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Full-Text Articles in Law

Flourishing Rights, Wendy A. Bach Apr 2015

Flourishing Rights, Wendy A. Bach

Michigan Law Review

There is something audacious at the heart of Clare Huntington’s Failure to Flourish. She insists that the state exists to ensure that families flourish. Not just that they survive, or not starve, or be able, somehow, to make ends meet—but that they flourish. She demands this not just for some families but, importantly, for all families. This simple, bold, and profoundly countercultural demand allows Huntington to make a tremendously convincing case that the state can begin to do precisely that. Failure to Flourish is a brave, rigorously produced, carefully researched, and politically astute book. Huntington seeks to persuade a wide …


It's Critical: Legal Participatory Action Research, Emily M.S. Houh, Kristin Kalsen Jan 2014

It's Critical: Legal Participatory Action Research, Emily M.S. Houh, Kristin Kalsen

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article introduces a method of research that we term “legal participatory action research” or “legal PAR” as a way for legal scholars and activists to put various strands of critical legal theory into practice. Specifically, through the lens of legal PAR, this Article contributes to a rapidly developing legal literature on the “fringe economy” that comprises “alternative lending services” and products, including but not limited to pawnshops, check cashers, payday lenders, direct deposit loans, (tax) refund anticipation loans, and car title loans. As importantly, this article also contributes to the related fields of critical race theory, feminist legal theory, …


Unclaimed Financial Assets And The Promotion Of Microfinance, Andrew W. Hartlage Apr 2011

Unclaimed Financial Assets And The Promotion Of Microfinance, Andrew W. Hartlage

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

State governments can effectively promote domestic entrepreneurship in low-income communities and simultaneously fulfill their duties as conservator s of unclaimed property, by lending unclai med financial assets-in-trust at preferential interest rates to in-state microfinance providers. This plan presents an alternative to charitable contributions, though it does not resolve the tension between for-profit and not-for-profit microfinance providers. Such a scheme could be a significant funding source for many microfinance operations in the United States today. Even a small portion of the yearly intake of unclaimed assets would be substantial enough to support fully most microfinance loan portfolios. Also, reinvestment of unclaimed …