Digital Commons Network^™

The Abcs Of Adr: Making Adr Work In Your Court System, Nancy A. Welsh, Barbara Mcadoo

Faculty Scholarship

So you are thinking about making Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) a part of your existing statewide judicial process-but you don't know how. You want to provide litigants with alternative ways to resolve their disputes, through processes such as mediation, arbitration, and summary jury trials. In fact, you have been experimenting with these processes on an ad hoc basis and have had quite a few successes. You think you could accomplish even more if you made ADR a routine part of the judicial process. But you are cautious about the role that your state court system should take in promoting and …

Toward Understanding Global Governance: The International Law And International Relations Toolbox, Charlotte Ku, Thomas George Weiss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Arbitration In Banking And Finance, William W. Park

Faculty Scholarship

The world's bifurcation into debtors and creditors has created yet another class of people: those involved in resolving disputes between lenders and borrowers. To promote reliability in financial dispute resolution, credit agreements have generally provided that potential controversies will be submitted either to courts in the bank's home jurisdiction, or to courts of a major money center such as London or New York.

Defending The Middle Way: Intermediate Scrutiny As Judicial Minimalism, Jay D. Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

In the last few years, Court-watchers have been particularly busy critiquing the constitutional decisions of the splintered Rehnquist Court. Two of the recurring critiques have posited that the Justices are overly activist and that their opinions are needlessly confusing. American Lawyer's Stuart Taylor, for example, has decried both the "jurisprudential mess" of the Court's recent redistricting decisions' as well as the disturbing activism that Taylor believes marks each of the Equal Protection decisions of the 1995-96 Terman activism that has led him to wonder "whether there is any life at all left in the idea of judicial restraint."' Eva Rodriguez …

Marriage Contracts And The Family Economy, Katharine B. Silbaugh

Faculty Scholarship

One simplified view of contract law is that the state enforces private bargains without looking into the substance of those bargains. From this contractual perspective marriage might look like a contract to exchange services and goods: love, money, the ability to have and raise children, housework, sex, emotional support, physical care in times of sickness, entertainment and so forth. But when the parties to a marriage put these terms in writing, courts only enforce the provisions governing money. This contract/family law rule of selective enforcement disproportionately benefits those who bring more money to a marriage, who are more likely to …

Evaluating The Case For Social Security Reform: Elderly Poverty, Paternalism And Private Pensions, Maria O'Brien

Faculty Scholarship

This Article considers the many arguments currently being made in favor of Social Security pension reform and evaluates each of them in terms of the principal Congressional goal of the program-the elimination of elderly poverty-as well as more recent goals that have been articulated by subsequent commentators such as a reduction in government paternalism and the maximization of retirement income. The Article begins with a short history of the public pension program in the United States and considers at length the details of the various reform proposals that currently enjoy support. In addition it examines the enormously regressive tax structure …

Treatment Alternatives For The Dying Patient: Medical Ethics And The Law, Thomas Wm. Mayo, Robert L. Fine

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Complicationist Gambit: An Austrian Approach To The Economic Analysis Of Law, Gregory S. Crespi

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Ranking The Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law, Gregory S. Crespi

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

On Commodifying Intangibles, Wendy J. Gordon, Sam Postbrief

Faculty Scholarship

It was made clear long ago that property and value are different things. Value exists. It is a fact. It can arise from law, and much of law aims at creating more value in the world. But value can also arise in spite of law (consider, for example, the fortunes that bootleggers made during the Roaring Twenties), or in law's interstices. When a particular value arises despite a lack of explicit legal protection, its possessors often ask courts or legislatures to give them a legal entitlement to preserve and further exploit that value. Typically the holders demand (1) a liberty …

The Power And The Process: Instructions And The Civil Jury, Elizabeth G. Thornburg

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The form of the court's charge to the jury affects power relationships among judge and jury, trial and appellate courts, and plaintiffs and defendants. It also influences the role of the jury and the content of the underlying substantive law. Under current federal law, trial judges have virtually complete discretion in making decision about jury charge format, despite the important implications of that decision. This article demonstrates, by using examples, the ways in which the form of the jury charge can make a difference. It then argues that the general charge should remain the norm. This is true first for …

International Commercial Transactions: 1997, Peter Winship

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Karl Llewellyn In Rome, Peter Winship

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property As Price Discrimination: Implications For Contract, Wendy J. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

As people become enamored with the possible benefits of allowing price discrimination in contracts for intellectual goods, they should realize that traditional intellectual property law works by fostering price discrimination among customers. This simple fact has implications for federal pre-emption, and is a reminder of the complexity of the economic issues involved. Increasing a seller's ability to price discriminate will often involve increasing his monopoly power, with dubious welfare effects.

