Digital Commons Network^™

Ties That Bond: Duel Class Common Stock And The Problem Of Shareholder Choice, Jeffrey N. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Gordon argues that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should adopt a rule enabling the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to maintain its traditional rule forbidding NYSE firms from recapitalizing with dual class common stock After critically evaluating the purported justifications for dual class recapitalizations, Professor Gordon presents empirical data to demonstrate that such recapitalizations may have a negative impact on shareholder wealth. He then describes the collective action and strategic choice problems in shareholder voting that allow managers to win approval for such wealth-reducing recapitalizations. The traditional NYSE rule is a means by which shareholders and managers have …

The Index To Legal Periodicals On Cd-Rom, Wilsondisc, Marsha Baum

Faculty Scholarship

About the Index to Legal Periodicals functionality now that it is on CD.

Economists As Judges: A Selective, Annotated Bibliography, Janet Sinder

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Truth And Uncertainty: Legal Control Of The Destruction Of Evidence, Lawrence B. Solum, Stephen Marzen

Faculty Scholarship

This article analyzes legal controls on evidence destruction in more or less six parts. Part I describes the rich variety of authority to control evidence destruction. In civil cases, the spoliation inference, discovery sanctions, tort liability, and criminal obstruction of justice statutes provide sanctions against destruction of evidence. In criminal cases, defendants face fines and imprisonment from federal and state evidence destruction and contempt statutes. Also in criminal cases, prosecutors who destroy exculpatory 1086 evidence risk dismissal of indictments under the process clause, the Jencks Act, Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16, and court's supervisory power. In addition, attorneys may …

Compensation Programs For Vaccine-Related Injury Abroad: A Comparative Analysis, Wendy K. Mariner

Faculty Scholarship

Adverse physical reactions to immunizations, ¹ although comparatively rare, raise fundamental questions about the relationship between the state and the individual. In the United States, responsibility for vaccine-related injuries has been judicially and administratively debated for nearly two decades, beginning with the seminal decision of Davis v. Wyeth Laboratories. The primary issue is whether a person who suffers an unpredictable adverse reaction to a vaccination is entitled to receive compensation for his or her injuries, and if so, whether compensation should be provided by the manufacturer of the vaccine as part of its responsibility for the effects of its products, …

Determining Limitation Periods For Actions Arising Under Federal Statutes, Neil Sobol

Faculty Scholarship

Time limitations for cause of action are an integral part of the American system of law. These limitations define time periods following the accrual of the right of action in which a litigant must assert his claim. If the litigant fails to commence his suit within the specified time period, the court will generally deny relief. Given that failure to commence a suit before the limitation period has expired may deny an injured party relief and allow a wrongdoer to escape without providing such relief, litigants must be able to determine the limitation periods that will apply to their particular …

Getting To Market: The Scientific And Legal Climate For Developing An Aids Vaccine, Wendy K. Mariner, Robert C. Gallo

Faculty Scholarship

Expectations of a vaccine to prevent acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are rising. Not only are the prospects for an effective immunogen improving, but immunization appears to hold the greatest promise for halting the spread of infection and disease.' Identification of the causal agent-the retrovirus called HTLV-III, LAV, or generically, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)-has provided the direction and limited the options for containing the disease.

Prevention is, of course, critical where the disease must be presumed to be fatal in all cases. Although there is no clear evidence that any single exposure to HIV will result in infection or disease, prudence …

Surrogate Parenthood, George J. Annas, John Robertson

Faculty Scholarship

Does a surrogate mother have the right to change her mind? Not according to the Baby M court, which enforced a $10,000 contract between Mary Beth Whitehead and William and Elizabeth Stern that it found was "in the best interests of the child." The decision is now on appeal before the New Jersey Supreme Court.

The case has produced sharply divided reaction-some denounce surrogate arrangements as Orwellian while others see them as a boon to childless couples.

George Annas, a professor of health law at Boston University's School of Public Health, would void these contracts on policy grounds. He believes …

Substance, Process And Outcome In Constitutional Theory, David B. Lyons

Faculty Scholarship

Scholarship in philosophy proceeds at a slower pace than in the law. As Tom Lehrer, the poet laureate of a recent generation, might have said, the law biz travels on a faster track. Or so it seems to a philosopher who has recently been treading the tracks of constitutional lawyers.

