Digital Commons Network^™

Promoting A Rhetoric Of Judicial Legitimacy In Pro Se Litigation, Alistair E. Newbern

Arkansas Law Review

In recent months, headline after headline has decried twin threats to the federal judiciary: declining public trust in the courts and escalating threats to judges’ personal safety. The public’s opinion of the Supreme Court reached “close to a three decade low” in 2025, while Americans’ confidence in the federal judiciary as a whole “dropped to a record-low 35% in 2024.”

In his 2024 Year End Report on the Federal Judiciary, Chief Justice John Roberts identified a recent uptick in four areas of “illegitimate activity” that “threaten the independence of judges on which the rule of law depends: (1) violence, (2) …

Intellectual Humility By Design: How Courts Earn Legitimacy And Improve Decisions, Steve Leben

Arkansas Law Review

Courts decide disputes as one branch of our government. Their authority depends not only on getting the outcome right but also on public acceptance of their authority. In a time when confidence in institutions is under pressure, courts cannot assume that legitimacy will take care of itself. They must earn it—case by case—through both the substance of what they decide and the way they exercise authority in public view.

A large body of procedural-justice research explains one side of that equation. People are more willing to accept court decisions, even unfavorable ones, when the process communicates voice, neutrality, respect, and …

Foreword, Amanda B. Hurst

Arkansas Law Review

This Symposium, The Art of Judging, delved into the complexity of the judicial craft, discussing the intellectual, practical, and human dimensions of judicial work. The Symposium addressed courtroom management, decision-making, and opinion writing, as well as the impact of evolving technologies on these core judicial functions. Another key focus was the increasing challenges judges face in responding to litigants’ wellness issues, managing their own well-being, and maintaining the judicial persona—both inside and outside the courtroom. Though the Symposium was not born out of the aim of combating the current climate, where misinformation and misunderstanding of the judicial role threaten …

Contents, Journal Editors

Arkansas Law Review

No abstract provided.

Arkansas Law Review - Volume 79 Issue 2, Journal Editors

Arkansas Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Rise Of Options Contracts In Sports, The Post-Murphy Regulatory Conundrum, And Implications On Federalism, Scott Barboza

UNH Sports Law Review

The Supreme Court’s decision in Murphy v. N.C.A.A. dismantled the federal prohibition on state-authorized sports betting and returned its primary regulatory authority over to the states. Following Murphy, states adopted widely varying sports-betting regimes. At the same time, advances in financial technology and the growing popularity of prediction markets created a new form of event-based speculation operating outside the traditional sportsbook model. Platforms such as Kalshi began offering “yes-no” contracts tied to sporting outcomes through federally regulated exchanges overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, framing such products not as wagers, but as financial derivatives governed by the Commodity Exchange …

Reflections On Pretrained Chatbots, Hassan Essoussi

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

No one can deny the development of artificial intelligence which creates a new version of robots that is modern and sophisticated, such as pre-trained chatbots. These chatbots are based on linguistic models designed for continuous interaction between the chatbot and its user. They can be used to search for information from various sources, both scientific and non-scientific. Moreover, chatbots raise many fundamental problems and questions about how to protect users of this linguistic model on the one hand, the legal nature of pre-trained chatbots on the second hand, and the civil liability of this modern form and its differences from …

Digitalization Of Medicine Through Telemedicine: The Legal Framework And Medical Liability, Samira Krourou

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

This study examines telemedicine as a modern medical practice linked to the technological and informational advancements that humanity has witnessed and that have been positively integrated into the medical field. It has become possible to examine and treat patients without requiring their physical presence in a clinic or hospital, unlike the traditional approach, that necessitates the patient's presence and direct contact with their physician. Contemporary medical practice is no longer confined to examination and prescription alone; it has expanded to encompass more complex domains, notably enabling remote surgical interventions. In light of technological progress in medicine, it has become necessary …

The Notarial Profession Between Legal Roots And The Challenges Of Digital Modernization, Yassine Ait Ahmed

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

This paper focuses on returning to the origins of the legal regulation of the notarial profession, which is linked to the development of mechanisms for the protection of rights and systems governing legal transactions. This protection symbolizes one of the official functions of the State and is manifested in the field of evidence, as the documents issued by this authority, by virtue of the legal powers vested in it, enjoy the status of official (authentic) instruments. This status has been further strengthened with the adoption of digitization, which has required its development in order to meet the expectations of digital …

