Law Commons^™

The Myth Of The Great Writ, Leah M. Litman

Articles

Habeas corpus is known as the “Great Writ” because it supposedly protects individual liberty against government overreach and guards against wrongful detentions. This idea shapes habeas doctrine, federal courts theories, and habeas-reform proposals.

It is also incomplete. While the writ has sometimes protected individual liberty, it has also served as a vehicle for the legitimation of excesses of governmental power. A more complete picture of the writ emerges when one considers traditionally neglected areas of public law that are often treated as distinct—the law of slavery and freedom, Native American affairs, and immigration. There, habeas has empowered abusive exercises of …

A Crisis In Federal Habeas Law, Eve Brensike Primus

Reviews

Everyone recognizes that federal habeas doctrine is a mess. Despite repeated calls for reform, federal judges continue to waste countless hours reviewing habeas petitions only to dismiss the vast majority of them on procedural grounds. Broad change is necessary, but to be effective, such change must be animated by an overarching theory that explains when federal courts should exercise habeas jurisdiction. In Habeas for the Twenty-First Century: Uses, Abuses, and the Future of the Great Writ, Professors Nancy King and Joseph Hoffmann offer such a theory. Drawing on history, current practice, and empirical data, King and Hoffmann find unifying themes …

Introduction To Global Issues In Antitrust And Competition Law, Daniel A. Crane

Other Publications

This volume is a global reader. It presents materials and cases on the global issues of antitrust and competition policy. It may be used on its own or to supplement domestic antitrust casebooks.

It might seem strange to consider the treatment of global issues as a supplement to antitrust casebooks, for, in one important sense, antitrust is global. Markets commonly cross national boundaries. Mergers are as likely as not to combine firms from different nations and in any event to affect markets in many nations. Acts and conspiracies in New York, Washington, Tokyo, Zurich, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Beijing, Delhi, or Sao …

A Structural Vision Of Habeas Corpus, Eve Brensike Primus

Articles

As scholars have recognized elsewhere in public law, there is no hermetic separation between individual rights and structural or systemic processes of governance. To be sure, it is often helpful to focus on a question as primarily implicating one or the other of those categories. But a full appreciation of a structural rule includes an understanding of its relationship to individuals, and individual rights can both derive from and help shape larger systemic practices. The separation of powers principle, for example, is clearly a matter of structure, but much of its virtue rests on its promise to help protect the …

The Market For Criminal Justice: Federalism, Crime Control And Jurisdictional Competition, Doron Teichman

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

For the most part, the United States has a decentralized criminal justice system. State legislatures define the majority of crimes and set out the punishments for those crimes. In addition, the enforcement of criminal laws lies, in most cases, in the hands of local law enforcement agencies. This article points out how this decentralized structure drives local jurisdictions to harshen their criminal justice system in order to displace crime to neighboring jurisdictions. More precisely, local jurisdictions can attempt to displace crime in two distinct ways. First, they can raise the expected sanction to a level that is higher than that …

Aggregation And Settlement Of Mass Torts, Edward H. Cooper

Articles

It is the way of symposia that, after conveners assign topics for discussion, participants interpret those topics to cover subjects that interest themselves. I understand my assignment to be discussion of "nonbankruptcy closure" and "settlement." The Judicial Conference Working Group on Mass Torts suggests possible approaches that might facilitate closure of mass tort claims by litigation or by settlement! This paper will explore two models prepared to illustrate the challenges that confront any approach to fair and efficient closure. The first model is the "All-Encompassing Model," while the second is a draft of settlement-class provisions for Federal Rule of Civil …

Aggregation And Settlement Of Mass Torts, Edward H. Cooper

Articles

The following essay is the pre-editing draft of the introduction to a paper delivered at a Mass Torts conference held at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in November 1999. Thc conference grew out of the work of the ad hoc Mass Torts Working Group that on February 15, 1999, delivered a Report to the Chief Justice of the United States and the judicial Conference of the United States. The Working Group, chaired by Third Circuit Judge Anthony J. Scirica, '65, included members drawn from several Judicial Conference committees, including the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, …

Deferral To Arbitration And Use Of External Law In Arbitration, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

proper definition of the appropriate roles of arbitrators, administrative agencies and the courts depends in great part on the notion that, generally speaking, in labor relations, the interpretation and application of contracts is for arbitrators, and the interpretation and application of statutes is for the administrative agencies and the courts. Arbitrators deal primarily with contract rights and administrative agencies, like the NLRB and the courts, deal primarily with statutory rights. If that distinction is maintained, the problems of deferral to arbitration and the use of external law in arbitration can be more easily resolved.

