Digital Commons Network^™

How To Sue An Asue? Closing The Racial Wealth Gap Through The Transplantation Of A Cultural Institution, Cyril A.L. Heron

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Asues, academically known as Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (or ROSCAs for short), are informal cultural institutions that are prominent in developing countries across the globe. Their utilization in those countries provide rural and ostracized communities with a means to save money and invest in the community simultaneously. Adoption of the asue into the United States could serve as the foundation by which to close the racial wealth gap. Notwithstanding the benefits, wholesale adoption of any asue model runs the risk of cultural rejection because the institution is foreign to the African American community.

Drawing upon principles of cultural and …

Populism And Transparency: The Political Core Of An Administrative Norm, Mark Fenster

UF Law Faculty Publications

Transparency has become a preeminent administrative norm with unimpeachable status as a pillar of democracy. But the rise of right-wing populism, reminiscent of older forms of militaristic authoritarianism, threatens transparency’s standing. Recently elected governments in Europe, Latin America, and North America represent a counter-movement away from liberal-democratic institutions that promote the visibility and popular accountability that transparency promises. Contemporary populist movements have not, however, entirely rejected it as an ideal. The populist rebuke of power inequities and its advocacy for popular sovereignty implicitly and sometimes explicitly include a demand for a more visible, accessible state. Populists’ seemingly hypocritical embrace of …

Illiberalism And Authoritarianism In The American States, James A. Gardner

Journal Articles

Federalism contemplates subnational variation, but in the United States the nature and significance of that variation has long been contested. In light of the recent turn, globally and nationally, toward authoritarianism, and the concurrent sharp decline in public support not merely for democracy but for the philosophical liberalism on which democracy rests, it is necessary to discard or to substantially revise prior accounts of the nature of state-to-state variation in the U.S. All such accounts implicitly presuppose a common commitment, across the political spectrum, to the core tenets of democratic liberalism, and consequently that subnational variations in policy preferences and …

The State And The Patriarch: Rewriting Charan Lal Sahu, Rakesh Shrouti, Rajkumar Keswani, Nasrin Bi And Others V. Union Of India (1990) 1 Scc 613, Sannoy Wright Das, Ananyaa Alexander Mazumdar

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In this contribution, as part of the Indian Feminist Judgement Project, we reconsider the decision of the Supreme Court of India in the Charan Lal Sahu case that followed the Bhopal gas leak tragedy. We present a dissenting opinion on the case, finding that the law empowering the State to supplant the victim-survivors as plaintiffs was unconstitutional. Alongside, we offer a brief commentary on why this finding comports with what a feminist judge on the bench might have decided. We consider a variety of ways in which feminist criticism of the majority decision might proceed, and how this criticism informs …

Legitimacy In The International Order: The Continuing Relevance Of Sovereign States, Brad R. Roth

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

“Due Regard” For Commercial Space Must Start With Historic Preservation, Michelle Hanlon

Global Business Law Review

Today we rely on the concept of "due regard" to protect our assets – and heritage – in space. Ensconced in Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty "due regard" has no legal definition. Nor has its breadth or scope been rigorously tested in court or in any public diplomatic dispute. And so, we blithely promise each other to conduct all activities in space "with due regard to the corresponding interests of others." Meaning we pursue our activities with the fervent hope that no one will interfere, whether accidentally or intentionally. This is an untenable state of affairs. It is …

The Widening Gyre: Legal Formalism And International Law’S Sense Of Place, Christopher R. Rossi

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Brazilian Gas Market And Its Regulatory Overview, Hirdan Katarina De Medeiros Costa, Karina Ninni Ramos, Israel Lacerda De Araujo, Paola Mercadante Petry, Owen Anderson, Edmilson Moutinho Dos Santos

Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal

No abstract provided.

State Secrecy: A Literature Review, Stephane Lefebvre

Secrecy and Society

What is secrecy? What is a state secret? Which state secrets deserve protection from disclosures? How are state secrets protected from disclosure? In this review, I use these questions as an organizing framework to review the richness of a very disparate, largely US-centric, but also multidisciplinary literature. In doing so, I highlight the social nature of secrecy - that it is a social construct with social effects and consequences - and the need for further research to unveil those rationalities that specific discourses on state secrecy put forward to legitimize the nondisclosure of state secrets.