The Independence Of Supervisory Authorities: A Comparative Analysis Of Morocco's Law 09-08 And The European General Data Protection Regulation, Zakariyae Hamdani, Karim Seffar

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

The effectiveness of personal data protection presupposes the establishment of supervisory authorities endowed with substantial independence, guarantors of fundamental rights and capable of preventing the risks inherent in data processing. However, the comparison between the European GDPR and Moroccan Law No. 09-08 reveals a manifest institutional asymmetry. Indeed, European authorities operate within a substantially more comprehensive normative framework, characterised by enshrined autonomy, extended prerogatives and enhanced operational efficiency. Conversely, the Moroccan CNDP remains afflicted by structural deficiencies: institutional dependence, lack of coercive powers and budgetary insufficiency. Consequently, this comparative investigation aims to identify the cardinal principles likely to inform a …

Deepfake: A Practice On The Edge Of Legality, Bouthaïna Aaziz

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Deepfakes – hyperrealistic videos manipulated using deep learning algorithms – raise significant legal challenges touching on human rights and legal governance. A deepfake usurps the identity of its victim to exploit their credibility and reputation. This article examines the applicable legal framework, first identifying pre-existing rules from Moroccan law (civil liability, personal data protection under Law No. 09-08, criminal provisions of the Penal Code and Press Law No. 88-13) that can be applied to deepfakes, and then advocating for the adoption of an adapted legal framework. The author distinguishes between creative deepfakes (requiring informed consent) and manipulative deepfakes (requiring criminal …

Gafam And Competition Law: The Premises Of Regulation, El Mahdi Taimouri

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

GAFAM are among those structural digital platforms whose ultra-dominant position in digital markets and the originality of their practices raise unprecedented competition issues. Their spontaneous tendency toward concentration results from the implementation of innovative business models based on massive data capture and exploitation through high-performance algorithms. The specificities inherent in these web giants raise questions about the ability of classical competition law rules to ensure efficient regulation. Indeed, competitive regulation of these platforms raises essential challenges and proves indispensable, even if the effective realization of such an undertaking appears laborious.

Requalification Of Employment Relations On Digital Platforms – Commentary On The Ruling Of The Social Chamber Of The French Court Of Cassation Of 4 March 2020, Appeal No. 19-13.316, Abdelhadi Al Hantali El Idrissi

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Despite the efforts made by legislators to facilitate the task of qualifying the employment contract for judges, the judge's role in this qualification process remains primordial, as they face hybrid and increasingly complex situations that may fall into several contradictory contractual categories not anticipated by the law. This article examines a landmark ruling by the Social Chamber of the French Court of Cassation of 4 March 2020 (Appeal No. 19-13.316), in which the Court confirmed the requalification of a partnership contract between an Uber driver and the company into an employment contract. The analysis is structured around three complementary phases: …

From Legal Norms To Algorithmic Rules: Reflections On Blockchain And Smart Contracts, Yassine Dourhani, Fatim Ezzahra Boussetta

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Blockchain technology and smart contracts are profoundly reshaping contract law by partially replacing traditional legal rules with algorithmic norms based on automation and self-execution. By embedding the parties' agreement into computer code deployed on a distributed ledger, these technologies promise enhanced security, certainty of performance, and the reduction of traditional intermediaries. However, this emerging algorithmic normativity confronts fundamental requirements of contract law, particularly those relating to validity, flexibility in the face of unforeseen events, and the protection of contracting parties. While automatic execution strengthens technical efficiency, it also exposes significant legal limitations, including the rigidity of code, the absence of …

The Legal Challenges Of Blockchain In Relation To The Legal Professions, Hind Tak-Tak, Hanane Jalal

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Blockchain technology was initially conceived as a disintermediation tool based on algorithmic trust, aiming to challenge the traditional role of trusted third parties in legal and economic relationships. By relying on distributed, immutable, and transparent ledgers, blockchain claims to offer an alternative to centralized institutions, particularly in the fields of evidence, contracts, and authentication. However, a legal analysis demonstrates that this promise of disintermediation remains largely relative. While blockchain enables technical certification of data and the automated execution of obligations through smart contracts, it does not ensure valid contract formation, effective protection of the weaker party, or compliance with the …

Editorial : Digital Law, Karim Seffar

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

This special issue of REMADEG explores the profound transformations undergone by law in the face of the digital revolution. The contributions interrogate the legal challenges posed by disruptive technologies, their implications for traditional legal institutions, and the normative responses needed to govern these transformations. Topics covered include blockchain and smart contracts, digital platform labor relations, GAFAM regulation through competition law, deepfakes, personal data protection authority independence, telemedicine liability, and pretrained conversational robots.

