Digital Commons Network^™

La Ignorancia Es Atrevida: Hernandez V. New York And The Mistaken Exclusion Of Bilingual Jurors, Finley B. Davis

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

No abstract provided.

Adaptation For Whom? Understanding The Impacts Of Dyke Policies On Small-Scale Farmers In Ca Mau Province Of Vietnam, Nguyen Minh Quang, Nguyen Van Minh, Nguyen Vo Chau Ngan, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Low-lying deltas worldwide are extremely vulnerable to sea-level rise. As the risks of climate-induced flooding become increasingly clear, the thirst for infrastructure-driven adaptation increases. This highlights a patent need to understand the impacts of engineering adaptation solutions, especially those targeting built structures such as dykes and sluices, on farmers from a bottom-up, farmer-centred perspective. The study addresses this call by examining cases where dyke policies, while successful in some dimensions, have undermined small-scale farmer livelihoods in Ca Mau ― Vietnam’s southernmost rural province. It identifies areas in need of attention and adds empirical data related to this group of farmers. …

Identifying Intangible And Biocultural Heritage Elements Toward Environmental Understanding: Engaging Stakeholders Through Art, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Grounded in a case study in Barbuda in the Caribbean, this research examines sustainability from the perspective of what arts and heritage can contribute to community engagement and local and broader understandings about the environment. This article documents a growing body of literature recognizing the role of arts and culture, including local knowledge and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), in climate change endeavors. Art and TEK present expansive world views. Contextual information situates research done on the island of Barbuda pre- and post-Hurricane Irma. Visual arts workshops engaged community members in mixed methods research. Results documented cultural elements, particularly intangible and …

Shutting Down The Supply Chain Pipeline Of Counterfeit Goods Running From Alibaba To Amazon, Daniel C. Chow

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

An immense supply chain pipeline constantly funnels millions of counterfeit goods from Alibaba’s e-commerce sites in China to third party sellers who sell these goods on Amazon to U.S. consumers. Amazon has acknowledged that it has a problem with counterfeits on its e-commerce sites, but its current responses to counterfeiting are primarily performative and intended to pacify disgruntled brand owners and frustrated consumers. Amazon’s responses will likely have little or no effect on counterfeits on its websites. This Article sets forth a direct and straightforward method for shutting down or seriously disrupting this pipeline based on using China’s existing laws. …

Smartphones On Wheels In Southeast Asia: A Crossroads For Data Governance, Attamongkol Tantratian, Gunn Jiravuttipong

Journal of Law and Mobility

While the transformation of automobiles into data-generating “smartphones on wheels” has revolutionized mobility, it has also raised critical concerns over data privacy and sovereignty. Equipped with sensors and connected technologies, smart vehicles collect vast amounts of data, including personal information, driving patterns, and biometric identifiers. While auto-exporting jurisdictions such as the United States, the European Union, and China have introduced regulatory measures to address these challenges, countries importing smart vehicles remain vulnerable due to their limited influence over the auto companies’ integrated technology and data policies.

This Article examines the regulatory and economic challenges faced by developing nations integrating foreign-designed …

Neighborliness Vs. Car Culture: Traffic Violence, Pedestrian Deaths In Philadelphia, And Vision Zero's Concept Of Equity, Regina Austin

Journal of Law and Mobility

Vision Zero (VZ) is a transportation policy adopted by major cities like Philadelphia that aims to reduce or eliminate traffic violence, primarily through improvements in the transportation infrastructure. VZ prioritizes engineering (over enforcement), community engagement, and perhaps most importantly, equity. In the battle for superiority among users of land-based travel modes in America, automobile drivers have benefited from arterial highways that speed traffic flows around and through urban enclaves to reach center city business districts and from a car culture that encourages dominant behavior behind the wheel. Pedestrians have been among the losers.

