Digital Commons Network^™

The Developing Jurisprudence Of The Rights Of The Child, Cynthia Price Cohen

St. Thomas Law Review

Worldwide concern for the well-being of children prompted the United Nations to declare 1979 as the International Year of the Child. This act set in motion a process that is not only affecting the way the world looks at children, but that could ultimately impact on the implementation of all United Nations human rights treaties. While the original intent of the International Year of the Child was simply to sensitize the world community to the state of the world's children, the actual outcome has had effects far beyond the mere compilation of data. The needs of children have become the …

Assisted Suicide: Giving Meaning To The Right To Die, Victoria L. Helms

St. Thomas Law Review

As Dr. Jack Kevorkian awaits prosecution in Wayne County, Michigan for his role in assisting in the death of Thomas J. Hyde, the Michigan Legislature continues to struggle in its search for a meaningful solution to the dilemma brought to a head by the so-called "Dr. Death." The question of assisted suicide is an emotional one, that will no longer sit on the back burner of America's lawmaking systems. Whether assisted suicide conforms to sound public policy in the United States has been the subject of vigorous debate and is a question creating turmoil in both law and medicine. It …

Clergy Sexual Misconduct: Confronting The Difficult Constitutional And Institutional Liability Issues, James T. O'Reilly, Joann M. Strasser

St. Thomas Law Review

Sexual misconduct among clergy members is a rare but troubling societal phenomenon, made more evident in the 1990s by dramatic news reporting and high-profile litigation demands. Revelation is no longer just an uplifting part of the New Testament; revelation is a tabloid tactic for uplifting television ratings and newspaper sales by assailing massive sexual scandals in the churches. This article focuses on a clash of doctrines that is developing in tort cases, when institutional churches are sued for failure to adequately oversee and control their errant ministers and priests. The clash arises because the religious doctrines of faith, responsibility and …

Recovery For Economic Loss Following The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Victor P. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

The physical cleanup following one of the worst oil spills in history, that of the Exxon Valdez, is done. The legal cleanup, however, has barely begun. Over 100 law firms participating in over 200 suits in federal and state courts involving more than 30,000 claims are presently engaged in litigation. Fishermen, cannery workers, fishing lodges, tour boat operators, oil companies whose shipments were delayed, and even California motorists facing higher gasoline prices have filed claims against Exxon and its fellow defendants.

Most claimants face a formidable roadblock, the so-called Robins doctrine. Under Robins Dry Dock & Repair Co. v. Flint …

A Positive Theory Of Legislative Intent, Edward P. Schwartz, Pablo T. Spiller, Santiago Urbiztondo

Law and Contemporary Problems

The debate about statutory interpretation has been affected by the introduction of social choice theory into the study of legal institutions. The positive political theory of legislative intent is examined.

Legislative Intent: The Use Of Positive Political Theory In Statutory Interpretation

Law and Contemporary Problems

The usefulness of legislative history has been brought into question concerning how judges interpret the intent of legislation. The structure of the legislative process is examined in order to identify how legislators solve the problem of instability of majority rule.

Picking Up The Principles: An Applied Linguistic Analysis Of The Legal Problem Genre, Colin J. Beasley

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Legal study requires not only the learning of new content, but also the learning of a new academic discourse with its own lexico-semantic, syntactic, and discoursal features. This thesis explores the answering of legal problem questions as an important and distinct new genre that undergraduates studying law units need to achieve competence in. In order to delineate the general features of this genre, systemic functional linguistic (SFL) analyses were performed on a series of texts (a tutorial question, an assignment question, and an examination question) written by lecturers in the introductory Commerce course Principles of Commercial Law as exemplars of …

Questioning The Use Of Race-Specific And Gender-Specific Economic Data In Tort Litigation: A Constitutional Argument, Martha Chamallas

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Comment On The Positive Canons Project, Miriam R. Jorgensen, Kenneth A. Shepsle

Law and Contemporary Problems

Using the machinery of positive political theory in order to make some sense of legislative intent contains a number of provocative possibilities. Issues that require attention in this theory are addressed.

