Law Commons^™

Reflections On The Life And Times Of Alan Watson, Camilla E. Watson

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The author summarizes the career of Alan Watson, J.D. and University of Georgia Law School faculty member.

Legal History In Context, Logan E. Sawyer Iii

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The author examines the teaching methodologies involved in historical education and legal education.

Creating Hammer V. Dagenhart, Logan E. Sawyer Iii

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Hammer v. Dagenhart is among the best known cases in the canon of constitutional law. It struck down the first federal child labor law on the grounds that Congress’s commerce power allowed it to prohibit the interstate shipment of harmful goods, like impure food and drugs, but not harmless goods, like the products of child labor. Withering criticism of the decision spread from Justice Holmes’s famous dissent to law reviews, treatises, casebooks, and constitutional law classes. For nearly a century the decision has been scorned as inconsistent with precedent, incoherent as policy, and driven solely by the Court’s reactionary commitment …

Due Process As Separation Of Powers, Nathan S. Chapman, Michael W. Mcconnell

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From its conceptual origin in Magna Charta, due process of law has required that government can deprive persons of rights only pursuant to a coordinated effort of separate institutions that make, execute, and adjudicate claims under the law. Originalist debates about whether the Fifth or Fourteenth Amendments were understood to entail modern “substantive due process” have obscured the way that many American lawyers and courts understood due process to limit the legislature from the Revolutionary era through the Civil War. They understood due process to prohibit legislatures from directly depriving persons of rights, especially vested property rights, because it was …

Justice John Paul Stevens, Originalist, Diane Marie Amann

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Commentators, including the author of a recent book on the Supreme Court, often attempt to give each Justice a methodological label, such as “practitioner of judicial restraint,” “legal realist,” “pragmatist,” or “originalist.” This Essay first demonstrates that none of the first three labels applies without fail to Justice John Paul Stevens; consequently, it explores the extent to which Justice Stevens’s jurisprudence paid heed to the fourth method, “originalism.” It looks in particular at Justice Stevens’s opinions in recent cases involving firearms, national security, and capital punishment. Somewhat at odds with conventional wisdom, the Essay reveals Justice Stevens as a kind …

Samantar, Official Immunity And Federal Common Law, Peter B. Rutledge

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This essay examines the theoretical underpinnings of the immunity of foreign government officials following the Supreme Court's recent decision in Samantar. Part of a forthcoming symposium with the Lewis and Clark Law Review, the paper tackles the federal common law in the Court's decision and, more broadly, international civil litigation. It criticizes the Court's unexamined assumption that its federal common law power extended to create an immunity that, at best, coexists only uncomfortably alongside the legislative framework of the FSIA. It explains the problematic implications of this assertion of federal common law, both for suits against foreign officials and for …

The Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act At Twenty: Has Full Protection Made A Difference?, David Shipley

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Even though our copyright statutes were silent about architecture until 1990, it was well established that plans, blueprints and models were copyrightable writings under the 1909 Act's category of "drawings or plastic works of a scientific or technical character," and then as "pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works" under the 1976 Act. The scope of an architect's copyright protection was, however, quite limited. The unauthorized copying of plans or blueprints constituted infringement, but most authorities concluded that plans were not infringed by using them, without the architect's permission, to construct the building they depicted. Moreover, the prevailing view was that an …

A Tale Of Prosecutorial Indiscretion: Ramsey Clark And The Selective Non-Prosecution Of Stokely Carmichael, Lonnie T. Brown

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During the height of the Vietnam War and one of the most volatile periods of the civil rights movement, then-Attorney General Ramsey Clark controversially resisted intense political pressure to prosecute Black Power originator and antiwar activist Stokely Carmichael. Taken in isolation, this decision may seem courageous and praiseworthy, but when considered against the backdrop of Clark’s contemporaneous prosecution of an all-white group of similarly situated anti-draft leaders (the so-called Boston Five), his exercise of prosecutorial discretion becomes suspect. Specifically, the Boston Five were prosecuted in 1968 for conspiracy to aid and abet draft evasion, a charge for which the evidence …