And so it is with apprehension that I take as my text a book that was published as long ago as 1980. As the title of this lecture might suggest to someone with so long a memory, the book is John Hart Ely's Democracy and Distrust.' That work provoked an …

Conflict Of Law (1987), James Paul George, Fred C. Pedersen

Faculty Scholarship

Conflicts of law occur when foreign elements appear in a lawsuit. Nonresident litigants, incidents in sister states or foreign countries, and lawsuits from other jurisdictions are all foreign elements that may create problems in judicial jurisdiction, choice of law, or the recognition of foreign judgments. This Article reviews Texas conflict of laws during the Survey period from late 1985 through 1986. The Survey includes cases from Texas state and federal courts, and non-Texas cases affecting Texas practice. Excluded are cases involving federal/state conflicts, criminal law, intrastate matters such as subject matter jurisdiction and venue, and conflicts in time, such as …

The Privileges And Immunities Clause Of Article Iv, David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Passive Activity Loss Rules: Planning Considerations, Techniques, And A Foray Into Never-Never Land, Daniel S. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Rush To Judgment: Hiv Test Reliability And Screening, Taunya Lovell Banks, Roger R. Mcfadden

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

(Part 2) Chapter 7 Cases: Do Erisa And The Bankruptcy Code Conflict As To Whether A Debtor's Interest In Or Rights Under A Qualified Plan Can Be Used To Pay Claims, Donna Litman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

(Part 1) Chapter 7 Cases: Do Erisa And The Bankruptcy Code Conflict As To Whether A Debtor's Interest In Or Rights Under A Qualified Plan Can Be Used To Pay Claims, Donna Litman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Medical And Psychotherapy Privileges And Confidentiality: On Giving With One Hand And Removing With The Other, Steven R. Smith

Faculty Scholarship

This Article reviews both the giving and the taking away: the protections afforded to confidentiality by privileges and legal duties, and the way those protections are eroded. The duties of professionals and others to maintain confidences are noted, but testimonial privileges are emphasized. This Article proposes reforms in the way we try to protect confidentiality and suggests that the protection of therapy confidences be dealt with as a coherent whole (privileges and obligations of confidentiality should be dealt with together). Exceptions to privileges should be reduced and narrowed, and federal law should recognize the desirability of a consistent approach to …

A Judicial Declaration Of Martial Law, Lawrence G. Baxter

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Symbiosis Between Social Spiders And Yeast: The Role In Prey Attraction, William James Tietjen, L. Rao Ayyagari, George W. Uetz

Faculty Scholarship

A number of predatory animals use deception, including odors, signals, and bait-like body appendages or objects to lure prey (Alcock, 1984). Several spider species are known to emit chemical odors that mimic the sex attractants of certain noctuid or saturniid moths as a means of luring males to be captured (Tietjen and Rovner, 1982). Here we provide evidence that the social spider species, Mallos gregalis, uses a scented "bait" to attract prey. Our results indicate that this odor is produced by yeasts growing on the carcasses of previously fed-upon flies which these spiders incorporated into their webs.

Rethinking The Teaching Of Civil Procedure, Elizabeth M. Schneider

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Summary Judgment And Case Management, William W. Schwarzer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Are We A Nation Of Tax Cheaters? New Econometric Evidence On Tax Compliance, Jeffrey A. Dubin, Michael J. Graetz, Louis L. Wilde

Faculty Scholarship

In 1982, then Commissioner of Internal Revenue Roscoe Egger reported to Congress that legal sector noncompliance with the Federal Income Tax statutes generated an "income tax gap" of $81 billion in 1981, up from $29 billion in 1973. He further projected a gap of $120 billion for 1985 (U.S. Congress, 1982). Perceptions of accelerating noncompliance inspired a crisis mentality within the Internal Revenue Service, Congress, and the tax bar.

The IRS responded in part by funding a major independent study of tax noncompliance via the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Bar Foundation initiated an investigation of its own …

The Global Correspondence Principle: A Generalization, Jagdish N. Bhagwati, Richard A. Brecher, Tatsuo Hatta

Faculty Scholarship

This paper generalizes the Global Correspondence Principle by extending, in two major ways, Paul Samuelson's 1971 analysis of the exchange rate response to an international purchasing-power transfer. We analyze the price effect of a shift in any parameter, not necessarily a transfer. We then explore the resulting adjustments in any nonprice variable such as we/fare. As our analysis shows, the direction of these adjustments depends neither on whether they are small or large nor on whether equilibrium is locally stable or unstable.

