several ways that the idea of “community” functions in their vision of the lawyer’s role and vocation.

Abraham Lincoln And The Cardinal Virtue Of Practical Reason, Brett G. Scharffs

Pepperdine Law Review

Practical wisdom is an elusive concept. This Article focuses on a case in which Abraham Lincoln, prior to his election as President, participated (or more accurately did not participate) to frame a discussion of what practical wisdom means and how it makes a difference for lawyers.

The Practice Of Law As Christian Discipleship, Nathan S. Chapman

Pepperdine Law Review

“Can the ordinary practice of law be a religious calling?” In a number of scholarly books and articles, as a teacher, and as a mentor, Robert Cochran has answered this question with a resounding “yes.” This Essay, part of a festschrift published in Bob’s honor by the Pepperdine Law Review, engages with his work to propose a framework of Christian ethics for reconceiving the practice of law as a form of Christian discipleship. It argues that Christians should understand the practice of law as participation in government-as-judgment, participation that is always fraught with the risks of deceit, injustice, and abuse …

The Beatitudes, Lawyers, And Bob Cochran, Amelia J. Uelmen

Pepperdine Law Review

Written on the occasion of a celebration of the work and scholarship of Bob Cochran, this reflection draws on his scholarship and also on his teaching and work to build vibrant communities of commitment, service, and scholarship at the intersection of religion, law, and professional life. Working with the text of the Beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew, the essay highlights the value of how Bob Cochran has aimed not only to “do good,” but also to “be good” in a world and in a profession where it seems increasingly difficult to do so. His legacy offers a powerful inspiration …

"Agape" And The Life And Work Of Robert F. Cochran, Jr., Angela C. Carmella

Pepperdine Law Review

The life and work of Robert Cochran can be summed up in one word: discipleship. Professor Cochran’s work reflects deeply on Jesus’s words and ministry—His agapic love for all humanity—as they relate to the substance of law and its administration. Professor Cochran’s work establishes two important principles: the need to focus on Jesus’s love as the starting place for analysis and the need to reclaim justice as a central Christian concept. His many volumes help us to understand how it is possible to comprehend lawmaking as an act of agapic love. Further, they provide a roadmap for the Christian’s journey, …

The Professor As Institutional Entrepreneur, Roger P. Alford

Pepperdine Law Review

Law professors are all about ideas, and the creation of an institute, clinic, or center within a law school is the instantiation of an idea. Ideas embodied in law school institutions become crystallized in the fabric of a school, changing its culture, internalizing its values, and reflecting its priorities. Robert Cochran has helped to establish multiple institutes, centers, and clinics at Pepperdine Caruso Law School, and in so doing he has become the law school’s great serial entrepreneur. The institutes Cochran helped to establish have become laboratories to give expression to his ideas about the relationship between faith, ethics, and …

Ecumenical Evangelical Legal Thought: The Contributions Of Robert F. Cochran, Jr., William S. Brewbaker Iii

Pepperdine Law Review

This Essay organizes an assessment of Robert F. Cochran’s scholarly contributions around the theme of “ecumenical evangelical legal thought.” Professor Cochran’s work bears the hallmarks of evangelicalism in its emphasis on the Bible, its practical focus, and its willingness to cross institutional and theological lines. The Essay recounts some formative influences on Professor Cochran, discusses his methodology as a Christian scholar and specifically his use of the Bible in thinking about law, his work in legal ethics, and his work as a movement-builder. It concludes with some observations about the reconciliation of ecumenism and evangelicalism in Cochran’s work and its …

Festschrift Response: "With A Grateful Heart", Robert F. Cochran Jr.

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Celebrating The Work Of Professor Bob Cochran: An Introduction, Derek T. Muller

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Celebrating The Work And Life Of Bob Cochran, Paul L. Caron

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.