Human Cloning: A Choice Or An Echo, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

The chant is "cloning, cloning, cloning"; but the echo is "choice, choice, choice." From all the hoopla about human cloning as a human choice it would seem that cloning must be the most important scientific issue of our age. My intent in this Commentary is not to join this chorus, but to take advantage of cloning's high visibility to explore the nature of the choice it offers. What is it that makes human cloning at once so appealing to a few and so repulsive to most? The answer, I think, can be found in Roman mythology: Cloning recalls Ovid's myth …

Protecting Patients From Discrimination: The Americans With Disabilities Act And Hiv Infection, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 to expand the reach of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and make discrimination on the basis of disability unlawful. The wheelchair symbol has become a universal sign of disability, but there are, of course, many types of disability that have been the basis of discrimination over the years, including blindness, deafness, epilepsy, cancer, heart disease, and mental retardation. AIDS is a disability under the ADA, and most commentators have assumed that infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) also qualifies as a disability under this act. It was not, however, …

The Shadowlands: Secrets, Lies, And Assisted Reproduction, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Americans love babies and technology, and most Americans applaud the ability of the new assisted-reproduction techniques to help infertile couples have children. But these techniques have also given birth to a wide variety of new legal issues, including questions about the identity of the mother and father of the child, the enforcement of preconception contracts, the elements of informed consent, and the disposition of frozen embryos. After almost 20 years of experience and the growth of infertility clinics into a multibillion-dollar industry, it is time to consider establishing national standards and a federal regulatory scheme. Two recent court cases, one …

A National Bill Of Patients' Rights, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

In one of the most enthusiastically received proposals in his January State of the Union address, President Bill Clinton called on Congress to enact a national bill of rights in health care. The President said, “You have the right to know all your medical options, not just the cheapest. You have the right to choose the doctor you want for the care you need. You have the right to emergency room care, wherever and whenever you need it. You have the right to keep your medical records confidential.”

Human Rights And Health - The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights At 50, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

War, famine, pestilence, and poverty have had obvious and devastating effects on health throughout human history. In recent times, human rights have come to be viewed as essential to freedom and individual development. But it is only since the end of World War II that the link between human rights and these causes of disease and death has been recognized.1-3 The 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — signed on December 10, 1948 — provides an opportunity to review its genesis, to explore the contemporary link between health and human rights, and to develop effective human-rights …

Protecting Soldiers From Friendly Fire: The Consent Requirement For Using Investigational Drugs And Vaccines In Combat, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

In 1990, following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the Department of Defense (DOD) sought a waiver of the informed consent requirements of existing human experimentation regulations from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With this waiver, DOD could authorize military use of investigational drugs and vaccines on soldiers involved in the Gulf War without their informed consent. The basis of the waiver request was military expediency. In DOD's words: "In all peace time applications, we believe strongly in informed consent and ethical foundations... but military combat is different." DOD's rationale was that informed consent under combat conditions was "not feasible" because …

Human Rights And Maternal-Fetal Hiv Transmission Prevention Trials In Africa, George J. Annas, Michael A. Grodin

Faculty Scholarship

The human rights issues raised by the conduct of maternal-fetal human immunodeficiency virus transmission trials in Africa are not unique to either acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or Africa, but public discussion of these trials presents an opportunity for the United States and other wealthy nations to take the rights and welfare of impoverished populations seriously. The central issue at stake when developed countries perform research on subjects in developing countries is exploitation. The only way to prevent exploitation of a research population is to insist not only that informed consent be obtained but also that, should an intervention be proven beneficial, …

Cross-Border Securitization: Without Law, But Not Lawless, Tamar Frankel

Faculty Scholarship

The Article discusses two puzzles posed by cross-border securitization.

