Law Commons^™

The Legacy Of Trayvon Martin—Neighborhood Watches, Vigilantes, Race, And Our Law Of Self-Defense, Mark S. Brodin

Marquette Law Review

Reflecting back a decade later, what is the enduring significance of the Trayvon Martin case—a Black teenager whose life is violently cut short, and a legal system that accepted his death without consequence? The poet Elizabeth Alexander speaks of “The Trayvon Generation” of Black youth who have grown up in the haunting shadow of his killing, and the anguished parents who cannot protect their children from such a fate. America’s first Black president spoke for them: “When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” Barack Obama told …

Warren/Burger Courts Exalted “Free” Expression Over Other American Values, Louis W. Hensler Iii

Marquette Law Review

Anglo-American defamation law started with a simple condemnation of the sin of evil speaking. Eventually, this value condemning harmful speech was accommodated to the value of speaking the truth, even hurtful truth. A third value of fostering responsible self-government was injected into American defamation law at and around the time of the American Revolution. This value makes it especially important for citizens to freely speak even hurtful truth about their government.

Election Administration Concerns Meet Claims Of A Fraudulent Election: A Comprehensive Analysis Of The 2020 Presidential Election And Its Aftermath In Wisconsin, Joe Franke

Marquette Law Review

The 2020 presidential election unearthed valid questions about how the election was administered and whether various state laws were properly followed. However, President Donald Trump and his closest allies routinely fail to distinguish between questions about whether state officials correctly interpreted and applied the state’ s election code and actual fraud or malfeasance. There is a significant difference between accusing election officials of wrongly interpreting state law or incorrectly implementing election procedures, and alleging that those same officials intended to rig the outcome. Failure to make this distinction has contributed to the stolen election narrative, which continues to roil the …

Arbitration: Who Does It Better?, Emma Pearson

CICLR Online

Arbitration is a form of dispute resolution used as an alternative to litigation. It has become an increasingly common method of dispute resolution in the United States, with over 9,000 cases and 15 billion dollars going to arbitration in 2021. Arbitration is seen as a beneficial alternative to litigation in the United States for a number of reasons. It takes much less time than traditional litigation so parties can expect to have a resolution to their claim much faster. Additionally, it can be much more cost effective than litigation because it does not have the same extensive discovery process as …

Property's Boundaries, James Toomey

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Property law has a boundary problem. Courts are routinely called upon to decide whether certain kinds of things can be owned--cells, genes, organs, gametes, embryos, corpses, personal data, and more. Under prevailing contemporary theories of property law, questions like these have no justiciable answers. Because property has no conceptual essence, they maintain, its boundaries are arbitrary--a flexible normative choice more properly legislative than judicial.

This Article instead offers a straightforward descriptive theory of property's boundaries. The common law of property is legitimated by its basis in the concept of ownership, a descriptive relationship of absolute control that exists outside of …

Tax Events In The Life Cycle Of Digital Tokens, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Digital tokens, or crypto assets, are digital financial assets based on distributed ledger technology. They come in a considerable variety of forms and have been used in a large number of different ways. Yet, relatively few tax laws of any jurisdiction mention digital tokens specifically. It is therefore necessary to consider how orthodox tax rules can be applied to transactions involving digital tokens. Given the broad range of forms which digital tokens and transactions involving them can take, this may appear to be a daunting task. A framework providing a rough guide on how to navigate this somewhat new area …

Constitutional Equality And Executive Action: A Comparative Perspective To The Comparator Problem, Kenny Chng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A general right to equality is a common feature of written constitutions around the world. Interesting questions arise when one seeks to apply such rights to discrete executive acts. The subject of such acts has necessarily been singled out from a multitude of possibilities for the purposes of the act. To determine whether a differentiation has occurred such that like cases have not been treated alike, to what or whom should this subject be compared? The question of how one selects the proper comparator becomes especially significant when one notes that whether the equal protection guarantee is triggered at all …

Two Decades After Salini V Morocco: The Case For Retaining The Salini Test With Modifications, Darius Chan, Justin Lai

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The definition of an investment under Article 25 of the ICSID Convention continues to attract a divergence of views. Ever since its use in 2001, the Salini Test, in its various forms, has become the predominant method that tribunals use to determine whether there is an investment. However, the Salini Test is hardly free from controversy, and suffers from two significant issues. First, its criteria are often subject to differing interpretations, leading to confusion over how the test should actually be applied. Second, the Salini Test has lost its legal force over time, as it has been relegated to factors …

