Digital Commons Network^™

Rethinking The Class Action: A Policy Primer On Reform, John C. Coffee Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

Today, virtually everyone has a proposal for "reforming" class action litigation but both consensus and coherence are lacking. Some proposals are bluntly restrictive. For example, the Reagan Administration would reduce attorney's fees, place a ceiling on product liability, and partially repeal treble damage statutes. In the same vein, the United States Supreme Court has shown itself parsimonious on the question of fee awards, by authorizing fee waivers, approving offers of settlement that seemingly permit fee shifting against the plaintiff's attorney, and curtailing the traditional bases on which a fee award may be enhanced. Other proposals have offered essentially neutral procedural …

Immigration Reform And Control Of The Undocumented Family, Carol Sanger

Faculty Scholarship

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), Congress' attempt to clean up the problem of illegal immigration in the United States, puts a great number of undocumented alien families, mostly Mexican, to a hard test. Under IRCA's amnesty provisions, every alien must individually meet the eligibility requirements, such as having lived in the United States since before January 1, 1982. But many aliens who satisfy these requirements have spouses or children who do not. Thus, while eligible aliens may adjust to a legal immigration status, their ineligible family members must either leave the United States or remain illegally, …

Social Theory And Political Practice: Unger's Brazilian Journalism, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

Roberto Mangabeira Unger is a citizen of Brazil. While working on Politics, his large-scale treatise on social theory, he has been active in his country's politics. Among the fruits of these activities is a series of political and programmatic commentaries on Brazil published in the Brazilian press. The commentaries apply the style of political analysis and the general political program elaborated in Politics to the recent circumstances of Brazil. Thus, they give an extended illustration of Unger's general social theory. At the same time, they exemplify a form of political writing that attempts to combine ambitious critical social theory …

Law And Morality: A Kantian Perspective, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

The relationship between law and morality has emerged as the central question in the jurisprudential reflection of our time. Those who call themselves positivists hold with H.L.A. Hart that calling a statute or a judicial decision "law" need not carry any implications about the morality of that statute or decision. Valid laws might be immoral or unjust. Those who resist this reduction of law to valid enactments sometimes argue, with Lon Fuller, that moral acceptability is a necessary condition for holding that a statute is law; or, with Ronald Dworkin, that moral principles supplement valid enactments as components of the …

Rico: The Crime Of Being A Criminal Parts I And Ii, Gerard E. Lynch

Faculty Scholarship

One of the most controversial statutes in the federal criminal code is that entitled "Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations," known familiarly by its acronym, RICO. Passed in 1970 as title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, RICO has attracted much attention because of its draconian penalties, including innovative forfeiture provisions; its broad draftsmanship, which has left it open to a wide range of applications, not all of which were foreseen or intended by the Congress that enacted it; and the sometimes dramatic prosecutions that have been brought in its name.

RICO's complexity has attracted several efforts to unscramble …

Rico: The Crime Of Being A Criminal Parts Iii And Iv, Gerard E. Lynch

Faculty Scholarship

In the first portion of this study, we saw that the Supreme Court in its 1981 Turkette decision endorsed what was already the consensus view of the courts of appeals that a group of individuals associated in fact to pursue entirely illegitimate purposes could constitute a RICO enterprise. Prosecutions of such associations have quickly become the leading use of the statute. It can be reliably estimated that more than forty percent of the reported appellate cases involving RICO indictments concern prosecutions in which the alleged enterprise was such an illicit association. When the cases are classified by the nature of …

The Teaching Function Of The First Amendment, Vincent A. Blasi

Faculty Scholarship

In this important book, Professor Bollinger seeks to understand and remedy the inadequacy he perceives in the way our legal culture deals with extremist speech. He argues that the high level of protection the first amendment has been construed to require serves a social function that has not been fully recognized or carefully evaluated. His thesis is that the contemporary social function of the idea of freedom of speech is to help the society develop a general capacity for tolerance, a capacity that determines how we respond to many forms of conduct as well as speech. Once this function is …

Better Late Than Never: Publication Of The Decisions From The 1845 Term Of The Republic Of Texas Supreme Court, James Hambleton, David A. Greenblatt

Faculty Scholarship

Two years ago, this column featured the rediscovery of a full year's worth of decisions issued by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas that had never been printed. Paulsen & Hambleton, Whatever Happened to 7845? The Missing Decisions of the Texas Supreme Court, 48 Tex. B.J. 830 (1985). Those decisions now have been collected and will appear in the December 1986 issue of the Texas Law Review (The Missing Cases of the Republic, 65 Texas L. Rev. 377 (1986)). Although none of the missing cases are likely to have any direct bearing on the outcome of the Texaco-Pennzoil …

