Law Commons^™

We Do Not Recognise Anything 'Private': Public Interest And Private Law Under The Socialist Legal Tradition And Beyond, Rafal Manko

Dr. Rafał Mańko

In line with Lenin’s famous quote that Bolsheviks “do not recognise anything private” and that private law must be permeated with public interest, the private (civil) law of the USSR and other countries of the Soviet bloc, including Poland underwent reform aimed at furthering the public interest at the expense of the private one. Specific legal institutions were introduced for this purpose, in the form of legal innovations, loosely, if at all, based on pre-existing Western models. In the Polish case, such legal institutions were usually legal transfers, imported from the Soviet Union. When the socio-economic and political system changed …

Restoring Constitutional Equilibrium, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

In areas such as the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court's lack of institutional restraint has affected citizens of every political persuasion. In Bush v. Gore, the Florida Supreme Court’s recount order was blocked. ‘Liberals,’ lost. In Roe v. Wade, the Court required state legislatures to allow most abortions in the first trimester. ‘Conservatives’ lost. In Clinton v. City of New York and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the coordinate branch’s attempt to ensure a more efficient and fairer government was thwarted. Average citizens lost. The problem is not a liberal or conservative one, whatever those words mean. It is …

Gandhi’S Nightmare: Bhopal And The Need For A Mindful Jurisprudence, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

No abstract provided.

Good Practice Guide (Bachelor Of Laws): Law In Broader Contexts, Alex Steel

Alex Steel

This Good Practice Guide was commissioned by the Law Associate Deans Network to support the implementation of Threshold Learning Outcome 1: Knowledge. The Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) for the Bachelor of Laws were developed in 2010 as part of the Learning and Teaching Academic Standards (LTAS) Project, led by Professors Sally Kift and Mark Israel. TLO 1 states: Graduates of the Bachelor of Laws will demonstrate an understanding of a coherent body of knowledge that includes: (a) the fundamental areas of legal knowledge, the Australian legal system, and underlying principles and concepts, including international and comparative contexts, (b) the broader …

Weeds In The Gardens Of Justice?The Survival Of Hyperpositivism In Polishlegal Culture As A Symptom/Sinthome, Rafal Manko

Dr. Rafał Mańko

After 1989, the Polish legal elites embraced a transform-ation discourse, presenting modern Polish legal history as a circular journey from Europe to the dystopia of “Communism” and back. As aconsequence, links with the state-socialist past are repressed from thecollective consciousness of the legal community and presented as post-Soviet “weeds” in the Polish gardens of justice. However, the repressedweeds return in the form of symptoms – legal survivals, which lawyerstend to ignore or conceal because they subvert the dominant ideologicalnarrative. In this paper, I focus on metanormative survivals of the So-cialist Legal Tradition in Poland which can all be brought under …

Weeds In The Gardens Of Justice? The Survival Of Hyperpositivism In Polishlegal Culture As A Symptom/Sinthome (Forthcoming), Rafal Manko

Dr. Rafał Mańko

After 1989, the Polish legal elites embraced a transformation discourse, presenting modern Polish legal history as a circular journey from Europe to the dystopia of “Communism” and back. As a con­sequence, links with the state-­socialist past are repressed from the col­lective consciousness of the legal community and presented as post­-Soviet “weeds” in the Polish gardens of justice. However, the repressed weeds return in the form of symptoms – legal survivals, which lawyers tend to ignore or conceal because they subvert the dominant ideological narrative. In this paper, I focus on metanormative survivals of the So­cialist Legal Tradition in Poland which …

What Is Injustice?, Eric Heinze

Prof. Eric Heinze, Queen Mary University of London

Throughout Western history, theorists have explained injustice by starting with some idea of justice. They have made justice fundamental, and the notion of injustice merely derivative of it. Since, after 2500 years of theory, we lack any consensus about what justice is, it would be easy to conclude that injustice is equally indeterminate.

