Legal History Commons^™

Probability Theory Meets Res Ipsa Loquitor, David H. Kaye

Journal Articles

Day in and day out, attorneys, judges, and jurors must estimate probabilities. To be sure, we rarely quantify such estimates of probability and almost never adopt the terminology and mathematics of probability theory to resolve matters. Nevertheless, the mathematical theory of probability can be applied to legal problems in various ways. This article uses probability theory normatively in an effort to clarify one aspect of the famous tort doctrine known as res ipsa loquitur. While not urging that jurors be instructed in probability theory or be equipped with microprocessors, it does seek an accurate statement of the res ipsa doctrine …

Balzacian Legality, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Journal Articles

The study of law and literature is an area of growing interest to legal scholars in the United States. Honore de Balzac incorporated in his works a panoramic view of the social reality of nineteenth century France. In this context, the fidelity of Balzac's plots and characters to their external models has been well-documented in a number of fields, including sociology, commerce, and finance. In addition to this penchant for realism, however, Balzac laced his novels with an equally evident moral content. This commitment to accuracy and morality also influenced Balzac's novelistic treatment of the law and lawyers.

Balzac's work …

State Sovereignty--A Polished But Slippery Crown, Kenneth F. Ripple, Douglas W. Kenyon

Journal Articles

During the past decade, the Supreme Court has decided two notable cases which have had, it is certain, the effect of greatly enhancing both the theoretical and the practical significance of the tenth and eleventh amendment-based concept of "state sovereignty." As a consequence, there has been an acceptance, at least in the "conventional wisdom," of the proposition that the star of "state sovereignty"—long dulled since Mr. Justice Stone's famous remark in United States v. Darby—is now on a steadily ascending course at the hands of a Court clearly concerned about restoring a sense of balance in "Our Federalism." Analysis—and prognostication—in …

Hope In The Life Of Thomas More, Thomas L. Shaffer, Stanley Hauerwas

Journal Articles

The seduction of power is as perennial as the threat of power spurned. Power is a medium for good and evil. Lawyers and politicians and their victims—Nixon and his cronies, for examples—come and go; but the moral problems of how to use power, how to live with it and leave it behind, remain.

One way to look at the moral problem of power is to ask how a virtuous person uses power, and lives close to power, without losing the sense of self which is necessary to negotiate the temptations of power. We propose to ask that question with respect …

Advocacy As Moral Discourse, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

Advocacy at its best is a form of reconciliation. It reconciles the advocate with those whose champion he proposes to be. It reconciles the advocate with his hearers. It reconciles the person whose cause is advocated with the persons who hear advocacy. It brings to community life a new sense of the interests of those the community neglects. It seeks to make things better. It is moral discourse.

This article will examine advocacy in two contexts. The first is advocacy to an institution, conducted in the name of justice or the welfare of the community; one might call this first …

Comments On The History Of Plea Bargaining, Lynn M. Mather

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.