Law Commons^™

Comment On The Cfpb's Policy On No-Action Letters, Jeffrey Lederman, K. Sabeel Rahman, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

A No-Action Letter reduces uncertainty for Businesses that are attempting to bring legitimate and innovative Products to market. Businesses will rely on these letters and shape their behavior based on them.

At the same time, issuing a No-Action Letter risks encouraging the development of abusive Products if granted with insufficient analysis. Perhaps as importantly, but not as obviously, failing to issue a No-Action Letter at all can also damage consumers by failing to incentivize the development of innovative Products that help consumers. The goal of the Policy should be to balance the promotion of innovation with consumer protection.

Reflections On The Korean Jury Trial, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Korea's experience with its new jury system offers many lessons for those interested in juries and jury reform worldwide. Aiming for a unique jury system that was ideally suited to Korean citizens and their legal system, those who crafted Korea's jury incorporated elements of both classic jury systems and mixed tribunals. Initially, the jury deliberates on guilt independently of the judge, but the procedure includes optional as well as mandatory opportunities for the presiding judge to advise the jury during its deliberation. The Korean jury delivers an advisory rather than binding jury verdict. These and other features of the Korean …

A Tale Of Two (And Possibly Three) Atkins: Intellectual Disability And Capital Punishment Twelve Years After The Supreme Court's Creation Of A Categorical Bar, John H. Blume, Sheri Lynn Johnson, Paul Marcus, Emily C. Paavola

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article examines empirically the capital cases decided by the lower courts since the United States Supreme Court created the categorical ban against the execution of persons with intellectual disability twelve years ago in the Atkins decision.

Fast-Food Workers Fight For A Raise And Create A Movement, Angela B. Cornell

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Unexonerated: Factually Innocent Defendants Who Plead Guilty, John H. Blume, Rebecca K. Helm

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

The First Amendment In The Public School Classroom: A Cognitive Theory Approach, Rosina E. Mummolo

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Finding Order In The Morass: The Three Real Justifications For Piercing The Corporate Veil, Jonathan Macey, Joshua Mitts

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Text And Context: Contract Interpretation As Contract Design, Ronald J. Gilson, Charles F. Sabel, Robert E. Scott

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Plaintiphobia In The Supreme Court, Theodore Eisenberg, Kevin M. Clermont

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why Salinas V. Texas Blurs The Line Between Voluntary Interviews And Custodial Interrogations, Brian Donovan

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Response: Who Should Be Providing Mortgage Credit To American Households?, David Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Who should be providing mortgage credit to American households? Given that the residential mortgage market is a ten-trillion-dollar one, the answer we come up with had better be right, or we may suffer another brutal financial crisis sooner than we would like. Indeed, the stakes are as high as they were in the Great Depression when the foundation of our current system was first laid down. Unfortunately, the housing finance experts of the 1930s seemed to have a greater clarity of purpose when designing their housing finance system. Part of the problem today is that debates over the housing finance …

Comment On Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Proposed Rulemaking, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Comment On The Fhfa's Small Multifamily Subgoal, David J. Reiss, Jeffrey Lederman

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

As the FHFA sets the housing goals for 2015-2017, it should focus on maximizing the creation and preservation of affordable housing. Less efficient proposed subgoals should be rejected unless the FHFA has explicitly identified a compelling rationale to adopt them. The FHFA has not identified one in the case of the proposed small multifamily subgoal. Thus, it should be withdrawn.

The Fhfa's Proposed Single Security Structure, David J. Reiss

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has posted a Request for Input on “the proposed structure for a Single Security that would be issued and guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.” The FHFA states it is most concerned with achieving “maximum secondary market liquidity” (Request for Input, at 8)

I am skeptical about the reasons for this move to a Single Security and whether it will achieve maximum liquidity. Moreover, it is unclear to me that this move reflects an urgent need for the FHFA, the two companies, originating lenders or borrowers. While I have no doubt that it …

Precedent In Contract Cases And The Importance(?) Of The Whole Story, Robert A. Hillman