First, why do the innovators in this area "give away" their creations through publications and other means rather than attempt to extract licensing fees by registering copyrights, patents, and trade names? The Article shows that innovators benefit from "giving away" their innovations through fees of the first clients or future clients to a greater extent than through licensing fees. Second, how can securitization markets develop under fragmented and unpredictable laws? The Article argues that cross-border securitization is flourishing under a "law merchant," which is later incorporated into domestic laws. In fact, …

Striking A Delicate Balance: Intellectual Property, Antitrust, Contract And Standardization In The Computer Industry, Maureen A. O'Rourke

Faculty Scholarship

Shortly before the Second Intermational Harvard Conference on Internet & Society, the Department of Justice ("DOJ") brought a widely publicized suit against the Microsoft Corporation. In its complaint, the DOJ charged Microsoft with engaging in a variety of antitrust wrongs connected with its alleged monopoly position in the market for personal computer ("PC") operating system software. The Conference panel on Antitrust and the Internet, which had planned to focus on how antitrust law affects standard-setting efforts and the implications for the Intermet, quickly abandoned that topic in favor of discussion of the Microsoft suit.

From Rio To Kyoto: A Study Of The Involvement Of Non-Governmental Organizations In The Negotiations On Climate Change, Chiara Giorgetti

Law Faculty Publications

This Article analyzes the influence of non-governmental actors on the negotiations of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC or the Convention). In particular, it evaluates the methods employed by NGOs in furthering their substantive agendas, the interaction among various non-governmental actors, and the results of their efforts. This Article considers two kinds of NGOs: business and environmental. Environmental NGOs (ENGOs) are the self-defined representatives of environmental interests. They campaign for the strict reduction of all gases that induce climate change. On the other side, business NGOs (BNGOs) typically represent the interests of those industries that are involved in the …

The Role Of Nongovernmental Organizations In The Climate Change Negotiations, Chiara Giorgetti

Law Faculty Publications

The role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in monitoring the implementation of international treaties, their relevance in the organization of development projects, and their importance in the representation and education of civil society has been acknowledged and valued by both international organizations and national governments. Nongovernmental actors also play an important role in the negotiations of international agreements. Moreover, many UN agencies work closely with NGOs. NGOs have played an important part in numerous environmental conventions, and their role is becoming more clearly defined. The presence of NGOs has also been instrumental in the evolution and development of many international environmental …

Will Tabloid Journalism Ruin The First Amendment For The Rest Of Us?, Rodney A. Smolla

Law Faculty Publications

Imagine that we set out to classify news organizations as falling into one of two Platonic "idealized forms," the "serious" journalists on the one hand, and the "tabloid" journalists on the other. In the pursuit of this happy exercise we might attempt to list the attributes that we tend to associate with each of these idealized forms. ...

From Paparazzi To Hidden Cameras: The Aggressive Side Of A Free And Responsible Press, Rodney A. Smolla

Law Faculty Publications

This article examines the complex of cultural effects and possible legal responses in the wake of the Princess of Wales' death. To say that the paparazzi were complicit in her death is to forget that, in spite of their frequently invasive means of obtaining news, these were also the kind of journalists who were complicit in the public celebration of her life. Had the Hutchins Commission this tragedy to include in its deliberations about press responsibility, it likely would have stated its indignation and suggested Diana's death as more evidence that journalists be regulated. But this article argues that aggressive …

Dangerous Crossing: State Brownfields Recycling And Federal Enterprise Zoning, Michael Allan Wolf

Law Faculty Publications

Urban policymakers over the past two decades have engineered a curious and potentially dangerous intersection of late 20th Century policies designed to foster the rebirth of America's distressed urban regions. First, we find widespread enthusiasm about the potential for reusing brownfields 1 (typically contaminated urban sites), which has stimulated an impressive range of initiatives at all levels of government. 2 Second, after more than a decade of sitting on the sidelines and watching the states battle over the ideal range of incentives that will most effectively drive inner-city redevelopment, the federal government finally entered the fray in the 1990s with …

Freedom Of Speech: How Does The New York Constitution Compare To The United States Constitution, Eileen R. Kaufman, Leon Friedman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

One of the most interesting, and certainly most litigated, defamation questions in New York State is when constitutional protection should be afforded speech that arguably would be regarded as opinion. In resolving that question, the New York Court of Appeals has decided that the New York State Constitution affords greater protection for speech than does the federal constitution. While the New York standard seems to be far more generous in protecting speech than the federal standard, it may be that in the vast majority of cases, the outcomes would be the same under either state or federal analysis. The two …

Physician Assisted Suicide, Leon Friedman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

As we all know and will recall, the Supreme Court decided to hear two cases precisely dealing with a narrow issue, namely,doctor assisted suicides. Ironically, the two cases are what law professors dream about encountering in practice, because one case involves substantive due process, the case out of Washington, and the other case raises the issue of equal protection. In any event, what you have to do, and as the court did for us here, is go through very detailed descriptions of these two different doctrines. However, it is not easy to distinguish between substantive due process and equal protection. …