Legal History Commons^™

Why Didn't The Common Law Follow The Flag?, Christian Burset

Christian Burset

This Article considers a puzzle about how different kinds of law came to be distributed around the world. The legal systems of some European colonies largely reflected the laws of the colonizer. Other colonies exhibited a greater degree of legal pluralism, in which the state administered a mix of different legal systems. Conventional explanations for this variation look to the extent of European settlement: where colonizers settled in large numbers, they chose to bring their own laws; otherwise, they preferred to retain preexisting ones. This Article challenges that assumption by offering a new account of how and why the British …

From Rome To The Restatement: S.P. Scott, Fred Blume, Clyde Pharr, And Roman Law In Early Twentieth Century America, Timothy G. Kearley

Timothy G. Kearley

Marbury In Mexico: Judicial Review’S Precocious Southern Migration, M C. Mirow

M. C. Mirow

In attempting to construct United States-style judicial review for the Mexican Supreme Court in the 1880s, Ignacio Vallarta, president of the court, read Marbury in a way that preceded this use of the case in the United States. Using this surprising fact as a central example, this article makes several important contributions to the field of comparative constitutional law. The work demonstrates that through constitutional migration, novel readings of constitutional sources can arise in foreign fora. In an era when the United States Supreme Court may be accused of parochialism in its constitutional analysis, the article addresses the current controversy …

Foreword: Transdisciplinary Conflicts Of Law, Ralf Michaels, Karen Knop, Annelise Riles

Annelise Riles

This introduction to our co-edited special issue of Law and Contemporary Problems addresses how interdisciplinary studies might contribute to the revitalization of the field of Conflict of Laws. The introduction surveys existing approaches to interdisciplinarity in conflict of laws - drawn primarily from economics, political science, anthropology and sociology. It argues that most of these interdisciplinary efforts have remained internal to the law, relating conflicts to other legal spheres and issue areas. It summarizes some of the contributions of these projects but also outlines the ways they fall short of the full promise of interdisciplinary work in Conflicts scholarship, and …

Why Do Europeans Ban Hate Speech? A Debate Between Karl Loewenstein And Robert Post, Robert Kahn

Robert Kahn

European countries restrict hate speech, the United States does not. This much is clear. What explains this difference? Too often the current discussion falls back on a culturally rich but normatively vacant exceptionalism (American or otherwise) or a normatively driven convergence perspective that fails to address historical, cultural and experiential differences that distinguish countries and legal systems. Inspired by the development discourse of historical sociology, this article seeks to record instances where Americans or Europeans have argued their approach to hate speech laws was more “advanced” or “modern.”

To that end this article focuses on two authors whose writing appears …

Private Rights Or Public Wrongs? The Crime Victims Rights Act Of 2004 In Historical Context, Christopher J. Truxler

Christopher J. Truxler

Historically, crime victims served as policemen, investigators, and private prosecutors, and were regarded as law enforcement’s most dependable catalyst. The Crime Victim’s Rights Act of 2004 grants crime victims eight substantive and procedural rights and breathes new life into the common law idea that crime is both a public wrong and a private injury. The Act has, however, elicited ardent criticism. Opponents contend that the Act is both bad policy and, most likely, unconstitutional. Without commenting on the Act’s policy or constitutionality, this Note places the Crime Victims’ Rights Act within a broader historical context where victims’ needs can be …

The Importance Of Comparative Law In Legal Education: United States Goals And Methods Of Legal Comparisons, Hugh J. Ault, Mary Ann Glendon

Hugh J. Ault

This Essay discusses the gradual changes occurring within legal education, which are finding wide acceptance in law schools throughout the United States. These changes include greater attention to other disciplines, primarily economics and behavioral sciences, and the contributions they make to a fuller understanding of the legal system. In addition, law schools are increasingly exploring the ways in which the law in textbooks may differ from the law in action. Nearly every law school, therefore, is seriously investigating the social and economic background of legal rules and their consequences through clinical legal education, which attempts to provide a real or …

Is Tax Law Culturally Specific? Lessons From The History Of Income Tax Law In Mandatory Palestine, Assaf Likhovski

Assaf Likhovski

Tax law is a technical area of law which does not seem to be culturally specific. It is thus seen as easily transferable between different societies and cultures. However, tax law is also based on definitions and notions which are not universal (the private sphere, the family, the gift etc.). So, is tax law universal or particular? Is it indeed easily transferable between different societies? And in what ways does tax law reflect ethnic or cultural rather than economic differences? This Article seeks to answer these questions by analyzing one specific example — the history of income tax legislation in …

The Great Pharmaceutical Patent Robbery, And The Curious Case Of The Chemical Foundation, Christopher Wadlow

Christopher Wadlow

In 1918, the United States confiscated virtually all German-owned intellectual property assets within its jurisdiction. Out of 6,000 patents in the chemical field, 4,500 were assigned for a very modest consideration to an newly-established entity, the Chemical Foundation, which was incorporated with the objective of licensing and managing them for the benefit of the United States chemical industry. This article describes the origins and activities of the Chemical Foundation, and considers whether it provides a useful model, or at least useful lessons, for the collective management of patents today.

International News V Associated Press: A Theme And Variations Over Four Days, Christopher Wadlow

Christopher Wadlow

A series of four classes at the University of Trier (Germany) for undergraduate law students, using the International News v Associated Press case 248 U.S. 215 (1918) to discuss some principles of unfair competition and copyright law, as well as some more fundamental doctrines from the common law, and American Constitutional law.

The British Empire Patent 1901-1923: The ‘Global’ Patent That Never Was, Christopher Wadlow

Christopher Wadlow

Reflects on the lessons which unsuccessful efforts to introduce a British Empire patent prior to 1923 may offer for the European Community patent. Reviews the origin of the proposal in 1901, the state of patent law across the Empire at the time, the progress made at several Imperial conferences, key features of the 1919 memorandum and the issues discussed at the 1922 patent conference. Outlines the reasons for the failure of the 1923 proposals, including the problems created by Canada's claim for reciprocal treatment for its patents, and considers whether the EC Community patent has a greater prospect of success.