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

I am honored to contribute to this symposium in honor of Bill Whitford. I have been an admirer of Bill's work for the past 39 years, which encompasses my entire teaching career. Bill's scholarship on contracts and consumer law in his law review articles and in his casebook, Contracts: Law in Action, now in its third edition with Macaulay, Braucher, and Kidwell, confirms the importance of examining the non-legal forces at work in exchange transactions, the sometimes tenuous relationship between contract rules and legal decisions, the limitations of legal opinions, and the value of focusing on the relationship of contracting …

Consuming Identities: Law, School Lunches, And What It Means To Be American, Melissa Mortazavi

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Testing Solutions For Adult Film Performers, Zachary R. Bergman

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

The Uprooting Of The American Dream: The Diminished And Deferred Rights Of The U.S. Citizen Child In The Immigration Context, Joanne Joseph

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Health Law As Social Justice, Lindsay F. Wiley

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Chartering A New Course In Statutory Interpretation: A Commentary On Richard Ekins' The Nature Of Legislative Intent, Donald L. Drakeman

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Neither Friend Nor Follower: Ethical Boundaries On The Lawyer's Use Of Social Media, Robert Keeling, Tami Weerasingha-Cote, John Paul Schnapper-Casteras

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

The Limits Of Private Ordering Within Modern Financial Markets, Dan Awrey

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

From standardized contracts for loans, repurchase agreements, and derivatives, to stock exchanges and alternative trading platforms, to benchmark interest and foreign exchange rates, private market structures play a number of important roles within modern financial markets. These market structures hold out a number of significant benefits. Specifically, by harnessing the powerful incentives of market participants, these market structures can help lower information, agency, coordination, and other transaction costs, enhance the process of price discovery, and promote greater market liquidity. Simultaneously, however, successful market structures are the source of significant and often overlooked market distortions. These distortions--or limits of private ordering--stem …

Democratic Deliberation In The Wild: The Mcgill Online Design Studio And The Regulationroom Project, Cynthia R. Farina, Hoi Kong, Cheryl Blake, Mary J. Newhart, Nik Luka

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Although there is no single unified conception of deliberative democracy, the generally accepted core thesis is that democratic legitimacy comes from authentic deliberation on the part of those affected by a collective decision. This deliberation must occur under conditions of equality, broadmindedness, reasonableness, and inclusion. In exercises such as National Issue forums, citizen juries, and consensus conferences, deliberative practitioners have shown that careful attention to process design can enable ordinary citizens to engage in meaningful deliberation about difficult public policy issues. Typically, however, these are closed exercises-that is, they involve a limited number of participants, often selected to achieve a …

Anarchy, Status Updates, And Utopia, James Grimmelmann

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Social software has a power problem. Actually, it has two. The first is technical. Unlike the rule of law, the rule of software is simple and brutal: whoever controls the software makes the rules. And if power corrupts, then automatic power corrupts automatically. Facebook can drop you down the memory hole; Paypal can garnish your pay. These sovereigns of software have absolute and dictatorial control over their domains.

Is it possible to create online spaces without technical power? It is not, because of social software’s second power problem. Behind technical power there is also social power. Whenever people come together …

Qualified Immunity For Civil Rights Violations: Refining The Standard , John D. Kirby

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Chastain V. Sunquist: A Narrow Reading Of The Doctrine Of Legislative Immunity , Richard D. Batchelder Jr.

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Drafting Chapter 2 Of The Ali's Employment Law Restatement In The Shadow Of Contract Law: An Assessment Of The Challenges And Results, Robert A. Hillman

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

The American Law Institute (ALI) has just completed the Restatement of the Law Third, Employment Law. Chapter 2 is entitled "Employment Contracts: Termination." As the name suggests, the Chapter focuses on the law's difficult challenge of applying contract law to distinguish lawful terminations of employees from wrongful ones. The question is especially problematic because, on the one hand, employment law's long-existing default rule allows employers to terminate employees "at will" and without cause. Advocates of the at-will doctrine present several policies to support it, including freedom of contract and efficiency. On the other hand, employers seek to attract talented employees …

New Territorialism And Old Territorialism, Jenny S. Martinez

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Behind The Mirage In The Desert - Customary Land Rights And The Legal Framework Of Land Grabs, Fatmata S. Kabia

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

China's Financial System And The Law, Franklin Allen, Jun Qian

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.