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Full-Text Articles in Legal History
Proportionalities, Youngjae Lee
Proportionalities, Youngjae Lee
Notre Dame Law Review Reflection
“Proportionality” is ubiquitous. The idea that punishment should be proportional to crime is familiar in criminal law and has a lengthy history. But that is not the only place where one encounters the concept of proportionality in law and ethics. The idea of proportionality is important also in the self-defense context, where the right to defend oneself with force is limited by the principle of proportionality. Proportionality plays a role in the context of war, especially in the idea that the military advantage one side may draw from an attack must not be excessive in relation to the loss of …
Congressional Power To Institute A Wealth Tax, Will Clark
Congressional Power To Institute A Wealth Tax, Will Clark
Notre Dame Law Review Reflection
Over the last few years, several high-profile politicians have pushed to impose a federal “wealth tax.” For example, a recent bill introduced in the Senate would create a two percent tax on the value of assets between fifty million and one billion dollars, plus a higher percentage on wealth valued over one billion dollars. The proponents of the tax argue that it would reduce the growing wealth inequality in the United States, while opponents say that it would disincentivize investment in the American economy.
Policy arguments, however, are only relevant if the federal government has the authority to institute such …
Living Recipes . . . And Constitutions, John Vlahoplus
Living Recipes . . . And Constitutions, John Vlahoplus
Notre Dame Law Review Reflection
Professor Gary Lawson and Zachary Pohlman assert that we can only follow recipes and by analogy the Constitution by complying with the original public or authorial meaning of the instructions in their texts. Absent an instruction in the recipe’s text authorizing changes, any departure from historical meaning amends the recipe rather than follows it.
This response uses the works of renowned chefs to sketch a competing theory. Following a recipe requires a cook to consider many of the same factors as pluralist and living constitution theories of law including text, history, purpose, current circumstances, personal experience, and individual judgment. Even …