In Philadelphia, as elsewhere, pedestrians who are …

Rethinking Social Rights From Latin America, Christian Gonzalez Chacon

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

International human rights courts and bodies have traditionally enforced social rights within constrained frameworks, such as “available resources” and “minimum provision,” often overlooking deeper structural inequalities and urgent global challenges. This paper advocates for a paradigm shift grounded in the capabilities framework, reconceptualizing rights to encompass sustainability, harmony, and human flourishing. Drawing on indigenous philosophies from Latin America, I propose strategies to strengthen enforcement mechanisms, including the establishment of specialized human rights courts, equitable taxation systems, and regenerative economic models. By aligning human rights with capabilities and ecological stewardship, this paper illustrates their potential to address poverty, inequality, and climate …

Jerking The Rug Out From Under A Trade Secret Licensee: Is Transfer Of The Patent A Remedy?, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

Michigan Technology Law Review

Predominantly state trade secret law and exclusively federal patent law enjoy a sometimes-uneasy coexistence. Inventions almost always are secret until and unless they are patented; publicizing them for too long will negate the availability of a patent. Misappropriation of trade secrets often is accompanied by application for a patent on the same subject matter. This commonly occurs when an employee gains access to his employer’s trade secrets, quits, and then applies for a patent on them in his own name, maybe after going to work for a competitor of the original employer. It is also conceivable that the owner of …

Social Data's Role In Law And Political Economy, Salome Viljoen

Book Chapters

Over the past several years, the digital economy has been a notable uptick in interest from scholars across areas of law. This should come as no surprise. The digital economy encompasses some of the largest companies in the world, whose business models pioneer and spread new strategies to concentrate private power across the political economy more broadly. Digital companies have transformed commercial and social life, and they raise problems of concentrated private power. They are also charged with a slew of downstream disruptions resulting from collective pursuit of that power: global, social, and interpersonal forms of dislocation, oppression, impoverishment, alienation, …

Water, Water, Everywhere, And Not A Drop Of Justice: International Water Crimes In The Anthropocene, Matthew J. D’Amato

Student Works

No abstract provided.

The Rise And Fall Of Ambulatory Baselines In The Law Of The Sea, Sean Murphy

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Traditionally, it has been understood under the law of the sea that baselines are ambulatory; that they move in association with any progression or regression of the physical coast. More recently, however, relevant State practice, the work of bodies such as the International Law Commission and the International Law Association, and in particular the 2025 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on climate change, have all indicated that baselines are not necessarily ambulatory, at least not in the context of physical changes resulting from climate-change related sea level rise. Rather, while a State must establish baselines in accordance …

Taxing People, Not Residents, Yariv Brauner

UF Law Faculty Publications

Essentially all states tax their residents’ worldwide income. This norm is difficult to justify beyond vague notions of state provided benefits enjoyed by residents. Recent increased mobility (particularly tax-motivated mobility of wealthy individuals) and the growing importance of remote work and digital nomadism present a serious challenge to this linking of residence and taxing rights. This article examines whether exclusive source taxation of individuals could replace the existing rules which are based on a compromise between residence and source taxation. The article concludes that exclusive source taxation of individuals is both feasible and desirable, mainly due to its fairness and …

Mission Creep Or Mission Failure? A Review Of Melissa Jacoby's Unjust Debts, Christopher D. Hampson

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Barriers To Insurance Innovation, Peter Molk

UF Law Faculty Publications

In exchange for a payment, insurance companies assume risks from policyholders. Because of their ability to aggregate and diversify many risks, insurers can offer this service at a price that is attractive to policyholders. Yet there are risks that insurers refuse to cover, even though the insurer appears to be in at least as favorable a risk-bearing position as is the policyholder. Property insurance contracts, for example, place on policyholders the risk that rebuilding costs will be greater than expected, or that a home will be destroyed by flood or nuclear damage, or that exposure to natural hazards will change …

Regulating The Forever Wild, Edward W. De Barbieri

SMU Law Review

Communities in rural areas regularly come into conflict with government bodies regarding the use of protected lands. From New York, to Alaska, to Nevada—and many places in between—a common question emerges: who should have authority to regulate human activity on and around wilderness lands? It is not a new phenomenon for urban dwellers, often controlling money and political power, to use influence and a specter of conservation to control what is permitted in rural spaces. Resulting unrest among rural resi­dents may be the result of the exclusion of poor, racially underrepresented, indigenous, and other residents who earn their livelihood from …

Without Noncompete Agreements, Can Employers Keep A (Trade) Secret?, Cynthia L. Dahl

American University Business Law Review

Data, algorithms, and proprietary information and processes are critical assets for increasing numbers of companies. Since information assets often cannot be protected through patent, companies may instead rely on trade secret law. To meet the legal standard of a trade secret, companies must show that their information assets confer a competitive advantage to them by virtue of the secret status, and that they have taken reasonable measures to preserve the secrecy.

