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Articles 1 - 30 of 44
Full-Text Articles in Law
Appealing Magna Carta, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Appealing Magna Carta, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Faculty Publications
In 1999, Professor Richard Helmholz published Magna Carta and the Ius Commune, in which he argued that some of the ideas and language found in Magna Carta provide evidence that the early common law was engaging with the ius commune, the ancestor of modern civil law traditions. This Essay examines one piece of evidence highlighted by Helmholz and more recently by Professor Charles Donahue: that the Articles of the Barons, a preparatory document for Magna Carta, uses a phrase borrowed from canon law, appellatione remota (without possibility of appeal). Helmholz and Donahue pointed to its use as evidence that …
Fiction In The Code: Reading Legislation As Literature, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Fiction In The Code: Reading Legislation As Literature, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Faculty Publications
One of the major branches of the field of law and literature is often described as "law as literature." Scholars of law as literature examine the law using the tools of literary analysis. The scholarship in this subfield is dominated by the discussion of narrative texts: confessions, victim-impact statements, and, above all, the judicial opinion. This article will argue that we can use some of the same tools to help us understand non-narrative texts, such as law codes and statutes. Genres create expectations. We do not expect a law code to be literary. Indeed, we tend to dissociate the law …
Creating A Literature For The King’S Courts In The Later Thirteenth Century: Hengham Magna, Fet Asaver, And Bracton, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Creating A Literature For The King’S Courts In The Later Thirteenth Century: Hengham Magna, Fet Asaver, And Bracton, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Faculty Publications
The early common law produced a rich literature. This article examines two of the most popular legal treatises of the second half of the thirteenth century, Hengham Magna and Fet Asaver. It has long been recognized that these two treatises bear some relationship to each other. This article will attempt to establish that relationship, arguing that Hengham Magna and Fet Asaver were written by different people; that Fet Asaver borrows from Hengham Magna; and that the authors of both texts had independent access to the Bracton treatise. The article concludes by suggesting a new way to think about the legal …
Book Review Of The Oxford History Of The Laws Of England, Volume Ii, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Book Review Of The Oxford History Of The Laws Of England, Volume Ii, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The Significance Of The Corpus Juris Civilis: Matilda Of Canossa And The Revival Of Roman Law, Thomas J. Mcsweeney, Michéle K. Spike
The Significance Of The Corpus Juris Civilis: Matilda Of Canossa And The Revival Of Roman Law, Thomas J. Mcsweeney, Michéle K. Spike
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Magna Carta And The Right To Trial By Jury, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Magna Carta And The Right To Trial By Jury, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
A Theory Of Civil Liability, Nathan B. Oman
A Theory Of Civil Liability, Nathan B. Oman
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Magna Carta, Civil Law, And Canon Law, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Magna Carta, Civil Law, And Canon Law, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The Surprising Role Of Racial Hierarchy In The Civil Rights Jurisprudence Of The First Justice John Marshall Harlan, Davison M. Douglas
The Surprising Role Of Racial Hierarchy In The Civil Rights Jurisprudence Of The First Justice John Marshall Harlan, Davison M. Douglas
Faculty Publications
The first Justice John Marshall Harlan’s status as one of the greatest Supreme Court Justices in American history rests largely upon his civil rights jurisprudence. The literature exploring the nuances of Harlan’s civil rights jurisprudence is vast. Far less attention has been paid to the reasons for Harlan’s strong civil rights views. Developing a rich sense of Harlan’s thinking has been difficult because Harlan did not leave behind a large trove of non-judicial writings. There is, however, a remarkable source of Harlan’s thought that has been largely overlooked by scholars: Harlan’s constitutional law lectures at George Washington Law School of …
Between England And France: A Cross-Channel Legal Culture In The Late Thirteenth Century, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Between England And France: A Cross-Channel Legal Culture In The Late Thirteenth Century, Thomas J. Mcsweeney
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Natural Law And The Rhetoric Of Empire: Reynolds V. United States, Polygamy, And Imperialism, Nathan B. Oman
Natural Law And The Rhetoric Of Empire: Reynolds V. United States, Polygamy, And Imperialism, Nathan B. Oman
Faculty Publications
In 1879, the U.S. Supreme Court construed the Free Exercise Clause for the first time, holding in Reynolds v. United States that Congress could punish Mormon polygamy. Historians have interpreted Reynolds, and the anti-polygamy legislation and litigation that it midwifed, as an extension of Reconstruction into the American West. This Article offers a new historical interpretation, one that places the birth of Free Exercise jurisprudence in Reynolds within an international context of Great Power imperialism and American international expansion at the end of the nineteenth century. It does this by recovering the lost theory of religious freedom that the Mormons …
Does Dworkin Commit Dworkin’S Fallacy?: A Reply To Justice In Robes, Michael S. Green
Does Dworkin Commit Dworkin’S Fallacy?: A Reply To Justice In Robes, Michael S. Green
Faculty Publications
In an article entitled ‘Dworkin’s Fallacy, Or What the Philosophy of Language Can’t Teach Us about the Law’, I argued that in Law’s Empire Ronald Dworkin misderived his interpretive theory of law from an implicit interpretive theory of meaning, thereby committing ‘Dworkin’s fallacy’. In his recent book, Justice in Robes, Dworkin denies that he committed the fallacy. As evidence he points to the fact that he considered three theories of law—‘conventionalism’, ‘pragmatism’ and ‘law as integrity’—in Law’s Empire. Only the last of these is interpretive, but each, he argues, is compatible with his interpretive theory of meaning, which he describes …
The Reasonable Person In Trademark Law, Laura A. Heymann
The Reasonable Person In Trademark Law, Laura A. Heymann
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Dworkin V. The Philosophers: A Review Essay On Justice In Robes, Michael S. Green
Dworkin V. The Philosophers: A Review Essay On Justice In Robes, Michael S. Green
Faculty Publications
In this review essay, Professor Michael Steven Green argues that Dworkin's reputation among his fellow philosophers has needlessly suffered because of his refusal to back down from his "semantic sting" argument against H. L. A. Hart. Philosophers of law have uniformly rejected the semantic sting argument as a fallacy. Nevertheless Dworkin reaffirms the argument in Justice in Robes, his most recent collection of essays, and devotes much of the book to stubbornly, and unsuccessfully, defending it. This is a pity, because the failure of the semantic sting argument in no way undermines Dworkin's other arguments against Hart.
