Law Commons^™

The Property Platform In Anglo-American Law And The Primacy Of The Property Concept, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

This Article proposes that the property concept, when reduced to its basic principles, is a foundational element and a useful lens for evaluating and understanding the whole of Anglo-American private law even though the discrete disciplines—property, tort, and contract—have their own separate and distinct existence. In this Article, a broad property concept is not focused just on things or on sticks related to things but instead is defined as relating to all things owned. These things may include one’s self and all the key elements associated with this broader set of things owned—including the right to exclude, ownership, dominion, authority, …

Entrelinhas Políticas, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

É preciso saber interpretar. Os sinais e as palavras. E em momentos de crise, mais ainda. Há sinais de demagogia crescente. Bodes expiatórios são reencontrados, e as consabidas receitas de salvadores providenciais. O período eleitoral que certamente se avizinha (não era preciso ser profeta para o esperar neste artigo, escrito antes da demissão do Primeiro-ministro) será fértil em palavras. Mas as coisas são simples. E é preciso sobretudo traduzir o que será dito... É tão simples, afinal. Basta ver onde cada um quer chegar... E isso depende dos seus interesses e dos que defenda. Altruístas ou não.

The Common Law And The Constitution: John Locke And The Missing Link In Law, Steve Sheppard

Steve Sheppard

Locke's concept of rights influenced the Framers of the Constitution, which has increased the stakes in later interpretation of what Locke’s model of rights entailed. “Lockean rights” now suggests a perfect right unlimitable by the state in the public interest. Such a right is theoretically interesting, but it is not what Locke had in mind, and it was not the model of rights Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, and other inherited from Locke's Second Treatise.

This paper was an initial reconstruction of Locke's model of a right, locating it within the legal culture of his time and place. His model of what …

The Metamorphoses Of Reasonable Doubt: How Changes In The Burden Of Proof Have Weakened The Presumption Of Innocence, Steve Sheppard

Steve Sheppard

The standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt is commonly thought to be an important benefit to the accused. The history of the standard is much more complex and demonstrates lesser commitments to the truth and to the defendant.

This article develops the history of the reasonable doubt instruction in the United States and its English antecedents. Examining the development of the instruction in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and its evolution through the nineteenth and twentieth, this history reveals the dual nature of the instruction. It both encapsulated a theory of knowledge and articulated a level of confidence in …