Siamese Essays: (I) Cts Corp. V. Dynamics Corp. Of America And Dormant Commerce Clause Doctrine; (Ii) Extraterritorial State Legislation, Donald H. Regan

Articles

What follows is two essays, related as Siamese twins. Both essays developed from a single conception. They are distinct, but they remain connected by a shared subtopic. The first essay is about CTS Corp. v. Dynamics Corp. of America1 as a contribution to dormant commerce clause doctrine. The second essay is about the constitutional principle that states may not legislate extraterritorially, which I shall refer to as the "extraterritoriality principle." The shared subtopic is the extraterritoriality problem in CTS. (There is an extraterritoriality problem in CTS, even though the Court does not discuss it in those terms.) I could have …

Integrity And Circumspection: The Labor Law Vision Of Bernard D. Meltzer, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Bernard Meltzer has testified under oath that he "rarely take[s] absolute positions." The record bears him out. While his colleagues among labor law scholars often strain to demonstrate that the labor relations statutes and even the Constitution support their hearts' desires, the typical Meltzer stance is one of cool detachment, pragmatic assessment, and cautious, balanced judgment. The "itch to do good," Meltzer has remarked wryly, "is a doubtful basis for jurisdiction" -or, he would likely add, for any other legal conclusion. In this brief commentary I propose to examine the Meltzer approach to four broad areas of labor law: (1) …

Judicial Review Of Labor Arbitration Awards: A Second Look At Enterprise Wheel And Its Progeny, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Logic, so the cliche goes, is not the life of the law. But logic is very much like the DNA of the law-the structural principle without which all is sprawl and muddle. In the last ten years a controversy has raged over the role of the labor arbitrator in issuing awards, and the role of the courts in reviewing and enforcing those awards. This controversy has largely taken the form of a continuing debate among scholars and practicing arbitrators at the annual meetings of the National Academy of Arbitrators. With due respect to the thoughtful and experienced persons who have …

Some Comments On Proposals For Reform Of The Federal Appellate Court System, Terrance Sandalow

Law Quadrangle (formerly Law Quad Notes)

In response to growing concern over the rapidly increasing caseloads of the federal courts of appeal, the 92nd Congress established the Commission on Revision of the Federal Court Appellate System. The Commission was instructed "to study the structure and internal procedures of the federal courts of appeal system" and to recommend such "changes in structure or internal procedure as may be appropriate for the expeditious and effective disposition of the caseload of the Federal courts of appeal...."

In April 1975, the Commission issued a preliminary report of its views. Among the recommendations contained in that report was a proposal that …

The Line Between Federal And State Court Jurisdiction, Leslie A. Anderson

Michigan Law Review

From the beginning of this nation, there have been controversies involving the division of jurisdiction between federal and state courts. Often, these controversies have centered on the diversity of citizenship provision of the federal constitution. Today, however, the more poignant question is whether any division of jurisdiction between the federal and state systems retains logical bases.

Although myriad developments have relevancy with respect to this question, I have here focused upon two of the more important ones: the increasing overlap of subject matter being litigated in federal and state courts and the growing uniformity of standards to be applied in …

Federal Jurisdiction-Three-Judge Courts-The Recent Evolution In Jurisdiction And Appellate Review, Peter W. Williamson S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

This comment seeks to analyze each decision against its historical background. No more than a proforma attempt will be made to integrate one decision with the others, for sufficient material is not yet available to predict with any accuracy the Court's ultimate achievements in this important area of federal civil procedure.