However, injustice is not the sheer “opposite” or “negation” of justice. Plato set the stage for two millennia of justice theories by identifying “harmony” as justice’s essential attribute. Aristotle refined that project by adding the element of “measurement,” which has continued to structure programmatic justice theories through …

Cross Purposes & Unintended Consequences--Karl Llewellyn, Article 2 And The Limits Of Social Transformation, Danielle K. Hart

Danielle K Hart

Despite attempts to reform the law to eliminate hierarchies that subordinate groups of people, the law usually ends up reinstantiating those hierarchies. This “preservation through transformation” phenomenon occurs consistently, over time and across legal disciplines. Karl Llewellyn’s efforts at drafting Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code are no different. Llewellyn attempted a paradigm shift in contract formation when he sought to decouple contract law from its formalistic roots and bring it back in touch with reality on the ground. But in so doing, the law-in-action strand of Legal Realism ended up working at cross purposes with the other, critical …

Heidegger And The Essence Of Adjudication, George Souri

George Souri

This paper presents an account of adjudication based on the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. As this paper argues, we can only hope to better understand adjudication if we recognize that adjudication is a socio-temporally situated activity, and not a theoretical object. Heidegger’s philosophical insights are especially salient to such a project for several reasons. First, Heidegger’s re-conception of ontology, and his notion of being-in-the-world, provide a truer-to-observation account of how human beings come to understand their world and take in the content of experience towards completing projects. Second, Heidegger’s account of context, inter-subjectivity, and common understanding provide a basis upon …

Children's Oppression, Rights And Liberation, Samantha Godwin

Samantha Godwin

This paper advances a radical and controversial analysis of the legal status of children. I argue that the denial of equal rights and equal protection to children under the law is inconsistent with liberal and progressive beliefs about social justice and fairness. In order to do this I first situate children’s legal and social status in its historical context, examining popular assumptions about children and their rights, and expose the false necessity of children’s current legal status. I then offer a philosophical analysis for why children’s present subordination is unjust, and an explanation of how society could be sensibly and …

International Civil Religion: Respecting Religious Diversity While Promoting International Cooperation, Amos Prosser Davis

Amos Prosser Davis

International civil religion grounds moral claims that permeate and transcend traditional religious paradigms. Given the inevitability of international interactions – interactions that cross geographic, religious, and cultural boundaries – our global society is in need of a universally endorsable framework that undergirds the United Nations international human rights regime. International civil religion provides that framework.

Numerous scholars and moral theorists have incrementally discerned the parameters of civil religion including, inter alia, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Alexis de Tocqueville, Robert Bellah, Martin Marty, and Harold Berman. The tenets of international civil religion infuse the diplomatically drafted United Nations covenants and conventions on human …

A Model Of Legal Systems As Evolutionary Networks: Normative Complexity And Self-Organization Of Clusters Of Rules, Carlo Garbarino

Carlo Garbarino

The paper draws both on legal theory and network science to explain how legal systems are structured and evolve. The basic proposition is that legal systems have a structure identifiable through a model of them in terms of networks of rules, and that their evolution is a property of their network structure. The paper is based on a model of rules which relies on the tenets of the network theory to describe how legal change unfolds within the network structure of legal systems. Section 1 presents an outline of current literature on the application of network theory to legal systems. …

Harvey Milk, Jane Roe, And James Brady: Why Civic Organizing Matters, Palma Joy Strand

palma joy strand

This article examines the civic underpinnings of law, examining how civic interaction or the lack of such interaction facilitates or inhibits sociolegal change. The article begins with empirical observations of civic experience and engagement, which ground more general conclusions about the importance of civic relationships and civic networks as well as the way personal stories contribute to the creation of both. The article then applies these conclusions to three currently contentious and unsettled issues: gay rights, abortion, and guns. With respect to all of these issues, the article concludes that civic organizing—the intentional creation of civic relationships and civic networks …

Power And Law, Bait And Switch: Debunking “Law” As A Tool Of Societal Change The Disappearing Act Of Affordable Housing In The District Of Columbia, Samuel Jefferson

Samuel Jefferson Jr.

ABSTRACT

POWER AND LAW, BAIT AND SWITCH:

DEBUNKING “LAW” AS A TOOL OF SOCIETAL CHANGE

The Disappearing Act of Affordable Housing in the District of Columbia

by Samuel L. Jefferson, Jr.

