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Full-Text Articles in Law

Religion, Democracy, And Autonomy: A Political Parable, Steven D. Smith Dec 2011

Religion, Democracy, And Autonomy: A Political Parable, Steven D. Smith

Steven D. Smith

No abstract provided.


Law, Media, & Environmental Policy: A Fundamental Linkage In Sustainable Democratic Governance, Zygmunt J.B. Plater Oct 2011

Law, Media, & Environmental Policy: A Fundamental Linkage In Sustainable Democratic Governance, Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Zygmunt J.B. Plater

The functional linkages between law and media have long been signficant in shaping American democratic governance. Over the past thirty-five years, environmental analysis has similarly become essential to shaping international and domestic governmental policy. Environmentalism—focusing as it does on realistic interconnected accounting of the full potential negative consequences as well as benefits of proposed actions, policies, and programs, over the long term as well as the short term, with careful consideration of all realistic alternatives— provides a legal perspective important for societal sustainability. Because environmental values and norms are often in tension with established industrial interests that resist public interest …


Rethinking The Legal Reform Agenda: Will Raising The Standards For Bar Admission Promote Or Undermine Democracy, Human Rights, And Rule Of Law?, Samuel J. Levine, Russell G. Pearce May 2011

Rethinking The Legal Reform Agenda: Will Raising The Standards For Bar Admission Promote Or Undermine Democracy, Human Rights, And Rule Of Law?, Samuel J. Levine, Russell G. Pearce

Samuel J. Levine

This Article offers a critique of, and alternative to, the American Bar Association's efforts, supported by the United States government, to promote the requirement of a college education in law as prerequisite for becoming a lawyer in developing countries. Using the examples of China, which currently has a far more open system for becoming a legal services provider, and South Africa, which already has a system consistent with the goals of the ABA, the Article argues that more stringent education requirements actually undermine democracy, human rights, and rule of law. In China, where the most significant advocates for human rights …


Rehumanizing Law: A Theory Of Law And Democracy (Preface & Introduction), Randy D. Gordon Apr 2011

Rehumanizing Law: A Theory Of Law And Democracy (Preface & Introduction), Randy D. Gordon

Randy D. Gordon

When we think of “law” in a popular sense, we think of “rules” or the institutions that make or enforce those rules (legislatures, the police, courts, etc.). But where do these rules come from and what makes them legal rules? Put differently, does a rule’s status as a legal rule mean that it is sealed off from the influence of other systems of human knowledge and inquiry (like the humanities)? There are many possible answers to these questions, but the one that I am concerned to examine in my work arises from narrative, which is one of the most fundamental …


Rethinking The Legal Reform Agenda: Will Raising The Standards For Bar Admission Promote Or Undermine Democracy, Human Rights, And Rule Of Law?, Samuel J. Levine, Russell G. Pearce Jan 2011

Rethinking The Legal Reform Agenda: Will Raising The Standards For Bar Admission Promote Or Undermine Democracy, Human Rights, And Rule Of Law?, Samuel J. Levine, Russell G. Pearce

Samuel J. Levine

This Article offers a critique of, and alternative to, the American Bar Association's efforts, supported by the United States government, to promote the requirement of a college education in law as prerequisite for becoming a lawyer in developing countries. Using the examples of China, which currently has a far more open system for becoming a legal services provider, and South Africa, which already has a system consistent with the goals of the ABA, the Article argues that more stringent education requirements actually undermine democracy, human rights, and rule of law. In China, where the most significant advocates for human rights …


Are Catholics Unreliable From A Democratic Point Of View? And What Does It Mean If They Are? Thoughts On The Occasion Of The Sixtieth Anniversary Of Paul Blanshard's American Freedom And Catholic Power, Patrick Brennan Dec 2010

Are Catholics Unreliable From A Democratic Point Of View? And What Does It Mean If They Are? Thoughts On The Occasion Of The Sixtieth Anniversary Of Paul Blanshard's American Freedom And Catholic Power, Patrick Brennan

