Law Commons^™

Citizenship And Scholarship (Review Essay), George Kannar

Book Reviews

Review of Robert H. Bork, The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the Law (1990); Ethan Bronner, Battle for Justice: How the Bork Nomination Shook America (1989); Michael Pertschuk & Wendy Schaetzel, The People Rising: The Campaign Against the Bork Nomination (1989); Patrick B. mcGuigan & Dawn M. Weyrich, Ninth Justice: The Battle for Bork (1990).

Law, Literature, And Social Change: Foreword, Sharon A. Mattingly

Vanderbilt Law Review

FOREWORD: Interpreting the meaning of words, whether those words compose a precedent-setting case or a newly enacted statute, is an integral part of the law. Furthermore, the impact of legal texts clearly extends beyond the legal discipline and permeates all layers of society. But from where do we derive the meaning of words and texts? Is the text itself the source of meaning, or is the text an embodiment of a meaning, the source of which is society? What determines textual interpretations-the historical roots of the text itself, the historical gloss of prior interpretations, the private experiences that each new …

Rhetoric Of Silence: Some Reflections On Law, Literature, And Social Violence, James A. Epstein

Vanderbilt Law Review

Martha Minow suggests the importance of looking outside of court-rooms and the law to find ways of speaking about social and family violence. Her article underscores the difficulties of breaking silence, and yet the power to impose silence is integral to violence itself. We are called upon, however, not only to speak, but to listen. Respectful listening indeed may be a prerequisite to attempting to frame words and actions of intervention and resistance. We are called upon to speak, but we are hard pressed to summon public language that does justice to private pain and anguish.

Robert Cover, in his …

The Role Of Law In Progressive Politics, Cornel West

Vanderbilt Law Review

What is the role and function of the law in contemporary progressive politics? Do legal institutions represent crucial terrain on which significant social change can take place? If so, how? In what ways? How can progressive lawyers remain relatively true to their moral convictions and political goals?

In this Article I shall attempt to respond to these urgent questions.I will try to carve out a vital democratic space left between the Scylla of upbeat liberalism that harbors excessive hopes for the law and the Charybdis of downbeat leftism that promotes exorbitant doubts about the law. My argument rests upon three …

Social Violence And Political Representation, Michael Ryan

Vanderbilt Law Review

If I were to sum up the revolution that has occurred in the humanities (and increasingly in the social sciences) in the past two decades, it would be to say that what was before seen as substance is now seen as representation. One could expand on that statement in several ways:what was before seen as nature or reason is now seen as convention or artifact; what was before a logic of necessity is now a highly contingent,even random relation of terms whose connections obey no necessary order; what was before a ground or foundation from which reasonable derivatives could be …

The Emergence Of The Social Dimension Of The European Economic Community, Timothy W. Dowdy

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Holmes As Correspondent, G. Edward White

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article explores the function of letter writing in the life of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. I argue that letter writing was a by-product of an effort by Holmes to compartmentalize his life into professional ("my work") and domestic ("my wife") spheres, a compartmentalization that had its constraining effects. Because of this compartmentalization, a series of pursuits to which Holmes was attracted, ranging from speculation in the realms of literature and philosophy to flirtations with attractive women, were relegated implicitly to secondary stature, causing strain. In this context, letter writing functioned as a release for Holmes: a release from the …

Law As Text: A Response To Professor Michael Ryan, Robert N. Covington

Vanderbilt Law Review

Law, Professor Michael Ryan reminds us by his emphasis on law as legitimating representation, is also text. This is the most telling of the many points he sets out in his provocative and thoughtful article; for those of us called to the bar, it is an important reminder. For us lawyers, after all, law is not so much text as it is process, not so much noun as verb. It is not that we disregard the fact that law is in part a pen-and-ink affair. Our shelves sag with books; in academic life, few divisions of a university spend so …

Afterword: Voices And Violence--A Dialogue, Ellen W. Clayton, Jay Clayton

Vanderbilt Law Review

WE: When organizing this Symposium on the topic of "Law, Literature,and Social Change," we asked whether current trends in literature and in literary, social, and legal theory actually could play a role in bringing about social change. The authors gathered at this Symposium responded to this question in very different ways. As we read their articles and comments, however, and as we talked about their various approaches, some common themes began to emerge. Narrative seemed important. The way people split public life off from private experience came up frequently. But violence seemed to be on everyone's mind.

IT: Why violence? …

When Federalism And Separation Of Powers Collide - Rethinking Younger Abstention, George D. Brown

George D. Brown

No abstract provided.

