Law Commons^™

Testing Drugs Versus Testing For Drug Use: Private Risk Management In The Shadow Of Criminal Law, Robert Maccoun

Robert MacCoun

No abstract provided.

Can The West Learn From The Rest?' The Chinese Legal Order's Hybrid Modernity, Nicholas Howson

Nicholas Howson

I am asked to present on the "shortcomings of the Western model of legality based on a professionalized, individualistic and highly formalistic approach to justice" as a way to understanding if "the West can develop today a form of legality which is relational rather than based on litigation as a zero sum game, learning from face to face social organizations in which individuals understand the law" - presumably in the context of the imperial and modem Chinese legal systems which I know best as a scholar and have lived for many years as a resident of the modem identity of …

China's Judicial System And Judicial Reform, Nicholas Howson

Nicholas Howson

The following is an extract from the statement delivered by Michigan Law School Professor Nicholas Howson at the inaugural “China-U.S. Rule of Law Dialogue” held at Beijing’s Tsinghua University July 29-30, 2010, and convened by Tsinghua Law Dean Wang Zhenmin and Harvard Law School Professor and East Asian Legal Studies Director William Alford, and with the support of the China-United States Exchange Foundation chaired by C.H. Tung, first chief executive and president of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The dialogue was organized as a private meeting between senior PRC law professors and U.S.-based Chinese law …

The Syracuse Conference On A World Rule Of Law: American Perspectives - An Introduction, Malcolm M. Feeley

Malcolm Feeley

No abstract provided.

Magna Carta Then And Now: A Symbol Of Freedom And Equal Rights For All, Eugene K B Tan, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Jack Tsen-Ta LEE

Magna Carta became applicable to Singapore in 1826 when a court system administering English law was established in the Straits Settlements. This remained the case through Singapore’s evolution from Crown colony to independent republic. The Great Charter only ceased to apply in 1993, when Parliament enacted the Application of English Law Act to clarify which colonial laws were still part of Singapore law. Nonetheless, Magna Carta’s legacy in Singapore continues in a number of ways. Principles such as due process of law and the supremacy of law are cornerstones of the rule of law, vital to the success, stability and …

Dealing With Dirty Deeds: Matching Nemo Dat Preferences With Property Law Pragmatism, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Abstract Principle V. Contextual Conceptions Of Harm: A Comment On R. V. Butler, Jamie Cameron

Jamie Cameron

This comment provides a critique of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in R. v. Butler, which held that section 163(8) of the Criminal Code, defining obscenity, is a reasonable limit on freedom of expression under section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Before discussing the Charter, the Court expanded the scope of section 163(8) to include a prohibition against sexually explicit material that is degrading or dehumanizing. Initially, the author is critical of the Court's methodology, which enlarged section 163(8) at the expense of expressive freedom, without even mentioning the Charter. Once the Court had interpreted …

The Original Conception Of Section 1 And Its Demise: A Comment On Irwin Toy V. A-G Of Quebec, Jamie Cameron

Jamie Cameron

The author submits that the logic and purpose of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, as it was originally conceived, demand that the substantive rights be given a broad and literal interpretation with limitations imposed exclusively under section 1. This distinction between breach and justification must be maintained to preserve the Charter's integrity. The author suggests that the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Irwin Toy will only perpetuate the confusion surrounding Charter interpretation. The Court again failed to articulate a concrete conception of section 1 review, and, in obiter dicta, noted that forms of expressive activity having physical …

Can The Commonwealth (Latimer House) Principles Of 2003 Serve As Aneffective Framework Forsafeguarding Democracy, Centre Institute For Public Policy Research (Cippr)

Centre Institute for Public Policy Research (CIPPR)

The Latimer House Guidelines were written at the start of the new millennium some 11 years ago. After the Guidelines, other supporting documents have been churned out by the Commonwealth. The Guidelines present a framework for achieving separation of powers to enhance honesty, probity and accountability in government in Commonwealth countries. The outstanding question however is how well these guidelines do invoke Monsieur Baron de Montesquieu’s spirit in view of the current challenges faced by governments in Commonwealth countries? Do the guidelines present an effective framework for safeguarding democracy and the rule of law in the States concerned? These questions, …