Concealing In The Public Interest, Or Why We Must Teach Secrecy, Susan Maret

Secrecy and Society

Secrecy as the intentional or unintentional concealment of information is the subject of investigation within the humanities, social sciences, journalism, law and legal studies. However, the subject it is not widely taught as a distinct social problem within higher education. In this article, I report personal experience with developing and teaching a graduate level course on a particular type of secrecy, government secrecy, at the School of Information, San Jose State University. This article includes discussion on selecting course materials, creating assignments, and navigating controversial histories. This article also sets the stage to this special issue of Secrecy and Society …

Hunting Down A Lasting Relationship With Canada—Will Undrip Help?, Sara Mainville

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

If Indigenous law is understood at the time of treaty-making, it will reinforce the procedural aspects of dispute resolution through diplomacy and the settlement of “interpretative” difficulties in living within a treaty relationship. The author, who is an Anishinaabe lawyer from Treaty 3, recounts her understanding of how the treaty relationship was to be an experience of using both Indigenous law and principles alongside Canadian law and principles to restore relationships and treaty responsibilities. A Treaty 3 commitment to provide the “Queen’s Government’s ear” to the Anishinaabe treaty partners is explored, along with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights …

The Tale Of Two Harts; A Schlegelian Dialectic, Charles L. Barzun

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

“Read What Was Never Written”, Christopher Tomlins

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Inside-Out: Bringing Law Students Face-To-Face With Injustice, Romie Griesmer

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Comparative Legal Rhetoric, Lucille A. Jewel

Scholarly Works

This paper theorizes a new discipline, comparative legal rhetoric, which can accomplish two important goals. First, in a society broken down by intractable polarization and win/lose dichotomies, comparative legal rhetoric identifies alternative, nontraditional and non-Western ways to communicate and persuade. How we talk is deeply connected to how we see the world. If we take a break from the win/lose argument structure that defines Western legal communication, we can uncover opportunities for understanding and healing. Second, a study of comparative legal rhetoric can generate cross-cultural understanding. This new discipline contains a trove of knowledge about how persuasion works in different …

Creative Differences: Indigenous Artists And The Law At 20th Century Nation-Building Exhibitions, Lucas Lixinski, Stephen Young

UC Law SF International Law Review

Indigenous peoples in major common law jurisdictions (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States) have had a fraught relationship with the state’s legal system. However, while denying Indigenous individuals and peoples the same rights as white settlers, each of these states used Indigenous art to create a distinctive national-state identity. We analyze four major exhibitions, one from each of these countries to de-naturalize legal institutions responsible for the oppression of Indigenous people. This agenda-setting, comparative legal analysis yields valuable insights for the regulation of the contemporary Indigenous art market, and to understand how culture makes legal personality.

Protecting Cultural Heritage By Recourse To International Environmental Law: Chinese Stances On Faultless State Liability, Riccardo Vecellio Segate

UC Law Environmental Journal

Several international policy documents define the environment as made of “natural heritage” and “cultural heritage” together, along the lines of concepts such as “biosphere” or “ecosystem” which have been introduced relatively recently to define the complexity of humanenvironment interactions. Nevertheless, distinguishing natural heritage from the cultural one helps analyse situations where damage inflicted to the former negatively impacts the latter. In fact, cultural heritage sits under siege worldwide due to polluting activities and environmental degradation, which are causing irreparable damage to—or even the disappearance of— valuable expressions of civilisations’ legacy. Most damages are transboundary, thereby calling into question bilateral forms …

West Mesa Murders Informational Website, Olivia Jackman, Lauren Hunter

Spectrum

No abstract provided.

“Forgotten” By The Clean Water Act: The Anacostia River’S Evolving Environmental Justice Problems, Madeleine Dwyer

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

The Culture Police: Manning The Barricades Of Allowable Art And Culture, Ramy Aly

Faculty Book Chapters

In this chapter I look at the history and ontology of censorship in Egypt from the Monarchical era to the present. I focus on the post-1952 era and how a tutelary state culture has been deployed as part of a broader cultural militarism. The chapter also covers the legislative architecture that has ensured a stranglehold on the part of syndicates and the creation of a broad range of crimes associated with art and culture production and exhibition.

