Law Commons^™

Borders And Boundaries In Markets: A Sociocognitive Approach For Market Definition And Implications For Antitrust, Elizabeth G. Pontikes

University of Chicago Legal Forum

Categorical distinctions are foundational to firm competition and regulation. Yet, market categories are notoriously difficult to define. The question of how to delineate markets is well-worn in the antitrust literature but is now the focus of a growing sociocognitive literature in strategy and organizational sociology.1 Historically, there has been little cross-pollination between these research areas. More integration, however, may be increasingly important in modern markets, where change is rapid, new technologies are key differentiators in many traditional industries, and platform competition is on the rise. In this paper, I introduce recent theoretical and empirical advances in sociocognitive research on categories …

The Neglected Value Of Effective Government, Richard H. Pildes

University of Chicago Legal Forum

Democratic systems inevitably seek to reflect and realize a range of values. But democratic and legal theory in recent decades have given too little attention and weight to the value and importance of delivering effective government. Much of democratic theory and legal scholarship on democracy focuses on values such as political equality, fair representation, democratic deliberation, political participation, and individual rights, among other values. But less weight is given to the capacity of government to deliver effectively on the issues citizens care about most urgently.

Yet a defining feature of—and threat to—democracy in recent years is the perceived failure of …

Cross-Border Influencers: Democracy And Externalities, Saul Levmore

University of Chicago Legal Forum

This Article explores the fact that United States law permits domestic crossborder political influences while restricting foreign interference in elections. It tries to show that the law is inconsistent in trying to balance its faith in democracy (in a given jurisdiction) with its concern for externalities. Laws forbidding all cross-border attempts to influence politics would seem to reflect the view that decision-making processes across a border should be respected rather than subject to interference, assuming that the other jurisdiction is reasonably democratic. The analysis explores, and offers examples of, the interaction between a faith in democracy and the consideration of …

The Border’S Migration, Nicole Hallett

University of Chicago Legal Forum

The border has never played a larger role in the American psyche than it does today, and yet it has never been less legally significant. Today, a noncitizen’s place of residence tells you less about what rights and privileges they enjoy than it ever has in the past. The border has migrated inward, affecting many aspects of non-citizens’ lives in the United States. The divergence between the physical and legal border is no accident. Instead, it is a policy response to the perceived loss of control over the physical border. But the physical border remains porous despite these legal changes. …

Borders That Bend, César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández

University of Chicago Legal Forum

Borders do not exist. They are made and remade. At every step, the law creates, moves, reforms, reproduces, and reinforces the border. Focusing on the boundary that México and the United States share, this essay critiques the U.S. Supreme Court’s privileging of the sovereign prerogative to control access to the nation’s territory. In their efforts to control movement across and near the border, legal doctrine permits Executive officials to deviate from ordinary legal constraints on the use of violence. This creates a modern version of the sovereign that Carl Schmitt described a century ago: extra-constitutional in origin and subject to …

Deploying Trustworthy Ai In The Courtroom: Lessons From Examining Algorithm Bias In Redistricting Ai, Wendy K. Tam Cho, Bruce E. Cain

University of Chicago Legal Forum

Deploying trustworthy AI is an increasingly pressing and common concern. In a court of law, the challenges are exacerbated by the confluence of a general lack of expertise in the judiciary and the rapid speed of technological advancement. We discuss the obstacles to trustworthy AI in the courtroom through a discussion that focuses on the legal landscape surrounding electoral redistricting. We focus on two particular issues, data bias and a lack of domain knowledge, and discuss how they may lead to problematic legal decisions. We conclude with a discussion of the separate but complementary roles of technology and human deliberation. …

A New Global Corporate Regulatory Power?: Market Entry As The Basis For Prescriptive Jurisdiction, Rachel Brewster

University of Chicago Legal Forum

The rules of international economic law are changing. In a range of areas, governments are asserting that if a multinational firm touches the state’s market, the state can claim the authority to regulate the firm everywhere. This departure from multilateral economic coordination and towards more unilateral regulatory power over firms’ global operations represents an important shift in international economic policy. We have entered an era where governments are embracing more unilateral tools to resist foreign economic influence and reinvigorating national industrial policies. This Article examines the political dynamics that lead states to use access to their national markets as the …