Post-Enactment Legislative Signals, William Eskridge Jr.

Law and Contemporary Problems

Statutory interpretation, considered from the perspective of positive political theory, yields a number of iconoclastic conclusions. A model suggesting that judges pay attention to legislative history is argued to not present a robust positive theory of the Rehnquist Court's decisions.

The Theory And Practice Of Regional Organization Intervention In Civil Wars, Christopher J. Borgen

Faculty Publications

The United Nations' reach in peacekeeping is fast outdistancing its grasp. Spread across seventeen countries, the U.N.’s over 80,000 civilian and military personnel monitor cease-fires, protect aid convoys, and separate warring parties. As the U.N. extends its arms, financial resources seem to slip through its fingers like grains of sand. In short, the U.N. lacks the resources to continue increasing its peacekeeping responsibilities.

In An Agenda for Peace (Agenda), Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali proposes that part of the solution to the economic problems of the U.N. lies in reconsidering how regional organizations interact with the U.N., a suggestion which revisits a …

Gender And Professional Roles, Deborah L. Rhode

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Special Issue On Women And The Law, Tracy E. Higgins

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hearing Women Not Being Heard: On Carol Gilligan's Getting Civilized And The Complexity Of Voice, Elizabeth M. Schneider

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Men, Women And Rape, Donald Dripps, Linda Fairstein, Robin West, Deborah W. Denno

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

New York State Constitutional Decisions: 1993 Compilation

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Parents' Religion And Children's Welfare: Debunking The Doctrine Of Parents' Rights, James G. Dwyer

Faculty Publications

The scope, weight, and assignment of parental rights have been the focus of much debate among legal commentators. These commentators generally have assumed that parents should have some rights in connection with the raising of their children. Rarely have commentators offered justifications for attributing rights to persons as parents, and when they have done so they have failed to subject those justifications to close scrutiny. This Article takes the novel approach of challenging parental rights in their entirety. The author explores the fundamental questions of what it means to say that individuals have rights as parents, and whether it is …

Rape Law Reform's Limits, Beth Ann Richman

Honors Papers

The first that I will explore is the criticism of the wording of the law. Defining the crime of rape was seen as vital, in that, in many states it was impossible to get a conviction for certain types of sexual assaults, simply because statutorily they did not exist (Chappell. 1976). The second aspect of rape reform theory that I will review is the arguments that attempt to prove that rape is similar to other forms of criminal assault. This body of thought fits into an equality based argument that has been championed by some feminist legal theorists that deal …

It's Not Just Larsen, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals

Quasi-Flag Of Convenience Shipping: The Wave Of The Future, Rex S. Toh, Sock Yong Phang

Research Collection School Of Economics

Many articles and books have been written to extol the advantages and virtues of flags of convenience (FOC) shipping, argue its necessi ty, and defend the practice. However, from the earliest days there has been opposition to FOC shipping, and lately the disenchantment over this questionable form of open registry has led to the potentially rapid growth of what can be termed as quasi-FOC arrangements. This article will first briefly trace the trend from FOCs to quasi-FOCs, outline the legal framework for regulating international shipping, then discuss the problems, opposition, and legal challenges to open registries. Finally, it will trace …

What's Art Got To Do With It?, Wendy J. Gordon

Scholarship Chronologically

I would like to thank the Cardozo LR for their invitation to speak, and all those who have taken the time to discuss this issue w[ith] me in the recent past, including my commentator Marci Hamilton. I also thank the audience for its attendance and attention, and I look forward to the criticisms/reactions from all of you and from Prof Hamilton.