Conflict Of Laws- Foreign Executors And Administrators - Constitutionality Of Nonresident Motorist Statute Providing For Jurisdiction Over Personal Representatives, Thomas E. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

Decedent was killed when his car collided with another on a Missouri highway. Both the driver of the second car and its owner, residents of Nebraska, were also killed. Decedent's widow brought a wrongful death action. in Missouri against the Nebraska-appointed adminstratrixes of the estates of the driver and the owner of the second car. Summonses were served on the Secretary of State of Missouri in compliance with the Missouri Long Arm Statute which specifically provides for service upon and jurisdiction over the administrators of the estates of nonresident motorists. The trial court overruled defendants' motions to quash: On petition …

Civil Procedure - Jurisdiction - Effect Of Filing Counterclaim After Denial Of Objection To Jurisdiction, David Shute S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought suit in the Municipal Court of Cleveland based on an automobile collision which occurred in the city. Defendant was served by mail at his residence outside the city and beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the court. Appearing specially, defendant moved to quash service of summons; the trial court overruled the motion and gave him leave to plead. Defendant then filed a counterclaim based on the same collision, alleging the negligence of the plaintiff and requesting damages. On appeal of the decision overruling his motion to quash service, held, defendant had not waived his objection to jurisdiction by …

Labor Law - National Labor Relations Board - Effect Of The Nlrb's Refusal To Take Jurisdiction, Joseph O. Sullivan, John C. Dowd S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Appellant corporation was charged by the United Steelworkers of America with unfair labor practices in violation of sections 8(a)(1), (3) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act. Although appellant's business affected commerce within the meaning of the act, the acting regional director of the NLRB declined to issue a complaint because the company's volume of business did not meet the Board's revised minimum "jurisdictional" standards. The union then filed substantially the same charges with the Utah Labor Relations Board. The Utah Board's determination that it had jurisdiction was affirmed by the Utah Supreme Court. On certiorari to the Supreme …

Trusts - Jurisdiction - Trustee And Trust Assets Outside Jurisdiction Of Forum, Richard J. Riordan

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this comment is to examine these rationales and determine their validity--first as to testamentary trusts and then as to inter vivos trusts.

Determination Of Heirship, Paul E. Basye

Michigan Law Review

Nearly a hundred years have elapsed since the Supreme Court emphatically voiced its conviction as to the necessity of having some method for making a final determination concerning the devolution of the ownership of property upon the death of its owner.

Criminal Law - Delay In Imposition Of Sentence As Destroying Jurisdiction Of Trial Court, M. Fred Mallender, Ii S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was tried for burglary in April 1952. Before judgment was rendered, a petition for his commitment to the Indiana Village for Epileptics was granted, and the trial court entered judgment in July 1952 that it continue the matter under advisement so long as defendant remained in the Epileptic Village and complied with the rules and regulations. In September 1952 defendant escaped from the Epileptic Village and was later apprehended. He was brought to trial in April 1953. The court found that he had not complied with the judgment of July 1952, found him guilty as charged, and sentenced him …

Labor Law - Removal Jurisdiction Of Federal Courts - Action To Enjoin Secondary Boycott, George B. Berridge S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a Michigan trucking company subject to the LMRA, brought suit in a Michigan court against defendant, a local of the Teamsters Union, for an injunction and $50,000 damages. Plaintiff alleged that defendant's conduct in attempting to coerce plaintiff's employees to become members of the Teamsters Union was an illegal combination and conspiracy under Michigan law and a violation of the Michigan antitrust laws. Defendant removed the case to a federal district court on the theory that certain specific acts alleged by plaintiff would constitute an unlawful secondary boycott under the LMRA and that plaintiff had therefore stated a cause …

The Michigan Judicature Act Of 1915, Edson R. Sunderland

Articles

IN 1848 a wave of reform in judicial procedure began to sweep over the United States. In that year the legislature of New York enacted the Code of Civil Procedure, a statute of far-reaching importance, for it became the source of and the model for similar legislation in almost two-thirds of the States in the Union.

The General Principles Of Constitutional Law In The United States Of America, Thomas M. Cooley

Books

The manual which follows has been prepared for the use of students in law schools and other institutions of learning. The design has been to present succinctly the general principles of constitutional law, whether they pertain to the federal system, or to the state system, or both. Formerly, the structure of the federal constitutional government was so distinct from that of the States, that each might usefully be examined and discussed apart from the other; but the points of contact and dependence have been so largely increased by the recent amendments to the federal Constitution that a different course is …