Law Commons^™

The Oven Bird's Song: Insiders, Outsiders, And Personal Injuries In An American Community, David M. Engel

Journal Articles

In "Sander County" Illinois, concerns about litigiousness in the local population tended to focus on personal injury suits, although such cases were very rarely brought. This article explores the roots of these concerns in the ideology of the rural community and in the reactions of many residents to social, cultural, and economic changes that created a pervasive sense of social disintegration and loss. Personal injury claims are contrasted with contract actions, which were far more numerous yet were generally viewed with approval and did not give rise to perceptions of litigiousness or greed. The distinction is explained in terms of …

Notes Toward An Intimate, Opinionated, And Affectionate History Of The Conference On Critical Legal Studies, John Henry Schlegel

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Self-Reliance And Coalition In An Age Of Reaction, Henry Mcgee

Faculty Articles

In this Foreward, Professor McGee comments on the continued vitality of the Black Law Journal. This vitality shows that the plight of racial minorities will be continually addressed from a variety of intellectual perspectives.

Contemporary Social Problems, Georgia Briscoe

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Determination Of Occupational Health And Safety Standards In Ontario 1860-1982: From Markets To Politics To...?, Eric Tucker

Articles & Book Chapters

The author reviews the historical development of the decision-making frameworks within which courts and the Legislature have made choices regarding the allocation of risks to health and safety in the workplace. Arguing that this development has been conditioned by the necessity of satisfying in a capitalist democracy conflicting demands to facilitate capital accumulation and to justify to the electorate the manner in which choices regarding the structure of the processes of production have been made, the author contends that recent pressure to adopt cost-benefit analysis to satisfy the demands of legitimation and accumulation, and challenges its adequacy as a normative …

The Felony-Murder Rule: A Doctrine At Constitutional Crossroads, Nelson E. Roth, Scott E. Sundby

Articles

No abstract provided.

Curtailment Of Early Election Predictions: Can We Predict The Outcome?, Leslie Yalof Garfield

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This note analyzes the constitutional ramifications of legislative attempts to restrict early election predictions. First, specific congressional proposals and state legislative enactments will be examined. Secondly, the various standards of review the Supreme Court applies when government regulation threatens to infringe upon first amendment free speech will be examined. Lastly, this paper will examine the competing interests involved in early election predictions and will conclude that limitations on this process would be an unconstitutional impairment of the public's first amendment rights.

"Plain Crazy:" Lay Definitions Of Legal Insanity, Valerie P. Hans, Dan Slater

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The 1982 Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) verdict in the trial of John Hinckley, Jr., would-be assassin of President Reagan, again has brought to the forefront long-standing public dissatisfaction in the United States with the insanity plea. In the wake of the Hinckley verdict, proposals for reform or abolition of the insanity defense have been submitted to both houses of the U.S. Congress and to state legislatures throughout the nation (Cunningham, 1983). Fueling this reform movement is apparent public dissatisfaction with the insanity plea as it is currently defined.

In contrast to voluminous literature concerning legal and psychiatric …

Book Review, The Politics Of Informal Justice. Vol. 1: The American Experience. Vol. 2: Comparative Studies., Frank W. Munger

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

The Planetary Trust: Conservation And Intergenerational Equity, Edith Brown Weiss

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article suggests a normative framework which, if adopted and internalized by our political, economic, and social institutions, might enable them to serve as vehicles for ensuring that future generations will inherit their just share of our global heritage. Its thesis is that the human species holds the natural and cultural resources of the planet in trust for all generations of the human species. The article focuses on our duty towards the human species, for it is on this fiduciary duty that law and political institutions can be brought most readily to bear. This planetary trust obligates each generation to …

Cameras In The Courts: Can We Trust The Research?, Dan Slater, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In several recent court cases, television viewers throughout the nation were able to see excerpts of actual trial testimony on network newscasts. These opportunities for camera coverage have come about as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1981 decision in Chandler v. Florida. In that case the Court ruled that each state was free to determine whether to permit "extended media coverage," including camera coverage, in its courts, and to set appropriate guidelines for such coverage. Before adopting permanent rules for camera coverage, most states have conducted one year tests — which they have called "experiments" — during …

John Hinckley, Jr. And The Insanity Defense: The Public's Verdict, Valerie P. Hans, Dan Slater

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Public furor over the Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity verdict in the trial of John Hinckley, Jr. already has stimulated legal changes in the insanity defense. This study documents more systematically the dimensions of negative public opinion concerning the Hinckley verdict. A survey of Delaware residents shortly after the trial's conclusion indicated that the verdict was perceived as unfair, Hinckley was viewed as not insane, the psychiatrists' testimony at the trial was not trusted, and the vast majority thought that the insanity defense was a loophole. However, survey respondents were unable to define the legal test for insanity and …

The Justice Conundrum, Marshall J. Breger

Scholarly Articles

The litigation explosion threatens to overwhelm the capacity of our judicial institutions to respond adequately to the needs of our society. An understanding of this crisis can be achieved only through the questioning of a number of principles central to our justice system. This essay will explore the contours of these questions and evaluate various responses to the litigation crisis. By their nature, the solutions suggested can be only tentative.

