Law Commons^™

The Erie Doctrine In Equity, John T. Cross

John Cross

No abstract provided.

Climate Change: The Equity Problem, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Brooke A. Ackerly

Michael Vandenbergh

A substantial proportion of the United States population is at or below the poverty level, yet many of the greenhouse gas emissions reduction measures proposed or adopted to date will increase the costs of energy, motor vehicles, and other consumer goods. This essay suggests that although scholarship and policymaking to date have focused on the disproportionate impact of these increased costs on the low-income population, the costs will have two important additional effects. First, the anticipated costs will generate political opposition from social justice groups, reducing the likelihood that aggressive measures will be adopted. Second, to the extent aggressive measures …

Can Clean Energy Policy Promote Environmental, Economic, And Social Sustainability?, Felix Mormann

Felix Mormann

Two and a half decades of clean energy policymaking focused primarily on environmental and economic sustainability have yielded considerable environmental and economic benefits. Along the way, however, other policy considerations, such as the social sustainability of the transition to a cleaner, renewably fueled energy economy, have gone largely overlooked. As clean energy technologies continue to gain ever-greater traction in the United States and global energy economies, the social impacts of their enabling policies become more and more salient. Already, ratepayers, taxpayers, and other stakeholders who fear being left behind by the clean energy transition question the “fairness” of today’s renewable …

Comparative Cannabis: Approaches To Marijuana Agriculture Regulation In The United States And Canada, Ryan Stoa

Ryan B. Stoa

The United States and Canada may be friends and allies, but the two countries' approaches to the regulation of marijuana agriculture have not evolved in tandem. On the contrary, their respective paths toward legalization and regulation of marijuana agriculture are remarkably divergent. In the United States, where marijuana remains a federally prohibited and tightly-controlled substance, legalization and regulation have remained the province of state legislatures and their administrative agencies for decades. In Canada, a succession of court cases paving the way toward medicinal marijuana use has prompted the federal government to develop a national framework committed to "legalize, regulate, and …

Appraising 9/11: 'Sacred' Value And Heritage In Neoliberal Times, Mateo Taussig-Rubbo

Mateo Taussig-Rubbo

On September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 — one of the four airplanes hijacked that day — crashed into a vacant parcel of land in rural Pennsylvania, killing all on board. For many, including family members of those killed in the attack and the Park Service that now manages the national memorial at the site, the former strip mine was transformed into ‘sacred’ ground. Unable to settle on a price with the landowner, in 2009 the government took the property through eminent domain. Focusing on the ongoing effort in United States of America v. 275.81 Acres of Land to …

Paper Dragon Thieves, J.S. Nelson

J.S. Nelson

The Bank Manager Always Rings Twice: Stereotyping In Equity After Garcia, Richard Haigh, Samantha Hepburn

Richard Haigh

Stereotyping is an inevitable part of human interaction. Everyone is judged, to some extent, according to individual perception, with reference to such factors as physical appearance, social position, marital status, language facility and ethnicity. It is not possible to eradicate stereotyping because it is a natural, automatic - sometimes instinctive - human response. In a legal context, however, there is a need for some mechanisms to control the degree to which stereotyping influences judicial decision-making so as to ensure that justice is administered in as neutral and impartial a manner as possible. Whether it be in the determination of facts …

The Corporate Shell Game, J.S. Nelson

J.S. Nelson

Scholars’ Supreme Court Amicus Brief In Support Of Neither Party: Petrella V. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Douglas Laycock, Mark P. Gergen, Doug Rendleman

Mark P. Gergen

The appeal to the Supreme Court in Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer deals with the equitable defense of plaintiff’s laches before suing for copyright infringement. Laches is unreasonable and prejudicial delay. MGM allegedly violated plaintiff’s copyright repeatedly over a period of many years; the statute of limitations has not run on the most recent violations. Plaintiff argues that laches should never apply to a cause of action with a statute of limitations. Defendant argues that laches should bar all relief if defendant relied on plaintiff’s failure to sue earlier, without having to match defendant’s reliance to the remedies plaintiff seeks. This scholars’ …

Deadly Waiting Game: An Environmental Justice Framework For Examining Natural And Man-Made Disasters Beyond Hurricane Katrina [Abstract], Robert D. Bullard

Robert D Bullard

Presenter: Robert D. Bullard, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Clark Atlanta University 1 page.

