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Full-Text Articles in Law

Statistical String Theory For Courts: If The Data Don't Fit..., David F. Babbel Sep 2008

Statistical String Theory For Courts: If The Data Don't Fit..., David F. Babbel

David F Babbel

The primary purpose of this article is to provide courts with an important new tool for applying the correct probability distribution to a given legal question. This tool is path-breaking and will have an extensive impact on how a wide variety of cases are decided. In areas as diverse as criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits alleging securities fraud, courts must assess the relevance and reliability of statistical data and the inferences drawn therefrom. But, courts and expert witnesses often make mistaken assumptions about what probability distributions are appropriate for their analyses. Using the wrong probability distribution can lead to invalid …


A Study Of Interest, John Gotanda Jul 2008

A Study Of Interest, John Gotanda

John Y Gotanda

In recent years, a number of tribunals, mainly those deciding investment disputes, have re-examined traditional practices concerning the awarding of interest, particularly whether interest should be awarded at market rates and on a compounded basis. However, many tribunals deciding transnational contracts disputes continue to follow the practice of applying national laws on interest, which often results in the application of domestic statutory interest rates calling for a fixed rate of interest to accrue on a simple as opposed to compound basis. These statutory rates often do not change to reflect economic conditions and thus may under compensate or over compensate …


How The Government Can Protect Home Mortgage Consumers: A Proposal To Provide Consumers A Risk Assessment Of Mortgages, Adeline Park May 2008

How The Government Can Protect Home Mortgage Consumers: A Proposal To Provide Consumers A Risk Assessment Of Mortgages, Adeline Park

Adeline Park

The recent sub-prime mortgage crisis has revealed the consumer’s vulnerability in the home mortgage marketplace. Consumers face an overwhelming variety of mortgage options, and are not motivated to invest the necessary time and resources to comprehend the meaning and implications of each loan feature. I propose that the government assess the risk of each loan feature available in the home mortgage market, based on the historical number of foreclosures each loan type has yielded. The government will then require lenders to display the risk assessment icon on all sales, marketing, and advertising materials. The risk assessment icon will identify the …


Reaffirming The Rights Of Foreign Investors To The Protection Of Icsid Arbitration: Sempra Energy International V. The Argentine Republic, Daniel Krawiec May 2008

Reaffirming The Rights Of Foreign Investors To The Protection Of Icsid Arbitration: Sempra Energy International V. The Argentine Republic, Daniel Krawiec

Daniel A Krawiec II

Earlier this decade, the Argentine government responded to a substantial domestic economic crises by passing several emergency laws and unilaterally changing the terms of its investment agreements with foreign investors. Sempra v. Argentine Republic is an important case because the tribunal decisively reaffirmed the right to ICSID arbitration for American investors harmed by Argentina’s actions. Furthermore, the tribunal held that the U.S.-Argentina bilateral investment treaty provided substantial substantive investment protection.


Are Contingent-Fee Attorneys Deterred?: How Courts Can More Effectively Police Adhesive Arbitration Agreements, Kenyon Harbison Mar 2008

Are Contingent-Fee Attorneys Deterred?: How Courts Can More Effectively Police Adhesive Arbitration Agreements, Kenyon Harbison

Kenyon D Harbison

If you’re like me, you become bound by a new arbitration agreement almost every day, sometimes without even knowing it. They are included with banking and credit card statements, in most employment contracts, and in most purchase agreements. When we make purchases online we ‘click’ our assent to them without reading them. When we receive them in the mail we signal our assent by failing to opt out. But what happens when we are injured, defrauded, or cheated, try to sue, and find we are instead subject to arbitration? What standards can we expect courts to apply if we challenge …


Rpm As An Exclusionary Practice, Ittai Paldor Feb 2008

Rpm As An Exclusionary Practice, Ittai Paldor

Ittai Paldor

The existing explanations for resale price maintenance (RPM) are divided along a clear line, separating the pro- and anti- competitive explanations. The anti-competitive explanations suggest that RPM is introduced in furtherance of a cartel either at the retail level or at the manufacturing level. The pro-competitive explanations, by contrast, are all based on the assumption that RPM is designed to benefit a single manufacturer. A key distinction in classifying RPM systems according to the present state of the literature is thus the distinction between single-manufacturer-driven RPM and any other RPM system. This distinction is of major practical importance subsequent to …


Eyes Wide Shut: How Ignorance Of The Common Interest Doctrine Can Compromise Informed Consent, Katharine Schaffzin Feb 2008

Eyes Wide Shut: How Ignorance Of The Common Interest Doctrine Can Compromise Informed Consent, Katharine Schaffzin

Katharine Traylor Schaffzin

The common interest doctrine offers many time and cost-saving advantages to clients. It also carries with it the consequence that counsel representing a party to a common interest group accept ethical or fiduciary responsibilities on behalf of the other members of that group. This pseudo-attorney-client relationship may limit an attorney's abilities to fulfill her ethical obligations to her client. This article explores the mechanisms for protecting the client and the attorney before entering a common interest arrangement.


Cyberspace Law Survey: Introduction, Juliet Moringiello, Michael Fleming Dec 2007

Cyberspace Law Survey: Introduction, Juliet Moringiello, Michael Fleming

Juliet M Moringiello

No abstract provided.