Characterization And Assignment Of Corporate And Shareholder Income, Daniel M. Schneider

Northern Illinois University Law Review

A fertile group for the development of differentials arises in dividend distributions made by corporations to their shareholders. Professor Schneider analyzes the way in which differentials in dividend income have been exploited: whose income it is; is it ordinary income or capital gain; and has a dividend been disguised as proceeds from the sale of stock, or a sales proceed as a dividend (the Waterman Steamship problem). He concludes that differentials between various types of statutes--who is the taxpayer, at what rate is the income taxed--inevitably leads to taxpayers trying to meet favorable characterizations and to avoid negative characterizations. The …

The Cents Of It: Dischargeability And Environmental Claims Under The Bankruptcy Code, Denise M. Schuh

Northern Illinois University Law Review

Courts have been unable to develop a consistent body of precedent as to the point at which a CERCLA claim arises under the Bankruptcy Code due to the competing policy interests involved. This comment analyzes the current approaches employed by the courts and concludes that the current approaches are inadequate to provide a compromise between the policy objectives of both CERCLA and the Bankruptcy Code. This comment proposes a judicial actual notice standard in conjunction with legislative action to enact an environmental liability exception to the dischargeability provisions of the Bankruptcy Code.

An Equitable Approach To Products Liability Statutes Of Repose, Mark W. Peacock

Northern Illinois University Law Review

This comment addresses the applicability of the doctrine of equitable estoppel to products liability statutes of repose. The comment specifically focuses upon the situation where the injury caused by the defective product occurs after the repose period has ended and it is alleged that the manufacturer concealed from the customer its knowledge of the defect. The author concludes that the principles of equitable estoppel should be applied to bar the manufacturer from asserting the statute of repose as a defense where the manufacturer intentionally withheld its knowledge of the unreasonably dangerous defects of its product from the consumer.

Legislative Term Limitation Under A "Limited" Popular Initiative Provision?, Lawrence Schlam

Northern Illinois University Law Review

This article addresses the need for change in a seniority-based political system which fosters and is dominated by self-serving career politicians who rarely appear to serve the public interest. Campaign finance reforms and other remedial approaches show no signs of abating this situation. Term limitations, however, offer a reasonable check on the evil inherent in prolonged legislative power. Even though the constitutionality of state-enacted limitations on federal legislators is debatable, state enacted limitations on state legislative terms are constitutional. The "limited" popular constitutional initiative provided for in the 1970 Illinois Constitution--and the Illinois Supreme Court decisions interpreting that provision--appear to …

The Untimely Demise Of The Involuntary Confession Material Witness Rule In Illinois, Stephanie Rae Williams

Northern Illinois University Law Review

This article examines the recent elimination of the material witness rule, which governed the admissibility of confessions in criminal cases. The article first traces the evolution and Fifth Amendment background of the rule. Next, the article discusses the rash action taken by the Illinois Supreme Court when it rejected the rule. Finally, the article concludes by showing that the rule was a necessary Fifth Amendment protection and has been reasonably applied.

United States V. Nixon, Twenty Years After: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly--An Exploration Of Executive Privilege, K. A. Mcneely-Johnson

Northern Illinois University Law Review

The following article attempts to conceptualize United States v. Nixon and the strengthened doctrine of Executive Privilege it beget. This is accomplished through the examination of Executive Privilege's historic roots, the events surrounding the Nixon case, the hallmark ruling itself, the shadowy impact upon subsequent administrations, and the tension of secrecy and accountability necessitated by the doctrine. Finally, it concludes with alternatives that would minimize the dangerous potential that exists under the current permutation of the doctrine.

Gender In The Military: Androcentrism And Institutional Reform, Kathryn Abrams

Law and Contemporary Problems

Military exclusion policies have been challenged by straight women, gays and lesbians. Questions about the arguments and the institutional mechanisms through which change can best be achieved are discussed.

Harmless Error In Federal Habeas Corpus After Brecht V. Abrahamson, John H. Blume, Stephen P. Garvey

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.