Digital Commons Network^™

The Iran-United States Claims Tribunal 1981-1983, Lori Fisler Damrosch

Faculty Scholarship

It is in the nature of publishing schedules that this volume of papers presented at a colloquium in April of 1983 was printed in 1984, distributed in 1985, and reviewed in an issue to appear in early 1986. Those who have actively followed the work of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal are necessarily familiar with a large portion of the contents of this book. Not only were three of the seven chapters previously published elsewhere, but much of the descriptive and some of the analytical material throughout the book has been dealt with in a more timely fashion in the …

Banning The Bomb: Law And Its Limits, Lori Fisler Damrosch

Faculty Scholarship

We can all agree with the contributors to this volume that nuclear weapons present the threat of unimaginable devastation that could bring an end to civilization and even to life on this planet. The grim calculations and stark images come back again and again, but they cannot be repeated too often: over 50,000 weapons in the United States and Soviet arsenals, each with a destructive force dwarfing the explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki; radiation effects producing indescribable suffering and death; environmental damage that defies quantification or prediction; the specter of nuclear winter rendering the earth uninhabitable. No rational being can …

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 …

Child Sexual Abuse, Jeffrey A. Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

Over the past two decades awareness of child sexual abuse among academics and professionals has grown from several convergent trends: the "discovery" of child abuse in the 1960's, concern by feminists over sexual assault and rape, increasing reports to law enforcement and child protective service workers of sexually abused children, and the general "deprivatization" of the family. More recently, general public awareness of child sexual abuse has followed well-publicized cases of child molestation in day-care centers, nationwide concern over pornography and its subsequent links to teenage prostitution, and runaway youth, delinquency, and family violence among adults.

The Concept Of Religion In State Constitutions, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

A year and a half ago an article of mine was published on religion as a concept in constitutional law. The article concerned how courts should approach decisions about whether a belief, practice, organization, or classification is religious. The article did not address, except in passing, what the constitutional standards under the free exercise and establishment clauses should be if something that is religious is aided or inhibited in some way. Since in most cases arising under the religion clauses, the presence of something religious is not itself disputed, my article concerned only a small slice of religion cases.

My …

Natural Law And Political Choice: The General Justification Defense – Criteria For Political Action And The Duty To Obey The Law, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

During most of this century, a distinct separation has existed between natural law perspectives and perspectives about the nature of law and about social choices that have dominated American law schools. One could find elaborations of natural law in Catholic law schools and periodicals, but these expressions exercised little influence on the mainstreams of legal thought. In the last two decades, non-Catholics have grown to realize that they have much to learn from natural law approaches, and natural lawyers have tried to enhance their own understandings by references to other perspectives. I am emboldened to proceed by my strong belief …

Comment On Professor Van Alstyne's Paper, Henry P. Monaghan

Faculty Scholarship

My major difficulty with Professor Van Alstyne's paper is its incomplete character. In the end, he makes only two points: first, judges are authorized to apply "this Constitution," not to do justice; and second, judges should not lie about what they are doing. The danger is that after a while the first point sounds somewhat empty, while the actual content of the second point seems entirely parasitic on the first.

Economic Perspectives On Trade In Professional Services, Jagdish N. Bhagwati

Faculty Scholarship

This paper will bring an economist's perspective to bear on three questions raised at this conference by some of the other important contributions:

1. How are services different from goods;
2. What implications do these differences have for the rules we seek to negotiate to free trade in services; and
3. How can we induce the key developing countries, such as Brazil, Egypt and India, which have generally opposed liberalization of trade in services, to support it?

Answers to these questions will naturally bear critically on the narrower question of international trade in professional, and especially legal, services, since recommendations and decisions on …

Rethinking The Theory Of Legal Rights, Jules S. Coleman, Jody S. Kraus

Faculty Scholarship

In the economic approach to law, legal rights are designed, in part, to overcome the conditions under which markets fail. In correcting for market failure, economic analysis endorses two rules for assigning legal rights. The first specifies the allocation of rights under conditions of rational cooperation, full information and zero transaction costs. Provided that exchange is available and that obstacles to exercising it are insignificant, rational cooperators will negotiate around inefficiencies. Under these conditions, legal rights are not assigned in order to establish optimal levels of resource deployment directly; rather, they establish well-defined entitlements or negotiation points which create a …

An Unconstitutional Fiction: The Felony-Murder Rule As Applied To The Supply Of Drugs, Lynne H. Rambo

Faculty Scholarship

James Wong and Kent Louie were looking for a good time in Chinatown, and around nine o'clock they got lucky. Two young women agreed to join them. The women, however, wanted some heroin first, so they gave their new companions money and asked them to purchase the drug. After the men obliged, both women injected themselves, and everyone proceeded to a hotel. The next morning, only one of the women woke up. James and Kent, it turned out, had really not been lucky at all; both were tried, convicted and sentenced for felony-murder.

