Legal History Commons^™

Liberdade, Ética E Direito, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Further than Ethics concieved as mere obedience, Republican Ethics expresses the idea of duty for freedom and Liberty. After Law concieved as only duty and imperative norms from power to the subjects, there is the possibility of a fraternal law, in new patterns. This article explores several ways in a new ethics and a new law paradigms, after the objective Roman Law and the subjective modern Law.

Jogelmélet Jog Nélkül? [Legal Theory Without Law?], Péter Cserne

Péter Cserne

No abstract provided.

Searching And Researching Archives, Matilda Arvidsson

Dr Matilda Arvidsson

In this presentation I juxtapose two web pages, analyzed as archives: the Gertrude Bell archives (http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/), and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) of Iraq official web page (http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations/).

Following Jacques Derrida and Ann Laura Stoler, I argue that these archives should be researched not as sources of knowledge, but rather as the structuring and production of knowledge of law and colonial power. Researching law and colonial power in this way the similarities and dissimilarities in structuring the two archives as specifically online archives are analyzed in the presentation, pointing at the ways in which documents, texts, data is provided, presented …

The “Institutional Turn” In Jurisprudence: Critique And Reconstruction., Andres Palacios Lleras

Andrés Palacios Lleras

This paper engages in a inquiry into the roles that courts play within the legal system, given that judges are interdependent interpreters of legal rules that are boundedly rational and, arguably, politically biased. Contemporary authors claim that, although these two conditions play an important role in interpretation, contemporary theories in jurisprudence have not addressed them properly. Their assessments raise legal issues that are very significant; given the fact that judges are boundedly rational and tend to display political biases, how should they interpret legal rules? Is it best for them to interpret these rules in a formalist fashion, without resorting …

The Indeterminate Side Of Constitutions As Precommitment Strategies, Andres Palacios Lleras

Andrés Palacios Lleras

This paper engages in a time-honored inquiry in American jurisprudence, an inquiry which continues to be invigorated by contemporary studies in Constitutional Law. It is an inquiry into the determinacy of the American Constitution as a legal text, taking into account that it was drafted and approved more than two hundred years ago with the purpose, arguably, to organize present and future political decision-making. Some contemporary authors claim that the discussion about the role of the Constitution is muddled, and that to acknowledge its authority does not necessarily entail a theory of constitutional interpretation. Furthermore, other authors have claimed that …

Droits De L'Homme, Droits Du Citoyen: Les Présupposés De La Jurisprudence Américaine Et Européenne, Gregory Lewkowicz

Gregory Lewkowicz

This paper proposes a comparative analysis of some rulings of the US Supreme Court and of the European Court of Human Rights. Reviewing cases related to international legal problems or using comparative legal reasoning, the paper suggests that the difference of attitudes between the two courts in human rights cases is embedded in the classical opposition between men and citizen.

On War As Law And Law As War, Ignacio De La Rasilla Del Moral, Francisco Contreras

Ignacio de la Rasilla del Moral, Ph.D.

A locus classicus of international law, the study of the regulation of the legality of the use of force has an unavoidable ring of tragic fanciness about it. War, as acknowledged by David Kennedy in the very first sentence of his book, is indeed ‘a profound topic – like truth, love, death or the divine’. A Pandora's box of multiple distilled intellectual emotions behind which lurk the horrid memories of its survivors, war only truly breathes in the mirrors of the mutilated, in the eyes of the tortured, in the memories of the displaced, in withering flowers over graves crowned, …

Chinese And Western Worldviews: Implications For Law, Policy,, Jeffrey C. Tuomala

Jeffrey C. Tuomala

No abstract provided.

The Bible And American Law: A Response To Dean Herbert W. Titus, Jeffrey C. Tuomala

Jeffrey C. Tuomala

No abstract provided.