Why Lawyers Should Be Allowed To Advertise: A Market Analysis Of Legal Services , Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr., Russell G. Pearce, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Faculty Scholarship

Last August, the American Bar Association adopted the Model Rules of Professional Conduct which significantly altered the ABA' position on lawyer advertising. It is still unclear how the states will respond to the ABA's new position, and the debate about the propriety of lawyer advertising continue. In the authors' view, both sides of the debate have overlooked an important point: For purposes of analyzing the advertising problem, legal services are of two types, and the effect of advertising on the legal services market will vary with the type of service involved."Individualized" services involve legal matters that pose a significant risk …

Greatness Thrust Upon Them: Class Biases In American Law, Robert E. Rodes

Journal Articles

A common view of our present society is that it is largely egalitarian and classless. This paper proposes that this conception of an egalitarian and classless society belies reality. It argues that there is a dominant class of leaders in government, labor, and business who are characterized by their organizational skills and their technical expertise, and who have more in common with one another that they have with the respective constituencies in whose name they exercise power. It further argues that this class, in effect, is able to wield power to control the structure of society and the legal system …

The Insurance Classification Controversy, Regina Austin

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Legality, Bureaucracy, And Class In The Welfare System, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

When lawyers confronted the welfare system in the 1960's, they charged it with oppressive moralism, personal manipulation, and invasion of privacy. They focused attention on the "man-in-the-house" rules that disqualified families on the basis of the mother's sexual conduct and the "midnight raids" in which welfare workers forced their way into recipients' homes searching for evidence of cohabitation.

When I represented welfare recipients from 1979 to 1981, the workers showed little interest in policing their morals or intruding on their private lives. The "man-in-the-house" rule and the practice of unannounced or nighttime visits had been repudiated. Yet the pathologies emphasized …

Methodological Issues In The Evaluation Of "Experiments" With Cameras In The Courts, Dan Slater, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Evaluations of "experiments" of extended media coverage of the courts, i.e., cameras in the courts, have relied upon survey research. The authors argue that such evaluations have been inadequate and future evaluations need to compare conventional media coverage vs. extended media coverage using field experimental research designs.

Barefoot V. Estelle, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

The Coming Curtailment Of Compulsory Child Support, David L. Chambers

Articles

Absent parents ought to contribute to the support of their minor children and states can appropriately invoke the force of law to compel them to do so. Stated so generally, even absent parents behind in their payments would probably agree. Since so many others agree as well, and since the numbers of single-parent children have mushroomed, systems of governmentally compelled support in this country have grown enormously. By the early part of the next century, if current laws remain in force and current population trends continue, most of America's children on any given day will be entitled to support from …

Why Legal Services For The Poor?, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Providing Legal Services For The Poor: A Dilemma And An Opportunity, Robert M. Hardaway, Kay H. Paine, Jane P. Gill

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This article serves as a report on the status of pro bono legal services programs in Colorado and the possible options available for attorney participation. It is hoped that this information will assist attorneys in examining their pro bono responsibilities and in seeking creative ways to turn these responsibilities into opportunities. Perhaps as background, the definition of pro bono should first be examined.

Legal Aid For The Poor: A Conceptual Analysis, Marshall J. Breger

Scholarly Articles

In this Article Professor Breger examines the competing justifications that have been advanced for the provision of free legal aid to those who cannot afford to engage a private attorney. Professor Breger argues that every citizen has the right to effective access to the courts to resolve disputes in that they aret he only state-sanctionedd ispute resolution mechanism. Because of the complexity of our legal system, effective access to the courts often requires the services of an attorney. Under this theory of "access rights" a person is entitled to free legal aid when necessary for the enforcement of a legal …

Social Enquiry Reports And Sentencing, Jenny M. Roberts, Colin Roberts

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

The Community Service Obligation Of Hill-Burton Health Facilities, Ken Wing

Faculty Articles

This article focuses squarely on the community service provision and the regulations promulgated thereunder. The analysis traces the statutory and regulatory history of the community service obligation and examines the scope of the discretion that has been delegated to federal and state agencies to define and enforce this obligation. The discussion begins with a brief history of the original Hill-Burton program and the several amendments and modifications of the program over the last several decades. Next, the legislative history of the community service obligation is examined in an effort to determine the scope of authority created by Congress in establishing …

Access To Justice: Variations And Continuity Of A World-Wide Movement, Bryant Garth, Mauro Cappelletti, Nicolo Trocker

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Nineteenth Century Interpretations Of The Federal Contract Clause: The Transformation From Vested To Substantive Rights Against The State , James L. Kainen

Faculty Scholarship

During the early nineteenth century, the contract clause served as the fundamental source of federally protected rights against the state. Yet the Supreme Court gradually eased many of the restrictions on state power enforced in the contract clause cases while developing the doctrine of substantive due process after the Civil War. By the end of the nineteenth century, the due process clause had usurped the place of the contract clause as the centerpiece in litigation about individual rights. Most analyses of the history of federally protected rights against the state have emphasized the rise of substantive due process to the …

The Legal Status Of Women In Alabama, Ii: A Crazy Quilt Restitched, Marjorie F. Knowles

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Electoral Folklore: An Empirical Examination Of The Abortion Issue, Jeffrey W. Stempel

Scholarly Works

Though partisans on both sides claim credit for electoral victories and defeats, and politicians treat both groups with deference, few studies have attempted to gauge the impact of the abortion issue in more than an anecdotal manner. In 1976, NARAL noted that of the 13 members of the U.S. Representatives that lost re-election bids, nine were pro-life, and four were pro-choice. A study conducted by the Alan Guttmacher Institute of the 1974 House races found that, in “competitive” districts, 92 percent of the pro-choice candidates studied were re-elected while only 61 percent of the pro-life candidates were returned to Congress, …

A Reprise On Herbert V. Lando And The Law Of Defamation, Howard Hunter

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Three and a half years ago, in an article, published in a symposium issue of the Kentucky Law Journal focusing on the first amendment, I examined the United States Supreme Court decision of Herbert v. Lando. The Court held that reporters, editors and publishers are not protected by any "editorial privilege" from "state of mind" inquiries during discovery in a defamation case governed by the standard of liability set forth in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. The Supreme Court decision in Lando stirred a mild flurry of academic comment, partly because it reversed the Second Circuit's broad ruling in …