Although the men probably did not know …

American Income Tax Aspects Of Trans-Border Securities Investment, William W. Park

Faculty Scholarship

Encouraging investment of foreign capital in securities issued by American companies does not always marry well with preserving the integrity of the tax system. The interaction between the anonymity sought by some foreign investors and the disclosure required to enforce the law reminds one of the prophet Ezekiel's vision of a wheel within a wheel, and Shakespeare's Hamlet, which contains a play within a play. For today's topicwhich claims neither the elegance of Shakespeare's drama nor the obscure fascination of Ezekiel's vision--contains a problem within a problem.

Private Adjudicators And The Public Interest: The Expanding Scope Of International Arbitration, William W. Park

Faculty Scholarship

When Solomon arbitrated a child custody dispute, the baby almost perished.' Today's arbitrator probably could not propose such a drastic award. Yet courts may refuse to compel arbitration of some disputes for fear that societal interests may suffer a fate similar to that which would have befallen the baby under Solomon's initial judgment. The parties to the dispute are not free to compromise rights other than their own.

Symposium: The Internationalization Of The Securities Markets - Introduction, Tamar Frankel

Faculty Scholarship

This symposium on international trading in securities was the brain child of William Schwartz, Dean of the Boston University School of Law, and John J. Phelan, President of the New York Stock Exchange. The idea was implemented by Donald L. Calvin, Executive Vice President of the New York Stock Exchange, and myself, with the staff and students of Boston University School of Law. The event was held in New York City on October 18, 1985.

The symposium had three purposes: first, to present a picture of the current status of international trading in securities, which has been developing rapidly; second, …

Conflicts-Of-Interest Disqualification In Medical Malpractice Litigation, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Less than two decades ago it was thought sufficient to say, "When a practitioner is in doubt on an ethical question, the best answer is usually No." A more recent commentator has suggested, however, that "[s]uch platitudes have become increasingly inadequate to guide the attorney facing conflicts of interests in the private practice of law." Because of the general vagueness of the American Bar Association's Model Code of Professional Responsibility, and of state codes based on it, courts have begun to fashion a vast "common law" of conflicts of interest A particularly controversial entry to this body of common law …

The Right Of Elderly Patients To Refuse Life-Sustaining Treatment, George J. Annas, Leonard H. Glantz

Faculty Scholarship

Some legislation, such as law permitting living wills, has addressed the problem of decisions regarding life-sustaining treatment for the elderly. Most of the developing law on the subject is, however, being made by the courts, often in prospective decisions about treatment. These rulings have followed a variety of approaches to the ends of protecting incompetent patients and enforcing the right of the competent to make their own decisions.

Access To Health Care And Equal Protection Of The Law: The Need For A New Heightened Scrutiny, Wendy K. Mariner

Faculty Scholarship

Proposals to reduce national expenditures for health care under Medicare and other programs raise questions about the limits on legislative power to distribute health care benefits. The constitutional guarantee of equal protection has been a weak source of protection for the sick, largely because they fail to qualify for special scrutiny under traditional equal protection analysis. Recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court suggest that the Justices seek a newer, more flexible approach to reviewing claims of unequal protection. This Article examines the application of the equal protection guarantee to health-related claims. It argues that traditional equal protection analysis …

Crisis? What Crisis?, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

Bureaucracy is a favorite target for criticism from the left and the right. Bureaucratization of an organization is claimed to cause excessive reliance upon rigid rules or the absence of rules altogether.' Few people want to be part of a large bureaucracy and fewer still want to depend on a bureaucracy for important benefits or policymaking. In recent years, the business of the federal judiciary has increased dramatically. Congress has attempted to meet the rising caseload by increasing the number of federal judges and assistants. As the federal court system becomes more and more like administrative bureaucracies, the question has …

Non-Determinative Discrimination, Mixed Motives, And The Inner Boundary Of Discrimination Law, Sam Stonefield

Faculty Scholarship

This Article describes a form of discrimination – called non-determinative discrimination – that involves types of conduct that are not covered by current doctrine but that should be protected in order to serve the purposes of the laws against discrimination. It addresses the issue of mixed-motive discrimination and anticipates (and provides a framework for) the hostile environment claims of the 1990s.