Law And The Media: An Overview And Introduction, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Although occasional articles on law and the media have been published in Law and Human Behavior, this special issue is the first collection of articles on the topic to appear in the journal. By publishing some of the most recent work on issues in law and the media, we hope to draw the attention of psycholegal scholars to questions in this fertile research area that deserve theoretical and empirical study.

Law and the media have become inescapably intertwined. Because a relatively small proportion of the public has direct experience with the justice system, public knowledge and views of law …

To Quote Or Not To Quote: The Status Of Misquoted Material In Defamation Law, Sharon A. Mattingly

Vanderbilt Law Review

To quote or not to quote' is no longer a valid question in defamation law because courts have lessened the burden on writers to use the exact words of the speaker in quoted language. If individuals feel that the press has misquoted them, they have three realistic options: First,ignore the misquotation; second, contact the media and request a re-traction; and third, file a lawsuit claiming defamation and seeking monetary damages.' The first alternative is the easiest, but given the emotional overtones of defamation, it is also the most unlikely. If the media were more sensitive and less defensive, the second …

Curtailing Inherited Wealth, Mark L. Ascher

Michigan Law Review

One of the most dominant themes in American ideology is equality of opportunity. In our society, ability and willingness to work hard are supposed to make all things possible. But we know there are flaws in our ideology. Differences in native ability unquestionably exist. Similarly, some people seem to have distinctly more than their fair share of good luck. Both types of differences are, however, beyond our control. So we try to convince ourselves that education evens out most differences. Still, we know there are immense differences in the values various parents imbue in their children. And we also know …

Talking About Difference: Meanings And Metaphors Of Individuality, Gregory S. Alexander

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This paper discusses the relationship between communitarianism and difference theory. Specifically, it focuses on the rhetorical practices that have created an apparent conflict between difference theory and communitarianism. My purpose is to suggest why this conflict dissolves when community and difference are understood as strategic rhetorics that share a common political vision.

Back To The Future: The Short, Happy Life Of The Law And Society Movement, David M. Trubek

Florida State University Law Review

The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Meeting of the Law and Society Association: The Ice Cream Social

The family has returned to Madison, Wisconsin where it all started. The old-timers are in a mood for celebration and self-congratulation. The past presidents are serving ice cream to a huge crowd of people from all over the world. These founding fathers (the first female president is still in office and isn't yet eligible to serve ice cream) look pleased. This is a world they have made. It is full of old friends, recent students, ardent disciples, a few critics who have at least taken them …

Strategic Research In Law And Society, Bryant G. Garth

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

"His" And "Her" Story: The Life And Future Of The Law And Society Movement, Felice J. Levine

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Durkheimian Epiphanies: The Importance Of Engaged Social Science In Legal Studies, Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Practical Polyphony: Theories Of The State And Feminist Jurisprudence, Carol Weisbrod

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

On The Road To Radical Reform: A Critical Review Of Unger's Politics, Richard F. Devlin

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Two aims drive this essay. The first is to provide the reader with an accessible, yet relatively comprehensive, introduction to Roberto Mangabeira Unger's social and legal theory. The second aim is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Unger's most recent scholarship and to make some suggestions as to where he goes awry. In particular, the author draws several parallels between the Ungerian enterprise and that of some feminists. The central motivation of the essay is to keep the critical conversation between male radicals and feminists open. To this end, the author posits the possibility of mutually beneficial contributions.

Habeas Corpus Committee - Correspondence, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Habeas Corpus Committee

No abstract provided.

The Limits Of Social Policy, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Democracy And Its Critics, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Critical Legal Studies, Michael F. Colosi

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Critical Legal Studies by Allan C. Hutchinson

Crimes Of Obedience: Toward Social Psychology Of Authority And Responsibility, Michael Kenneth Isenman

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Crimes of Obedience: Toward Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility by Herbert C. Kelman and V. Lee Hamilton

Happy Slaves: A Critique Of Consent Theory, Adam C. Sloane

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Happy Slaves: A Critique of Consent Theory by Don Herzog

The Limits Of Social Policy, Cary Coglianese

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Limits of Social Policy by Nathan Glazer

Sociological Justice, Christopher M. Adams

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Sociological Justice by Donald Black

The Law's Secrets, Gary T. Marx

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Legal Secrets: Equality and Efficiency in the Common Law by Kim Lane Scheppele

Meanness As Racial Ideology, Derrick Bell

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Port Chicago Mutiny: The Story of the Largest Mutiny Trial in U.S. History by Robert L. Allen