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Full-Text Articles in Legal History

The Structure Of Blackstone's Commentaries, Alan Watson Apr 1998

The Structure Of Blackstone's Commentaries, Alan Watson

Scholarly Works

Duncan Kennedy's view of Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England as the first systematic attempt to present a theory of the whole common law system is interesting but wrong. Blackstone himself listed his predecessors, "those who have laboured in reducing our laws to a System": Glanville, Bracton, Britton, the author of Fleta, Fitzherbert, Brook, Lord Bacon, Sir Edward Coke, Dr. Cowell, Sir Henry Finch, Dr. Wood, Sir Matthew Hale. Certainly their arrangements are not free from defects. In particular, as Blackstone pointed out, the arrangement of Fitzherbert and Brook was alphabetical, and Bacon purposely avoided any regular …


"Lit. Theory" Put To The Test: A Comparative Literary Analysis Of American Judicial Tests And French Judicial Discourse, Mitchel De S.-O.-L'E. Lasser Jan 1998

"Lit. Theory" Put To The Test: A Comparative Literary Analysis Of American Judicial Tests And French Judicial Discourse, Mitchel De S.-O.-L'E. Lasser

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The formalism/policy dichotomy has structured American jurisprudential analyses of judicial decisionmaking for most of the twentieth century. In this Article, Professor Lasser analyzes and compares American multi-part judicial tests and French civil judicial discourse to demonstrate that the dichotomy reflects and informs the ways in which judicial decisions are written. Drawing on the works of Roman Jakobson, Roland Barthes, and Paul de Man, he constructs a literary methodology to analyze American and French judicial discourse. Professor Lasser contends that the formalism/policy dichotomy is part of a larger process by which the American and French judicial systems justify how they produce …


Recent Challenges To The Protection Of Copyright In Literary Works: A Study Of Ghana And Canada, Josephine Asmah Jan 1998

Recent Challenges To The Protection Of Copyright In Literary Works: A Study Of Ghana And Canada, Josephine Asmah

LLM Theses

This work traces the historical development of the concept of copyright in literary works from the earliest forms of communication by human beings until the present day. By assessing the impact of implementing the recent international copyright agreements on literary works in Ghana, a developing country, and in Canada, a developed country, the work establishes that generally, the economies of developed countries are more suitable than those of developing countries to support a strengthened copyright regime. This is more so because the former have shorter transition periods in which to comply with the international copyright framework. The work also asserts …


Reverse-Cost-Shifting: A New Proposal For Allocating Legal Expenses, 32 J. Marshall L. Rev. 35 (1998), Ephraim Fischbach, William Mclauchlan Jan 1998

Reverse-Cost-Shifting: A New Proposal For Allocating Legal Expenses, 32 J. Marshall L. Rev. 35 (1998), Ephraim Fischbach, William Mclauchlan

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Feminization Of The Office Of Notary Public: From Femme Covert To Notaire Covert, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 703 (1998), Deborah M. Thaw Jan 1998

The Feminization Of The Office Of Notary Public: From Femme Covert To Notaire Covert, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 703 (1998), Deborah M. Thaw

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Foreign Notarial Legal Services Monopoly: Why Should We Care, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 945 (1998), Pedro A. Malavet Jan 1998

The Foreign Notarial Legal Services Monopoly: Why Should We Care, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 945 (1998), Pedro A. Malavet

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.


An Evolutionary Theory Of Corporate Law And Corporate Bankruptcy, David A. Skeel Jr. Jan 1998

An Evolutionary Theory Of Corporate Law And Corporate Bankruptcy, David A. Skeel Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, Professor Skeel argues that the important recent literature exploring historical and political influences on American corporate law has neglected a crucial component of corporate governance: corporate bankruptcy. Only by appreciating the complementary relationship between corporate law and corporate bankruptcy can we understand how corporate governance operates in any given nation. To show this, the Article contrasts American corporate governance with that of Japan and Germany. America's market-driven corporate governance can only function effectively if the bankruptcy framework includes a manager-driven reorganization option. The relational shareholding that characterizes Japanese and German corporate governance, by contrast, requires a much …


Posner's Economic Approach To Comparative Law, William Ewald Jan 1998

Posner's Economic Approach To Comparative Law, William Ewald

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Can Money Whiten? Exploring Race Practice In Colonial Venezuela And Its Implications For Contemporary Race Discourse, Estelle T. Lau Jan 1998

Can Money Whiten? Exploring Race Practice In Colonial Venezuela And Its Implications For Contemporary Race Discourse, Estelle T. Lau

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

The Gracias al Sacar, a fascinating and seemingly inconceivable practice in eighteenth century colonial Venezuela, allowed certain individuals of mixed Black and White ancestry to purchase "Whiteness" from their King. The author exposes the irony of this system, developed in a society obsessed with "natural" ordering that labeled individuals according to their precise racial ancestry. While recognizing that the Gracias al Sacar provided opportunities for advancement and an avenue for material and social struggle, the author argues that it also justified the persistence of racial hierarchy. The Article concludes that the Gracias al Sacar, along with their present-day …


"Constitutionalism" : The White Man's Ghost Dance, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 513 (1998), Robert C. Black Jan 1998

"Constitutionalism" : The White Man's Ghost Dance, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 513 (1998), Robert C. Black

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.


Enlightenment, Donald J. Herzog Jan 1998

Enlightenment, Donald J. Herzog

Articles

It's a curious broadside, a work of austere graphics and polite prose far removed from the mischievous engravings and bawdy ballads usually appearing on such sheets. Drawn from an address that 345 printers had signed and 138 had presented to the queen, the original text was committed to parchment "and accompanied by a Copy surperbly printed on white Satin, edged with white Silk Fringe, backed with purple Satin, and mounted in an Ivory Roller with appropriate Devices." Even in the published version, the arch is full of intricately detailed work. The printers took pride in their craftmanship: "This Specimen of …


Dalla Simbologia Giuridica A Una Filosofia Giuridica E Politica Simbolica ? Ovvero Il Diritto E I Sensi, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha Dec 1997

Dalla Simbologia Giuridica A Una Filosofia Giuridica E Politica Simbolica ? Ovvero Il Diritto E I Sensi, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

La prima conseguenza della nostra cultura giuridica dell'audizione che è anche cultura dell'oralità, del discorso e della scrittura (di tutto ciò che serve per parlare e fissare quello che può essere detto) è la volontaria atrofia degli altri sensi: il tatto, il gusto, l'olfatto e la vista. Il Diritto quasi non tocca le cose. Le concepisce mentalmente, le dice, però, anche se con i guanti deve toccare il corpo del delitto.


Constitutional Structure As A Limitation On The Scope Of The "Law Of Nations" In The Alien Tort Claims Act, Donald J. Kochan Dec 1997

Constitutional Structure As A Limitation On The Scope Of The "Law Of Nations" In The Alien Tort Claims Act, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Jurisdiction matters. Outside of the set of jurisdictional constraints, the judiciary is at sea; it poses a threat to the separation of powers and risks becoming a dangerous and domineering branch. Jurisdictional limitations serve a particularly important function when the judiciary is dealing with issues of international law. Since much of international law concerns foreign relations, the province of the executive and, in part, the legislature, the danger that the judiciary will act in a policy-making role or will frustrate the functions of the political branches is especially great. The Framers of the Constitution were particularly concerned with constructing a …