Law and Society Commons^™

Synecdoche, Gerald Torres

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article suggests that the ideas of synecdoche and metonymy are not just figures of speech in which the part stands in for the whole. They are potentially useful metaphoric devices to understand the politics of institutional change through the inclusion of the formerly excluded.

Capture: here the hazard is that those who find themselves in a position to use institutional power may find themselves subject to pressure to conform to the norms and values of those who have traditionally benefitted from the conventional use of that institution's authority. This will often be subtle and it may merely be a …

Legal Change, Gerald Torres

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The "demos" in demosprudence is meant to refer to those people who are collectively mobilized to make change. Demosprudence is not "the community" at the micro level. Nor is it the "'polity" writ large whether it acts through representative decision-making or voting in referenda and initiatives. It is not the theory or practice of a riot or a lynch mob. Nor is it the study of elections, whether for representatives or referenda. It is the theory and philosophy of legal meaning making through popular mobilization that engages a "thick" form of participation by people who are pushing for change by …

Some Observations On The Role Of Social Change On The Courts, Gerald Torres

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A New Agenda For The Cultural Study Of Law: Taking On The Technicalities, Annelise Riles

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article urges humanistic legal studies to take the technical dimensions of law as a central focus of inquiry. Using archival and ethnographic investigations into developments in American Conflict of Laws doctrines as an example, and building on insights in the anthropology of knowledge and in science and technology studies that focus on technical practices in scientific and engineering domains, it aims to show that the technologies of law - an ideology that law is a tool and an accompanying technical aesthetic of legal knowledge - are far more central and far more interesting dimensions of legal practice than humanists …

A Moderate Defense Of Hate Speech Regulations On University Campuses, W. Bradley Wendel

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The regulation of hate speech on public and private university campuses is a fiercely contested and divisive issue. Professor Bradley Wendel defends the middle ground in this debate. This Essay argues that concerns about abuses of power by those in positions of authority are unfounded when an institution possesses greater expertise in a domain than the citizens who are affected by the institution’s decision, provided that the institution is acting on the basis of reasons that are shared by the affected individual.

The Uncertain Psychological Case For Paternalism, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Is Evolutionary Analysis Of Law Science Or Storytelling?, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In recent years, some legal scholars have argued that legal scholarship could benefit from a greater reliance on theories of human behavior that arise from biological evolution. These scholars contend that reliance on biological evolution would successfully combine the rigor of economics with the scientific aspects of psychology. Complex legal systems, however, are uniquely human. Law has always been the product of cognitive processes that are unique to humans and that developed as a response to an environment that no longer exists. Consequently, the evolutionary development of the cognitive mechanisms upon which law depends cannot be rigorously modeled or studied …

An Ethnography Of Abstractions?, Annelise Riles

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Heuristics And Biases In The Court: Ignorance Or Adaptation?, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Legal Rules And Social Reform, Emily Sherwin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Limits Of Social Norms, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

A Positive Psychological Theory Of Judging In Hindsight, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The Limits Of Feminism, Emily Sherwin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Why, Where And How Of Broadened Public Participation In The Administrative Process, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The actions of federal administrative agencies – rules, orders, licenses, loans, grants, contracts, and the like – have enormous effects on individuals and groups. Yet affected persons and groups are not always accorded the opportunity to participate in decision making procedures that affect them. Mr. Cramton argues that broadened public participation will improve administrative decisions and give them greater legitimacy and acceptance. After discussing the types of proceedings in which public participation is desirable and the limitations that should be placed upon it, Mr. Cramton evaluates various proposals for assuring the desired degree of public participation.