I. Introduction

“It was a typical sunny, hot and hazy July afternoon in Washington, D.C. when I, as a 17-year-old, walked down the hill towards my apartment complex. As I approached, I noticed people gathered in the street in front of my building. I also noticed that someone had been evicted. As I moved closer, I noticed that the belongings were mine and my family’s. That’s when, at least …

Appellate Judges And Philosophical Theories: Judicial Philosophy Or Mere Coincidence?, Gerald R. Ferrera, Mystica M. Alexander

Jonathan J. Darrow

Judicial reasoning found in appellate court decisions creates the substantive law relied upon to formulate policy in the private and public sector. Inevitably some will be adamantly opposed to the decisions and will participate in public debate to formulate change. This paper argues that judicial reasoning is based on a judicial philosophy supported by a theory that, once recognized and understood, enables a greater appreciation of judges’ decisions. A number of prominent judicial philosophers are identified and their philosophy is explained using current landmark cases. The final part of the paper uses the United States Supreme Court decision of Ricci …

The Rule Of Law As An Institutional Ideal, Gianluigi Palombella

Gianluigi Palombella

This article aims at offering an innovative interpretation of the potentialities of the "rule of law" for the XXI Century. It goes beyond current uses and the dispute between formal and substantive conceptions, by reaching the roots of the institutional ideal. Also through historical reconstruction and comparative analysis, the core of the rule of law appears to be a peculiar notion, showing a special objective that the law is asked to achieve, on a legal plane, largely independent of political instrumentalism. The normative meaning is elaborated on and construed around the notions of institutional equilibrium, non domination and "duality" of …

Korean Legal Education For The Age Of Professionalism: Suggestions For More Concerted Curricula, Young-Cheol K. Jeong

Young-Cheol K. Jeong

No abstract provided.

Trust Law And The Title-Split: A Beneficial Perspective, Kent D. Schenkel

Kent D Schenkel

Recent functional analyses of the trust tend to emphasize its effect on the parties to the trust deal and give less attention to the nature of the beneficiary’s interest, especially in relation to persons outside the trust transaction. In contrast, this article takes a critical approach to the trust from the primary perspective of the benefits it provides to beneficiaries. From this perspective, it finds that while the trust maintains the flexibility of a contract it also restricts legal interests of third parties who are strangers to the trust bargain; a feat that contracts are unable to accomplish. Third parties …

Beyond Retroactivity To Realizing Justice: A Theory On The Principle Of Legality In International Criminal Law Sentencing, Shahram Dana

Shahram Dana

Only the innocent deserve the benefits of the principle of legality. This statement naturally offends our notions of justice. It would be unacceptable for courts of criminal justice to institutionalize such an approach. Yet, in the context of prosecuting mass atrocities, genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, international criminal courts appear to be resigned to such a principle, if not openly embracing it. Although ranking among the most fundamental principles of criminal law, nulla poena sine lege (no punishment without law) receives surprisingly little attention in international criminal justice. Indeed, that it may be considered the 'poor cousin' of …

Global Threads: Weaving The Rule Of Law And The Balance Of Legal Software, Gianluigi Palombella

Gianluigi Palombella

The article shows how the global legal sphere attempts to compensate the lack of a system (hardware) and faces the proliferation of legal normativities (software). The author elaborates on the role of the rule of law: after stressing the ambiguities and the contestability of its current uses in the confrontations between legal orders and regulatory regimes, it is explained that the persistence and promise of the rule of law in the global setting depend on the weaving of a set of meta-rules (a special kind of software) developed through various areas and sources of legalities in the international environment. Eventually, …

Legal Storytelling: The Theory And The Practice - Reflective Writing Across The Curriculum, Nancy Levit

Nancy Levit

This article concentrates on the theory of narrative or storytelling and addresses the reasons it is vital to encourage in law schools in non-clinical or primarily doctrinal courses. Section I traces the advent of storytelling in legal theory and practice: while lawyers have long recognized that part of their job is to tell their clients' stories, the legal academy was, for many years, resistant to narrative methodologies. Section II examines the current applications of Writing Across the Curriculum in law schools. Most exploratory writing tasks in law school come in clinical courses, although a few adventurous professors are adding reflective …