Pride March Celebration, Cardozo Alumni Association, Cardozo Outlaw

2025–2026 Flyers

No abstract provided.

Gender Perspective(S): Lessons From International Human Rights Law To Defend Against Pregnancy Related Prosecutions, Megan Osadzinski

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

The criminalization of pregnancy outcomes—such as miscarriages, abortion, obstetric emergencies, and stillbirth—is a violation of fundamental human rights guarantees; including the right to a fair trial when read in conjunction with the right to equality and the right to health. This article outlines state obligations under international human rights law toward women charged in pregnancy prosecutions, translating them into national criminal defense strategies using a gender perspective. Using intersectional theory, this article calls for the use of a gender perspective to challenge such prosecutions as unlawful gender-based discrimination and a gendered violation of due process, using the case study of …

Comparative Analysis Of Freedom Of Thought, Conscience, And Religion In India, Pakistan, And Bangladesh, Abhishek Chakrabarti

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

The freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is a fundamental human right enshrined in Article 18 of The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR). However, religious minorities in South Asia are often deprived of this fundamental right. Muslims in India, Ahmadiyyas, Hindus, and Christians in Pakistan, and Hindus in Bangladesh face challenges including educational marginalization, economic and political marginalization, and social stigma in the society. The Note presents a comparative analysis of the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion across the three most populous countries in South Asia–India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh–that also share a long cultural, linguistic, and religious history. …

Civil Society Associations And The Environment, Mohamed Ali Mekouar

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Presented in February 1987 and written in August of the same year, this paper examines the growing role of the associative movement in environmental protection, drawing on comparative law perspectives and situating the Moroccan case within the broader context of the global rise of environmental civil society. The author analyses the growth of environmental protection associations as a manifestation of a 'daily syndicalism' and a silent participatory revolution, reflecting the crisis of representative democracy and citizens' growing need for collective engagement in defence of their living environment, as attested by the emergence of global organisations such as IUCN, WWF, and …

The Institutional Means Of Environmental Protection In Morocco, Rachida Meziane

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

This article analyses the institutional apparatus established in Morocco for environmental protection, in a context where the framework law on environmental protection and enhancement exists only in draft form, making the role of existing administrative structures all the more decisive. The author systematically inventories the environmental competences distributed among the various ministries (Interior, Agriculture, Public Health, Urban Planning, Maritime Fisheries) and specialised bodies, highlighting the institutional fragmentation characteristic of the Moroccan administrative landscape in environmental matters and the absence of a coordinating authority with real intersectoral arbitration capacity. The analysis focuses on the concrete environmental attributions of the Ministry of …

The Hunting Charge, Omar Mounir

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Written in the form of a deliberately polemical essay, this text challenges the very concept of the 'hunting permit' and proposes to replace it with that of the 'hunting charge', effecting a conceptual revolution with profound legal implications regarding the status of game and the rights and duties of hunters. The author denounces the dominant mentality of hunters who, armed with their paid permit, believe themselves authorised to harvest without limits or responsibilities, ignoring the biological cycles of game, the issues of species balance, and the fragility of the environment, and assimilating hunting to a simple 'purchased right' rather than …

Environmental Aspects Of The Fixed Link Project Across The Strait Of Gibraltar, Mohamed Ali Mekouar

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Presented at the Seminar on Legal Aspects of the Europe-Africa Fixed Link Project across the Strait of Gibraltar (Madrid, December 1986), this report examines the environmental dimension of a project of unprecedented geopolitical, technical, and legal magnitude, whose impacts on the marine environment of the Strait remain largely understudied. The author notes that while feasibility studies have engaged significant scientific and technical resources, the ecological dimension has received only marginal attention, despite potentially considerable and irreversible impacts on the Strait's hydrodynamics, sedimentary flows, benthic and pelagic ecosystems, and marine species migration routes. The legal analysis examines Spain's and Morocco's international …

Law, Agriculture, And The Environment: Stimulating Production While Respecting Nature, Mohamed Ali Mekouar