"Undead" Wartime Cases: Stare Decisis And The Lessons Of History, Harlan G. Cohen

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References to the “lessons of history” are ubiquitous in law. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in recent debates over U.S. counterterrorism policy. In response to the Bush Administration’s reliance on World War II-era decisions - Johnson v. Eisentrager, Ex Parte Quirin, Hirota v. MacArthur, and In re Yamashita - opponents have argued that these decisions have been rejected by the “lessons of history.” They argue that the history of wartime cases is one marked by executive aggrandizement, panic-driven attacks on civil liberties, and overly quiescent courts - none of which should be repeated.

But what does it really …

John Paul Stevens And Equally Impartial Government, Diane Marie Amann

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This article is the second publication arising out of the author's ongoing research respecting Justice John Paul Stevens. It is one of several published by former law clerks and other legal experts in the UC Davis Law Review symposium edition, Volume 43, No. 3, February 2010, "The Honorable John Paul Stevens."

The article posits that Justice Stevens's embrace of race-conscious measures to ensure continued diversity stands in tension with his early rejections of affirmative action programs. The contrast suggests a linear movement toward a progressive interpretation of the Constitution’s equality guarantee; however, examination of Stevens's writings in biographical context reveal …

Judge Bell And Professional Courage, Larry D. Thompson

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This article eulogizes Judge Griffin B. Bell, with an emphasis on the importance of professional standards in the legal field.

No Civilized System Of Justice, Book Review: The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, The Supreme Court, And The Betrayal Of Reconstruction, Sonja R. West

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A book review of The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, The Supreme Court, and The Betrayal of Reconstruction by Charles Lane (Henry Holt 2008).

The Rhetoric For Ratification: The Argument Of "The Federalist" And Its Impact On Constitutional Interpretation, Dan T. Coenen

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Courts, lawyers, and scholars have long assumed that The Federalist Papers supply important information for use in constitutional argument and interpretation. In recent years, commentators have questioned this view. Their skepticism grows out of two major concerns. First, Justice Scalia's challenge to the use of legislative history in the statutory context casts a cloud over judicial use of background texts such as The Federalist in seeking the meaning of the Constitution. Second, even if courts may rely on some background materials in interpreting the Constitution, there is reason to conclude that The Federalist does not qualify as the sort of …

The Entrepreneur And The Theory Of The Modern Corporation, Charles R.T. O'Kelley

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The foremost description of the classic entrepreneur, immediately prior to the Great Depression and now, was presented by Frank Knight in his seminal work, RISK, UNCERTAINTY, AND PROFIT. In this Article, I will explicate Knight's theory of the entrepreneur and show how it relates to both the Berle-Means Paradigm and the nexus-of-contracts theory of the corporation. My effort here is in part intellectual history and in part the tentative beginnings of a new positive account of the corporation. In the latter regard, this Article takes only the first step in what may prove a quite exhaustive effort to re-plow the …

John Paul Stevens, Human Rights Judge, Diane Marie Amann

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This article explores the nature and origins of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens' engagement with international and foreign law and norms. It first discusses Stevens' pivotal role in the revived use of such norms to aid constitutional interpretation, as well as 1990s opinions testing the extent to which constitutional protections reach beyond the water's edge and 2004 opinions on post-September 11 detention. It then turns to mid-century experiences that appear to have contributed to Stevens' willingness to consult foreign context. The article reveals that as a code breaker Stevens played a role in the downing of the Japanese general …

Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis: Oddities Of Legal Development, And Human Civilisation, Alan Watson

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The most momentous event in secular legal history is also perhaps the weirdest: Justinian's compilation, now known as the Corpus Iuris Civilis. Unsurprisingly, scholars have avoided stressing how odd the Corpus Iuris is. The most likely explanation is that it is so highly regarded that they have not noticed. They accept its high reputation, hence for them high quality is a given. This is a theme to which I return and no doubt will continue to return. The Corpus Iuris is so central in history, for understanding how law develops, and is so important today.