Remedies: A Guide For The Perplexed, Doug Rendleman

Doug Rendleman

Remedies is one of a law student’s most practical courses. Remedies students and their professors learn to work with their eyes on the question at the end of litigation: what can the court do for the successful plaintiff? Remedies develops students’ professional identities and broadens their professional horizons by reorganizing their analysis of procedure, torts, contracts, and property around choosing and measuring relief - compensatory damages, punitive damages, an injunction, specific performance, disgorgement, and restitution. This article discusses the law-school course in Remedies - the content of the Remedies course, the Remedies classroom experience, and Remedies outside the classroom through …

Faculty Salary Compression: A Model For Response, Elizabeth Reilly, Chand Midha, Thomas Calderon, Richard Steiner

Thomas Calderon

This paper describes a process used by The University of Akron to address salary compression. The process allocates salary adjustment resources to disciplines based on relative salary ratios derived from benchmarks. Amounts earmarked for specific disciplines are then distributed to departments for allocation to individual faculty based on merit. The process also invokes concepts of fairness and equity, and includes a component distributed to productive faculty members based on rank and experience. Outcomes, challenges, and implications of the process are examined.

Corporate Natural Law: The Dominance Of Justice In A Codified World, Stuart R. Cohn

Stuart R. Cohn

One tends to think of corporate law as quite formalistic, bound by corporate statutes, articles of incorporation, bylaws, and customary rules of commercial conduct. While many aspects of corporate law are indeed so rule-bound, the truth is that the major issues facing directors, officers and shareholders, ranging from fiduciary duties to minority rights, are generally determined by much more amorphous principles of equity. Hence the notion of “corporate natural law.”

Development Through Sport: Fans And Critics, Danielle Ireland-Piper

Danielle Ireland-Piper

Sport is used as a tool for development, dispute resolution and reconciliation. The use of sport to meet development goals such as education, health and gender equity has grown into a widely recognised form of development assistance, commonly known as ‘Development through Sport’ (DTS). Further, the right to physical activity is a substantive human right. Nonetheless, the DTS movement has both its fans and critics. This article analyses four common concerns; namely, that DTS is racially constructed, lacking in credibility, poorly coordinated and inadequately evaluated. This article agrees that the DTS movement should improve the delivery and implementation of development …

Vioces Of Women, Professor Vibhuti Patel

Professor Vibhuti Patel

Journey towards Gender Equality by Vibhuti Patel Professor and Head, Departmentof Economics, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai We can observe a phenomenal growth in the number of groups and individuals working towards gender equality during the last three decades. In this current phase of the movement, thousands of grassroots women have taken leadership of the movement in their areas for gender equality. Many of the issues faced by women today have their traces in the past. The rich history of women’s movement can provide an insight into many of the contemporary problems. The successful strategies for the future cannot be built …

Restitution And Equity: An Analysis Of The Principle Of Unjust Enrichment, Emily Sherwin

Emily L Sherwin

No abstract provided.

Opportunism As Crucible: Rethinking Equity In View Of Reliance Interests And Legal Evolution, John Ehrett

John Ehrett

This Article offers and defends a nuanced definition of opportunism in the context of legal decision-making by differentiating between opportunism in the broad sense and the particularized phenomenon of cognizably malignant opportunism. It subsequently proceeds by developing a normative critique of the case for broader invocation of counter opportunistic equitable remedies, alongside a defense of the reliance and gap-filling functions performed by opportunistic actors. Centrally, I challenge the suggestion that the existence of opportunism in private law warrants a revival of the doctrines of ex post equity. I argue instead that opportunism serves an important structural purpose where the evolution …

An Essay On Christian Constitutionalism: Building In The Divine Style, For The Common Good(S), Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Patrick McKinley Brennan

Theocracy is a matter of growing global concern and therefore of renewed academic interest. This paper answers the following question: "What would a Christian constitution, in a predominantly Christian nation, look like?" The paper was prepared for presentation as the Clark Lecture at Rutgers School of Law (Camden), where papers answering the same question with respect to Jewish and Islamic constitutions and cultures, respectively, were also presented. A Christian constitution would not have as its aim the comparatively anodyne -- and ultimately futile -- business of introducing more "Judeo-Christian values" into the life of the typical nation state. The paper …

Scholars’ Supreme Court Amicus Brief In Support Of Neither Party: Petrella V. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Douglas Laycock, Mark P. Gergen, Doug Rendleman

Doug Rendleman

The appeal to the Supreme Court in Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer deals with the equitable defense of plaintiff’s laches before suing for copyright infringement. Laches is unreasonable and prejudicial delay. MGM allegedly violated plaintiff’s copyright repeatedly over a period of many years; the statute of limitations has not run on the most recent violations. Plaintiff argues that laches should never apply to a cause of action with a statute of limitations. Defendant argues that laches should bar all relief if defendant relied on plaintiff’s failure to sue earlier, without having to match defendant’s reliance to the remedies plaintiff seeks. This scholars’ …

Will The “Nexus” Requirement Of Apple V. Samsung Preclude Injunctive Relief In The Majority Of Patent Cases?: Echoes Of The Entire Market Value Rule, Daniel Harris Brean