Aristotle, Law And Justice: The Tragic Hero, Eric A. Engle

Eric A. Engle

Aristotle was the greatest scientist in western history. He established the scientific paradigm and the instruments thereof (materialism and logic). His work covered all basic sciences: Astronomy, Botany, Logic, Mathematics, Meteorology Philosophy, Psychology and Political Science. Aristotle's conception of justice pervades the law and heavily influenced the Anglo-Saxon court system to this day. Yet, the mark of a hero in Greek tragedy is his tragic flaw. Aristotle was not only a great scientist. He was also racist, sexist and homophobic - he thought slavery was natural and good. This tragic flaw in Aristotle's work has distorted all of western thought …

Ontology, Epistemology, Axiology: Bases For A Comprehensive Theory Of Law, Eric A. Engle

Eric A. Engle

This article presents a comprehensive theory of law founded on correct ontological, epistemological and axiological bases and proposes that monism materialism and holism will have greater explanatory and predictive power than dualist, atomist and realist International Relations (IR) theory have had. The theory, though focussed on IR theory, is applicable to domestic law as well. Western thought has long been predicated on either an ontological materialism (matter determines mind) or an ontological idealism (eidetic realism: mind determines matter). Normally, the materialist view is also monist (reality is fundamentally unitary), whereas the idealist view is generally presented as dualist (reality is …

Auschwitz As Nomos Of Modern Legal Thought, Tawia B. Ansah

Tawia B Ansah

The article is at the intersection of law, philosophy, and political theology. I ask: in what sense is Auschwitz “central” to philosophy within late modernity? What does this centrality suggest for juridical thought? The article explores the status of the camp – as “paradigm” and as “nomos” of late modernity – within the work of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, the reasons this status is refused by his legal critics, and the implications of both for late modern legal theory.

Reinterpretations Of St. Paul's Concept Of Law, Tawia B. Ansah

Tawia B Ansah

The article is at the intersection of law, philosophy, and theology. I examine the work of Giorgio Agamben and Alain Badiou on Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Both approach Pauline law formalistically, but with very different ideas about what law is. Whereas Agamben sees continuities, Badiou sees breaks and ruptures, between law and ideas traditionally extrinsic to the realm of the juridical (grace, faith, love, etc.). But both apprehend a political significance of Paul to juridical thought within late modernity (postmodern and post-secular). I analyze their work, therefore, for its relevance to legal theory.

The Fake Revolution: Understanding Legal Realism, Eric A. Engle

Eric A. Engle

Abstract: Legal interpretation in the United States changed dramatically between 1930 and 1950. The Great Depression and World War II unleashed radical critique (particularly prior to the war). Legal realism proposed radical new methods of legal interpretation to try to meet the challenges of global depression and global war. The new legal methods proposed by realism at first seemed to indicate a new legal order. In fact, they only preserved the old order, protecting it from fundamental change. Thus, the same problem, cyclical economic downturn triggering war for resources and market share recurred in Vietnam. Just as the depression and …

The Rule Of Law, Democracy, And International Law - Learning From The Us Experience, Gianluigi Palombella

Gianluigi Palombella

The general issue addressed in this paper is the relation between the rule of law as a matter of national law, and as a matter of international law. Different institutional conceptions of this relationship give rise to different attitudes towards international law. Nonetheless, questions arise that cast doubt on age-old tenets of certain Western countries concerning the radical separability between the rule of law within the domestic system and in the international realm. The article will start considering some recent developments in the United States' treatment of alien detainees. Then it shall address the relation between domestic constitutions and international …

"A Perfect Copy": Indian Culture And Tribal Law, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

A critical area of American Indian law is the resurgence, restoration, and development of tribal law in Indian Country. Some tribal law is borrowed or transplanted, while other tribal law is based on custom and tradition, but the ultimate purpose of developing a body of law that parallels Anglo-American law is the preservation of American Indian culture. Leech Lake Ojibwe David Treuer’s recent book of literary criticism, Native American Literature: A User’s Guide, offers a startling premise that reaches far beyond literature – American Indian literature that borrows from Anglo-American literary traditions is nothing more than a “copy” of Indian …

Globalization In Comparative Perspective: A New Approach To Comparative Law And Legal Thought, Tamara Lothian, Katharina Pistor

Tamara Lothian

No abstract provided.

The Alien Tort Statute And The Torture Victims' Protection Act: Jurisdictional Foundations And Procedural Obstacles, Eric A. Engle

Eric A. Engle

Outlines the jurisdictional and procedural obstacles to alien tort claims and claims under the torture victims's protection act and presents solutions to them.