Public Rights And The Federal Judicial Power: From Murray's Lessee Through Crowell To Schor, Gordon G. Young

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Dialectic Of Rights And Politics: Perspectives From The Women's Movement, Elizabeth M. Schneider

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Equilibrium Polymerization Of Chains And Rings: A Bicritical Phenomenon, Rolfe G. Petschek

Faculty Scholarship

The equilibrium polymerization of chains and rings together is a (n=1) critical phenomenon with aspects of bicriticality, governed by exponents not found in any symmetric O(n) model. The bicritical nature of the critical point is the result of a competition between a transition to form long-chain polymers and a transition to form an infinite-rings condensate. As a result the fraction of monomers incorporated in chains and in rings varies with temperature according to a different power law than that for the total fraction of polymerized material and is governed by an exponent that depends on the crossover exponent φfor …

Chemical Industry Accidents, Liability, And Community Right To Know, Michael S. Baram

Faculty Scholarship

The Bhopal, India tragedy and other industrial accidents (e.g., Seveso, Flixborough, Mexico City, Institute, WV) have frightened the citizens of developed and undeveloped countries. These accidents, along with numerous hazardous waste problems, have led to a dramatic loss of public confidence in chemical industry management and their safety experts. The occurrence of such accidents also provides vivid evidence of the serious gap between government legislative promises and government performance in the actual control of industrial hazards.'

As a result, persons who believe they have been injured or put at risk by industry are now using tort law to secure private …

Conflict Of Laws (1986), James Paul George, Fred C. Pedersen

Faculty Scholarship

Conflicts of law occur when foreign elements appear in a lawsuit. Nonresident plaintiffs or defendants, incidents in other state or countries, and lawsuits outside of Texas are all foreign elements that may create conflicts problems with judicial jurisdiction, choice of law, or the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. This Article will review Texas conflicts of law during the Survey period from late 1984 through 1985. The Survey includes cases from Texas state and federal courts, and non-Texas cases affecting Texas practice.

During the Survey period, judicial jurisdiction continued its uncertain theoretical expansion, with Texas courts raising important questions. Foreign …

Evidence For A New State Produced In Antiproton Annihilations At Rest In Liquid Deuterium, R. Debbe, William J. Fickinger, R. Marino, D. K. Robinson

Faculty Scholarship

Inclusive charged-pion spectra from p¯d annihilations at rest have been measured in a high-statistics experiment in search of broad states. Analysis of these spectra reveals an enhancement of the π- spectrum at 315 MeV/c. This may be interpreted as a production of a new state of mass 1485 MeV/c2 and width at most 200 MeV/c2 recoiling against the π-. This quasi two-body final state accounts for a large fraction of the p¯n annihilations.

Some Reflections On Gramm-Rudman-Hollings, Gordon G. Young

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

"Tastes Great, Less Filling": The Law School Clinic And Political Critique, Robert J. Condlin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Book Review: The Constitution In The Supreme Court: The First Hundred Years, 1789-1888., David S. Bogen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Limitations On Prosecutorial Discovery, Edward A. Tomlinson

Faculty Scholarship

The prosecution has a legitimate interest in discovering all relevant facts to present the strongest possible case at trial and to meet the defendant's case. Despite that interest, in most jurisdictions the prosecution may discover only the evidence which the defendant intends to present at trial. Even such limited discovery has been the subject of sharp constitutional attack. The author argues that far broader prosecutorial discovery is constitutionally permissible. The prosecution should be able to discover all relevant facts useful in testing defense evidence and any documents or tangible things (for example, the murder weapon) which strengthen the prosecution's case …

Copyright: Factual Compilations And The Second Circuit, Beryl R. Jones-Woodin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

An Overview Of Health Law Research And An Annotated Bibliography, Richard A. Danner, Claire M. Germain

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

An Identified Histaminergic Neuron Modulates Feeding Motor Circuitry In Aplysia, Hillel J. Chiel

Faculty Scholarship

An identified histaminergic neuron, C2, in the marine mollusk Aplysia is a complex mechanoafferent which appears to contribute to the maintenance of food arousal by means of its synaptic connections to the metacerebral cell (MCC). Because C2 also has extensive synaptic outputs to neurons other than the MCC, we studied its possible motor functions. We identified several synaptic followers of C2 and found that some were excitatory motor neurons for extrinsic muscles of the buccal mass, while others were modulatory motor neurons that inhibited contractions. In addition, we found that these neurons and other synaptic followers of C2 received powerful …

What Disabilities Are Protected Under The Rehabilitation Act Of 1973?, David Larson

