Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
-
- Intellectual Property Law (5)
- Legal Education (4)
- Antitrust and Trade Regulation (3)
- Contracts (3)
- Law and Economics (3)
-
- Communications Law (2)
- Civil Procedure (1)
- Consumer Protection Law (1)
- Criminal Procedure (1)
- Estates and Trusts (1)
- First Amendment (1)
- Law and Psychology (1)
- Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility (1)
- Legal History (1)
- Privacy Law (1)
- Public Law and Legal Theory (1)
- Taxation-Federal Estate and Gift (1)
- Keyword
-
- Intellectual Property Law (4)
- Legal Education (4)
- Antitrust and Trade Regulation (3)
- Contracts (3)
- Copyright (3)
-
- Economics (3)
- Antitrust (2)
- Contract law (2)
- Copyright law (2)
- Efficiency (2)
- Ethics (2)
- Law faculty (2)
- Scholarship (2)
- Tenure (2)
- Allocative (1)
- Altruism (1)
- Antitrust policy (1)
- Assent (1)
- Authors (1)
- Behavior (1)
- Bilateral monopoly (1)
- Brands (1)
- Collusion (1)
- Communications Law (1)
- Costs (1)
- Defect (1)
- Deprivation (1)
- Disclosure (1)
- Distributive (1)
- Dynasty trust (1)
- File Type
Articles 1 - 19 of 19
Full-Text Articles in Law
A Malthusian Analysis Of The So-Called Dynasty Trust, William J. Turnier, Jeffrey L. Harrison
A Malthusian Analysis Of The So-Called Dynasty Trust, William J. Turnier, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
Select financial institutions and members of the Bar have seized upon the presence of the limited exemption from the generation skipping transfer tax provided under the Internal Revenue Code to promote so-called dynasty trusts as a means whereby individuals can build dynastic wealth for a family forever free from transfer taxes. To realize such benefits, state law that does not impose the Rule Against Perpetuities must govern the trust. The promise of dynastic wealth is unlikely to be realized due to several factors. Administrative and tax costs are likely to reduce the yield on such trusts to a level where …
Socioeconomics: Choice And Challenges, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Socioeconomics: Choice And Challenges, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
The crucial link between rules and policy is choice. Rules require people to make choices that further policy. In addition, a single rule that is claimed to advance a specific policy involves a behavioral assumption of one kind or another. In this Article, the Author offers some closing observations with regard to the collection of articles from the Teaching Law & Socioeconomics Symposium. The Author's comments fall into two categories. First, he discusses an important theme that he has found throughout the articles: the importance of linking policy with the rules that further those policies by examining the determinants of …
Post-Tenure Scholarship And Its Implications, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Post-Tenure Scholarship And Its Implications, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
Periodically in the popular press and even in academic circles, the question arises of whether professors should be granted lifetime employment contracts based on a sample of four to six years of a probationary period. Further clouding the issue of how easily tenure should be granted is the question of what determines tenure. Is it a reward for past efforts or based on a forecast of future productivity? These concepts may seem like the same thing but they are not. Accordingly, the huge commitment of resources that occurs when tenure is granted paired with the Author's observations of pre-tenure scholars …
A Positive Externalities Approach To Copyright Law: Theory And Application, Jeffrey L. Harrison
A Positive Externalities Approach To Copyright Law: Theory And Application, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
The basic goal of copyright law is, at a general level, fairly well understood, yet the law itself seems untethered to any consistent analytical approach designed to achieve that goal. This Article has two goals. The first is to explain in some detail what copyright law might look like if it reflected economic reasoning. The second is to put to the test the question of whether copyright law is as far out of sync with economic guidelines as White-Smith Music and Eldred suggest. In order to understand the economic approach and the inconsistency of copyright law, as well as the …
Faculty Ethics In Law School: Shirking, Capture, And "The Matrix", Jeffrey L. Harrison
Faculty Ethics In Law School: Shirking, Capture, And "The Matrix", Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
The primary focus of this essay is the ethical dimension of the decisions faculty governance requires law professors to make. This essay is devoted to the proposition that conditions are ideal for most law schools to be governed for the benefit of the faculty at the expense of the welfare of students and others (stakeholders) who expect to be served by the law school. This section also suggests that faculty shirking, if it occurs, stems primarily from a lack of respect for those whom the law school serves. Section II addresses the second step. Having described shirking and capture in …
The Influence Of Law And Economics Scholarship On Contract Law: Impressions Twenty-Five Years Later, Jeffrey L. Harrison
The Influence Of Law And Economics Scholarship On Contract Law: Impressions Twenty-Five Years Later, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
