Jurisprudence Commons^™

Is The Law Hopeful?, Annelise Riles

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

This essay asks what legal studies can contribute to the now vigorous debates in economics, sociology, psychology, philosophy, literary studies and anthropology about the nature and sources of hope in personal and social life. What does the law contribute to hope? Is there anything hopeful about law? Rather than focus on the ends of law (social justice, economic efficiency, etc.) this essay focuses instead on the means (or techniques of the law). Through a critical engagement with the work of Hans Vaihinger, Morris Cohen and Pierre Schlag on legal fictions and legal technicalities, the essay argues that what is “hopeful” …

Judicial Independence In Excess: Reviving The Judicial Duty Of The Supreme Court, Paul D. Carrington, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Independence from extrinsic influence is, we know, indispensable to public trust in the integrity of professional judges who share the duty to decide cases according to preexisting law. But such independence is less appropriate for those expected to make new law to govern future events. Indeed, in a democratic government those who make new law are expected to be accountable to their constituents, not independent of their interests and unresponsive to their desires. The Supreme Court of the United States has in the last century largely forsaken responsibility for the homely task of deciding cases in accord with preexisting law …

Legal Taxonomy, Emily Sherwin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This essay examines the ambition to taxonomize law and the different methods a legal taxonomer might employ. Three possibilities emerge. The first is a formal taxonomy that classifies legal materials according to rules of order and clarity. Formal taxonomy is primarily conventional and has no normative implications for judicial decision-making. The second possibility is a function-based taxonomy that classifies laws according to their social functions. Function-based taxonomy can influence legal decision-making indirectly, as a gatekeeping mechanism, but it does not provide decisional standards for courts. Its objective is to assist in analysis and criticism of law by providing an overview …

Comments On The Comments, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The paper replies to Bix and Soper (Bix 2007; Soper 2007). Bix’s paper raises methodological questions, especially whether a form-theorist merely needs to reflect on form from the arm-chair so to speak. A variety of methods is called for, including conceptual analysis, study of usage, “education in the obvious,” general reflection on the nature of specific functional legal units, empirical research on their operation and effects, and still more. Further methodological remarks are made in response to Soper’s paper. Soper suggests the possibility of substituting “form v. substance” of a unit as the central contrast here rather than form v. …

Overview Of Legal Systems In The Asia-Pacific Region: India, Navoneel Dayanand

Overview of Legal Systems in the Asia-Pacific Region (2004)

This article provides a general description of the legal system of India. It further discusses aspects of legal education and legal practice in that country.

Legal Institutions In Professor H.L.A. Hart's Concept Of Law, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Preliminary Thoughts On The Virtues Of Passive Dialogue, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The judicial, legislative, and executive branches interact in many ways. These interactions fuel a constitutional dialogue that serves as a backdrop to myriad governmental activities, both large and small. The judiciary's participation is necessary, desirable, and, as a practical matter, inevitable. In my article I analyze two competing models that bear on the normative question: What form should the judiciary's participation take?

Debates over the judiciary's appropriate role in the public constitutional dialogue have captured scholarly attention for decades. Recent attention has focused on a growing distinction between the active and passive models of judicial participation. My article approaches this …

Critical Race Theory And Postcolonial Development Theory: Observations On Methodology, Chantal Thomas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Supreme Court 1997 Term -- Foreword: The Limits Of Socratic Deliberation, Michael C. Dorf

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

"Lit. Theory" Put To The Test: A Comparative Literary Analysis Of American Judicial Tests And French Judicial Discourse, Mitchel De S.-O.-L'E. Lasser

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The formalism/policy dichotomy has structured American jurisprudential analyses of judicial decisionmaking for most of the twentieth century. In this Article, Professor Lasser analyzes and compares American multi-part judicial tests and French civil judicial discourse to demonstrate that the dichotomy reflects and informs the ways in which judicial decisions are written. Drawing on the works of Roman Jakobson, Roland Barthes, and Paul de Man, he constructs a literary methodology to analyze American and French judicial discourse. Professor Lasser contends that the formalism/policy dichotomy is part of a larger process by which the American and French judicial systems justify how they produce …

How Law Is Formal And Why It Matters, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Nonoriginalist Perspective On The Lessons Of History, Michael C. Dorf

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Prediction And The Rule Of Law, Michael C. Dorf

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Formal Character Of Law, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Legal Pragmatism In The People's Republic Of China, Xingzhong Yu

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Summers's Primer On Fuller's Jurisprudence – A Wholly Disinterested Assessment Of The Reviews By Professors Wueste And Lebel, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reply To Mr Mackie, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Working Conceptions Of "The Law", Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This exploratory essay is an admixture of amateur psychology, moral theory, and jurisprudence. It grows out of seminars I have given for judges, and reflects that focus. Co-theorists will now see some of what I have been telling practitioners. And error in my story may be exposed. But one can have no qualms about this. It is especially important to have things put right for judges.

Pragmatic Instrumentalism In Twentieth Century American Legal Thought—A Synthesis And Critique Of Our Dominant General Theory About Law And Its Use, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Professor Fuller's Jurisprudence And America's Dominant Philosophy Of Law, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The late Lon L. Fuller played an influential role in the development of American jurisprudence, but his views have not always prevailed. In this tribute to the memory of Professor Fuller, Professor Summers outlines the major tenets of what he perceives to be our dominant philosophy of law – “pragmatic instrumentalism” – by way of contrasting that philosophy with the views of Professor Fuller. Professor Summers concludes that these two philosophies differ in many important respects and that our dominant philosophy of law should accommodate, and may indeed already be in the process of accommodating, the thought of Professor Fuller.

Reflections On A Unified Theory Of Motive, Theodore Eisenberg

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Critique Of Professor Fried’S Anatomy Of Values, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The New Analytical Jurists, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Natural Law Demythologized: A Functional Theory Of Norms For A Revolutionary Epoch, E. F. Roberts

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Jurisprudence can afford us some insight into whether a particular system is functioning effectively. To do this jurisprudes must extrapolate the aims of the society and then evaluate how effectively its legal system functions to structure social activity so that those aims are realized in an orderly fashion. Jurisprudence is seen, therefore, to be a form of time and motion study on a grand scale. Judgments about the ultimate worth of a given society’s aims are excluded from jurisprudence, however, on the ground that such emotionally charged and ethically relative conclusions cannot be proved by any empirically verifiable scale of …

Professor H.L.A. Hart's Concept Of Law, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Justiciability, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

"Is" And "Ought" In Legal Philosophy, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Logic In The Law, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.