Barriers To Medical Board Discipline: Cultural And Organizational Constraints, Elizabeth Chiarello

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Medical boards are responsible for disciplining physicians who inflict egregious harm on their patients, yet they often fail to do so. This Article develops a cultural and organizational framework for explaining why boards so often fail to discipline physicians. The framework highlights three types of barriers that impede board action: (1) input barriers that prevent hospitals and clinics from reporting harm to boards, (2) processing barriers that prevent boards from taking sufficient action against physicians who do harm, and (3) output barriers that prevent boards from sharing information about physicians who do harm with other disciplinary agencies like other medical …

Analyzing Pathways To The J.D. With National Student Clearinghouse Data, Tiffane Cochran, Lauren Walker

AccessLex Institute Research

The lack of diversity in legal education and the profession is a well-established fact. Data and rich commentary from law school scholars clearly illustrate barriers to entry for historically underrepresented groups. Yet, we continue to see persistent gaps in law school and bar admission among ethnic minorities—particularly, Black and Latinx students. And although information on first-generation and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups is harder to obtain, we also find inequitable access for these students where data are available.

Although discussions of law school diversity necessitate examination of students’ racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, they also require an analysis of the pathways students must …

How Political Pressure Rigidifies Legal Formalism In China: A Small Tragedy Under Xi Jinping's Reform, 53 Uic J. Marshall L. Rev. 909 (2021), Yu Luo

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hate Speech On Social Media: Content Moderation In Context, Richard A. Wilson, Molly Land

Connecticut Law Review

For all practical purposes, the policy of social media companies to suppress hate speech on their platforms means that the longstanding debate in the United States about whether to limit hate speech in the public square has been resolved in favor of vigorous regulation. Nonetheless, revisiting these debates provides insights essential for developing more empirically-based and narrowly tailored policies regarding online hate.

First, a central issue in the hate speech debate is the extent to which hate speech contributes to violence. Those in favor of more robust regulation claim a connection to violence, while others dismiss these arguments as tenuous. …

Reading The Illegible: Can Law Understand Graffiti?, Katya Assaf-Zakharov, Tim Schnetgoke

Connecticut Law Review

This essay focuses on graffiti—the practice of illegal writing and painting on trains, walls, bridges, and other publicly visible surfaces.

Social responses to graffiti are highly ambivalent. On the one hand, media often picture graffiti painters as “vandals” and “hooligans.” Local authorities define graffiti as an “epidemic” and declare “wars on graffiti.” On the other hand, graffiti is recognized as a valuable form of art, exhibited in mainstream museums sold for high prices. Reflecting the ambivalent social attitude, the legal treatment of graffiti is highly uneven, punishing some graffiti writers for vandalism while granting copyright protection to others.

Scholars have …

The Chemical War On Drugs: Why A U.S.-Backed Program To Fumigate Coca Fields In Colombia Would Violate The Right To Health, Lily Baron

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Defining The Relationships: "Cause, Contribute, And Directly Linked To" In The Un Guiding Principles On Business And Human Rights, Tara Van Ho

Faculty Articles

According to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, businesses owe remediation when they "cause" or "contribute to" a human rights impact, but not when they are only "directly linked to" it. These terms determine when a victim is entitled to seek remediation from a business, but they have largely been ignored in existing scholarship. This article investigates the meaning of "cause, contribute, and directly linked to", revealing confusion and uncertainty before proposing a new system, built on existing authoritative guidance, for interpreting the terms and determining when businesses owe remediation for their human rights impacts.

The Effect Of Proprietary And Attribution Claims On Data Sharing During Infectious Disease Emergencies, Sam Halabi, Michelle Rourke, Rebecca Katz

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Preserving Due Process: Require The Frye And Daubert Expert Standards In State Gang Cases, Fareed Nassor Hayat

New Mexico Law Review

Police officers are almost universally offered and admitted as experts in gang prosecutions. Without being subjected to the stringent requirements of Frye and Daubert expert standards, criminal Defendants’ due process rights are violated. Once admitted, police officers are permitted to testify to the psychology, customs, motivations, social structures and subjective mental states of individual gang members and gang organizations. Police gang expert testimony should only be admitted after the underlying criminal matter has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and even then, only if the police gang expert testimony abides by clearly defined rules of evidence. This article advocates for …

The Little Colorado River Project: Is New Hydropower Development The Key To A Renewable Energy Future, Or The Vestige Of A Failed Past?, Liam Patton

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.