This is an update of a work done in conjunction with a contract law conference 25 years ago. My specific assignment was to assess the impact of law and economics scholarship on contract law. I responded by conducting an empirical study of judicial citations to selected law and economics works in order to ascertain the extent to which judges seemed to be relying on the teachings of law and economics. In effect, the effort was part of a general question that concerns all law professors: Does scholarship matter? I have repeated the study with respect to the scholarship sample selected …
An Instrumental Theory Of Market Power And Antitrust Policy, Jeffrey L. Harrison
An Instrumental Theory Of Market Power And Antitrust Policy, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
Since Judge Hand's pivotal opinion in United States v. Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), the possession of monopoly power has been treated as presumptively legal. The focus of the antitrust laws since then has been on defining when that power is abused. This approach to market power cannot be squared with the prevailing view that antitrust law is grounded in economic theory. To understand why, one must see market power for what it is: the ability of a firm to raise prices above competitive levels and to profitably keep them there. Seen in this light, market power is indistinguishable from …
Piercing Pareto Superiority: Real People And The Obligations Of Legal Theory, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Piercing Pareto Superiority: Real People And The Obligations Of Legal Theory, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
This essay has two purposes. The first is to demonstrate that the appearance of mutual assent and Pareto Superiority are weak bases for enforcing agreements. Pareto Superiority, as unassailable as it may seem, is paper-thin and frequently based on illusions and a normatively meaningless assessment of what it means to be better off. The approach here is one of piercing Pareto Superiority in order to examine the human factors that may determine whether an agreement occurs and its distributive consequences. Relative deprivation is the instrument used. The second purpose is to suggest that it is the obligation of legal theory …
The Messenger Model: Don't Ask, Don't Tell?, Jeffrey L. Harrison
The Messenger Model: Don't Ask, Don't Tell?, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
This article makes the case that the messenger model is either tacitly or inadvertently a "don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to competitor cooperation. In addition, this article presents an economic framework that explains how such a policy may benefit health care consumers. Finally, it is suggested that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy has created an area of per se legality that precludes an examination designed to distinguish consumer-benefiting practices from those that provide no benefit.
Privacy, Copyright, And Letters, Jeffrey Harrison
Privacy, Copyright, And Letters, Jeffrey Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
The focus of this Essay is the privacy of letters – the written manifestations of thoughts, intents, and the recollections of facts directed to a person or a narrowly defined audience. The importance of this privacy is captured in the novel Atonement by Ian McEwan and in the film based on the novel. The fulcrum from which the action springs is a letter that is read by someone to whom it was not addressed. The result is literally life-changing, even disastrous for a number of characters. One person dies, two people seemingly meant for each other are torn apart and …
Rationalizing The Allocative/Distributive Relationship In Copyright, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Rationalizing The Allocative/Distributive Relationship In Copyright, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
It is the position of this article that the benefits of a regime of copyright law can be maintained while shedding at least some of the wastefulness of monopolistic competition. This article cuts against the grain of modem copyright law by making the case that a more substantive approach to the issues of creativity and authorship would lower costs, streamline the system, and raise the level of socially beneficial creativity. In Section II, I will elaborate on the allocative/distributive distinction and their interconnectedness. In Section III, I will focus on an enhanced creativity standard and argue that an elevated standard …
Egoism, Altruism, And Market Illusions: The Limits Of Law And Economics, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Egoism, Altruism, And Market Illusions: The Limits Of Law And Economics, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
The primary objective of this Article is to question assumptions in order to show that the conventional economic approach to law and public policy has limited value. The arguments are founded on empirical evidence drawn from many fields of study. An underlying theme is that the current application of economic analysis to law should be regarded as an interim step toward the integration of law with the behavioral, natural, and social sciences. Part I describes the two forms of the self-interest assumption more completely. This examination reveals that economics and the separate study of law and economics are caught in …
Reexamining The Role Of Illinois Brick In Modern Antitrust Standing Analysis, Jeffrey Harrison
Reexamining The Role Of Illinois Brick In Modern Antitrust Standing Analysis, Jeffrey Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
This Article argues that it is time for either the Court or Congress to reexamine Illinois Brick for the purpose of reconciling it with more general principles of antitrust standing. The overall goals of such an endeavor would be to ensure consistent treatment of similarly situated potential plaintiffs and to rationalize private antitrust enforcement.
