Law Commons^™

Why Confronting The Internet’S Dark Side?, Raphael Cohen-Almagor

raphael cohen-almagor

Raphael Cohen-Almagor, the author of Confronting the Internet's Dark Side, explains his motivation for exploring the dangerous side of the world wide web. This new book is the first comprehensive book on social responsibility on the Internet.

Confronting The Internet's Dark Side: Moral And Social Responsibility On The Free Highway, Raphael Cohen-Almagor

raphael cohen-almagor

This book focuses on the tension between Free Speech fundamentalism and Social Responsibility at the individual, corporate, and nation-state level. It brings an international perspective to the central topics (child pornography, hate speech, suicidal and homicidal enablers, cybercrime and terrorism). The central philosophical argument of this book is the Promotional Approach, which the author sees as a kind of Golden Mean between Ronald Dworkin and Joseph Raz. The book utilizes the Aristotelian doctrine of the mean to endorse the kind of practical wisdom required to make choices between freedom and security, unlimited license and moral responsibility. It argues that this …

The Fault Of Trespass, Avihay Dorfman, Assaf Jacob

Avihay Dorfman

The conventional wisdom has it that a property owner assumes virtually no responsibility for guiding others in fulfilling their duties not to trespass on the former's property. In other words, the entire risk of making an unauthorized use of the property in question rests upon the duty-holders. This view is best captured by the Keep-Off picture of property, according to which the content of the duty in question is that of excluding oneself from a thing that is not one's own. In this article, we argue that this view is mistaken. We advance conceptual, normative, and doctrinal arguments to show …

Assumption Of Risk, After All, Avihay Dorfman

Avihay Dorfman

Assumption of risk — the notion that one cannot complain about the harmful state to which one has willingly exposed oneself — figures prominently in our extra-legal lived experience. In spite of its deep roots in our common-sense morality, the tort doctrine of assumption of risk has long been discredited by many leading tort scholars, restatement reporters, courts, and legislatures. In recent years, however, growing concerns about junk food consumption, and obesity more generally, have given rise to considerations that are traditionally associated with the principles underlying the doctrine of assumption of risk. Against this backdrop, I shall advance two …

Reasonable Care: Equality As Objectivity, Avihay Dorfman

Avihay Dorfman

The most compelling defense of the standard of reasonable care in negligence law casts itself in terms of equality. This commitment to equality may paradoxically turn out to be flatly inegalitarian. This is because it discriminates against the less capable through ignoring their deficient capabilities (and so against their chances of meeting the standard of reasonable care successfully). A promising, though still unfamiliar, way to revive the egalitarian aspirations of reasonable care would be to show that imposing the standard of reasonable care even on the less competent expresses, rather than inhibits, a true devotion to equality. I seek to …

The Rule Of Law In Global Governance: Its Normative Construction, Function And Import, Gianluigi Palombella

Gianluigi Palombella

What does the Rule of law contribute in the frame of global governance? While addressing metamorphoses of law and the multiple legalities in the global context, this paper shows that the rule of law can consistently be extended externally being cherished internally. It takes seriously the concurrence of different legalities in their diverse ‘formats’, and the challenge of the “global administrative law” theoretical and empirical model. At the meta-level of the relations among legalities, the Rule of law has an essential role to play: it affects interactions and interdependence,and can cause content-dependent assessments to develop, without supporting self-closure or monistic …

Psychopathy And Culpability: How Responsible Is The Psychopath For Criminal Wrongdoing?, Reid G. Fontaine Jd, Phd

Reid G. Fontaine

Recent research into the psychological and neurobiological underpinnings of psychopathy has raised the question of whether, or to what degree, psychopaths should be considered morally and criminally responsible for their actions. In this article we review the current empirical literature on psychopathy, focusing particularly on deficits in moral reasoning, and consider several potential conclusions that could be drawn based on this evidence. Our analysis of the empirical evidence on psychopathy suggests that while psychopaths do not meet the criteria for full criminal responsibility, they nonetheless retain some criminal responsibility. We conclude, by introducing the notion of rights as correlative, that …

Taking Ownership Of Legal Outcomes: An Argument Against Dissociation Paradigm And Analytical Gaming, Ali Khan

