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Full-Text Articles in Law

Age Of Unreason: Rationality And The Regulatory State, Louise Weinberg Jan 2019

Age Of Unreason: Rationality And The Regulatory State, Louise Weinberg

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

A curious phenomenon, not previously remarked, appears in current international and interstate cases in a common configuration. These are cases in which a nonresident sues a company at the company’s home; the plaintiff would almost certainly win there on stipulated facts; and judgment is for the defendant as a matter of law. In cases in this familiar configuration it appears that courts will struggle to find rationales. Judges attempt to rely on arguments which ordinarily would be serviceable, but which, in cases so configured, seem to become irrational. Because the relevant configuration of cases is common, the problem is widespread. …


Minimum Virtual Contacts: A Framework For Specific Jurisdiction In Cyberspace, Adam R. Kleven Mar 2018

Minimum Virtual Contacts: A Framework For Specific Jurisdiction In Cyberspace, Adam R. Kleven

Michigan Law Review

As the ubiquity and importance of the internet continue to grow, courts will address more cases involving online activity. In doing so, courts will confront the threshold issue of whether a defendant can be subject to specific personal jurisdiction. The Supreme Court, however, has yet to speak to this internet-jurisdiction issue. Current precedent, when strictly applied to the internet, yields fundamentally unfair results when addressing specific jurisdiction. To better achieve the fairness aim of due process, this must change. This Note argues that, in internet tort cases, the “express aiming” requirement should be discarded from the jurisdictional analysis and that …


Punishment But Not A Penalty? Punitive Damages Are Impermissible Under Foreign Substantive Law, Paul A. Hoversten Mar 2018

Punishment But Not A Penalty? Punitive Damages Are Impermissible Under Foreign Substantive Law, Paul A. Hoversten

Michigan Law Review

It is a well-established principle that no court applies the penal laws of another sovereign. But what exactly is a penal law? According to Judge Cardozo, a penal law effects “vindication of the public justice” rather than “reparation to one aggrieved.” Although courts have historically treated punitive damages as a purely civil remedy, that attitude has shifted over time. Modern American punitive damages serve not to compensate the plaintiff but to punish the defendant on behalf of the whole community. Therefore, when courts rely on foreign substantive law to impose punitive damages, they arguably violate the well-established principle that no …


To Touch And Concern The United States With Sufficient Force: How American Due Process And Choice Of Law Cases Inform The Reach Of The Alien Tort Statute After Kiobel, Karima Tawfik Apr 2016

To Touch And Concern The United States With Sufficient Force: How American Due Process And Choice Of Law Cases Inform The Reach Of The Alien Tort Statute After Kiobel, Karima Tawfik

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note explores the post-Kiobel ATS cases and argues that the Fourth Circuit’s approach to considering claims that manifest a close connection to the United States as potentially entitling the plaintiff to relief under the ATS is preferable to approaches that categorically bar claims when the alleged conduct has occurred abroad. Part I describes the Kiobel decision in more depth and the subsequent ATS case law to outline the contours of recent circuit cases. Part II demonstrates how domestic personal jurisdiction and choice of law principles weigh in favor of a more expansive reading of the ATS, as adopted …


Extraterritorial Criminal Jurisdiction, Michael Farbiarz Feb 2016

Extraterritorial Criminal Jurisdiction, Michael Farbiarz

Michigan Law Review

Over and over again during the past few decades, the federal government has launched ambitious international prosecutions in the service of U.S. national security goals. These extraterritorial prosecutions of terrorists, arms traffickers, and drug lords have forced courts to grapple with a question that has long been latent in the law: What outer boundaries does the Constitution place on criminal jurisdiction? Answering this question, the federal courts have crafted a new due process jurisprudence. This Article argues that this jurisprudence is fundamentally wrong. By implicitly constitutionalizing concerns for international comity, the new due process jurisprudence usurps the popular branches’ traditional …


Preemption And Choice-Of-Law Coordination, Erin O'Hara O'Connor, Larry E. Ribstein Mar 2013

