Digital Commons Network^™

Globalization And Social Protection: The Impact Of Eu And International Rules In The Ratcheting Up Of U.S. Data Privacy Standards, Gregory C. Shaffer

Gregory C Shaffer

No abstract provided.

The Limits Of Cultural Pluralism: An Israeli Perspective, Raphael Cohen-Almagor

raphael cohen-almagor

The primary aims of this paper are (a) to examine the importance of cultural norms and what part they play in requiring us to tolerate others out of respect, and (b) to formulate some guidelines designed to prescribe boundaries to liberty and tolerance conducive to safeguard the rights of individuals and, in turn, democracy. I argue that a liberal democracy can interfere in the business of its sub-cultures when some cultural norms subvert the basic principles upon which a liberal society is founded. Here I address, inter alia, the issues of female circumcision, murder for family honour, and blood feuds. …

Clueless: The Misuse Of Batf Firearms Tracing Data, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

Sometimes the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms traces the registered sales history of a gun which was used in a crime, or which has been seized by the police. Traced guns are not representative of the broader universe of crime guns. Accordingly, drawing public policy conclusions based on tracing data is unwise.

Relativism, Reflective Equilibrium, And Justice, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

THIS PAPER IS THE CO-WINNER OF THE FRED BERGER PRIZE IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW FOR THE 1999 AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE BEST PUBLISHED PAPER IN THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS.

The conflict between liberal legal theory and critical legal studies (CLS) is often framed as a matter of whether there is a theory of justice that the law should embody which all rational people could or must accept. In a divided society, the CLS critique of this view is overwhelming: there is no such justice that can command universal assent. But the liberal critique of CLS, that it degenerates into …

In Defense Of Outlaws: Liberalism And The Role Of Reasonableness, Public Reason, And Tolerance In Multicultural Constitutionalism, Robert Justin Lipkin

Robert Justin Lipkin

No abstract provided.

The Model Physician-Assisted Suicide Act And Jurisprudence Of Death, Scott T. Fitzgibbon, Kwan Kew Lai

Scott T. FitzGibbon

Your State has, let us suppose, a physician in one of its university-affiliated hospitals who is an admirer of Dr. Kevorkian, or a member of the Hemlock Society. The date is a year from now-December 1997. Your State has adopted the Model State Act to Authorize and Regulate Physician-Assisted Suicide (the "Act"). You now have an unexpected interest in the effects of the Act. A friend or a relative-your eighteen-year-old daughter or your nineteen-year-old younger brother or your fifty-five-year-old father--has approached a hospital seeking counseling and relief. Concerned about the sort of advice your loved one may receive, and concerned …

What's Wrong With Exploitation?, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Abstract: Marx thinks that capitalism is exploitative, and that is a major basis for his objections to it. But what's wrong with exploitation, as Marx sees it? (The paper is exegetical in character: my object is to understand what Marx believed,) The received view, held by Norman Geras, G.A. Cohen, and others, is that Marx thought that capitalism was unjust, because in the crudest sense, capitalists robbed labor of property that was rightfully the workers' because the workers and not the capitalists produced it. This view depends on a Labor Theory of Property (LTP), that property rights are based ultimately …

In Defence Of Exploitation, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

The concept of exploitation is thought to be central to Marx's Critique of capitalism. John Roemer, an analytical (then-) Marxist economist now at Yale, attacked this idea in a series of papers and books in the 1970s-1990s, arguing that Marxists should be concerned with inequality rather than exploitation -- with distribution rather than production, precisely the opposite of what Marx urged in The Critique of the Gotha Progam.

This paper expounds and criticizes Roemer's objections and his alternative inequality based theory of exploitation, while accepting some of his criticisms. It may be viewed as a companion paper to my What's …

Liberalism And The Possibility Of Multi-Cultural Constitutionalism: The Distinction Between Deliberative And Dedicated Cultures, Robert Justin Lipkin

Robert Justin Lipkin

No abstract provided.

Are Spread Out Cities Really Safer? , Michael E Lewyn

Michael E Lewyn

One of my first articles. A discussion of the gap between perceptions of crime and the reality of crime, noting that sprawling Sun Belt cites were erroneously perceived as safer than they really were, while older, denser northern cities were erroneously perceived as more dangerous.

"Pay At The Pump" Auto Insurance: The California Vehicle Injury Plan (Vip) For Better Compensation, Fairer Funding, And Greater Safety, Stephen D. Sugarman

Stephen D Sugarman

This small book offers the basic argument for a comprehensive auto no-fault plan that is largely funded by payments made as motorists purchase gasoline. This VIP "Pay at the Pump" plan would replace the current scheme of tort liability and private automobile liability insurance. It would save most motorists money, it would more fairly price the cost of auto accidents, it would promote safer cars and safer driving, and it would far better compensate victims (especially seriously injured victims) of auto accidents than does the current scheme.

The Paradox Of Ideology, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

A standard problem with the objectivity of social scientific theory in particular is that it is either self-referential, in which case it seems to undermine itself as ideology, or self-excepting, which seem pragmatically self-refuting. Using the example of Marx and his theory of ideology, I show how self-referential theories that include themselves in their scope of explanation can be objective. Ideology may be roughly defined as belief distorted by class interest. I show how Marx thought that natural science was informed by class interest but not therefore necessarily ideology. Capitalists have an interest in understanding the natural world (to a …

Functional Explanation And Metaphysical Individualism, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

A number of (present or former) analytical Marxists, such as Jon Elster, have argued that functional explanation has almost no place in the social sciences. (Although the discussion is framed in terms of a debate among analytical Marxists, the point is quite general, and Marxism is used for illustrative purposes.) Functional explanation accounts for what is to be explained by reference to its function; thus, sighted organism have eyes because eyes enable them to see. Elster and other critics of functional explanation argue that this pattern of explanation is inconsistent with "methodological individualism," the idea, as they understand it, that …

From Libertarianism To Egalitarianism, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

A standard natural rights argument for libertarianism is based on the labor theory of property: the idea that I own my self and my labor, and so if I "mix" my own labor with something previously unowned or to which I have a have a right, I come to own the thing with which I have mixed by labor. This initially intuitively attractive idea is at the basis of the theories of property and the role of government of John Locke and Robert Nozick. Locke saw and Nozick agreed that fairness to others requires a proviso: that I leave "enough …

Nader's Failures?, Stephen D. Sugarman

Stephen D Sugarman

How can we improve auto safety? Has federal legislation helped? Has Ralph Nader helped? What about tort law? These matters are explored thorugh a review of Mashaw and Harfst's book "The Struggle for Auto Safety."

The Constitution And Governmental Response To Declining Population In The United States: A Macro-Sociological Perspective, Larry D. Barnett

Larry D Barnett

No abstract provided.

Population Policy And Law In The United States, Larry D. Barnett

Larry D Barnett

The article suggests that a fruitful approach to curbing fertility and alleviating population pressures in the United States may be to reduce the support that childbearing receives from publicly owned goods and publicly operated services. Law relevant to the thesis is reviewed. The Journal is published at the Harvard University School of Law by the Harvard Society for Law & Public Policy.

Population Law: A Neglected Field, Larry D. Barnett

Larry D Barnett

No abstract provided.

Review Of Society And The Law, By F. James Davis, Henry H. Foster, E. Eugene Davis And C. Ray Jeffery, Sanford N. Katz

Sanford N. Katz

No abstract provided.