Law Commons^™

Fighting Over The Founders: How We Remember The American Revolution, Andrew Schocket

Andrew M Schocket

The American Revolution is all around us. It is pictured as big as billboards and as small as postage stamps, evoked in political campaigns and car advertising campaigns, relived in museums and revised in computer games. As the nation’s founding moment, the American Revolution serves as a source of powerful founding myths, and remains the most accessible and most contested event in U.S. history: more than any other, it stands as a proxy for how Americans perceive the nation’s aspirations. Americans’ increased fascination with the Revolution over the past two decades represents more than interest in the past. It’s also …

Table Annexed To Article: The Legislative Rules And Orders Of The Continental Congress In Various Text Formats (July 17, 1776), Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Our Constitutional Logic offers the Rules and Orders for the Continental Congress in four versions. First, OCL supplies Jefferson’s notes made for the committee on which he served; this is followed by Congress’ markup text following its consideration of his notes in RC Text Format. Third, the text adopted on July 17, 1776 appears in RC Text Format, which recreates the text as it appears in the Journals of the Continental Congress. Fourth, the Rules and Orders appear in MR Text Format. This text is used in the various investigations of parliamentary science as practiced from 1776 to 1801. See …

As 24.25.065, A Statute Devolved From Aristotle's Rhetoric, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The legislative council shall annually examine, AS 24.20.065(a) provides in paraphrase, published opinions of state courts that rely on state statutes if the opinions indicate unclear or ambiguous statutes. Our Constitutional Logic examines the collaboration theory of lawmakers, on the codelaw and caselaw side of the ledger.

Cruising New Zealand’S West Coast Sounds: Fiord Tourism In The Tasman World C.1870–1910, Frances Steel

Frances Steel

The hugely popular summer cruise tours of the West Coast Sounds in the South Island of New Zealand reveal a colonial history of leisured mobility and landscape appreciation common to New Zealand and Australia. Cruising the Sounds was a practice imbued with privilege, exclusivity, emotional upliftment and wonder, generating shared attachments to wilderness space. This culture of maritime tourism offers new insights into the mobile practices which shaped the Tasman World, and points to the centrality of ships and shipping routes as spaces of transcolonial history.

Interdisciplinary Workshop In Legal Studies, Patricia Reid

Patricia Reid

National Endowment for Humanities/Institute for Constitutional History, Seminar in Constitutional History

Feminist Lawyers And Political Change In Modern France, 1900-1940, Sara L. Kimble

Sara L Kimble

No abstract provided.

Avoiding The Subject: The Opium War, Opium-Markets, And The Exclusion Of Chinese Laborers In The United States, Canada, And Mexico, Olivia L. Blessing

Olivia L Blessing

The 19th century saw significant increases in the number of Chinese immigrants entering North America, most significantly on the west coast of the United States. Already facing increasing divide amongst the American population over the issue of the Opium Wars and the resulting Opium-addiction amongst the Chinese, the United States found itself now confronting the problem in the form of immigrant workers. Although the Opium Wars and the issue of the Chinese Opium Dens were highly disputed outside the courts, the State and Federal courts surprisingly avoided discussing the topic in their legislative discussions surrounding the Chinese Exclusion Act of …

Unique Words In Constitutions I And Ii Surveyed, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Constitutions I and II are surveyed and all words appearing are treated equally, that is, treated as appearing uniquely. The texture of the two constitutions is thereby investigated by presenting comparative lists of the 775 unique words of Constitution I with the 831 unique words of Constitution II.

Table Annexed To Article: Unique Words In Constitutions I And Ii Surveyed, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Constitutions I and II are surveyed and all words appearing are treated equally, that is, treated as appearing uniquely. The texture of the two constitutions is thereby investigated by presenting comparative lists of the 775 unique words of Constitution I with the 831 unique words of Constitution II.

Wilhelm Kroll's Preface To Justinian's Novels: An English Translation, Timothy G. Kearley, David J.D. Miller

Timothy G. Kearley

For the legal historian, the Age of Justinian is nothing short of pivotal. Medievalists and early modernists interested in the so-called reception of Roman law in later times and places must look back to Justinian and his law books, as classicists and historians interested in Roman republican or early imperial law must frequently look forward to them.

Justinian’s law books are, of course, the Digest, the Code, the Institutes, and the Novels (Novellae Constitutiones), which have become known collectively as the Corpus Iuris Civilis (CIC).

It soon becomes clear to those interested in the CIC that the standard modern version …

How Many Unique Words Did It Take To Write Our First Constitution?, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

In 3,466 words – crafted between July, 1776 and November, 1777 – the Continental Congress created Constitution I, universally known as the Articles of Confederation. How many of these words are unique? And how many of these 3,466 words did the Philadelphia convention use in crafting the 4,321 words of Constitution II?

How Many Unique Words Did It Take To Write Our First Constitution?, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

In 3,466 words – crafted between July, 1776 and November, 1777 – the Continental Congress created Constitution I, universally known as the Articles of Confederation. How many of these words are unique? And how many of these 3,466 words did the Philadelphia convention use in crafting the 4,321 words of Constitution II?