Preemption And Choice-Of-Law Coordination, Erin O'Hara O'Connor, Larry E. Ribstein

Michigan Law Review

The doctrine treating federal preemption of state law has been plagued by uncertainty and confusion. Part of the problem is that courts purport to interpret congressional intent when often Congress has never considered the particular preemption question at issue. This Article suggests that courts deciding preemption cases should take seriously a commonly articulated rationale for the federalization of law: the need to coordinate applicable legal standards in order to facilitate a national market or to otherwise provide clear guidance to parties regarding the laws that apply to their conduct. In situations where federal law can serve a coordinating function but …


Theory Wars In The Conflict Of Laws, Louise Weinberg May 2005

Theory Wars In The Conflict Of Laws, Louise Weinberg

Michigan Law Review

Fifty years ago, at the height of modernism in all things, there was a great revolution in American choice-of-law theory. You cannot understand what is going on in the field of conflict of laws today without coming to grips with this central fact. With this revolution, the old formalistic way of choosing law was dethroned, and has occupied a humble position on the sidelines ever since. Yet there has been no lasting peace. The American conflicts revolution is still happening, and poor results are still frustrating good intentions. Now comes Dean Symeon Symeonides, the author of the choice of- law …


Arbitral Law-Making, Thomas E. Carbonneau Jan 2004

Arbitral Law-Making, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Michigan Journal of International Law

Diversity--of a cultural, economic, religious, and political kind—exists not only among nation-states and in the sources and interpretation of international law, but also among the group of commentators who study the interactions of transborder actors and institutions. For example, sociologists interested in the global community seek to identify emerging entities and activities and to elaborate conceptual models that explain the new differentiations within the traditional pattern. Some of them have a mounting interest in the fashioning of transborder commercial justice by international arbitrators and private arbitral institutions. Who are these new players? How did they acquire their mandate? Further, how …


A Solution To The Yahoo! Problem? The Ec E-Commerce Directive As A Model For International Cooperation On Internet Choice Of Law, Mark F. Kightlinger Jan 2003

A Solution To The Yahoo! Problem? The Ec E-Commerce Directive As A Model For International Cooperation On Internet Choice Of Law, Mark F. Kightlinger

Michigan Journal of International Law

Instead of attacking or defending the French or the U.S. courts, this Article proposes to focus on the Yahoo! case from a different perspective. As is argued in Section III.D below, disputes like the Yahoo! case over which country's laws apply to a website and its operator seem likely to proliferate as Internet usage expands, demanding significant enforcement resources from countries and posing important compliance challenges for companies and other organizations operating on the Internet. Thus, it may be useful to consider developing an international agreement that would address, and in many instances resolve, such disputes about "jurisdiction to prescribe” …


Interjurisdictional Preclusion, Howard M. Erichson Feb 1998

Interjurisdictional Preclusion, Howard M. Erichson

Michigan Law Review

Res judicata is hard enough already. Consider it at the interjurisdictional level, and we are asking for headaches. But consider it at that level we must, because litigation trends make interjurisdictional preclusion more important than ever. Lawyers, judges, litigants, and other litigation participants increasingly must contemplate the possibility that a lawsuit will have claim-preclusive or issue-preclusive effect in a subsequent suit in another jurisdiction. With great frequency, multiple lawsuits arise out of single or related transactions or events. Mass tort litigation and complex commercial litigation provide the most emphatic examples, but the phenomenon of multiple related lawsuits extends to every …


Choosing Law In Cyberspace: Copyright Conflicts On Global Networks, Andreas P. Reindl Jan 1998

Choosing Law In Cyberspace: Copyright Conflicts On Global Networks, Andreas P. Reindl

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article contends that in the digital era, the current system of national, territorially limited copyright laws requires a flexible copyright choice of law regime. To promote certainty and predictability in the choosing of the copyright law applicable to acts of exploitation, choice of law rules should use the location of a user as the principal factor to determine the applicable copyright law. In appropriate circumstances, the choice of law rules should allow the application of a multitude of national copyright laws to single acts of use on digital networks. This article also argues that a broad application of flexible …