Separation Of Political Powers: Boundaries Or Balance, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

One of the most significant structural elements of the United States Constitution divides the political power of the government between two discrete political institutions, the Congress and the President, in order to prevent concentration of the full power of the national government in one place. This governmental structure has posed a continuing dilemma of how to allow for the shared decisionmaking necessary to effective government while maintaining the independence of each political branch. As the United States Congress reaches its two hundredth anniversary, questions concerning the relationship between Congress and the President, for a substantial time thought by legal scholars …

Prospective Payment For Hospital Services: Social Responsibility And The Limits Of Legal Standards, Wendy K. Mariner

Faculty Scholarship

The author advances the argument that Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) should be recognized as a health care resource allocation technique. In addition, the author offers four societal goals as a gauge for measurement of DRG performance and reviews the incentives and disincentives connected with utilization of DRGs in health care allocation. Finally, the author examines the dichotomous attitudes toward health care distribution which are present in society today. The author's primary goal is to illustrate the potential inequities which could result from allowing DRGs to force allocation of health resources without any reference to social responsibility issues.

Production And Off-Bank Transport Of Carbonate Sediment, Black Rock, Southwest Little Bahama Bank., Charles M. Hoskin, John K. Reed, David H. Mook

Faculty Scholarship

Surficial sediments between the intertidal zone and 600 m were studied with the objectives of characterizing their source, dispersal pathways and sites of accumulation. Bioerosion is a major source of sediment in the intertidal and shallow subtidal environments. In-situ enclosure experiments showed that the urchin Echinometra lucunter produced 667 mg sediment cm ^-2 yr^-1, and an associated diverse rock infauna produced an additional 183mg cm^-2 yr^-1. Microborers caused erosion of 25 mg cm ^-2 yr ^-1, and feeding activity by the chiton Acanthopleura granulate caused additional erosion of 10 mg cm^-2 yr^{-1 …}

The Connection Between Law And Morality: Comments On Dworkin, David B. Lyons

Faculty Scholarship

Our discussions yesterday seemed haunted by a contrast--never quite formulated--between Natural Law and Legal Positivism. The standard interpretation turns on the idea of a "necessary connection" between law and morality. Positivism has often been understood to hold, and Natural Law to deny, that there can be unjust laws.

Negligence, Causation And Information, Stephen G. Marks

Faculty Scholarship

This note suggests a model to unify, in a simple information-based framework, the notion of negligence and the various notions of causation. In effect, the model demonstrates that negligence, probabilistic cause and cause-in-fact represent an identical concept applied to different information sets. This note uses the unified framework to develop a simple algorithm for the practical application of the principles of causation in the law of negligence.

Into The Hands Of Strangers, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Movie critic David Denby has asserted that American theatergoers are a "professional avant-garde audience" who "cannot be shocked by what others would find unintelligible... [and] have lost the capacity for outrage."' This analysis of American theater can be aptly applied to clinical medical education.

I assume almost every nonmedical professional reading "Death at a New York Hospital" will be horrified and outraged at the "treatment" Ms. Hewitt was subjected to in the hospital. Many physicians will too; but it is likely that more will be as understanding of the actions of the intern and residents as was Dr. A, the …

New Developments In Consumer Bankruptcies: Chapter 7 Dismissal On The Basis Of "Substantial Abuse" (First Installment), Irving A. Breitowitz

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Modified Approach To Article 9 Deficiencies In Missouri, William H. Henning

Faculty Scholarship

Unlike real property foreclosures, which are the subject of detailed statutory regulation, Part 5 of Article 9 establishes a free-wheeling system for personal property foreclosures which gives significant latitude to secured creditors. The secured party can "sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any or all of the collateral" so long as proper notice is given and "every aspect of the disposition including the method, manner, time, place and terms. . . [is] . . . commercially reasonable." If the disposition creates a surplus, it must be turned over to the debtor; if part of the debt remains unpaid, the secured …

Regulating The Sale Of Human Organs, Susan J. Hankin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A New Employment Policy For The 1980’S: Learning From The Victories And Defeats Of Twenty Years Of Title Vii, Jerome M. Culp

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Semiflexible Self-Avoiding Polymers: Low-Temperature Expansions For Models, Rolfe G. Petschek

Faculty Scholarship

Two models for dense, overlapping systems of semiflexible self-avoiding chain polymers in two dimensions are discussed. A method is presented for obtaining their equilibrium thermodynamic properties as an expansion around the low-temperature (stiff-polymer) limit. The first two nontrivial terms in this expansion are given.

Avoidance Of Completed Real Estate Foreclosures In Bankruptcy, William H. Henning, Grant S. Nelson

Faculty Scholarship

The Eighth Circuit has ruled that in certain situations noncollusive real estate foreclosures can be set aside as fraudulent conveyances. This theory has generated considerable debate, but even if it is reversed legislatively trustees may be able to obtain comparable results under a preference theory.