A Whale Of A Tale: Post-Colonialism, Critical Theory, And Deconstruction: Revisiting The International Convention For The Regulation Of Whaling Through A Socio-Legal Persepctive, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

This article is a critical interpretation of the indigenous whaling debate, which, although often discussed in legal academia, has received only passing critical attention. As a scholar in the critical theory/critical legal studies model, I am primarily concerned with the impact that law and debates about law have on divergent groups (racial, ethnic, gender, etc.). This article develops a criticism of the United States's postcolonial opposition to whaling, arguing, instead, for cultural relativism. The article indicts U.S. imperialism, and treatment of indigenous peoples, arguing for interdisciplinary analysis and a more keen appreciation for the voice of indigenous peoples. As I …

Punishment, Invalidation, And Nonvalidation: What H.L.A. Hart Did Not Explain, Richard Stith

Richard Stith

Elaborating first upon H. L. A. Hart's distinction between imposing duties and imposing disabilities, this article explores the two senses mentioned (but not fully explained) by Hart in which power-holders may be legally disabled. Legal invalidation (nullification) of norms that have been generated by vulnerable power-holders is seen to reduce diversity or pluralism in every normative sphere, from the supranational to the intrafamilial. By contrast, mere legal nonvalidation (noncognizance) of such norms tends to preserve the autonomy of the power-holders that created the norms, thus enhancing legal pluralism. Punishment for creating forbidden norms amounts in principle to an in-between sort …

Human And Fundamental Rights And Duties In Portuguese Constitution. Some Reflections, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

The Portuguese Constitution (1976) came after a period of 48 years of authoritarianism and a closed society, in which some happy few enjoyed great privileges while the great majority of people were charged with heavy duties So, by a very understandable "law of human nature", the constituent law givers could not reasonably impose constitutionally many obligations, in an autonomous way. As rights and duties are the twin sides of the same coin, the juridical formulation under the sign of rights also implies obligations, related to those same rights. This is kinder and more pleasant to do by a liberating Constitution...

El Derecho Natural, Historia E Ideologia, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Intentemos retomar algunos hilos sueltos de discursos dispersos y con una nueva mirada analítica, procuremos ver una realidad sutil y huidiza: ese derecho natural que parece silencioso en nuestros días, y más silencioso aún en los discursos psitacistas: tanto en los pomposos como en los pseudo-rigurosos.

Princípio Republicano E Virtudes Republicanas, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

O presente artigo procura unir traços de aparente heterodoxia, recuperando, porém, paradigmas e tópicos que não são novos. Com efeito, nem as virtudes, nem a república, nem sequer a felicidade são novidades. O que talvez seja novo (new again) é o espírito de buscar outra vez as raízes, as fontes, para um intento de renovação do ambiente juspolítico. Somos naturalmente favorável a uma Constituição principial e valorativa, como a nossa. Mas parece-nos que há nela lugar a Virtudes (que já existem nela), e que a descoberta das Virtudes nas Constituições, e, logo, no Direito, é, afinal, um ovo de Colombo. …

Da Constituição Antiga À Constituição Moderna. República E Virtude, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Virtude e República necessariamente têm de levar-nos à Antiguidade: desde logo porque a primeira “começa” com a helénica "areté". Logo, é preciso ir, antes de mais, à Grécia Antiga, e especialmente ao legado ateniense. “Directly or indirectly, Athenian democracy as an extraordinary experiment in social history thus stimulates our own thinking about crucial issues of our own democracy and society, incomparably more complex though they are. The point is precisely that the ancients help us focus on the essentials" - como afirma Kurt A. Raaflaub.

Uma Filosofia Constitucional Comum (Luso-Brasileira), Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Onde melhor se pode aquilatar de uma filosofia constitucional? Além do cunho da constitução, que já vimos ser liberal na fórmula política (porque moderna ecodificada) e social na social, cultural e económica, o que mais exprime uma filosofia constitucional é a ética constitucional, e, antes de mais, são os valores. A Constituição cidadão brasileira e a Constituição portuguesa de 1976 comungam, em grande medida, dos meus valores de liberdade, igualdade, justiça, e outros, progressivos e de cidadania.

Much Ado About Pluralities: Pride And Precedent Amidst The Cacophy Of Concurrences, And Re-Percolation After Rapanos, Donald J. Kochan, Melissa M. Berry, Matthew J. Parlow

Donald J. Kochan

Conflicts created by concurrences and pluralities in court decisions create confusion in law and lower court interpretation. Rule of law values require that individuals be able to identify controlling legal principles. That task is complicated when pluralities and concurrences contribute to the vagueness or uncertainty that leaves us wondering what the controlling rule is or attempting to predict what it will evolve to become. The rule of law is at least handicapped when continuity or confidence or confusion infuse our understanding of the applicable rules. This Article uses the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Rapanos v. United States to …