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Law and Society

Law and Society

Alani Golanski

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Nonmoral Theoretical Disagreement In Law, Alani Golanski Mar 2016

Nonmoral Theoretical Disagreement In Law, Alani Golanski

Alani Golanski

I agree with Dworkin that there is widespread theoretical disagreement in law. I hope to show, however, why this disagreement should not be seen as moral in nature. Legal philosophers have nearly always viewed the existence of theoretical disagreement in law as the indicium of moral dispute. If that is so, and if such disagreement is widespread, then this would be compelling evidence of law’s incorporation of moral standards. Thus, theoretical disagreement has posed a powerful challenge to the "positivist" approach, which claims that, for the most part, legality can be determined without resort to moral criteria. This paper draws …

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Legal Theory From The Regulative Point Of View, Alani Golanski Dec 2012

Legal Theory From The Regulative Point Of View, Alani Golanski

Alani Golanski

I argue that a concept of law that assigns primacy to the regulative role fulfilled by legal systems is best suited for explaining law’s discrete practice areas.  This regulative point of view facilitates the development of a concept of law capable of cohering with theories of discrete legal areas.  This posted paper revises the originally published Cumberland Law Review version.

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General Causation At A Crossroads In Toxic Tort Cases, Alani Golanski Dec 2003

General Causation At A Crossroads In Toxic Tort Cases, Alani Golanski

Alani Golanski

Traditional approaches to specific causation are not feasible in toxic tort litigations. This article explores in depth the middle path between such unworkable, traditional approaches and institutionally improbable proposals that causation simply be abolished when toxic products are at issue. The middle way relies on the new judicial acceptance of certain forms of statistical proof. Epidemiological findings, especially when conjoined with case-specific differential diagnosis testimony, support causal inferences and should be attainable in a wide variety of toxic tort cases.

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