Chernobyl Fallout: Recent Iaea Conventions Expand Transboundary Nuclear Pollution Law, Michael A. Heller

Faculty Scholarship

After releasing a radioactive cloud over Europe, the April 1986 nuclear power plant accident at Chernobyl in the USSR sparked a chain-reaction of diplomatic negotiation that culminated in two recent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conventions on nuclear accidents. The Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (Convention on Early Notification) and the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency (Convention on Assistance) were both opened for signature on September 26, 1986 at the end of a three-day IAEA special session on the lessons of the Soviet nuclear plant disaster. In the months …

Quantity And Price Adjustment In Long-Term Contracts: A Case Study Of Petroleum Coke, Victor P. Goldberg, John R. Erickson

Faculty Scholarship

Much economic activity takes place within a framework of complex, long-term contracts. While economists have shown increased interest in these contracts, surprisingly little is known about them, or, indeed, about how to analyze the contracting activity of private economic actors. A case study of the actual contracts used in one industry could provide sorely needed data about the way in which reasonably clever businessmen and lawyers cope with problems scholars might consider intractable. In this article, we provide such an analysis of contracts concerning a particular product – petroleum coke. We focus on the problems of quantity and price adjustment. …

Reconciling Differences: The Theory And Law Of Mediating Labor Grievances, Deborah A. Schmedemann

Faculty Scholarship

While grievance arbitration is the most common method of resolution of disputes arising under collective bargaining agreements, the author proposes that there is also a place for grievance mediation. The author compares mediation to arbitration and negotiation, and describes the strengths and weaknesses of mediation. She explains how mediation clauses in labor agreements could be enforced under section 301 of the LMRA, to protect rights created by those agreements, and proposes that mediation clauses be a basis for injunctions against strikes during the term of an agreement in certain situations. However, the author suggests that courts and the National Labor …

Taking Kawashima Seriously: A Review Of Japanese Research On Japanese Legal Consciousness And Disputing Behavior, Setsuo Miyazawa

Faculty Scholarship

This paper discusses Japanese research on legal consciousness (ho-ishiki) and civil disputing. The author presents a recent explication of Takeyoshi Kawashima's concept of legal consciousness as a cultural factor and also proposes to explore the possibility of treating it as an individual, attitudinal factor. He also reviews large-scale surveys of aggregate-level culture and studies on individual-level disputing behavior. The need and possibility of a longitudinal study of individual disputing behavior that uses individual-level attitudes and regional culture as explanatory variables is suggested.

Are Mit Students Rational?, Nils Gottfries, Keith N. Hylton

Faculty Scholarship

This paper reports the results of a survey conducted~ in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus dining hall~ The aim of the survey was to delineate students' perceptions of marginal cost,~ in a very specific, but not uncommon, situation. A majority of the respondents' answers suggest a complete misunderstanding of the relevant marginal costs. This study attempts to find out how individuals perceive ~their opportunity sets in a specific choice situation. The individuals studied are ~students who have meal plans at the M.LT. dining halls. Each term students pay a high price for the meals until a certain number of …

The Impact Of Medical Technology On The Pregnant Woman's Right To Privacy, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

In the context of the bicentennial of the Constitution and science's relationship to society, it has been argued that "the advance of science and technology in the West has changed not only the relation of man to nature but of man to man."' This seemingly immodest statement may soon prove an understatement. In the arena of human reproduction, the marriage of science and technology in medicine may change not only the relationship of man to nature and man to man, but more significantly, the very concept of what it means to be human. This, in turn, will directly affect how …

The Validity Of Tests: Caveant Omnes, David H. Kaye

Faculty Scholarship

A great debate swirls about the use of polygraph tests in criminal cases. Similar concerns about individual privacy and freedom arise with proposals and projects involving widespread testing of government employees for drugs and deception. Required diagnostic testing for certain diseases - most notoriously, for AIDS - raises similar concerns. Incorrect conclusions about who has taken illicit drugs, who has AIDS, and who is lying can be devastating. Yet, perfect knowledge is unattainable. Errors are inevitable. Questions of what the tendency is for these tests to err, which measures are appropriate for deciding whether to use a screening test, and …

Transnational Law-Making: Assessing The Impact Of The Vienna Convention And The Viability Of Arbitral Adjudication, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Faculty Scholarship

Questions concerning the future orientation of the process are more pressing and demand a definition of the international mission and role of arbitral adjudication. Nations share the perception that national economies are no longer autonomous, that they must function within a larger global framework. The question then becomes not whether a uniform international law of sales is needed, but rather how it is to be achieved. The transnational preeminence that arbitration has gained as a remedial mechanism makes it a likely vehicle for elaborating a common law of international contracts.

This article assesses the impact of the Vienna Convention upon …