Repraesentatio In Classical Latin, Alan Watson

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The Romans knew well the twin concepts of representation and representatives in law suits and in the relationships between father and son, and owner and slave. But for these concepts they did not use the terms repraesentare or any cognate.

To Tertullian, it seems, goes the credit of first using repraesentare and repraesentator in their modern senses of <> and <>. That his context is theological probably should not surprise since he is, above all, a theologian.

Thus he uses repraesentare to mean that the one larger and more important may represent the many and less important. This usage had a …

Lord Mansfield; Judicial Integrity Or Its Lack; Somerset's Case, Alan Watson

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I write this after re-reading Steven M Wise's Though the Heavens May Fall. My argument, if convincing, undermines the basis of the book. Probably the most famous decision in English law is that of Lord Mansfield in Somerset v. Stewart in 1772. It is very short and very dramatic; indeed, it is so rhetorical that much of what is vital is overlooked -- as it was meant to be. Somerset was Stewart's slave in Virginia and was brought to England by his owner. Somerset travelled extensively in the service of his master, to Bristol and Edinburgh, for example. But two …

Foreword: Why Open Access To Scholarship Matters, Joe Miller

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On March 10, 2006, the Lewis & Clark Law Review sponsored a day-long symposium entitled Open Access Publishing and the Future of Legal Scholarship. That gathering led to eight papers that are forthcoming in Volume 10, Issue No. 4, of the Lewis & Clark Law Review. In this short Foreword, I offer some thoughts about why all law professors should take an interest in the movement promoting open access to scholarship. The principal reason, based in current circumstances, is the way that using an open access platform extends one's reach. The aspirational reason is that open access platforms enable us …

Two Early Codes, The Ten Commandments And The Twelve Tables: Causes And Consequences, Alan Watson

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Comments on the legal history of the ten commandments and the Roman Twelve Tables, and a comparison of the two legal collections. This paper also discusses the peculiarities in the traditions behind the collection of these laws; and the rules of behavior between humans covered by these laws.

Fifteen Famous Supreme Court Cases From Georgia, Dan T. Coenen

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John Inscoe, UGA professor of history and editor of the New Georgia Encyclopedia, invited Hosch Professor Dan T. Coenen to contribute a series of essays on the most significant U.S. Supreme Court cases that originated in the state of Georgia. This article, which proposes an unranked top 15 list, is built on this work.

The (Un)Favorable Judgment Of History: Deportation Hearings, The Palmer Raids, And The Meaning Of History, Harlan G. Cohen

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As Americans respond to the events of September 11, 2001, they are being forced to contemplate their place in American history-past, present, and future. This has become particularly stark in the fight over secret deportation hearings. Following September 11, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that the deportation hearings of "special interest" aliens would be closed to the public. Applying Richmond Newspapers's two-pronged logic-and-experience test, the Third and Sixth Circuits subsequently split over the constitutionality of the blanket closure. At the heart of their disagreement was the scarce history of deportation hearings and whether such hearings had been closed in the …

Lightening The Load: In The Georgia Supreme Court, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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The Supreme Court of Georgia enjoys legendary status in perpetuating both "law" and "justice" for the citizens it serves. It functions as an institution of rich tradition, and it operates from a perspective of historic proportions. The court's heritage exudes a profusion of shaping facets, facets coalescing to yield an indelible profiles of Georgia's juristic content. That profile reflects such characteristics as the court's authoritative underpinnings: the legends of judicial fame to whom the court periodically returns for lessons of wisdom. Other distinctions focus upon the court's output: the per curiam opinion, for example, constitutes an expressive peculiarity of historical …

Intervention In Roman Law: A Case Study In The Hazards Of Legal Scholarship, Peter A. Appel