The Gravity Of Legal Diffusion, Anu Bradford, Adam Chilton, Katerina Linos

University of Chicago Legal Forum

A persistent empirical finding is that bilateral trade between two countries is proportional to the size of their economies and inversely proportional to their geographic distance. We hypothesize that a similar pattern is likely to hold for the diffusion of laws. We specifically argue that countries’ propensity to update their laws to converge with the leading regulator in a given policy area is likely to be proportional to the size of their economies and inversely proportional to their geographic distance. We then empirically test this theory in the area of antitrust and assess countries’ convergence to the world’s leading antitrust …

Dividing The Body Politic, James A. Gardner

University of Chicago Legal Forum

It has long been assumed in large, modern, democratic states that the successful practice of democratic politics requires some kind of internal division of the polity into subunits. In the United States, the appropriate methods and justifications for doing so have long been deeply and inconclusively contested. One reason for the intractability of these disputes is that American practices of political self-division are rooted in, and have been largely carried forward from, premodern practices that rested originally on overtly illiberal assumptions and justifications that are difficult or impossible to square with contemporary commitments to philosophical liberalism.

The possibility of sorting …

Brazil’S Role In Global Climate Treaties, Uven Chong

International Program Papers

Since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Brazil has asserted an influential role in shaping international climate change treaties. The purpose of this paper is to assess Brazil’s contributions in three major climate conferences: 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, 1997 in Kyoto, and 2015 in Paris. Brazil’s negotiating strategy at these conferences reveal two powerful tactics. First, Brazil approached these political events with a view that science and technology were paramount. Second, Brazil successfully injected economic development priorities into environmentally focused negotiations. These two noteworthy tactics have shaped the climate change diplomatic discourse for the past three …

Comparative U.S. And Brazil Subconstiutionalism: A Law And Economics Approach, Joe Lorenzini

International Program Papers

No abstract provided.

How The Legal Rights Of Brazilian Indigenous People Are Inextricable From The Preservation Of Brazil’S Environment, Elizabeth Walsh

International Program Papers

The rights of Brazil’s Indigenous peoples have changed over time. Indigenous tribes went from original landowners, to enslaved people, to people protected by Brazil’s constitution but persistently marginalized. Through it all, Indigenous groups have protected Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest and Atlantic Forest, leading to healthy vegetation, biodiversity, and benefits to the global climate. This paper tracks how the rights of Indigenous groups correlate to the preservation of Brazil’s environment. Specifically, when Indigenous groups have more legally recognized land rights—as is deserved by their history, occupation of the land, and Brazil’s 1988 constitution—not only does the surrounding environment thrive, but also the …

Patent Reform As International Prestige-Seeking: Initial Insights From Brazil, Jack Brake

International Program Papers

No abstract provided.

Enforceability Of Choice Of Court Clauses In Transnational Agreements: The 2005 Hague Convention, Its Implementation In Contracting States, And The U.S. Approach, M. Veronica Saladino

Chicago Journal of International Law

Parties involved in transnational business naturally expose themselves to peculiar international risks, including the possibility of having a foreign court resolve their future disputes. To reduce uncertainty, transnational contracts often contain a so-called “choice of court” (or “choice of forum”) clause to dictate where future disputes should be resolved.

Chosen courts, however, do not always enforce such clauses. Indeed, absent a convention or a treaty, the enforcement of a choice of court clause is purely a matter of national law and, in the case of federal systems like the United States, even of sub-national domestic law. To guarantee predictability, several …

Rights & Realities Of Self-Determination In Brazil, Starr Gibens

International Program Papers

No abstract provided.

The Abortion Debate: A Comparison Between The Us And Mexican Supreme Courts, Anastasia Shabalov

International Program Papers

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Affirmative Action Implemented In Brazilian Universities: Increased Racial Self-Identification Among Brazilians, Natalie Isayan

International Program Papers

No abstract provided.

A Guide For United States Firms On Maintaining The Protection And Enforcement Of Trademarks And Copyrights In Mexico, Keyana Banisadre

International Program Papers

Intellectual property (IP) is a critical asset for many businesses. Understanding the laws governing IP is especially important in international markets, where US based businesses may face additional challenges in enforcing their rights. Targeted at business professionals, this paper details how U.S. firms can achieve strong IP protection and reduce risks associated with infringement and unauthorized use in Mexico. First, it will offer a basic overview of Intellectual Property and what may be protected under U.S. law. Then, offer an outline of the legal frameworks involved and best practices essential for safeguarding trademarks and copyrights in the Mexican market, as …

Challenges To Judicial Independence In Mexico, Qiaofeng Li

International Program Papers

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Anti-Corruption Legislation On The Evolution Of Corporate Law In Uzbekistan, Julia Ferreira

International Program Papers

No abstract provided.