Transfer And Choice Of Federal Law: The Appellate Model, Robert A. Ragazzo Feb 1995

Transfer And Choice Of Federal Law: The Appellate Model, Robert A. Ragazzo

Michigan Law Review

In light of recent developments, a reexamination of the position that transferee federal law applies regardless of the context is in order. This article argues that the consensus that existed prior to the Marcus article and the Korean Air Lines case, although not based upon the most thorough analysis, comprises the better view: transferee federal law should apply after permanent but not MDL transfers.


Professional Responsibility And Choice Of Law: A Client-Based Alternative To The Model Rules Of Professional Conduct, Colin Owyang Jan 1995

Professional Responsibility And Choice Of Law: A Client-Based Alternative To The Model Rules Of Professional Conduct, Colin Owyang

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Because of the increasingly interstate nature of legal practice during the past few decades, practitioners licensed in multiple jurisdictions have been forced more frequently to confront choice-of-law dilemmas in the area of professional responsibility. Although most states have adopted fairly uniform regulations on professional ethics, only the recently amended American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct contain a specific provision that addresses the choice-of-law problem in the professional responsibility context. This Note outlines certain ethical considerations facing the multistate practitioner and argues that the choice-of-law provision in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides insufficient clarity and predictability where …


Caught Between Rocks And Hard Places: The Plight Of Reinsurance Intermediaries Under U.S. And English Law, Stephen W. Schwab, Peter G. Gallanis, David E. Mendelsohn, Bradley V. Ritter Jan 1995

Caught Between Rocks And Hard Places: The Plight Of Reinsurance Intermediaries Under U.S. And English Law, Stephen W. Schwab, Peter G. Gallanis, David E. Mendelsohn, Bradley V. Ritter

Michigan Journal of International Law

Accordingly, Part I of this article provides a review of the role intermediaries have played in the recent spate of insurance company insolvencies and an overview of intermediary rights and duties. Part II then progresses to a discussion of English intermediary law, analyzing how the general English rules apply to intermediaries when a cedent or reinsurer becomes insolvent. Part III addresses the same issues under U.S. law, tracing the most recent statutory developments from their cause and considering their effect on reinsurance transactions. This article concludes with a discussion of how English and U.S. law interact in reinsurance transactions, pointing …


Choosing Law With An Eye On The Prize, Russell J. Weintraub Jan 1994

Choosing Law With An Eye On The Prize, Russell J. Weintraub

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of Choice of Law and Multistate Justice by Friedrich K. Juenger


On The Need For A Uniform Choice Of Law Code, Larry Kramer Aug 1991

On The Need For A Uniform Choice Of Law Code, Larry Kramer

Michigan Law Review

At first blush, the notion of a uniform choice of law code seems almost paradoxical. After all, the primary mission of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) is to promote uniformity in the law, while choice of law exists only because laws are not uniform. To be sure, the Constitution of the NCCUSL limits the organization's objective to promoting uniformity "where uniformity is desirable and practicable," which leaves plenty of room for different laws and hence for choice of law. But even so, one would expect the Commissioners to devote their limited resources to reducing the …


The Two-Way Mirror: International Arbitration As Comparative Procedure, Andreas F. Lowenfeld Jan 1985

The Two-Way Mirror: International Arbitration As Comparative Procedure, Andreas F. Lowenfeld

Michigan Journal of International Law

In particular, by focusing on selected aspects of the international procedure of international arbitration, as well as on different approaches to the problem of choosing the source of the law to be applied, the author hopes to give the outsider some feeling for the process, and some perception of how international arbitration is different both from domestic arbitration and from litigation in national courts. The author has an additional purpose, as well, however, though: to be sure not to sound too pretentious about it. Focusing on the record, on discovery, on examination of witnesses, and on choosing a choice of …


