Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Law
Changing Name Changing: Framing Rules And The Future Of Marital Names, Elizabeth F. Emens
Changing Name Changing: Framing Rules And The Future Of Marital Names, Elizabeth F. Emens
Faculty Scholarship
What laws should govern spouses' names at marriage? If a man and a woman marry, should the woman's name change automatically? Or should the woman's name remain the same unless she goes through more or less complicated steps to change it? Contrary to convention, should the man's name change to the woman's? Should both their names be hyphenated? Many variations could be imagined.
The law of marital names has undergone a significant transformation over the past forty years. For about a hundred years of U.S. history, states required married women to take their husbands' names in order to engage in …
The Cost Of Norms: Tax Effects Of Tacit Understandings, Alex Raskolnikov
The Cost Of Norms: Tax Effects Of Tacit Understandings, Alex Raskolnikov
Faculty Scholarship
Most human interactions take place in reliance on tacit understandings, customary practices, and other legally unenforceable agreements. A considerable literature studying these informal arrangements (commonly referred to as social norms) has a decidedly positive flavor, arguing that many, if not most, of these norms are welfare enhancing. This Article looks at the less-appreciated darker side of social norms. It combines an analysis of modern sophisticated tax planning techniques with existing empirical studies of commercial relationships to reveal a disturbing connection. By relying on tacit understandings rather than express contractual terms, many taxpayers shift some of their tax liabilities to those …