International Law As A Tool For Reviving, Preserving, And Protecting The Tajik Language In Uzbekistan, Lindsay Saligman

International Program Papers

No abstract provided.

Uzbekistan And The Autocrat’S Parchment Problem, Paul Mapara

International Program Papers

No abstract provided.

Uzbekistan’S Decision: A New National Identity, Kirby Voss

International Program Papers

No abstract provided.

Anti-Corruption Efforts In The Republic Of Uzbekistan, Henry Wineburgh

International Program Papers

No abstract provided.

Measuring Clarity In Legal Text, Jonathan H. Choi

University of Chicago Law Review

Legal cases often turn on judgments of textual clarity: when the text is unclear, judges allow extrinsic evidence in contract disputes, consult legislative history in statutory interpretation, and more. Despite this, almost no empirical work considers the nature or prevalence of legal clarity. Scholars and judges who study real-world documents to inform the interpretation of legal text primarily treat unclear text as a research problem to be solved with more data rather than a fundamental feature of language.

This Article makes both theoretical and empirical contributions to the legal concept of textual clarity. It first advances a theory of clarity …

Cooperative Federalism And Patent Legislation: A Study Comparing China And The United States, Taorui Guan

Chicago Journal of International Law

How should patent legislative power be allocated between central and local governments in order to construct a patent system conducive innovation? A comparative analysis of the models of the U.S. and China sheds light on this question. The early American states established their patent systems before the formation of the federal system, but the U.S. Constitution arrogated patent legislative power to the federal government, ending the era of decentralized patent systems. This centralized structure ensures uniformity in rules but might hinder the system's adaptability and ability to experiment. In contrast, as China's patent system evolved, its patent legislative power spread …

One Click From Conflict: Some Legal Considerations Related To Technology Companies Providing Digital Services In Situations Of Armed Conflict, Jonathan Horowitz

Chicago Journal of International Law

Private technology companies (tech companies) are increasingly providing their digital goods and services to clients living and working in situations of armed conflict. Tech companies may own, operate, or maintain significant portions of the digital infrastructure that allow day-to-day essentials—such as water, medical care, and electricity—to reach civilians living in places affected by armed conflict. They may own communications platforms that people use to call emergency services. They may own social media outlets that organizations rely on to inform communities in need about access to humanitarian services or that families use to maintain contact with each other. Those fighting today’s …

Power And Politics In Original Jurisdiction, Zachary D. Clopton

University of Chicago Law Review

The original jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court is a topic of scholarly interest but little practical significance. The original jurisdiction of state supreme courts is exactly the opposite—it is virtually absent from the scholarly literature but of significant practical importance. For example, dozens of cases related to elections, COVID-19 responses, and abortion were filed in the original jurisdiction of state supreme courts in the last few years. Legislatures also recognize the importance of original jurisdiction, as state legislators have proposed dozens of recent bills to change the scope of original jurisdiction.

This Article offers a comprehensive review of the …

Anti-Patents, Roy Baharad, Stuart Minor Benjamin, Ehud Guttel

University of Chicago Law Review

Conventional wisdom has long perceived the patent and tort systems as separate legal entities, each tasked with a starkly different mission. Patent law rewards novel ideas; tort law deters harmful conduct. Against this backdrop, this Essay uncovers the opposing effects of patent and tort law on innovation, introducing the “injurer-innovator problem.” Patent law incentivizes injurers—often uniquely positioned to make technological breakthroughs—by allowing them to profit from licensing their inventions to competitors. Yet tort law, by imposing liability for failures to invest in care, forces injurers to incur the cost of implementing their own inventions. When the cost of self-implementation exceeds …

Evaluating And Pricing Health Insurance In Lower- Income Countries: A Field Experiment In India, Anup Malani, Cynthia Kinnan, Gabriella Conti, Kosuke Imai, Morgen Miller, Shailender Swaminathan, Alessandra Voena, Bartek Woda

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Universal health coverage is a widely shared goal across lower-income countries. We conducted a large-scale, 4-year trial that randomized premiums and subsidies for India’s first national, public hospital insurance program, RSBY. We find roughly 60% uptake even when consumers were charged premiums equal to the government’s cost for insurance. We also find substantial adverse selection into insurance at positive prices. Insurance enrollment increases insurance utilization, partly due to spillovers from use of insurance by neighbors. However, many enrollees attempted to use insurance but failed, suggesting that learning is critical to the success of public insurance. We find very few statistically …