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In this Article, I offer a case study of one of the hazards presented by legal scholarship in law reviews as it has evolved over the last century. The standard law review article typically begins with an overview of the author's subject, frequently involving a historical perspective or a chronology of the development of a doctrine. This background section stems from a number of causes, but many attribute it to the fact that most law reviews are student-edited. In order to evaluate an author's argument, students need a brief course in, say, the basics of trade law and pollution control …

Dissenting Opinions: In The Georgia Supreme Court, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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Under our system of justice, each jurisdiction necessarily evolves its own distinct tradition of judicial dissent. That evolution's impetus, history, pattern, and results all converge in an informative profile--affording yet another means of studying a state's highest appellate court. A dissent profile of the Georgia Supreme Court thus offers an additional evaluative view of the state's most important judicial cathedral.

Jurisdiction, Jurisprudence And Legal Change: Sociological Jurisprudence And The Road To International Shoe, Logan E. Sawyer Iii

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While scholars espousing ideological explanations have noted the correlation between the intellectual trends of the New Deal and International Shoe, they have not demonstrated the strength of this connection. Some merely assert that ideology caused International Shoe,12 while others point to only very general similarities between International Shoe and the ideology of the age.' 3 This Article attempts to strengthen the ideological explanation by examining closely the intellectual context of International Shoe. That examination reveals that the decision did not result simply from the expansion of interstate business or the inherent weakness of the Pennoyer system. Instead, International Shoe was …

The False Claims Act And The English Eradication Of Qui Tam Legislation, J. Randy Beck

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Congress amended the False Claims Act in 1986 to encourage qui tam enforcement of the statute, which penalizes submission of false claims to the federal government. A qui tam statute authorizes a private citizen "informer" to file suit on behalf of the government for collection of a statutory forfeiture. A successful informer receives a share of the recovery. Qui tam enforcement came from England, where it served for centuries as the principal means of enforcing a wide range of statutes. England moved away from qui tam enforcement in the 1800s and abolished it altogether in 1951. In this Article, Professor …

Juristic Giants: A Georgia Study In Reputation, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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In 1990, Judge Richard Posner published CARDOZO: A STUDY IN REPUTATION. A deceptively small volume (only 156 pages), the book purported to delineate and dissect the facets of circumstance, achievement, and character accounting for Benjamin Cardozo's reputation for "greatness." Treating such indicia (both tangible and intangible) as Cardozo's "person," "philosophy," "technique," and "contributions," Posner also sought a handle for "measuring the magnitude" of reputation itself. He hit, of course, upon the modern mechanical mainstay of computerization: a finger-tip presentation of the frequency with which Cardozo's name appears in other judicial opinions.

Fox Hunting, Pheasant Shooting And Comparative Law, Alan Watson, Khaled Abou El Fadl

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The Roman jurists, ancient rabbis and Muslim jurists were very different people. Above all, the rabbis and Muslim jurists were engaged on a search for law as truth. And the Roman jurists were much more obviously upper-class gentlemen.91 But the similarities are great. All three had a passion for legal interpretation. They delighted in discussing hypothetical cases. They chased after solutions by ways of reasoning devised by themselves. Practical utility, while present, was in the background. At times, to outsiders, their opinions seem outr6, even callous, remote from reality. They have little interest in what actually happens in court: their …

The Structure Of Blackstone's Commentaries, Alan Watson

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Duncan Kennedy's view of Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England as the first systematic attempt to present a theory of the whole common law system is interesting but wrong. Blackstone himself listed his predecessors, "those who have laboured in reducing our laws to a System": Glanville, Bracton, Britton, the author of Fleta, Fitzherbert, Brook, Lord Bacon, Sir Edward Coke, Dr. Cowell, Sir Henry Finch, Dr. Wood, Sir Matthew Hale. Certainly their arrangements are not free from defects. In particular, as Blackstone pointed out, the arrangement of Fitzherbert and Brook was alphabetical, and Bacon purposely avoided any regular …