Falsehoods, Foreign Interference, And Compelled Speech In Singapore, Kenny Chng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Online misinformation endangers the infrastructure of fact essential to public discourse and presents an even greater threat where it is being utilised as a weapon by hostile state actors. In recognition of these dangers, Singapore has implemented legal measures to combat online misinformation, enacting in quick succession the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) and the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA). These statutes open up novel frontiers of development for Singapore's free speech jurisprudence. Indeed, these statutes confer upon government authorities the power to compel the authors of certain material to display notices stating that the material contains …

Influence In Investor-State Dispute Settlement: A Dynamic Concept, Rachel Cahill-O'Callaghan, Anna Luisa Howard, Stavros Brekoulakis

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) plays an increasingly important role in international trade resolution. The decisions have significant financial and in many cases policy implications, yet little is known about the formation of the ad-hoc panels and the decision-making process. Drawing on empirical evidence from interviews with key actors in the ISDS system, this article argues that influence plays a central role in both processes. The analysis further develops the framework for understanding influence in international decision-making to accommodate external factors (those visible to those appointing the decision-makers) and internal factors (those factors that become visible in the decision-making room). It …

Administrative Concessions And The Efficient Taxation Of Digital Tokens In Singapore, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Tax authorities around the world have stepped-up enforcement activities on the taxation of digital tokens and begun providing more guidance to taxpayers. However, the relative novelty of the field means that there is likely to be considerable uncertainty as to the correct tax treatment, both on the part of taxpayers and tax authorities. This requires both parties to seek tax and legal advice that is often duplicative (in the sense that similar issues tend to keep coming up for different taxpayers) and bear the risk of taking an incorrect legal position. In some cases, the strict tax position under the …

Introduction: Freedom Of Expression At American Law Schools, Norman I. Silber

Hofstra Law Review

The article presents a compilation of papers and reflections from the Symposium on Freedom of Expression at American Law Schools.Topics include the importance of respectful and persuasive argumentation, the suppression of speech by state governments, and the role of free expression in legal education.

Free Speech On Campus: The Attack From Within, Kevin T. Baine

Hofstra Law Review

The article focuses on the lack of free speech and expression on university campuses, where students and faculty feel afraid to voice their opinions due to potential backlash and harassment.

"The Remedy To Be Applied Is More Speech": Rights, Responsibilities, And Obligations Of Free Expression At Law Schools, Frederick M. Lawrence

Hofstra Law Review

The article focuses on the free expression jurisprudence developed by Justice Louis D. Brandeis and its application to institutions of higher learning, specifically law schools. Topics include the doctrine of protecting expression, the role of institutions in promoting free speech, and the challenges faced by institutional leaders in navigating difficult conversations.

Comment, Guido Calabresi

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Comment, Eduardo Peñalver

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Comment, Danielle Holley

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Account Of The Deliberations Of The Faculty Committee On Academic Freedom And Unacceptable Speech, Matthew W. Finkin

Hofstra Law Review

The article focuses on the principles of academic freedom and the application of those principles in the context of faculty speech. Topics include the origins and endorsement of the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, the distinction between speech as a citizen and disciplinary speech, and a proposal for revising academic freedom policies and establishing a faculty committee for adjudication.

What Went Down When You Went Under? The Performance Of Nonconsensual Pelvic Exams On Unconscious Patients, Gabriella Ferreira

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Legal Ethics Of Family Separation, Milan Markovic

Faculty Scholarship

On April 6, 2018, the Trump administration announced a “zero tolerance” policy for individuals who crossed the U.S. border illegally. As part of this policy, the administration prosecuted parents with minor children for unlawful entry; previous administrations generally placed families in civil removal proceedings. Since U.S. law does not allow children to be held in immigration detention facilities pending their parents’ prosecution, the new policy caused thousands of children to be separated from their parents. Hundreds of families have yet to be reunited.

Despite a consensus that the family separation policy was cruel and ineffective, there has been minimal focus …

A Response To Rules Of Medical Necessity, Brendan S. Maher

Faculty Scholarship

Professors Monahan and Schwarcz’s recent Article in the Iowa Law Review, Rules of Medical Necessity, is a must-read for multiple audiences. In this short Response, I informally describe health insurance, and—using that perspective—describe and comment on why Rules of Medical Necessity is a piece of work that not only deserves attention from experts in the field, but is also one that casual readers should choose first when attempting to understand how health insurance works in theory and practice.