Precedent And Legal Authority: A Critical History, Charles W. Collier

Charles W. Collier

In this Article, Professor Charles Collier traces out a general theory of precedential authority through historical sources. The Article focuses on three particularly influential views of precedent: Wambaugh's concept of dictum, Oliphant's concept of stare decisis, and Goodhart's concept of ratio decidendi. These views illustrate an underlying tension between two distinct doctrines of precedential authority. The first doctrine, derived from humanistic thought, restricts-legal authority as narrowly as possible to the express terms of an original text. The second doctrine draws on the broad, generalizing tendencies of the empirical sciences and their corresponding conceptions of scientific authority. The two doctrines coexist …

International Activity And Domestic Law, Adam I. Muchmore

Adam I. Muchmore

This essay explores the ways States use their domestic laws to regulate activities that cross national borders. Domestic-law enforcement decisions play an underappreciated role in the development of international regulatory policy, particularly in situations where the enforcing State's power to apply its law extraterritorially is not contested. Collective action problems suggest there will be an undersupply of enforcement decisions that promote global welfare and an oversupply of enforcement decisions that promote national welfare. These collective action problems may be mitigated in part by government networks and other forms of regulatory cooperation.

Autonomous Decisionmaking And Social Choice: Examining The “Right To Die”, 77 Ky. L.J. 319 (1989), Donald L. Beschle

Donald L. Beschle

No abstract provided.

Democracy In Nigeria, 9 Black L.J. 113 (1984), Michael P. Seng

Michael P. Seng

No abstract provided.

Just Disagreement: Indeterminacy And Rationality In The Rule Of Law, Christopher L. Kutz

Christopher Kutz

No abstract provided.

War Against Muslims Post 9/11?, Alev Dudek

Alev Dudek

Proyecto Acceso: The Use Of Popular Culture To Build The Rule Of Law In Latin America, James Cooper

James M. Cooper

This article is about developing the rule of law in Latin America using popular popular culture and modeling the United States' experience.

A Government Of Laws Not Of Precedents 1776-1876: The Google Challenge To Common Law Myth, James Maxeiner

James R Maxeiner

Conventional wisdom holds that the United States is a common law country of precedents where, until the 20th century (the “Age of Statutes”), statutes had little role. Digitization by Google and others of previously hard to find legal works of the 19th century challenges this common law myth. At the Centennial in 1876 Americans celebrated that “The great fact in the progress of American jurisprudence … is its tendency towards organic statute law and towards the systematizing of law; in other words, towards written constitutions and codification.” This article tests the claim of the Centennial Writers of 1876 and finds …

Free Expression, In-Group Bias, And The Court's Conservatives: A Critique Of The Epstein-Parker-Segal Study, Todd E. Pettys

Todd E. Pettys

In a recent, widely publicized study, a prestigious team of political scientists concluded that there is strong evidence of ideological in-group bias among the Supreme Court’s members in First Amendment free-expression cases, with the current four most conservative justices being the Roberts Court’s worst offenders. Beneath the surface of the authors’ conclusions, however, one finds a surprisingly sizable combination of coding errors, superficial case readings, and questionable judgments about litigants’ ideological affiliations. Many of those problems likely flow either from shortcomings that reportedly afflict the Supreme Court Database (the data set that nearly always provides the starting point for empirical …

Theory Of Transparency: The Right To Know, Amartya Shrivastava Mr.

Amartya Shrivastava

Any governments functioning and merit is determined by the extent of faith and trust imposed by the governed citizens. This can be achieved by having maximum transparency a\of government working and functions. This can be acquired using various tools one which is the information legislation passed in the various countries. These legislations are a cause of mutual development, as it enables and empowers people. The true essence of democracy lies in empowering people as it is people’s rule. Thus, if we to understand democracy, we need to understand the government. Transparency is a decisive factor when it comes to accountability …

The Lost Due Process Doctrines, Paul J. Larkin Jr.

