Law Commons^™

No.9 - December 2008, Center Of Civil Law Studies

The Center of Civil Law Studies Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Domestic Violence Law Reform In The Twenty-First Century: Looking Back An Looking Forward, Elizabeth M. Schneider

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

No.8 - October 2008, Center Of Civil Law Studies

The Center of Civil Law Studies Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Michelle Obama: The "Darker Side" Of Presidential Spousal Involvement And Activism, Gregory S. Parks, Quinetta M. Roberson, Phd

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

Pundits and commentators have attempted to make sense of the role that race and gender have played in the 2008 presidential campaign. Whereas researchers are drawing on varying bodies of scholarship (legal, cognitive and social psychology, and political science) to illuminate the role that Senator Obama’s race and Senator Clinton’s gender has/had on their campaign, Michelle Obama has been left out of the discussion. As Senator Clinton once noted, elections are like hiring decisions. As such, new frontiers in employment discrimination law place Michelle Obama in context within the current presidential campaign. First, racism and sexism are both alive and …

Differentiating Church And State (Without Losing The Church), Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Working Paper Series

There is an ongoing debate about whether the U.S. Constitution includes -- or should be interpreted to include -- a principle of "church autonomy." Catholic doctrine and political theology, by contrast, clearly articulated a principle of "libertas ecclesiae," liberty of the church, when during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Church differentiated herself from the state. This article explores the meaning and origin of the doctrine of the libertas ecclesiae and the proper relationship among churches, civil society, and government. In doing so, it highlights the points at which church and state should cooperate and the points at which …

“What’S The Matter With You Catholics?” Soundings In Catholic Social Thought: Traditions In Turmoil. By Mary Ann Glendon, Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Working Paper Series

This review essay of Mary Ann Glendon's Traditions in Turmoil (2006) explores such topics as tradition, moral discourse, human rights, subsidiarity, natural law, the common good, civil society, and constitutional and statutory interpretation. In doing so, it provides an introduction both to Catholic social thought and to the thought of Bernard Lonergan.

No.7 - May 2008, Center Of Civil Law Studies

The Center of Civil Law Studies Newsletter

No abstract provided.

No.7 - May 2008 - French, Center Of Civil Law Studies

The Center of Civil Law Studies Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Mapping Proportionality Review: Still A "Road To Nowhere", Rachel A. Van Cleave

Publications

This article examines how a majority of the Supreme Court went out of its way to vacate a punitive damages award in Philip Morris and further reinforced the inconsistency with which it applies the principle of proportionality. When it comes to punitive damages awards, a majority of Justices continue to convey distrust of juries and of trial and appellate court judges who review these awards. However, when it comes to terms of imprisonment, the Court has eschewed substantive review under the Eighth Amendment while insisting that the Sixth Amendment requires that all facts supporting an increase in a sentence be …

The Michigan Supreme Court Diminishes The Right To Trial By Jury In Civil Cases, Robert A. Sedler

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

No.6 - April 2008, Center Of Civil Law Studies

The Center of Civil Law Studies Newsletter

No abstract provided.

One Size Fits All? Ghanaian Perceptions Of Law Enforcement And The Importation Of American Community Policing, Angela West Crews, Gordon A. Crews, Kofi Boye-Doe

Criminal Justice Faculty Research

The purpose of this presentation was to introduce a research project that the authors have ongoing with the Ghana National Police Service (Accra, Ghana, Africa). This focus of this project is to assist the Ghanaian police in the development and implementation of a “community policing” program. In 2008, a new Director of Community Policing had been hired, although she expressed that she and the officers had absolutely no training or education in theories and practices related to community policing. This presentation showcased the authors’ initial efforts to help solve that problem. Three major aspects are covered in this presentation, 1) …

Jurisdictions And Causes Of Action: Commercial Considerations In Dealing With Bullying, Stress And Harassment Cases-Part Ii, Niall Neligan

Articles

In the concluding part of this two part article, the author will
examine how the courts have developed rules for dealing with
tortious claims for psychiatric injuries arising out of bullying, stress
and harassment cases. The article will examine whether it is
desirable to consolidate and codify employment rights law in order
to provide clarity to prospective litigants. Finally, the author will
argue that if codification is required, then this will necessitate a
change in the nature of present jurisdictions for bringing claims
involving bullying, stress and harassment in the workplace.