Faculty Scholarship

It can be difficult for an employer or a recipient of federal funds to determine exactly what types of disabilities are protected by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Relevant literature has not given a great deal of attention to this specific question. Recent cases, however, provide additional information that can assist in determining which disabilities are protected. The question of what is protected handicap differs from the question of whether a handicapped person is also “qualified.” This article focuses on the threshold question of determining whether a handicap actually exists, concentrating on the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The definition of …

The Fault With Comparative Fault: The Problem Of Individual Comparisons In A Modified Comparative Fault Jurisdiction, Michael K. Steenson

Faculty Scholarship

Minnesota courts have interpreted the Minnesota Comparative Fault statute as requiring comparison of a plaintiff's negligence with the individual negligence of each defendant. Exceptions to this rule involve joint venture cases. This Article examines the individual comparison rule and explores an alternative rule which provides for a comparison of the plaintiff's negligence with the aggregate negligence of the defendants.

Alternative Families: Obtaining Traditional Family Benefits Through Litigation, Legislation And Collective Bargaining, Barbara Cox

Faculty Scholarship

This article will first discuss the constitutional and equitable basis for extending rights to alternative families. Next, it will discuss each major protection and benefit granted to traditional families and then examine the litigation, legislation, and collective bargaining agreements obtaining or attempting to obtain the same benefit for alternative families. This article will end by arguing that equity and justice require an extension of these benefits to alternative families.

Disabled Newborns And The Federal Child Abuse Amendments: Tenuous Protection, Steven R. Smith

Faculty Scholarship

This Article first explores the scope of the problem of withholding lifesaving treatment from seriously impaired infants. Next, the Article examines the interests involved in decisions to withhold treatment and the rationales for them. It contends that there are limitations on parental child-rearing rights and suggests standards to define when treatment may be withheld. The Article then reviews recent efforts to protect disabled newborns and points out a shift in the focus of these efforts toward a reliance on child abuse and neglect laws. Next, the Article surveys the development of federal and state child abuse and neglect statutes. The …

The Exuberant Pathway To Quixiotic Internationalism: Assessing The Folly Of Mitsubishi, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Faculty Scholarship

The writing on international commercial arbitration often is replete with statements affirming the necessity and advocating the progression of the institution. Indeed, the transnational consensus on commercial arbitration is exceptional - a rare example of viable cohesion in the fragmented arena of international affairs. The unifying spirit of the 1958 New York Arbitration Convention, the uniformity of approach among national courts to the implementation of the Convention, and national legislation supportive of the emerging international consensus on arbitration attest to a willingness to eradicate parochial concerns, to respond to felt needs, and to achieve functional international cooperation.

The United States …

Rights And Redistribution In The Welfare System, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

The term "right" has a wide variety of connotations. On a very general level, it connotes a social commitment to the dignity and autonomy of the individual, an "affirmation of free human subjectivity against the constraints of group life." On a somewhat more specific level, one can distinguish procedural and substantive connotations. Procedural connotations concern official enforcement institutions. For example, in American legal culture, "right" often connotes judicial enforceability. Substantive connotations concern benefits or powers, such as freedom of speech or ownership of property, in civil society.

This essay is about the substantive connotations of the notion of "right" that …

The Role Of Strategic Reasoning In Constitutional Interpretation: In Defense Of The Pathological Perspective Comments, Vincent A. Blasi

Faculty Scholarship

I am indebted to Professor Christie, not only for noticing my work but also for challenging it in so forthright a manner. He has identified a feature of my thesis that deserves to be a focal point for additional debate. Any reader of my original article who was undecided whether to agree with it ought to be aided considerably in the task of critical evaluation by the exchange Professor Christie has initiated. I know my own understanding of the premises and implications of my thesis has been enhanced by the experience of working out a response to his challenge.

The …

Lawmaking As An Expression Of Self, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

In this lecture I should like to encourage an attitude toward legal phenomena that stresses both tradition and change as an expression of meaning, particularly as an expression of national legal identity. I will illustrate this thesis with some specific examples of substantive rules in American and in German law. In the latter part of the lecture, I shall turn to the choice of language as a parallel expression of identity within a particular legal system.

The Limits Of Rationality And The Place Of Religious Conviction: Protecting Animals And The Environment, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

When people hold religious views that have implications for moral choices and for the desirable uses of law, may they properly rely on those religious views in our liberal democracy? The commonly expressed ideas that church and state are separate and that no group should impose its religious views on others may seem to suggest that political dialogue and bases for political decisions should be wholly nonreligious. This position, which is the main target of this Article, receives articulate defense among prominent social philosophers. This Article urges a different position: that no commonly shared ground of decision is available for …