One of the reliable methods companies use to maintain secrecy, and to show that they have taken the required reasonable measures, is the use of restrictive covenants. Traditionally, companies …

Environmental Monitoring Plan: For Work To Be Performed: July 1, 2024, Through June 30, 2025, Tennessee. Department Of Environment And Conservation.

Environmental Monitoring Plans

The Tennessee Department of Enviornment and Conservation, Division of Remediation, Oak Ridge (TDEC DoR-OR), provides the annual Fiscal Year 2025 EMP for the period of July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. This report is submitted as a comprehensive plan for TDEC DoR-OR monitoring and assessment activities across the Oak Ridge Reservation, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, (ORR) in accordance with terms of both the Environmental Surveillance and Oversight Agreement (ESOA), as well as in support of activities being conducted under the Federal Facilities Agreement (FFA).

Unconcerned And Undertrained: The Indiana Jail Death Epidemic And The Need For Expanded Jail Officer Training, Sadie Rothrock

Indiana Law Journal

On October 4, 2018, Jerod Draper lost his life after two hours of torture by Harrison County jail officers. While in custody of the jail and suffering from an overdose, Jerod Draper was placed in a restraint chair for two hours and tased seven times in fifteen minutes. Jerod Draper’s story is one of the many stories demonstrating how a jail death epidemic is occurring throughout Indiana. In this Note, I discuss the history of incarceration in the United States, the statutes under which families of jail death victims can sue, and Indiana’s jail death problem. I then highlight Indiana’s …

Housing As A Human Right Through Legislative Action: Comparing France And Scotland’S Enforceable Rights To Housing, Emily Peterson, Jack E. Turman Jr., Ph.D.

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

¡We Count! The Enumerated History Of The Latinx Legal Academy: Part One, Beginnings To 1990, Emile Loza De Siles

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

Latinx law teachers and scholars are vital to the success of Latinx and other students in legal education, as well as to the attainment of the power, influence, economic advancement, and justicegetting that students seek through that education. Today, one in five Americans are Latinx with the proportion quickly growing to one in four. Although there are many Latinx law professors who are highly credentialed, sharply skilled, and deeply committed, to date, there has not been an adequate accounting of their presence and contributions at law schools. What is known is that their numbers are, and have long been, grossly …

The Economics Of Healthcare Fraud, Jetson Leder-Luis, Anup Malani

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Healthcare fraud imposes a sizable cost on U.S. public healthcare budgets and distorts health care provision. We examine the economics of health care fraud and enforcement using theory and data and connect to a growing literature on the topic. We first offer a new economic definition of health care fraud that captures and connects the wide range of activities prosecuted as fraud. We define fraud as any divergence between the care an insurer says a patient qualifies for, the care a provider provides, and the care a provider bills for. Our definition clarifies the economic consequences of different categories of …

The United States Healthcare System: From Medicare To Post-Pandemic Health Policy, William M. Sage

Faculty Scholarship

My purpose in this essay is to comment on national health policy in the United States over the past sixty years.  My conclusions are less optimistic than what I had hoped when I began my teaching and research career in the 1990s to be able to say in 2025.  In particular, the successful expansion of publicly supported health coverage via the passage of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA” or “Obamacare”) in 2010 seems to have triggered -- though I hesitate to say that it caused – a backsliding from broader commitments to clinical performance, population health, and social solidarity that …

Zoning The Subsurface, Hannah Jacobs Wiseman, Anne Menefee, Seth Blumsack, Michael Helbing

Faculty Scholarship

The vast rock formations underlying the United States stand at an important Demsetzian turning point, at which the externalities of inadequately defined property rights justify the costs of solidifying formal property rights for this resource. This need arises from the growing scarcity of pore space (tiny openings) in subsurface rocks—property that is critical to address climate change. Efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate impacts require large-scale underground storage of carbon dioxide, water, and energy within the pore space of subsurface reservoirs. The subsurface will also continue to house millions of miles of pipelines, hundreds of thousands of waste disposal …

A Multiple Perspective Analysis On Urban Poverty In Developing Nations: A Case Study On Nigeria, Colonial Implications, And Modern-Day Outcomes, Julian Rivera-Williams