Ali Khan

This article argues that professional responsibilities arise within the connectionist web of laws, ethics, and personal conscience. Lawyers, judges, and law professors must not renounce personal responsibility in providing professional services. Willful reasoning derived from personal conscience alone, however, cannot be the driver of legitimate reasoning. Legal professionals must pursue cognitive coherence by connecting personal responsibility with the knowledge of laws and ethics. Lawyers must not accept the dissociation paradigm that forces them to game the system or surrender personal responsibility in serving clients. Judges must not accept the dissociation paradigm that forces them to game legal reasoning or serve …

Absolute Immunity: A License To Rape Justice At Will, Prentice L. White

Prentice L White

ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY: A LICENSE TO RAPE JUSTICE AT WILL BY PRENTICE L. WHITE We are all acquainted with the phrase the sanctity of marriage. We understand that the vows made by a couple at the wedding ceremony is sacrosanct, and if those vows are not taken seriously, or abused in any way, then the offending spouse will be penalized and evicted from the marital relationship. Likewise, justice should be handled in the same manner and with the same intensity. America prides itself on having the best legal system in the world. It broadcasts to all the surrounding nations that its …

The Responsibility Gap: The Cia, Covert Actions And Violations Of International Law, Angela Huddleston

Angela Huddleston

Throughout the course of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United States of America has committed covert actions in virtually every major region in the world, particularly during the Cold War. These actions are not without their repercussions and have often led to massive violations of international law and human rights. Yet the US is not held responsible for its actions due to legal deficiencies that allow it to breach some of the most basic rules of international law without accountability. This paper examines the obligations of international law concerning covert actions before turning to state responsibility and highlighting the …

Succession, The Obligation To Repair And Human Rights; The European Court Of Human Rights Judgment In The Case Of Bijelic V. Montenegro And Serbia, Benjamin E. Brockman-Hawe

Benjamin E. Brockman-Hawe

What happens when a state breaches its international obligations and then ceases to exist? Does its obligation to repair the harm caused by the breach devolve to a new state that occupies part of the territory of an old state? Can a new state be held accountable for violations that took place before the entry into force of the treaty with respect that state? This comment examines the European Court of Human Rights’ (hereinafter 'the Court' or 'the ECHR') encounter with the law of state succession, specifically succession to treaty obligations and succession to responsibility for wrongful acts of a …

Responsibility And Proximate Cause, Peter M. Gerhart

Peter M. Gerhart

This article solves the many puzzles of proximate cause by articulating a normative theory that explains why a person who acts unreasonably and causes harm is sometimes not responsible in negligence for that harm. The article first articulates a methodology of justification and explains how our understanding of proximate cause has lacked a justificational basis. The article then develops a theory of responsibility that explains proximate cause cases. Rather than seeing proximate cause as a device to cut off liability, this theory sees proximate cause as determining whether unreasonable conduct is the source of an obligation with respect to particular …

Vincent As A Negligence Case, Peter M. Gerhart

Peter M. Gerhart

In a recent symposium, Professor Sugarman asks whether any account of Vincent v. Lake Erie Steamship Company provides a justification for the outcome that avoids doctrinal, conceptual question-begging or unexplained inconsistencies within tort doctrine. This article takes that challenge seriously by providing a justification for the decision that specifies the source of the defendant’s obligation to compensate the plaintiff. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the outcome in Vincent is based on fault, not strict liability. Although the decision to stay at the dock was socially appropriate, the shipowner acted unreasonably by making that decision without simultaneously agreeing (implicitly) to compensate the …

Responsibility Of Transnational Corporations In International Environmental Law: Three Perspectives, André Nollkaemper

André Nollkaemper

This chapter examines recent developments pertaining to the international responsibility of transnational corporations for activities that may cause harm to the environment. While the position of transnational corporations in international law has been subjected to previous analyses, also in regard to international environmental law, there are reasons for a new consideration of the topic.

First, transnational corporations substantially contribute to the worldwide stress on the environment. Many acts that deplete natural resources, contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer and to climate change, deplete fish stocks, clear-cut forests, move waste across boundaries, and so on, are not performed by …