Hedonic Adaptation And The Settlement Of Civil Lawsuits (With J. Bronsteen & J. Masur), Christopher J. Buccafusco

All Faculty Scholarship

This paper examines the burgeoning psychological literature on happiness and hedonic adaptation (a person's capacity to preserve or recapture her level of happiness by adjusting to changed circumstances), bringing this literature to bear on a previously overlooked aspect of the civil litigation process: the probability of pre-trial settlement. The glacial pace of civil litigation is commonly thought of as a regrettable source of costs to the relevant parties. Even relatively straightforward personal injury lawsuits can last for as long as two years, delaying the arrival of necessary redress to the tort victim and forcing the litigants to expend ever greater …

No.5 - January 2008, Center Of Civil Law Studies

The Center of Civil Law Studies Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Board Dysfunction: Dealing With The Threat Of Corporate Criminal Liability, Peter J. Henning

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Hedonic Adaptation And The Settlement Of Civil Lawsuits., John Bronsteen

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

A Gift Worth Dying For?: Debating The Volitional Nature Of Suicide In The Law Of Personal Property, Adam J. Macleod

Faculty Articles

Suicide poses difficult and foundational problems for the law. Those who most highly value personal autonomy, those who believe in the inviolability of human life, and those who remain uncommitted on end-of-life issues, all must settle challenging questions about suicide before advancing upon the more complex terrain of physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, and infanticide. And the way in which a society fashions legal responses to suicidal choices reveals much about the society's cultural commitments and legal assumptions.

The bodies of insurance law, tort, and health care law are also among those areas of the law in which lawmakers reserve special exceptions …

Why Pedestrian-Friendly Street Design Is Not Negligent, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

In recent decades, American state and local highway officials have built wide streets and roads designed primarily to accommodate high-speed automobile traffic. However, such high-speed streets are more dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists than streets with slower traffic, and thus fail to adequately accommodate nondrivers. Government officials design streets for high-speed traffic partially because of their fear of tort liability. An influential street engineering manual, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' Green Book, has generally favored the construction of such high-speed streets, and transportation planners fear that if they fail to follow the Green Book's recommendations, they …

Mandatory Rules In Civil Litigation: Status Of The Doctrine Post-Globalization, Hannah Buxbaum

Articles by Maurer Faculty

For all the scholarly attention paid to the role of mandatory rules in civil litigation, the doctrine regarding their use has never been fully developed. Certainly courts considering contracts governed by foreign law will sometimes override that law, applying a mandatory rule of the forum in its place. But in its most expansive articulation, the "mandatory rules" theory would also permit courts in certain circumstances to apply the mandatory law of a third country - a direction in which courts have declined to go. This article examines one of the justifications forwarded by early proponents of this more expansive approach: …

Judicial Power And Moral Ideology In Wartime: Shaping The Legal Process In World War I Britain , Rachel Vorspan

Faculty Scholarship

Offering a cautionary lesson of contemporary significance, the Article suggests that judicial power is not in and of itself the solution to executive infringements on due process rights in wartime. It examines the response of the British judiciary to serious threats to its institutional power during the First World War. To facilitate prosecution of the war, the government narrowed the jurisdiction of the traditional courts by eliminating jury trial, subjecting civilians to court-martial, and establishing new administrative tribunals to displace the traditional courts. Rather than remaining passive and deferential to the executive, as scholars have generally assumed, the judges moved …

A Study Of Counselor's Legal Challenges And Their Perceptions Of Their Ability To Respond, Mary A. Hermann, Debra Gail Legget, Theodore P. Remley Jr.

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

The authors explore the results of a study that assessed the types and frequency of legal issues encountered by counselors and counselors’ perceptions of their ability to respond to these issues. They also assessed whether the participants’ perceptions were related to practice setting, years of experience, completion of a course in ethics, recent completion of continuing education in ethics or legal issues, state licensure status, certification by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC), and highest degree earned. Results demonstrate that counselors feel most prepared to deal with situations encountered most often, but that school counselors do not feel as …

The Legal Architecture Of Nation-Building: An Introduction, Charles H. Norchi

Faculty Publications

The fundamental question here is how to bring a population from a condition of hopelessness to one of self-governance, sustainable growth, and viable participation in the world community. The aim of this Symposium is to stimulate thinking about those questions by exploring whether there is a discernible legal architecture of nation-building.

Has The Erie Doctrine Been Repealed By Congress?, Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

No Bonds But Those Freely Chosen: An Obituary For The Principle Of Forced Heirship In American Law, Vincent D. Rougeau

Journal Articles

This article explains the history of forced heirship in Louisiana and describes the negative implications of its demise. Section IV outlines how the end of forced heirship reveals the changing values of Louisiana culture and views on the family.

Another Ny Civil Union Recognition Loss, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.