Policing Pregnancy "Crimes", Valena Beety, Jennifer Oliva

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization held that there is no right to abortion healthcare under the United States Constitution. This Essay details how states prosecuted pregnant people for pregnancy behaviors and speculative fetal harms prior to the Dobbs decision. In this connection, it also identifies two, related post-Dobbs concerns: (1) that states will ramp up their policing of pregnancy behaviors and (2) that prosecutors will attempt to substantiate these charges by relying on invalid scientific evidence. This Essay examines the faulty forensic science that states have used to support fetal harm allegations and reminds …

Information Costs And The Civil Justice System, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

Litigation is costly because information is not free. Given that information is costly and perfect information prohibitively costly, courts will occasionally err. Finally, the fact that information is costly implies an unavoidable degree of informational asymmetry between disputants. This paper presents a model of the civil justice system that incorporates these features and probes its implications for compliance with the law, efficiency of law, accuracy in adjudication, trial outcome statistics, and the evolution of legal standards. The model’s claims are applied to and tested against the relevant empirical and legal literature. (JEL: D74, K10, K13, K41)

Of Inventorship And Patent Ownership: Examining The Intersection Between Artificial Intelligence And Patent Law, Cheng Lim Saw, Zheng Wen Samuel Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Artificial intelligence (“AI”) has garnered much attention in recent years, with capabilities spanning the operation of self-driving cars to the emulation of the great artistic masters of old. The field has now been ostensibly enlarged in light of the professed abilities of AI machines to autonomously generate patentable inventions. This article examines the present state of AI technology and the suitability of existing patent law frameworks in accommodating it. Looking ahead, the authors also offer two recommendations in a bid to anticipate and resolve the challenges that future developments in AI technology might pose to patent law. In particular, the …

The Coming Central Bank Digital Currency Revolution And The E-Cny, Heng Wang, Ross Buckley

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The only central bank money individuals and businesses have today is cash. Everything else they use as money is commercial bank promises. Central bank digital currencies (“CBDC”) will likely change all this by putting central bank money into everyone’s hands. China is a front runner in this revolution, and its CBDC, the e-CNY, may well in time profoundly affect the international economic order. This article analyses the major considerations around the e-CNY, its ramifications, in particular for trade, and its possible challenges.

Service Out Under The New Rules Of Court, Ian Mah, Aaron Yoong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The new Rules of Court 2021 seek to provide a more accessible and efficient justice system. The extensiveness of the overhaul, however, brings with it as much unfamiliarity as excitement. This legislation comment examines the changes in the provisions governing service out of jurisdiction and argues that the textual changes also effect substantive changes to how the law is applied. This comment also explores the related issues on the grant of Mareva injunctions in aid of foreign proceedings under the new Rules of Court 2021.

Asymmetric Review Of Qualified Immunity Appeals, Alexander A. Reinert

Articles

This article presents results from the most comprehensive study to date of the resolution of qualified immunity in the federal courts of appeals and the US Supreme Court. By analyzing more than 4000 appellate decisions issued between 2004 and 2015, this study provides novel insights into how courts of appeals resolve arguments for qualified immunity. Moreover, by conducting an unprecedented analysis of certiorari practice, this study reveals how the US Supreme Court has exercised its discretionary jurisdiction in the area of qualified immunity. The data presented here have significant implications for civil rights enforcement and the uniformity of federal law. …

The Coming Copyright Judge Crisis, Saurabh Vishnubhakat, Dave Fagundes

Articles

Commentary about the Supreme Court's 2021 decision in United States v. Arthrex, Inc. has focused on the nexus between patent and administrative law. But this overlooks the decision's seismic and as-yet unappreciated implication for copyright law: Arthrex renders the Copyright Royalty Board ("CRB") unconstitutional. The CRB has suffered constitutional challenge since its 2004 inception, but these were seemingly resolved in 2011 when the D.C. Circuit held that the CRB's composition did not offend the Appointments Clause as long as Copyright Royalty Judges ("CRJs") were removable atwill. But when the Court invalidated the selection process for administrative patent judges on a …

His Ship Has Sailed--Expelling Columbus From Cultural Heritage Law, Emily Behzadi

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Latin America is a region rich with cultural heritage that existed for centuries before its antiquities were looted, trafficked, and sold on the international market. The language used to classify these objects of cultural heritage has been a tool of oppression and erasure. In reference to those objects of historical importance, auction houses, dealers, museums, and even looters themselves consistently use the term “Pre- Columbian.” “Pre-Columbian,” which means “before Columbus,” defines the historical period prior to the establishment of the Spanish culture in the national territories of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean islands. In fact, this definition …

Monopolistic Excessive Pricing As An "Esg Violation", Lior Frank

Journal of International Business and Law

ESG (environmental, social, and governance) considerations are on the rise, and corporations that fail to adequately address and implement them in their business agenda are exposed to legal risks and liabilities. Such social considerations weaken the prevalent notion that the paramount purpose of the corporation is to maximize its shareholders’ wealth, even at the expense of the stakeholders’ (e.g., consumers) interests. In this ‘new era’ of ESG, corporations are compelled to take stakeholders’ interests into account, otherwise, they might face legal action. Accordingly, this article contends that monopolistic excessive pricing, which is currently deemed lawful under U.S. antitrust law, should …