Book Review Of Faiths Of The Founding Fathers, Davison M. Douglas
Book Review Of Faiths Of The Founding Fathers, Davison M. Douglas
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Halpin On Dworkin's Fallacy: A Surreply, Michael S. Green
Halpin On Dworkin's Fallacy: A Surreply, Michael S. Green
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Legal Revolutions: Six Mistakes About Discontinuity In The Legal Order, Michael S. Green
Legal Revolutions: Six Mistakes About Discontinuity In The Legal Order, Michael S. Green
Faculty Publications
A legal revolution occurs when chains of legal dependence rupture-causing one legal system to be replaced by a different and incommensurable legal system. For example, before the French Revolution chains of legal dependence ultimately led to Louis XVI, but after this legal revolution they led to the National Assembly (or the people of France it represented). The very possibility of legal revolutions depends upon laws being structured into legal systems in this fashion. And yet, despite substantial academic interest in legal revolutions, there has been a reluctance to examine the structure that makes them possible. The goal of this Article …
Statutory Interpretation In Econotopia, Nathan B. Oman
Statutory Interpretation In Econotopia, Nathan B. Oman
Faculty Publications
Much of the debate in the recent revival of interest in statutory interpretation centers on whether or not courts should use legislative history in construing statutes. The consensus in favor of this practice has come under sharp attack from public choice critics who argue that traditional models of legislative intent are positively and normatively incoherent. This paper argues that in actual practice, courts look at a fairly narrow subset of legislative history. By thinking about the power to write that legislative history as a property right and legislatures as markets, it is possible to use Coase's Theorem and the concept …
W & M Law School Came First. Why Care?, W. Taylor Reveley Iii
W & M Law School Came First. Why Care?, W. Taylor Reveley Iii
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The Rhetorical Uses Of Marbury V. Madison: The Emergence Of A "Great Case", Davison M. Douglas
The Rhetorical Uses Of Marbury V. Madison: The Emergence Of A "Great Case", Davison M. Douglas
Faculty Publications
Marbury v. Madison is today indisputably one of the "great cases" of American constitutional law because of its association with the principle of judicial review. But for much of its history, Marbury has not been regarded as a seminal decision. Between 1803 and 1887, the Supreme Court never once cited Marbury for the principle of judicial review, and nineteenth century constitutional law treatises were far more likely to cite Marbury for the decision's discussion of writs of mandamus or the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction than for its discussion of judicial review. During the late nineteenth century, however, the exercise of …
The Struggle For School Desegregation In Cincinnati Before 1954, Davison M. Douglas
The Struggle For School Desegregation In Cincinnati Before 1954, Davison M. Douglas
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Hans Kelsen And The Logic Of Legal Systems, Michael S. Green
Hans Kelsen And The Logic Of Legal Systems, Michael S. Green
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The End Of The Hudson Valley's Peculiar Institution: The Anti-Rent Movement's Politics, Social Relations, & Economics, Eric Kades
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The Paradox Of Auxiliary Rights: The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination And The Right To Keep And Bear Arms, Michael S. Green
The Paradox Of Auxiliary Rights: The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination And The Right To Keep And Bear Arms, Michael S. Green
Faculty Publications
According to Locke's theory of the social contract, which was widely accepted by the Founders, political authority is limited by those natural moral rights that individuals reserve against the government. In this Article, I argue that Locke's theory generates paradoxical conclusions concerning the government's authority over civil disobedients, that is, people who resist the government because they believe it is violating reserved moral rights. If the government lacks the authority to compel the civil disobedient to abide by its laws, the result is anarchism: The limits on governmental authority are whatever each individual says they are. If the government has …
Congress As Culprit: How Lawmakers Spurred On The Court's Anti-Congress Crusade, Neal Devins
Congress As Culprit: How Lawmakers Spurred On The Court's Anti-Congress Crusade, Neal Devins
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The Privilege's Last Stand: The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination And The Right To Rebel Against The State, Michael S. Green
The Privilege's Last Stand: The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination And The Right To Rebel Against The State, Michael S. Green
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Defending Truth, Cynthia V. Ward, Peter A. Alces
Defending Truth, Cynthia V. Ward, Peter A. Alces
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
The Laws Of Complexity & The Complexity Of Laws: The Implications Of Computational Complexity Theory For The Law, Eric Kades
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Government Lawyers And The New Deal, Neal Devins
Government Lawyers And The New Deal, Neal Devins
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Legal Realism, Lex Fori, And The Choice-Of-Law Revolution, Michael S. Green
Legal Realism, Lex Fori, And The Choice-Of-Law Revolution, Michael S. Green
Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.