Mgm Studios, Inc. V. Grokster, Ltd., 545 U.S. 913 (2005), Juliet Moringiello Dec 2007

Mgm Studios, Inc. V. Grokster, Ltd., 545 U.S. 913 (2005), Juliet Moringiello

Juliet M Moringiello

No abstract provided.


Credit And Trust: Fruit Markets In The Mekong Delta, Brian Jm Quinn, Vu T. Anh Dec 2007

Credit And Trust: Fruit Markets In The Mekong Delta, Brian Jm Quinn, Vu T. Anh

Brian JM Quinn

No abstract provided.


The University As Consumer?: Rethinking Overlap Behavior, Kenyon D. Harbison Dec 2007

The University As Consumer?: Rethinking Overlap Behavior, Kenyon D. Harbison

Kenyon D Harbison

From the 1950's through the decision in United States v. Brown University, the Ivy League colluded with regard to the financial aid awards it awarded to commonly admitted students, pursuant to a so-called "Overlap Agreement." In the 90's, the federal government sued, alleging antitrust violations, and all but one university settled. MIT took the case up to the Third Circuit, which roughly held that non-economic pro-competitive justifications could be assessed in applying Rule-of-Reason antitrust analysis. MIT settled before the remand, or before the case could go to the Supreme Court. To date, all commentators have blindly followed standard economic orthodoxy, …


The Trouble With Stockjobbers: The South Sea Bubble, The Press And The Legislative Regulation Of The Markets, Benedict Sheehy Dec 2007

The Trouble With Stockjobbers: The South Sea Bubble, The Press And The Legislative Regulation Of The Markets, Benedict Sheehy

Benedict Sheehy

Abstract: The South Sea Bubble Act of 1721 is often taken as the first securities legislation. Further it is understood to be a response to a stock market scandal. In fact, the Act was enacted prior to the scandal and indeed the likely cause of the collapse of the stock bubble itself. This article reviews the historical context, including the finance of government of the era, the development of the South Sea Company and its bubble, the legislation, burst and subsequent effects. It places securities legislation in its historical context as part of a broader movement in corporate law, shifting …


Unprofitable Lending: Modern Credit Regulation And The Lost Theory Of Usury, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2007

Unprofitable Lending: Modern Credit Regulation And The Lost Theory Of Usury, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

With almost daily news stories about the crisis in our credit markets, it seems inevitable that a new political and academic debate about credit regulation is commencing. With Americans paying billions of dollars in finance charges every year and some loosing their homes, it is time to ask fundamental questions about the liberality of credit supply and terms. Rather than readjusting usury limits or tinkering with disclosure requirements, it is time to reassess America’s philosophy of lending. Although the current socio-economic belief that more credit is better has held dominance for several centuries, history offers an alternative theory. Surprisingly, a …


Quas Primas And The Economic Ordering Of Society For The Social Reign Of Christ The King; A Third Perspective On The Bainbridge/Sargent Law And Economics Debate, Brian M. Mccall Dec 2007

Quas Primas And The Economic Ordering Of Society For The Social Reign Of Christ The King; A Third Perspective On The Bainbridge/Sargent Law And Economics Debate, Brian M. Mccall

Brian M McCall

How can it be that respected Catholic legal scholars can reach seemingly opposite conclusions about “Law and Economics?” Stephen Bainbridge has argued that both the descriptive and normative aspects of the Law and Economics movement are consistent with and even demanded by the Catholic understanding of the nature of the human person in a fallen world and our historical experience with totalitarian regimes. Mark Sargent, on the other hand, argues that at least the normative, and perhaps aspects of the descriptive, side of Law and Economics are not completely consistent with the nature and purpose of the human being as …


Towards A System Of Estates In Virtual Property, Juliet M. Moringiello Dec 2007

Towards A System Of Estates In Virtual Property, Juliet M. Moringiello

Juliet M. Moringiello

No abstract provided.


In Good Times And In Debt: The Evolution Of Marital Agency And The Meaning Of Marriage, Marie T. Reilly Dec 2007

In Good Times And In Debt: The Evolution Of Marital Agency And The Meaning Of Marriage, Marie T. Reilly

Marie T. Reilly

A married person sometimes acts solely for herself and at other times on behalf of her spouse. If she incurs debt solely for herself, then only she is liable to the creditor. If, however, she incurs debt both for herself and on behalf of her spouse, both are liable – the debtor directly and the spouse indirectly by imputed liability. Before married women’s property reform, imputed marital liability followed from marital status. As marriage changed to recognize the legal individuality of both spouses, so too did the scope of a spouse’s imputed liability for the debts of the other spouse. …


The Cy Pres Problem And The Role Of Damages In Tort Law, Goutam U. Jois Dec 2007

The Cy Pres Problem And The Role Of Damages In Tort Law, Goutam U. Jois

Goutam U Jois

Class action litigation presents a common problem that has received little discussion in the academic literature. In almost every case, the plaintiff class’s recovery is not fully distributed. For example, all possible plaintiffs may not come forward with their claims, the plaintiffs may not be ascertainable, or claims may not be timely submitted. Administrators are regularly posed with the problem of what to do with these residual funds. Currently, courts are free to do virtually anything with such funds. The system is ad hoc, unpredictable, and unguided by any normative principle. In these cases, I propose that the funds should …