Legal History Commons^™

Revisiting A Classic Problem In Statutory Interpretation: Is A Minister A Laborer?, Tammy Gales, Lawrence M. Solan

Georgia State University Law Review

This study presents a new analysis of an iconic United States Supreme Court case, Holy Trinity Church v. United States (1892). The question in Holy Trinity Church concerned whether a law making it illegal to pay the transportation of a person entering the U.S. under contract to perform “labor or service of any kind” applied to a wealthy Manhattan church that had paid to bring its new rector from England to New York. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the law did not apply to the church’s contract, relying first on the ordinary meaning of “labor” and second on the …

Creative Lawyering For Social Change, Raymond H. Brescia

Georgia State University Law Review

Lawyers have long played an integral part in efforts to bring about social change. With an increasing desire to see change in the world, regardless of one’s political perspective, there is a growing interest in understanding the role that lawyers can play in bringing about such change. This type of lawyering is complex, however, and faces far more challenges than those the traditional lawyer faces in his or her work. Although all lawyers solve problems on behalf of their clients, the role of the social-change lawyer is more complex because the problems she seeks to address are more complex, mostly …

The Short History Of The Rule Of Law In The United States (1954-2016), Ryan Rowberry

Faculty Publications By Year

Many Americans and outside observers assume that the United States of America was founded upon a cluster of principles known as the "Rule of Law". Indeed, Articles I, II, and III of the United States Constitution of 1789, purportedly establish the rights and authorities of three co-equal branches of government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Adherence to the Rule of Law in the United States, however, has a much shorter history. During the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, the President of the United States - leader of the executive branch - often ignored or contradicted decisions by the …

Fiction In The Code: Reading Legislation As Literature, Thomas J. Mcsweeney

Georgia State University Law Review

One of the major branches of the field of law and literature is often described as “law as literature.” Scholars of law as literature examine the law using the tools of literary analysis. The scholarship in this subfield is dominated by the discussion of narrative texts: confessions, victim-impact statements, and, above all, the judicial opinion. This article will argue that we can use some of the same tools to help us understand non-narrative texts, such as law codes and statutes.

Genres create expectations. We do not expect a law code to be literary. Indeed, we tend to dissociate the law …

Indefinite Detention, Colonialism, And Settler Prerogative In The United States, Natsu Taylor Saito

Faculty Publications By Year

The primacy accorded individual civil and political rights is often touted as one of the United States' greatest achievements. However, mass incarcerations of indefinite duration have occurred consistently throughout U.S. history and have primarily targeted people of color. The dominant narrative insists that the United States is a political democracy and portrays each instance of indefinite detention in exceptionalist terms. This essay argues that the historical patterns of indefinite detention are better explained by recognizing the United States as a settler colonial state whose claimed prerogative to expand its territorial reach and contain/control populations over which it exercises jurisdiction inevitably …

The Origins And Development Of Judicial Tenure 'During Good Behavior' To 1485, Ryan Rowberry

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Memorial: Nancy P. Johnson (1949-2014), Kristina L. Niedringhaus

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

When Harvard Said No To Eugenics: The J. Ewing Mears Bequest, 1927, Paul A. Lombardo

Faculty Publications By Year

James Ewing Mears (1838-1919) was a founding member of the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery. His 1910 book, The Problem of Race Betterment, laid the groundwork for later authors to explore the uses of surgical sterilization as a eugenic measure. Mears left $60,000 in his will to Harvard University to support the teaching of eugenics. Although numerous eugenic activists were on the Harvard faculty, and who of its Presidents were also associated with the eugenics movement, Harvard refused the Mears gift. The bequest was eventually awarded to Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. This article explains why Harvard turned its back …

Historical Antecedents Of Challenges Facing The Georgia Appellate Courts, Michael B. Terry

Georgia State University Law Review

The Georgia appellate courts face challenges common to many courts in these days of reduced governmental resources. At the same time, the Georgia appellate courts face unusual challenges that can be traced to their historical antecedents and one unique constitutional provision: the “Two-Term Rule.” Just as “[t]he law embodies the story of a nation’s development through many centuries,” the current rules and practices of both the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Court of Appeals of Georgia embody the story of the development of those courts since their founding.

Several aspects of the history of the courts directly impact the …

The Federal Rules At 75: Dispute Resolution, Private Enforcement Or Decisions According To Law?, James R. Maxeiner

Georgia State University Law Review

This essay is a critical response to the 2013 commemorations of the75th anniversary of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were introduced in 1938 to provide procedure to decide cases on their merits. The Rules were designed to replace decisions under the “sporting theory of justice”with decisions according to law.

By 1976, at midlife, it was clear that they were not achieving their goal. America’s proceduralists split into two sides about what to do. One side promotes rules that control and conclude litigation: e.g.,plausibility pleading, case management, limited discovery, cost indemnity for discovery, and summary …

53rd Henry J. Miller Distinguished Lecture Series, The Hon. Justice John Paul Stevens

Georgia State University Law Review

Remarks by the Honorable John Paul Stevens, Retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, at the 53rd Henry J. Miller Distinguished Lecture Series.

North Carolina's Bold Model For Eugenics Compensation, Peter Hardin, Paul Lombardo

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Temporary Insanity: The Strange Life And Times Of The Perfect Defense, Russell D. Covey

Faculty Publications By Year

The temporary insanity defense has a prominent place in the mythology of criminal law. Because it seems to permit factually guilty defendants to escape both punishment and institutionalization, some imagine it as the “perfect defense.” In fact, the defense has been invoked in a dizzying variety of contexts and, at times, has proven highly successful. Successful or not, the temporary insanity defense has always been accompanied by a storm of controversy, in part because it is often most successful in cases where the defendant’s basic claim is that honor, revenge, or tragic circumstance – not mental illness in its more …

Decolonization, Development, And Denial, Natsu Taylor Saito

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

In Search Of Disappearing Information: Strategies For Preserving Access To Federal Documents On The Web, Meg Butler

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

The Corruption Of Civilizations, Timothy K. Kuhner

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Escape From The Battle Of The Forms: Keep It Simple, Stupid, Corneill A. Stephens

Faculty Publications By Year

This Article reviews the history of the "battle of the forms" issue arising when contracting parties submit conflicting terms to each other in attempting to form a contract and how courts have resolved issues arising from this, both under the original Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Article 2 and the Revised Article 2. The author reviews the economic circumstances that gave rise to the current use of standard form contracts, such as lower transaction costs and the ability of a company to control the terms and the discretion of its personnel. He discusses how battle of the forms issues were resolved …

Love, Law, & Litigation In Colonial Georgia: The Trial And The Tribulation Of John Wesley In Savannah, E. R. Lanier

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Professor Frank R. Kennedy, Jack F. Williams

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 175, Eric J. Segall

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

A Century Lost: The End Of The Originalism Debate, Eric J. Segall

Faculty Publications By Year

Focuses on the originalism debate on the constitutional law of the United States. Contemporary debate; Analysis on the debate; Views an arguments on originalism.

Miscegenation, Eugenics, And Racism: Historical Footnotes To Loving V. Virginia, Paul A. Lombardo

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Hugo Black's Congressional Investigation Of Lobbying And The Public Utility Holding Company Act: A Historical View Of The Power Trust, New Deal Politics, And Regulatory Propaganda, William A. Gregory, Rennard Strickland

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.