Rule of Law Commons^™

Difficulties In Achieving Coherent State And Local Fiscal Policy At The Intersection Of Direct Democracy And Republicanism: The Property Tax As A Case In Point, Mildred Wigfall Robinson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Professor Robinson explores the uneasiness present when acts of "direct democracy" through means of voter referenda and ballot initiatives conflict with the ideals of representative government, using fiscal matters, such as the property tax, as an example.

Part I explores the changes that have taken place in the last two decades in voter strategy and in patterns of judicial interpretation, briefly reviewing the history of the property tax focusing on taxpayer reaction to long overdue attempts at administrative reform, and showing how that effort indirectly contributed to the "taxpayer revolt. "It further examines how and why broad-scale attempts to utilize …

Federalism Or Federationism, William E. Butler

Michigan Law Review

When I took up my appointment in October 1970 as Reader in Comparative Law in the University of London, I was invited to collaborate in teaching the LL.M.' course in Soviet Law offered within the University on an intercollegiate basis. The course had been introduced two years previously, the first of its kind within the realm. Originally it was offered by a team of three, regrettably all now deceased: Edward Johnson, Ivo Lapenna, and Albert K. R Kiralfy. I had come to England to replace the late Edward Johnson, whose untimely death had left vacant the Readership in Soviet Law, …