Paul J Larkin Jr.

In order to render manageable the doctrinal development of the Due Process Clause, the Supreme Court over the last fifty years has attempted to fit its decisions into one of two distinct categories: procedural requirements that the government must satisfy before depriving someone of life, liberty, or property, and substantive limitations on exactly what deprivations the government may accomplish. Unfortunately, neither the law nor life can be so easily classified. The Court has decided numerous cases that defy its recent attempts to divide Gaul into two parts, not three (or more). Several due process doctrines seem to have been isolated …

The Theory Of Law “As Claim” And The Inquiry Into The Sources Of Law. Bruno Leoni In Prospect, Daniele Bertolini

daniele bertolini

This paper presents a systematic analysis of the theory of law "as claim" through a critical review of Bruno Leoni’s work. I argue that this philosophical theory provides a useful methodological framework for the analysis of law-making processes. I also demonstrate how Leoni’s critique of legislation offers insights into the efficient institutional response to the growing demand for law that has emerged from the increasing complexity of contemporary societies — insights that are particularly relevant in an age characterized by continuing technological changes and profound social mutations that challenge the existing organization of the sources of law. Finally, I contend …

Assessing The Velocity, Scale, Volume, Intensity And “Creedal Congruence” Of Immigrants In Setting A Nation’S Admissions Policy, David Barnhizer

David Barnhizer

Table of Contents Death of the “Melting Pot” The Rejection of Assimilation and the Rise of “Identity Sects” Western Europe and the US Face Significant Challenges to Their Creeds and Cultures The Radicalizing Search for Identity and Meaning The Velocity, Scale and Difference of Migrant Entry Into Dissimilar Cultures Assimilation Is Not Easy Under the Best of Circumstances ISIS, al-Qaeda and The Old Man of the Mountain What Are the Creedal Values For Which Western Nations Should Expect Commitment from Immigrants and Citizens? “Warning! Do Not Approach!” Beyond Non-Assimilation to Cultural Transformation The Right to Preserve a “Cultural Ecosystem” The …

“Something Wicked This Way Comes”: Political Correctness And The Reincarnation Of Chairman Mao, David Barnhizer

David Barnhizer

Mao’s Red Guards and the “Wicked Wisdom” of Lesley Gore There could not possibly be any parallel between the actions of Mao Tse Tung’s young Red Guard zealots and the intensifying demands of identity groups that all people must conform to their version of approved linguistic expression or in effect be condemned as “reactionaries” and “counter-revolutionaries” who are clearly “on the wrong side of history”. Nor, in demanding that they be allowed to effectively take over the university and its curriculum while staffing faculty and administrative positions with people who think like them while others are subjected to “re-education” sessions …

Apps, Artificial Intelligence, And Androids: Beyond Schumpeter’S “Creative Destruction” To “Destructive Destruction” David Barnhizer, David Barnhizer

David Barnhizer

The analysis offered here is not a Neo-Luddite rage against “the machine”. As with the oft-stated reproach about paranoia, there sometimes really are situations in which people are “out to get you”. In our current situation the threat is not from people but from the convergence of a set of technological innovations that are and will increasingly have an enormous impact on the nature of work, economic and social inequality and the existence of the middle classes that are so vital to the durability of Western democracy. The fact is that developed nations’ economies such as found in Western Europe …

The Moral Lawyer And The Machiavellian Nature Of Law Practice, David Barnhizer

David Barnhizer

In Western culture the name Niccolo Machiavelli has become Machiavellianism, a pejorative signifying the willingness to do anything to achieve desired ends. American lawyers do have limits, however, and are expected to operate according to an ethical code that is at least intended to prevent the worst abuses. The effectiveness of this ethical code has often been questioned, as have the questionable efforts of the organized bar to enforce its rules, but on the surface it differentiates law practice from hand-to-hand combat and military struggles. Even though I have sometimes used the concepts of the warrior lawyer, the general and …

Keepings, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan