Comparative and Foreign Law Commons^™

Free Speech And The Case For Constitutional Exceptionalism, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

Embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the evocative proposition that [e]veryone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. But beneath that level of abstraction there is anything but universal agreement. Modern democratic societies disagree on the text, content, theory, and practice of this liberty. They disagree on whether it is a privileged right or a subordinate value. They disagree on what constitutes speech and which speech is worthy of protection. They disagree on theoretical foundations, uncertain if the right is grounded in libertarian impulses, the promotion of a marketplace of ideas, or the advancement of …

No Laughing Matter: The Controversial Danish Cartoons Depicting The Prophet Mohammed, And Their Broader Meaning For The Europe’S Public Square, Ruti G. Teitel

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

The United States Constitution's First Amendment Vs. The Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms: A Comparative Analysis Of Obscenity And Pornography As Forms Of Expression, Justin A. Giordano

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shielding Children: The European Way, Michael D. Birnhack, Jacob H. Rowbottom

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Internet crosses physical borders, and carries with it both its promises and its harms to many different countries and societies. These countries thus share the same technology, but they do not necessarily share the same set of values or legal system. This Article compares the legal response in the United States and in Europe to one important issue: the exposure of children to certain materials, which are deemed harmful to them but not harmful to adults.

This US-European comparison, in which the experience in the United Kingdom serves as a leading example, illustrates the traits of various kinds of …

The "Horizontal Effect" Of Constitutional Rights, Stephen Gardbaum

Michigan Law Review

Among the most fundamental issues in constitutional law is the scope of application of individual rights provisions and, in particular, their reach into the private sphere. This issue is also currently one of the most important and hotly debated in comparative constitutional law, where it is known under the rubric of "vertical" and "horizontal effect." These alternatives refer to whether constitutional rights regulate only the conduct of governmental actors in their dealings with private individuals (vertical) or also relations between private individuals (horizontal). In recent years, the horizontal position has been adopted to varying degrees, and after systematic scholarly and …

Civil Rights And Civil Liberties: Whose “Rule Of Law”?, William W. Van Alstyne

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Clearly Canadian? Hill V. Colorado And Free Speech Balancing In The United States And Canada, 28 Hastings Const. L.Q. 187 (2001), Donald L. Beschle

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Comparison Between Freedom Of Religion In Germany And In The United States In General And The Treatment Of The Church Of Scientology Specifically, Wolfgang Eichele

LLM Theses and Essays

The thesis first gives background information about the general development of fundamental rights in both Germany and the United States and specifically the freedom of religion. The analysis discusses in particular freedom of religion granted by Article 4 of the Basic Law in Germany and the religious clauses of the First Amendment of the American Constitution. In the first conclusion, the differences in the interpretations of the religious clauses both in Germany and the United States will be stated. These differences will then be illustrated by a discussion on the Church of Scientology through its basic facts, history, ideas, and …

Attempting To Ensure Fairness In The Glare Of The Media, Richard D. Friedman

Book Chapters

All legal systems worthy of credit have a commitment to achieving fairness between the parties to the litigation. In addition, common law legal systems have a longstanding commitment to openness in judicial proceedings. At the same time, and in part for the same reasons, they also have a longstanding commitment to freedom of expression. There is inevitably a tension among these three goals, because in cases of great public interest openness leads to publicity, and publicity may threaten or at least appear to threaten the fairness of a trial. In addition, sometimes publicity may create an intrusion on the lives …

Free Speech On The Information Superhighway: European Perspectives, 16 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 905 (1998), Caroline Uyttendaele, Joseph Dumortier

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

This article focuses on the need for free speech legislation on the information superhighway. Two issues are addressed in this article. First, whether additional measures are needed for protecting free speech on the Internet. Second, whether the existing restrictions on free speech are relevant. The information superhighway in the United States is referred as a growing economic interest in information. In contract, the emphasis in Europe lies more on the "information society." In both instances, the government recognizes that the Internet has become a powerful medium of expression. Additionally, the Internet is a true testing ground for regulating the information …

Regulatory Web: Free Speech And The Global Information Infrastructure, A, Victor Mayer-Schönberger, Teree E. Foster

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

National restrictions of freedom of speech on the nascent global information infrastructure are commonplace not only in the United States, but also around the globe. Individual nations, each intent upon preserving what they perceive to be within the perimeters of their national interests, seek to regulate certain forms of speech because of content that is considered reprehensible or offensive to national well-being or civic virtue. The fact that this offending speech is technologically dispersed instantaneously to millions of potential recipients strengthens the impetus to regulate.... Activists at both ends of the spectrum disregard an integral aspect of the global composition …