Patrick McKinley Brennan

From 1949 to 1950, Paul Blanshard’s American Freedom and Catholic Power dominated the New York Times best-seller list for eleven months, having captured the attention of American intelligentsia with its claim that “the Catholic problem is still with us” and its call for the formation of a “resistance movement.” Sixty years later, Blanshard’s bigotry is no longer defended in educated circles. Questions remain, though, concerning why Blanshard’s ideas made progress in some of the smartest American minds and throughout much of the culture. Was Blanshard onto something subversive about Catholics? Are Catholics’ commitments not compatible with the demands of American …


Money And Rights, Deborah Hellman Dec 2010

Money And Rights, Deborah Hellman

Deborah Hellman

This chapter looks at when constitutionally protected rights are interpreted by courts to include a concomitant right to spend money to effectuate the underlying right and when they are not. It concludes that there are two strands in our constitutional law: the Integral Strand, in which a right includes the right to spend money and the Blocked Strand, in which it does not.


Federalism And Political Competition In Emerging Democracies, Jonathan Marshfield Dec 2010

Federalism And Political Competition In Emerging Democracies, Jonathan Marshfield

Jonathan Marshfield

Political competition is essential to the development and maintenance of a healthy and stable democracy. Current scholarship has largely ignored the role that federalism can play in fostering meaningful political competition in emerging democracies. This Article aims to fill this void by developing a theory of political competition within federal systems based on a formal game theory model created by economist and Nobel Laureate Roger B. Myerson. The Article argues that constructive political competition is especially difficult in emerging democracies because social and economic exigencies create strong incentives for new leadership to quash opposition and because first-time voters do not …


Models Of Subnational Constitutionalism, Jonathan Marshfield Dec 2010

Models Of Subnational Constitutionalism, Jonathan Marshfield

Jonathan Marshfield

This article considers an overlooked issue of constitutional design. Some federal systems decentralize law-making and administrative power without allowing subnational governments to adopt their own constitutions that structure or limit subnational power. Other federal systems allow subnational units some discretion in structuring and limiting their powers by adopting subnational constitutions. Although scholars and constitution-makers have developed various theories regarding the utilities of decentralizing law-making and administrative powers, they have not separately considered the utilities or normative justifications for decentralizing constitutional choices. This Article takes up that important but neglected question. The goal is to move towards a systematization and critical …


Money And Rights, Deborah Hellman Dec 2010

Money And Rights, Deborah Hellman

Deborah Hellman

This article looks at when constitutionally protected rights are interpreted by courts to include a concomitant right to spend money to effectuate the underlying right and when they are not. It concludes that there are two strands in our constitutional law: the Integral Strand, in which a right includes the right to spend money and the Blocked Strand, in which it does not.


East Asia’S Engagement With Cosmopolitan Ideals Under Its Trade Treaty Dispute Provisions, Chin Leng Lim Dec 2010

East Asia’S Engagement With Cosmopolitan Ideals Under Its Trade Treaty Dispute Provisions, Chin Leng Lim

Chin Leng Lim

An East Asian view about how trade dispute settlement systems should be designed is slowly emerging. This paper argues that democratically-inspired trade law scholarship and cultural explanations of the international law behaviour of the Southeast and Northeast Asian trading nations have failed to capture or prescribe the actual treaty behaviour of these nations. Instead, such behaviour has resulted in the emergence of two different treaty models for the peaceful settlement of trade disputes. This article traces the practices of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), together with that of China, Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. We find two …


Notas Sobre El Contenido Del Principio De La Democracia, Pablo Marshall Dec 2010

Notas Sobre El Contenido Del Principio De La Democracia, Pablo Marshall

Pablo Marshall

This paper seeks to expose the substantive aspects of the principle of democracy. It focuses, in the important research, inspired by the methodology of Carl Schmitt, that EW Böckenförde been made about the content and scope of the democratic clause in positive constitutional law. To that objective, was make a brief explanation of the role that have democracy in the theory of forms of government. After that was explain the foundations, role and application of the principle of democracy as a constitutional principle recognized in legal system. It ends with a brief application of this theory to the case of …