Legitimate Interests In Multistate Problems: As Between State And Federal Law, Lea Brilmayer Jun 1981

Legitimate Interests In Multistate Problems: As Between State And Federal Law, Lea Brilmayer

Michigan Law Review

This Article examines that common ground, analyzing the roles of state policy interests and contacts in defining constitutional limits. It concentrates particularly on one paradoxical aspect of the interaction between federal and state law. While the scope of constitutional limits on application of forum law is necessarily a federal issue, constitutional analysis simultaneously defers in some unspecified way to state policy. This is because federal choice-of-law questions frequently tum on the existence of a state policy interest that legitimizes the application of state law. The resulting interdependence of the federal and state issues would seemingly empower state legislatures and courts …


Incorporation Of State Law Under The Federal Arbitration Act, Michigan Law Review Aug 1980

Incorporation Of State Law Under The Federal Arbitration Act, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note proposes a solution to this choice-of-law problem. Section I surveys the courts' response to Congress's silence and finds confusion and disarray. Section II argues that courts should apply the state law pertinent to arbitration unless that law places heavier burdens on arbitration contracts than on other contracts; where state law does discriminatorily burden arbitration, the courts should apply the pertinent state rules applicable to "any contract." It concludes that the "grounds . . . for the revocation of any contract," although determined as a matter of federal policy, are to be found in state law rather than in …


Personal Jurisdiction And Choice Of Law, James Martin May 1980

Personal Jurisdiction And Choice Of Law, James Martin

Michigan Law Review

The time has come for the Supreme Court to declare that a state may not apply its own law to a case unless it has the "minimum contacts" required by International Shoe for the exercise of specific personal jurisdiction over the defendant. Although the present state of the law is less than certain, the Supreme Court has not yet required that a state show it has minimum contacts with a defendant before applying its law. As a result, in some cases where a state has obtained personal jurisdiction because of a defendant's contacts unrelated to the case - contacts such …


Choice Of Law In Secured Personal Property Transactions: The Impact Of Article 9 Of The Uniform Commercial Code, Russell J. Weintraub Mar 1970

Choice Of Law In Secured Personal Property Transactions: The Impact Of Article 9 Of The Uniform Commercial Code, Russell J. Weintraub

Michigan Law Review

It is likely that, in view of the adoption in forty-nine states of the Uniform Commercial Code (Code), particularly of article 9 dealing with secured transactions, the incidence of interstate conflict-of- laws problems concerning commercial transactions in personal property will be greatly reduced. The reason for this anticipated reduction is that the Code creates uniformity in the applicable law governing the rights and duties both between the secured creditor and the debtor and between the secured creditor and third parties who challenge the secured creditor's right to enjoy his security interest.


Conflict Of Laws-Public Policy Used To Apply Forum Law To Joint Bank Accounts Of Foreign-Domiciliaries Wyatt V. Fulrath, Michigan Law Review Jan 1967

Conflict Of Laws-Public Policy Used To Apply Forum Law To Joint Bank Accounts Of Foreign-Domiciliaries Wyatt V. Fulrath, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The Duke and Duchess of Arion, nationals and domiciliaries of Spain, neither of whom had ever been to New York, deposited community property consisting of cash and securities in several New York banks. In establishing these accounts, the Duke and Duchess either expressly agreed in writing that the New York law of survivorship would apply to their accounts or signed standard bank survivorship forms which incorporated the survivorship laws of that state. After her husband's death, the Duchess made the entire amount on deposit in New York subject to her will. Following the Duchess' death and during probate of her …


An Inquiry Into The Utility Of "Domicile" As A Concept In Conflicts Analysis, Russell J. Weintraub Apr 1965

An Inquiry Into The Utility Of "Domicile" As A Concept In Conflicts Analysis, Russell J. Weintraub

Michigan Law Review

No attempt is made here to conduct an exhaustive case study of any one particular area in which the concept of "domicile" is used as a tool for analysis in the conflict of laws. A number of thorough and useful studies have been made in narrow areas and are cited at appropriate places in the body of this article. Instead, this article will review the use of "domicile" in analyzing certain typical conflicts problems, particularly its use as the contact or pointing word in choice of law rules concerning the testate and intestate distribution of movables, and, as is newly …