Table Annexed To Article: Our Constitutional Kinesis: Words That Can Go Like A Machine, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Americans have long been known for their appreciation of the kinetic effort involved in writing constitutional text, as long as the work begun at York, Pa (October, 1777) is subordinated to that commenced at Philadelphia (May, 1787). Gathered in one place are selected ‘machine’ quotes by which text itself is ennobled as automaton. OCL lists and reports for further investigation into this phenomenon.

National Legislators Appraise Their World: A Comparison Of Us And Uk Text Writers (1801/1802), Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Parliament (primary text writer, the House of Commons) produced 26,647 words beginning in 1801; in in a comparable interval, Congress produced 27,123 words. By happy coincidence, this was the first year that Parliament served as the text-writer for the newly-minted United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Appraisives in the English language, numbering 3,687 have been tested against the Early Constitution. Appraisives in the Early Constitution, 2 OCL 193. This investigation tests the known class of appraisives in these target vocabularies employed by Congress and Parliament. Mean words between ‘hits’ are returned.

Siting The Legal History Of Poverty: Below, Above, And Amidst, Karen Tani, Felicia Kornbluh

Karen M Tani

No abstract provided.

Monastic Prisons And Torture Chambers. Crime And Punishment In Central European Monasteries, 1600-1800, Ulrich Lehner

Ulrich L. Lehner

Based on archival research and an analysis of early modern monastic canon law, the reader is introduced to how crimes were prosecuted in a monastic setting and how they were punished.

Table Annexed To Article: James Madison’S ‘Imperfections Of Language’, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

No abstract provided.

Table Annexed To Article: Color Me Adverb, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Adverbs are one of the principal – and most readily trackable – means by which writers of the English language color their output. Relying on ‘-ly’ adverbs (out of 3,732 total adverbs), adverb usage in the Philadelphia constitution is measured

Color Me Adverb: How The Convention Painted The Text Of The Philadelphia Constitution, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Adverbs are one of the principal – and most readily trackable – means by which writers of the English language color their output. Relying on ‘-ly’ adverbs (out of 3,732 total adverbs), adverb usage in the Philadelphia constitution is measured

Table Annexed To Article: Counting Syllables In The Bill Of Rights, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

An experiment in deconstructing the Bill of Rights is offered. Each of the 461 words is broken into syllables and the numeric value (syllables per word) appears. Ten segments mirror the ten articles of Amendment.

Table Annexed To Article: Machine-Readable Text Of The Federalist Papers, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Machine-readable text of The Federal Papers is presented as a resource for the reader of Our Constitutional Logic.

Table Annexed To Article: Officials Subject To Prohibitions In The Corrective Constitution, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Officials whose conduct is prohibited are identifiable through the text of the Corrective Constitution; results are surveyed.

Being James Madison: What We Get For Time Travel, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

When we travel back in time to meet the 89rs, what is the best we can get for our trouble? James Madison would remind us that we can get methods, not answers. The constitution may be a machine, but is not a vending machine.

Table Annexed To Article: A Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Constitution, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Why are we fascinated by the politics of judicial appointments? Does really this help anyone to understand Supreme Court decisions? Plenty of myths debunked, thanks to unanimous decisions and outcomes.

Book Review, Christian G. Samito (Ed.). Changes In Law And Society During The Civil War And Reconstruction: A Legal History Documentary Reader. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2009. 352 Pages. $29.50 (Paper), Thomas Reed

Thomas J Reed

No abstract provided.

Who's Got Bragging Rights? Delaware Or New Hampshire Or -- ?, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

The order in which the original thirteen states ratified the Federal Constitution can be compared with the order in which the twelve states credentialled their delegations to the federal convention. A surprise winner is announced.

Table Annexed To Article: Secrecy Broken; Reports Of The Delegates, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Despite the measures taken to ensure the secrecy of the proceedings during the federal convention, many delegates made reports to their states and explained the reasoning behind various clauses. However, no delegate had access to the official journal of the constitutional convention.

How The Twenty-Six Superfounders Fared At The Ballot Box, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Twenty-six delegates who attended the federal convention at Philadelphia and who signed the constitution also attended their state ratifying conventions. Many of these SuperFounders ran for federal elective office in the first federal elections.

Table Annexed Article: Secrecy Broken Reports Of The Delegates At The Federal Convention, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Despite the measures taken to ensure the secrecy of the proceedings during the federal convention, many delegates made reports to their states and explained the reasoning behind various clauses. However, no delegate had access to the official journal of the constitutional convention.

Secrecy Broken: Reports Of The Delegates Following The Federal Convention, Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Peter J. Aschenbrenner

Despite the measures taken to ensure the secrecy of the proceedings during the federal convention, many delegates made reports to their states and explained the reasoning behind various clauses. However, no delegate had access to the official journal of the constitutional convention.