Legal History Commons^™

The Constitution's Forgotten Cover Letter: An Essay On The New Federalism And The Original Understanding, Daniel A. Farber

Michigan Law Review

At the end of the summer of 1787, the Philadelphia Convention issued two documents. One was the Constitution itself. The other document, now almost forgotten even by constitutional historians, was an official letter to Congress, signed by George Washington on behalf of the Convention. Congress responded with a resolution that the Constitution and "letter accompanying the same" be sent to the state legislatures for submission to conventions in each state.

The Washington letter lacks the detail and depth of some other evidence of original intent. Being a cover letter, it was designed only to introduce the accompanying document rather than …

Fictions, Fault, And Forgiveness: Jury Nullification In A New Context, David N. Dorfman, Chris K. Iijima

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Recently, critics of the Anglo-American jury system have complained that juries in criminal trials have been ignoring the law, in favor of defendants who claim that they lack criminal responsibility because they are afflicted by the various victimization syndromes now popularized in the mass media. In this Article, Professors Dorfman and Iijima counter this characterization of the "runaway" jury and argue that juries are not ignoring the law, but rather, are exercising a primary power of the jury, to nullify the application of the law when such application to a particular defendant is unjust. The Authors trace the development of …

Freedom And Criminal Responsibility In The Age Of Pound: An Essay On Criminal Justice, Thomas A. Green

Articles

The concept of freedom has two main aspects: political liberty and freedom of the will. I am concerned here with the latter, although - as these two aspects of freedom are not entirely unrelated to each other - I shall touch also on the former. Enough has been written from a philosophical perspective on the relationship between free will and the law that it is not easy to justify yet another such undertaking. But there may still be room for some informal observations on the manner in which doubts about the concept of freedom of the will affected discussion of …

Cook And The Corporate Shareholder: A Belated Review Of William W. Cook's Publications On Corporations, Alfred F. Conard

Michigan Law Review

A Review of A Treatise on the Law of Stock and Stockholders, as Applicable to Railroad, Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing, Commercial, Business, Turnpike, Bridge, Canal, and Other Private Corporations by William W. Cook

De Jure Revolution?, Margaret M. Russell

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Failed Revolutions: Social Reform and the Limits of Legal Imagination by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, and Crusaders in the Courts: How a Dedicated Band of Lawyers Fought for the Civil Rights Revolution by Jack Greenberg.

The Case For (And Against) Harvard, Robert W. Gordon

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Logic and Experience: The Origin of Modern American Legal Education by William P. LaPiana

It Isn't About Duck Hunting: The British Origins Of The Right To Arms, David B. Kopel

Michigan Law Review

A Review of To Keep and Bear Arms: The Origins of an Anglo-American Right by Joyce Lee Malcolm

Poverty Lawyering In The Golden Age, Matthew Diller

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Brutal Need: Lawyers and the Welfare Rights Movement, 1960-1973 by Martha F. Davis

History's Stories, Stephan Landsman

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Stories of Scottsboro by James Goodman

English Law In The Age Of The Black Death, 1348-1381: A Transformation Of Governance And Law, Daniel B. Kosove

Michigan Law Review

A Review of English Law in the Age of the Black Death, 1348-1381: A Transformation of Governance and Law by Robert C. Palmer

Legislatively Directed Judicial Activism: Some Reflections On The Meaning Of The Civil Justice Reform Act, Matthew R. Kipp, Paul B. Lewis

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

With the Civil Justice Reform Act (CJRA), Congress attempted to further a trend that the federal judiciary had undertaken largely on its own initiative. Sensing a critical need to address the mounting expense and delay of federal civil litigation, Congress, like the judiciary, sought to increase the degree of early and active involvement of judges in the adjudicatory process. The result of this mandate has been a further emphasis on the role of the judge as a case manager. As a necessary corollary, the liberty and self-determination of individual litigants-ideals that have historically been seen as philosophical cornerstones of the …

The Agincourt Campaign And The Law Of War, A. W.B. Simpson

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of Henry's Wars and Shakespeare's Laws: Perspectives on the Law of War in the Later Middle Ages by Theodor Meron

Raiders Of The Lost Scrolls: The Right Of Scholarly Access To The Content Of Historic Documents, Cindy Alberts Carson

Michigan Journal of International Law

In Section I of this article, I will describe the events that led to the current controversy. In Section II, I will discuss whether the content of historic documents can be classified as cultural property. In Section III, I will consider whether control of the content of these documents interferes with intellectual freedom. In Section IV, I will discuss the intellectual property arguments raised by owners and interpreters of the Scrolls. Finally, in Section V, I will propose standards for access to, and preservation of, historic documents.

The Six Companies And The Geary Act: A Case Study In Nineteenth-Century Civil Disobedience And Civil Rights Litigation, Ellen D. Katz

Articles

In 1892, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in San Francisco urged the resident Chinese community to ignore a federal law. The United States Congress had just passed the Geary Act, which required all Chinese laborers living in the United States to register with the collector of internal revenue. Under the act, those who did not register would face arrest and likely deportation. The Benevolent Association, also known as the Six Companies," claimed that the act violated both the constitutional right to due process and treaty obligations with China. To combat the legislation, the association enlisted the assistance of the Chinese …