Fair Use In American And Continental Laws, Omar M.A. Obeidat

LLM Theses and Essays

Intellectual property, unlike tangible property, does not exclusively occupy one place at a designated time. Instead, intellectual property is composed of information which can be reproduced or used in multiple places at any given time. This fundamental difference between intellectual and tangible property is reflected in the legal provisions that regulate these types of property. There are two dominant theories that justify the legal protection of intellectual property: the individualistic European approach, and the commercial Anglo-American approach. Under the European approach, the protection of the creation is a natural right guaranteed to the author. In other words, natural law guarantees …

Church And State Relations In Australia And The United States: The Purpose And Effect Approaches And The Neutrality Principle, Gabriel A. Moens

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Discovering Who We Are: An English Perspective On The Simpson Trial, William T. Pizzi

Publications

No abstract provided.

Reporting The Truth And Setting The Record Straight: An Analysis Of U.S. And Japanese Libel Laws, Ellen M. Smith

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note argues that U.S. courts and lawmakers should adopt some aspects of Japanese libel law. Part I compares the balances struck in U.S. and Japanese libel law between promoting press freedoms and protecting individual interests. Part II focuses on the extent to which each system succeeds in addressing the objectives of encouraging aggressive, accurate reporting, and compensating libel victims. Finally, Part III proposes a new U.S. libel standard that would adopt, with some modifications, key elements of Japanese libel law without running afoul of established U.S. constitutional requirements.

Harm, Morality, And Feminist Religion: Canada's New -- But Not So New -- Approach To Obscenity, Daniel O. Conkle

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Canadian Constitution And The Dangers Of Establishment, Richard Kay

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Prurient Interest And Human Dignity: Pornography Regulation In West Germany And The United States, Mathias Reimann

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article examines the regulation of pornography in West Germany and compares it to regulation in the United States. Part I provides an overview of the legal framework- constitutional and statutory-of pornography regulation in West Germany. Part II then traces the evolution of the concept of human dignity as a standard for defining pornography in West Germany, and Part III illustrates the practical impact of the idea in two widely debated recent cases. Part IV argues that West Germany's human dignity approach to pornography regulation raises important questions about how to view pornography, but that cultural and constitutional differences between …

Freedom Of Speech, Melissa H. Maxman

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Freedom of Speech by Eric Barendt

Freedom Of Expression In England And The United States: A Comparative Study, With Particular Reference To Restrictions Imposed By Means Of Prior Restraint, Peter G. Shears

LLM Theses and Essays

Freedom of expression is both a basic right and a basic need in all democratic societies. Without it, democracy itself cannot function. This is a comparative study. The protection, or more often the restriction, of freedom of expression in England before the American Revolution is considered first. Then two chapters outline the development and extent of freedom of expression, first in America, then in England, from 1776 up to the present day. There follows a direct comparison in two separate areas: the Fair Trial-Free Press tension which exists between the interests of those involved in judicial proceedings, and their rights …

American Influence On Israel's Jurisprudence Of Free Speech, Pnina Lahav

Faculty Scholarship

This is a study of the role played by judicial development of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution in shaping the jurisprudence of free speech in Israel - a country without a bill of rights. Rivalry and contrast between opposing modes of legal thought, judicial styles, doctrines, and finally, models of democracy within Israel's Supreme Court are major themes. Most of the adversarial elements reflect competing ideas in the intellectual history of American free speech law. Thus, the tension within Israel's Supreme Court reflects the tension between American free speech jurisprudence as it now is and as it …

Bedi: Freedom Of Expression And Security: A Comparative Study Of The Function Of The Supreme Courts Of The United States And India, Chester J. Antieau

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Freedom of Expression and Security: A Comparative Study of the Function of the Supreme Courts of the United States and India by A.S. Bedi

The EngelCase From A Swiss Perspective, F. William O'Brien

Michigan Law Review

On June 25, 1962, the Supreme Court of the United States held that the State of New York, by using its public school system to encourage recitation of a prayer during classroom hours, had adopted a practice wholly inconsistent with that clause of the first amendment, applicable to the states by virtue of the fourteenth amendment, which prohibits laws respecting an establishment of religion. The opinion of the Court, written by Mr. Justice Black for himself and four other Justices, is interesting in that he rests the Court's decision exclusively upon the establishment clause. In previous decisions, the Court had …

Note And Comment, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Lawyers and Jurists at the Exposition; Convention of the Commercial Law League of America; The Philippine Island Cases in the Supreme Court of the United States; The Writ of Habeas Corpus in Chinese Exclusion Cases; What is a "Crime" Within the Meaning of the Constitution?; Due Process of Law; Winding up Proceedings; Literary Criticism and the Law of Libel; The New Japanese Civil Code;