CMC Senior Theses

This paper will dissect urbanization and poverty in Nigeria as a case study of the challenges of underdevelopment and the lingering effects of colonialism in Africa. To draw a complete understanding of challenges faced by developing nations facing systemic underdevelopment, high poverty, and low productivity– nations like Nigeria, my research will uncover colonial impacts and post-colonial policies that initiated urban poverty and underdevelopment outcomes we see today. The purpose of my thesis is to encompass existing fragmented academia on the causes and consequences of underdevelopment and connect historical implications to current impacts of global development today including the influence of …

The Time Has Come To Stop The Bloodshed In Myanmar And Restore The People's Democratically Elected Government, Ronnie R. Gipson Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

Although the Myanmar coup occurred in February 2021, the world paid little attention mostly because the citizens were not white, not European, and the country did not hold huge oil reserves. Subsequent to the coup, Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and Israel responded to the Hamas attack on its territory by invading Gaza in 2023. Both of these events assured that the international community paid little to no attention to the plight of the people of Myanmar under the thumb of a repressive military dictatorship after having their freely elected democracy ripped away. If Ukraine is worthy of global attention, …

Birth On Mother Earth: Mitigating The Maternal Health Crisis, Jill C. Engle

Faculty Scholarship

Maternal health outcomes in the U.S. are remarkably poor, especially when compared to those in other industrialized countries. For example, our maternal death rate is more than twice that of Canada’s. Women of color in the U.S. suffer maternal morbidity and mortality at rates considerably higher than white women. Indigenous women experience the worst maternal health outcomes of all. Yet, most maternal deaths and injuries are preventable. Furthermore, rates of maternal harm, including death, are lower when midwives and similar birthing attendants are involved. This Article is the first to fully explore the unique skillset of traditional birth attendants (TBAs). …

Destroy, Rebuild, Repeat: How To Break The Climate Disaster Cycle, Mark P. Nevitt

Faculty Articles

Climate change is fundamentally reshaping how we live, where we live, and whether we invest in or retreat from climate-exposed communities—but climate and disaster law is not changing with the climate. This legal latency is driven by antiquated statutes, doctrines, and policies that have not kept pace with the climate moment. Ex ante adaptation decisions governing where to live are life and death choices that shape ex post disaster response. Laws and policies should facilitate sound climate decisionmaking, but too often they frustrate individual and governmental decisions on whether to stay or retreat. In this Article, I argue that laws …

Vice Capital, Andrew K. Jennings, Kimberly D. Krawiec

Faculty Articles

Academic and market interest in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing has grown markedly in recent years. Although less prominent, a substantial literature also explores whether “sin pays” in the public capital markets. This literature’s underlying theory is that social norms discourage the funding of businesses that promote vice. According to this theory, some investors—particularly institutions sensitive to social norms, such as pension funds and foundations—will shun vice investments. A consequence of this aversion is a “vice premium” for those investors who will invest in such companies. Largely unexplored, however, is what industries or business models qualify as “vice,” how …