Daniel Harris Brean

In Defense Of Implied Injunctive Relief In Constitutional Cases, John F. Preis

John F. Preis

Environmental Justice And International Environmental Law, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez

Environmental justice lies at the heart of many environmental disputes between the global North and the global South as well as grassroots environmental struggles within nations. However, the discourse of international environmental law is often ahistorical and technocratic. It neither educates the North about its inordinate contribution to global environmental problems nor provides an adequate response to the concerns of nations and communities disproportionately burdened by poverty and environmental degradation. This article examines some of the root causes of environmental injustice among and within nations from the colonial period to the present, and discusses several strategies that can be used …

Time To Tame The "Wild Beast" In The Wild West? The Regulation Of Disclosure Of Equity Derivatives In New Zealand, Nan Seuffert

Professor Nan Seuffert

The causes of the recent global financial crisis (GFC) have been a topic of intense debate, with commentators and others pointing to the enormous growth in, and relative lack of regulation of, derivative financial products, including over-the-counter equity swap agreements, as a contributing factor. In New Zealand the Court of Appeal held in Ithaca (Custodians) Ltd v Perry Corp [2004] 1 NZLR 731 that such swap agreements referencing substantial holdings in underlying securities of a particular company did not require disclosure under the substantial security holder disclosure provisions. This article analyses that decision in the context of the GFC and …

Taming The Wild Beast: The Regulation Of Equity Derivatives In New Zealand, Nan Seuffert

Professor Nan Seuffert

The causes of the recent global financial crisis (GFC) have been the topic of intense debate; the contribution of the enormous growth in, and lack of regulation of, derivative financial products, including over-the-counter swaps has been one of the epicentres of that debate. The regulation of derivatives was a topic of some controversy internationally prior to the GFC; derivatives were sometimes referred to as the "wild beasts" of finance markets and some commentators highlighted the systemic risks posed to national economies due to the lack of regulation of these markets. In New Zealand the issue of the regulation of the …

How Equity Conquered Common Law: The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure In Historical Perspective, Stephen Subrin

Stephen N. Subrin

Part I of this Article first looks at the major components of common law and equity procedure, and then examines the domination of an equity mentality in the Federal Rules. Part II explores the American procedural experience before the twentieth century, and demonstrates how David Dudley Field and his 1848 New York Code were tied to a common law procedural outlook. Part III concentrates on Roscoe Pound (who initiated the twentieth century procedural reform effort), Thomas Shelton (who led the American Bar Association Enabling Act Movement), and Charles Clark (the major draftsman of the Federal Rules). Through understanding these men …

Goodbye To The Sat, Lsat? Hello To Equity By Lottery? Evaluating Lani Guinier’S Plan For Ending Race Consciousness, Dan Subotnik

Dan Subotnik

No abstract provided.

Transplantation Of Fiduciary Duties Into Civil Law Jurisdiction: Experiences From Taiwan, Chao-Hung Christopher Chen

Christopher Chao-hung CHEN

No abstract provided.

The Private Sector’S Pivotal Role In Combating Human Trafficking, Jonathan Todres

Jonathan Todres

Human trafficking is big business, with industry estimates running in the billions of dollars annually. Much of that profit accrues to traffickers, illegal profiteers, and organized crime groups. However, the private sector-including legitimate businesses and industries-also reaps economic benefits, directly and indirectly, from the trafficking and related exploitation of persons. Despite these economic realities, the dominant approach to combating human trafficking has been to rely almost exclusively on governments and social services organizations to do the job. Little has been asked of the private sector. Two important bills-one adopted by the State of California and the otherintroduced in the U.S. …

Statutory Violations And Equitable Discretion, Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Zygmunt J.B. Plater

Equity, that ancient and amiable dowager of Anglo-American law, often appears to have ambled through the twentieth century free of the stress and strains that have belabored the common law. A closer analysis of the practice and logic of equity in the modern statutory context, however, undercuts that appearance of immutability. The resulting recasting of equitable doctrines has important implications, not only for equity theory, but also for contemporary legal analysis of administrative law, the relationship between courts and legislatures, and modern pluralistic democracy.

Activist Distressed Debtholders: The New Barbarians At The Gate?, Michelle M. Harner

Michelle M. Harner

The term “corporate raiders” previously struck fear in the hearts of corporate boards and management teams. It generally refers to investors who target undervalued, cash-flush or mismanaged companies and initiate a hostile takeover of the company. Corporate raiders earned their name in part because of their focus on value extraction, which could entail dismantling a company and selling off its crown jewels. Today, the term often conjures up images of Michael Milken, Henry Kravis or the movie character Gordon Gekko, but the alleged threat posed to companies by corporate raiders is less prevalent—at least with respect to the traditional use …