Reconceptualizing The Expert Witness: Social Costs, Current Controls And Proposed Responses, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Reconceptualizing The Expert Witness: Social Costs, Current Controls And Proposed Responses, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
Unlike virtually any other business, expert witnesses are not typically held accountable in either tort or contract law for their commercial activities. This means that many are inclined to deliver what the market demands - partisan, biased, or plainly dishonest testimony - without concern for the costs this testimony may impose on others. This immunity from the internalization of the social cost of their testimony is hard to reconcile with any moral or economic standard. Harsh judicial reactions to some experts and a slight increase in expert witness liability may signal that a change in the privileged status of experts …
Deconstructing And Reconstructing Hot News: Toward A Functional Approach, Jeffrey L. Harrison, Robyn Shelton
Deconstructing And Reconstructing Hot News: Toward A Functional Approach, Jeffrey L. Harrison, Robyn Shelton
Jeffrey L Harrison
Hot news is factual, time-sensitive information ranging from baseball scores to the outbreak of war. In recent years, hot news has found its own niche among legal scholars and courts. When deconstructed, though, hot news is simply information and, like most information, it has a public good character. The problem ultimately is that news is non-excludable and non-rivalrous – discoverers or creators of hot news cannot exclude others from using the news and hot news is not destroyed when used. This means it may be produced at levels that are less than optimal.The critical element in hot news is lead …
Teaching Contracts From A Socioeconomic Perspective, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Teaching Contracts From A Socioeconomic Perspective, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
This essay begins with a brief discussion of what socioeconomics is. In this section I also address whether one must be well versed in conventional economics in order to apply a socioeconomic perspective. I then discuss the basic themes that are present throughout my contracts class that stem from my interest in socioeconomics. Underlying these themes is the more fundamental goal of devising methodologies for assessing the quality of contracts. By quality, I mean something more and perhaps more subtle than whether the parties have conformed to all the formal requirements. Instead, I encourage students to examine whether all of …
Rethinking Mistake And Nondisclosure In Contract Law, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Rethinking Mistake And Nondisclosure In Contract Law, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
This Article reconsiders the analysis of the disclosure/nondisclosure issue. Part I of this Article elaborates on the basic model and some of the complexities of identifying the actual impact of nondisclosure. Part II details the social costs of the default nondisclosure rule. In Part III, a case is made that concepts like "mistake" and "defect," both "patent" and "latent," unnecessarily retard allocative efficiency by limiting what must be disclosed. In Part IV, alternatives to the default nondisclosure rule are examined in the context of several cases, some of which have been used to illustrate the virtues of the default rule.
Regulation, Deregulation, And Happiness, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Regulation, Deregulation, And Happiness, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
Happiness, in general, is in many respects the topic du jour. A great deal of theoretical and empirical work has been devoted to dissecting it. Studies of happiness have crossed over to law, and the result is an addition to the long list of the list of “law and” interdisciplinary areas. In fact, in 2010, Eric Posner and Matthew Alder presented an excellent book of readings the title of which is Law and Happiness. Peter Henry Huang has written the definitive survey of law and happiness literature. My own writing has reflected on the promise of happiness research and the …
Trademark Law And Status Signaling: Tattoos For The Privileged, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Trademark Law And Status Signaling: Tattoos For The Privileged, Jeffrey L. Harrison
Jeffrey L Harrison
The motivations for buying a good or service are highly complex. At the most basic level, people buy goods because of what the goods do or because of the aesthetic elements they embody. More technically, buyers derive utility from the "functional" quality of these goods. Another motivation relates to what the goods "say" about the buyer. Here, the good is a signaling device. Signaling is not new, of course, and can indicate anything from social class to political leanings. This Essay addresses the issue of whether it should be public policy to subsidize this type of person-to-person status signaling. This …