The Qualitative Governmental Interest Analysis: New York's Conflict Of Laws Rules In Transition-George V. Douglas Aircraft , Co., Michigan Law Review Apr 1965

The Qualitative Governmental Interest Analysis: New York's Conflict Of Laws Rules In Transition-George V. Douglas Aircraft , Co., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The traditional choice of law rule for torts is that the law of the place of wrong is determinative of all substantive issues. This rule has been frequently criticized and has been rejected by the Restatement (Second), Conflict of Laws, and by a few courts, particularly those of New York. The successor to the traditional approach, however, has not been determined. Under the view of the Restatement (Second), the applicable substantive law is that law of the state which has the most significant relationship with the occurrence and with the parties. Although a qualitative approach would seem possible under …


Currie: Selected Essays On The Conflict Of Laws, Elliott E. Cheatham Jun 1964

Currie: Selected Essays On The Conflict Of Laws, Elliott E. Cheatham

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Selected Essays on the Conflict of Laws. By Brainerd Currie.


Babcock V. Jackson: The Transition From The Lex Loci Delicti Rule To The Dominant Contacts Approach, Arthur M. Sherwood Jun 1964

Babcock V. Jackson: The Transition From The Lex Loci Delicti Rule To The Dominant Contacts Approach, Arthur M. Sherwood

Michigan Law Review

This comment will examine the lex loci delicti rule and the judicial transition from it to the new "dominant contacts" approach enunciated in Babcock, with some attempt to consider unresolved difficulties in the newer approach to choice of tort law.


Federal Courts - Choice Of Law Application Of Federal Law To Government Subcontract In Federal Diversity Case, H. C. Snyder Jr. Dec 1961

Federal Courts - Choice Of Law Application Of Federal Law To Government Subcontract In Federal Diversity Case, H. C. Snyder Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant obtained a government missile contract, and plaintiff was subcontracted to manufacture containers for the missiles. When certain changes in elements of the containers were ordered by the Government, plaintiff demanded an "equitable adjustment" from defendant pursuant to the terms of the subcontract. Defendant paid only the costs of effecting the necessary changes. Plaintiff instituted this suit in federal district court alleging diversity of citizenship and demanding that the adjustment include, as allowed by California law, compensation for overhead losses caused by a partial work stoppage during the delay in effecting the changes. The district court characterized the contract as …


Document Of Title: A Comparison Of The Uniform Commercial Code And Other Uniform Acts, With Emphasis On Michigan Law, Douglass Boshkoff Mar 1961

Document Of Title: A Comparison Of The Uniform Commercial Code And Other Uniform Acts, With Emphasis On Michigan Law, Douglass Boshkoff

Michigan Law Review

Although this article is mainly oriented toward the legal materials of one jurisdiction, the presence of a fairly common background of uniform acts makes it relevant to other jurisdictions, except where there are contrary interpretations of a particular statutory provision. Therefore, parallel citations to the various uniform acts have been provided with the hope that this article will be of assistance to other groups attempting to evaluate article seven of the Uniform Commercial Code.


Jessup: Transnational Law, Eric Stein Apr 1958

Jessup: Transnational Law, Eric Stein

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Transnational Law. By Phillip C. Jessup.


Interstate Publication, William L. Prosser May 1953

Interstate Publication, William L. Prosser

Michigan Law Review

It is an amazing and a sobering thought that by the utterance of a single ill-considered word a man may today commit forty-nine separate torts, for each of which he may be severally liable, in as many jurisdictions within the continental limits of the United States alone, and without regard to any additional liability he may incur in the possessions and territories and in foreign countries. It calls to mind at once in all solemnity those first words that ever were sent over an interstate wire, and later to the moon. What, indeed, hath God wrought!

Little less astonishing, although …