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Presented at the seminar on 'Environmental Protection and Rational Management of Natural Resources' in Meknes in June 1987, this paper interrogates the capacity of law to reconcile the imperative of stimulating agricultural production with the requirements of environmental protection, from a comparative law perspective. The author starts from the historically ambivalent relationship between agriculture and nature: while agriculture long benefited from natural generosity, it has in recent decades — under the effect of misdirected economic incentives and demographic pressure — become one of the principal sources of natural equilibrium degradation, soil and water pollution, and biodiversity destruction. The legal analysis …

Solar Energy In The Shadow Of Moroccan Law, Mohamed Ali Mekouar

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Presented at the round table organised in Marrakech for World Environment Day in June 1987 on 'Renewable Energies and the Environment', this paper analyses the legal treatment of solar energy in Moroccan law, in a global context marked by successive energy crises and growing awareness of the dead-end of fossil fuels. The author examines the paradox whereby the sun — a potentially unlimited energy source capable of satisfying 99% of humanity's energy needs — remains 'in the shadow' of the law, largely ignored by legal systems and maintained in a 'zone of non-law', even as its exploitation develops in various …

The Legal Protection Of Inland Waters In Morocco, Rahal Maarouf

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

This article addresses a significant gap in Moroccan legal scholarship by examining the legal protection of inland water resources — both quantitative and qualitative — in a semi-arid country facing growing pressure on naturally limited resources subject to climatic variability. The author traces the evolution of the applicable normative framework from the foundational texts of the Protectorate to more recent legislation, and analyses the legal mechanisms for allocating water among competing users (irrigated agriculture, industry, drinking water supply), the inadequacies of the concession and use authorisation system, and the failures of the groundwater and watercourse pollution prevention and repression regime, …

Wetlands In Moroccan Law, Mohamed Ali Mekouar

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Presented at the International Conference on Legal Aspects of Wetland Protection held in Lyon in September 1987, this paper systematically evaluates the status of wetlands in Moroccan law, highlighting both the richness and singular fragility of these natural environments and the inadequacy of the legal framework designed to protect them. The author defines wetlands rigorously in their morphological diversity (marshes, swamps, peatlands, floodplains, artificial water bodies) and exposes their fundamental ecological functions: synthesis between terrestrial and aquatic environments, wildlife refuge, natural water purification, hydrological regulation, and scientific, economic, recreational, and cultural values. The legal analysis inventories all Moroccan legislative and …

Legal Problems Of Hazardous Waste In Developing Countries: The Case Of Morocco, Mohamed Ali Mekouar

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Presented at the World Conference on Hazardous Wastes in Budapest in October 1987, this study subjects the problem of hazardous waste in developing countries to critical legal examination, with Morocco as an emblematic case study. The author first draws an alarming picture of the global phenomenon: industrialised countries produce some 300 million tonnes of toxic and hazardous waste annually, a growing proportion of which is routed to developing countries through often irregular or fraudulent transboundary movements due to the prohibitive cost of treatment in the North. The legal analysis covers existing international instruments — OECD conventions, UNEP guidelines, Stockholm Conference …

Hazardous Waste In The Medinas (Historic Centres) Of Morocco, Mohamed Naciri

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

Presented at the World Conference on Hazardous Wastes in Budapest in October 1987, this contribution analyses the specific and often overlooked problem of hazardous waste generated in Moroccan medinas — historic urban cores housing a dense artisanal and residential fabric whose narrow lanes (derbs) are unsuited to conventional collection systems. The author explains how the colonial dual urbanism policy neglected the environmental dimension of the medinas in favour of architectural heritage preservation, leaving growing waste collection and evacuation problems unaddressed. The analysis demonstrates that traditional artisanal activities (tanneries, dyeworks, metal workshops, bread ovens) generate hazardous liquid, solid, and gaseous effluents …

Urban Transport And Environmental Quality, Mohamed Ali Mekouar

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

This research report, produced within a working group on urban transport in Casablanca, rigorously examines the interactions between motorised transport systems and urban environmental quality in a global context characterised by a vehicle fleet exceeding 400 million and rapid urbanisation. The author demonstrates that while the automobile has become a symbol of modernity and social aspiration, it is also the primary source of urban environmental degradation through air pollution (carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides), noise nuisances, space and energy consumption, and traffic accidents. The legal analysis inventories the normative instruments available in Morocco to control the environmental impact of urban …