แนวทางการพัฒนากฎหมายเพื่อลดความยากจนหลายมิติของประเทศไทย, สุพักตร์ ม่วงเล็ก

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

วิทยานิพนธ์ฉบับนี้มุ่งศึกษาสถานการณ์ความยากจนหลายมิติของโลกและประเทศไทย มาตรฐานสากลและมาตรฐานทางกฎหมายของประเทศไทยในการขจัดความยากจนหลายมิติผ่านการวิเคราะห์กฎหมายใน 4 มิติความยากจน ได้แก่ มิติการศึกษา, มิติการใช้ชีวิตในแบบที่ดีต่อสุขภาพ, มิติความเป็นอยู่ และมิติความมั่นคงทางการเงิน รวมทั้งนโยบายและมาตรการที่สร้างกลไกสนับสนุนกฎหมายเพื่อลดความยากจนหลายมิติดังกล่าว ผ่านเกณฑ์ความสอดคล้องของกฎหมายต่อการบรรลุเป้าหมาย SDGs รวมทั้งแผนพัฒนาเศรษฐกิจและสังคมแห่งชาติ ฉบับที่ 13 เพื่อจัดทำข้อเสนอเป็นแนวทางการพัฒนากฎหมายเพื่อลดความยากจนหลายมิติที่เหมาะสมกับบริบทประเทศไทยและสอดคล้องกับบริบทโลก จากการศึกษาพบว่ากฎหมายลดความยากจนหลายมิติที่บังคับใช้ในประเทศไทยยังไม่สอดคล้องกับเป้าหมาย SDG1 และหมุดหมายที่ 9 ของแผนการพัฒนาฯ ฉบับที่ 13 อยู่หลายประการ โดยประเด็นสำคัญอยู่ที่กฎหมายลดความยากจนหลายมิติของประเทศไทยยังไม่สอดคล้องกับมาตรฐานอย่างการคุ้มครองทางสังคมขั้นพื้นฐาน (SPF) และหลักประกันการเข้าถึงบริการขั้นพื้นฐาน (Basic Services) ขาดการวางกลไกสนับสนุนการขับเคลื่อนกฎหมายอย่างการระดมทุนจากหลากหลายแหล่งที่มา ขั้นตอนการรับความช่วยเหลือที่ยังไม่เอื้อต่อคนยากจน กฎหมายซ้ำซ้อนในรูปแบบของการให้เงินอุดหนุนเพื่อความช่วยเหลือในระยะสั้น นำมาสู่แนวทางการพัฒนากฎหมายลดความยากจนหลายมิติถึง 15 แนวทาง โดยมีแนวทางที่สำคัญ ได้แก่ ยกเลิกระเบียบเงินอุดหนุนที่ซ้ำซ้อนและรวมงบประมาณเป็นเงินช่วยเหลือค่าใช้จ่ายในชีวิตประจำวันผ่านบัตรสวัสดิการแห่งรัฐที่มีจำนวนเงินเท่ากับเส้นความยากจนมอบแก่คนยากจนขั้นรุนแรงก่อนเป็นกลุ่มแรก เป็นไปตามหลักการพื้นฐานของ SDGs และยังเป็นการเพิ่มเสถียรภาพความมั่นคงทางการคลังให้กับประเทศได้อีกด้วย ยกเลิกระบบลงทะเบียนและเปลี่ยนมาเป็นระบบการยืนยันตัวตนเพื่อพัฒนาขั้นตอนรับความช่วยเหลือให้เหมาะสมกับข้อจำกัดของคนยากจนเพื่อให้คนยากจนเข้าถึงสิทธิได้ยิ่งขึ้น แก้ไขระเบียบที่กำหนดจำนวนเงินช่วยเหลือนักเรียนยากจนให้มีจำนวนไม่ต่ำกว่าเส้นความยากจนโดยต้องจ่ายตรงแก่ผู้ปกครองเพื่อให้เป็นไปตามมาตรฐาน SPF และพัฒนากฎหมายด้านที่อยู่อาศัยให้ครอบคลุมการพื้นที่ชนบทเพื่อให้คนยากจนเข้าถึง Basic Services ได้ครบถ้วน นอกจากนี้ผู้ศึกษายังได้เสนอแนวทางการจัดทำกฎหมายหรือมาตรการที่กำหนดให้หน่วยงานของรัฐมีหน้าที่จัดหางานที่เหมาะสมกับข้อจำกัดของคนยากจนแต่ละมิติเพื่อให้คนยากจนได้พึ่งพาตนเอง อันเป็นการแก้ปัญหาความยากจนที่ต้นเหตุในระยะยาว การพัฒนากฎหมายเช่นนี้ย่อมช่วยให้คนยากจนในประเทศไทยเข้าถึงสิทธิและมีศักดิ์ศรีเสมอภาคกับบุคคลอื่นในสังคมได้

Healing Communities With Police Divestment: Seeking Abolition Through Transformative Reform And Community-Government Collaboration, Jessica E. Gillson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Concerns about the efficacy and sustainability of the U.S. carceral system have persisted throughout the country’s history, recently fueling renewed activism and bipartisan calls for reform. However, proposed solutions remain divisive. This thesis first defines the current status of our prison systems, then explores collaborative alternatives to incarceration and policing that support communities and break cycles of incarceration.

Focusing on partnerships among local governments, community organizations, justice-involved individuals, and law enforcement, this study examines holistic approaches to crime prevention, reentry, and reintegration. Using an interdisciplinary framework incorporating restorative justice, community resilience, and systems theory, it investigates how community-based strategies can …