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Full-Text Articles in Law

Reply: The Institutional Dimension Of Statutory And Constitutional Interpretation, Richard A. Posner Feb 2003

Reply: The Institutional Dimension Of Statutory And Constitutional Interpretation, Richard A. Posner

Michigan Law Review

Cass Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule argue in Interpretation and lnstitutions that judicial interpretation of statutes and constitutions should take account both of the institutional framework within which interpretation takes place and of the consequences of different styles of interpretation; they further argue that this point has been neglected by previous scholars. The first half of the thesis is correct but obvious; the second half, which the authors state in terms emphatic to the point of being immodest, is incorrect. Moreover, the authors offer no feasible suggestions for how the relation between interpretation and the institutional framework might be studied better …


Interpretive Theory In Its Infancy: A Reply To Posner, Cass R. Sunstein, Adrien Vermeule Feb 2003

Interpretive Theory In Its Infancy: A Reply To Posner, Cass R. Sunstein, Adrien Vermeule

Michigan Law Review

In law, problems of interpretation can be explored at different levels of generality. At the most specific level, people might urge that the Equal Protection Clause forbids affirmative action, or that the Food and Drug Act applies to tobacco products. At a higher level of generality, people might argue that the Equal Protection Clause should be interpreted in accordance with the original understanding of its ratifiers, or that the meaning of the Food and Drug Act should be settled with careful attention to its legislative history. At a still higher level of generality, people might identify the considerations that bear …


Proactive Legislation And The First Amendment, Stuart Minor Benjamin Nov 2000

Proactive Legislation And The First Amendment, Stuart Minor Benjamin

Michigan Law Review

It is a commonplace that the world is changing rapidly, with whole sectors of the economy being transformed. New forms of communication, like the World Wide Web, e-mail, and satellite television, have risen from obscurity to ubiquity in less than a decade. The speed of these changes has led some to express concern about the ability of governments to respond. The fear is that governments cannot keep up with developments as they occur and thus get hopelessly behind. The solution, according to some, is for the government to act proactively - before a harm has arisen, so that the government …


Reapportionment In The Supreme Court And Congress: Constitutional Struggle For Fair Representation, Robert G. Dixon Jr. Dec 1964

Reapportionment In The Supreme Court And Congress: Constitutional Struggle For Fair Representation, Robert G. Dixon Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Fair representation is the ultimate goal. At the time of the Reapportionment Decisions, much change was overdue in some states, and at least some change was overdue in most states. We are a democratic people and our institutions presuppose according population a dominant role in formulas of representation. However, by its exclusive focus on bare numbers, the Court may have transformed one of the most intricate, fascinating, and elusive problems of democracy into a simple exercise of applying elementary arithmetic to census data. In so doing, the Court may have disabled itself from effectively considering the more subtle issues …


The Legislative Process And The Rule Of Law: Attempts To Legislate Taste In Moral And Political Beliefs, Samuel D. Estep Feb 1961

The Legislative Process And The Rule Of Law: Attempts To Legislate Taste In Moral And Political Beliefs, Samuel D. Estep

Michigan Law Review

In a nutshell, the topic of this paper is "Comstockery and the Bowdlerizing of Ideas." The thesis here asserted is that the Rule of Law is violated when legislatures succumb to modern attempts by the often pathologically-motivated zealot legally to freeze current tastes in moral and political beliefs. The relationship between taste statutes and the seemingly esoteric topic, "The Legislative Process and the Rule of Law," is based on the premise that the maximum possible degree of intellectual freedom for each individual is an essential ingredient in the legal system of a civilized society.


Constitutional Law - Judicial Power - Power To Compel Fair Apportionment By The Legislature, Walter L. Adams S.Ed. Apr 1958

Constitutional Law - Judicial Power - Power To Compel Fair Apportionment By The Legislature, Walter L. Adams S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

At a general election on November 6, 1956, voters of the state of Washington approved by popular initiative a reapportionment of the legislature based upon political sub-divisions as described in the federal census of 1950. On December 6, 1956, the governor proclaimed the measure to be law and it was enrolled as chapter 5, Laws of 1957. At the regular 1957 session of the state legislature, chapter 289, revoking the initiative and calling for the use of the election precinct as the unit · of population for forming legislative districts, was passed by a vote of more than a two-thirds …


Griffith: Congress - Its Contemporary Role, George Meader Jan 1956

Griffith: Congress - Its Contemporary Role, George Meader

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Griffith: Congress - Its Contemporary Role. Second Revised Edition. By Ernest F. Griffith.


Spotlight On Congress: A Review Of Six Recent Books, John W. Lederle Feb 1946

Spotlight On Congress: A Review Of Six Recent Books, John W. Lederle

Michigan Law Review

Many books on Congress have appeared recently. Perhaps no period in our history has seen the printing of as many books bearing on Congress. This review is directed to a consideration of six of these which have come out during the last three years. Some of these volumes are broader in scope and deal with other topics than Congress. It will be appreciated that this review is restricted to the subject matter dealing with the legislative branch of government.


The Administrative Crime, Its Creation And Punishment By Administrative Agencies, Edmund H. Schwenk Aug 1943

The Administrative Crime, Its Creation And Punishment By Administrative Agencies, Edmund H. Schwenk

Michigan Law Review

The application of the penal sanction in the field of administrative law involves mainly three problems: (1) the constitutionality of a statute which authorizes an administrative agency to issue rules and regulations enforceable by punishment and thus to create certain elements of crime; (2) the constitutionality of a statute which authorizes an administrative agency to create the penalty for the violation of its rules and regulations; and (3) the constitutionality of a statute which authorizes an administrative agency to impose a penalty upon the delinquent. Even if the first problem can be answered in the affirmative, two questions still remain: …


Proposed Remedies In Court Procedure, Willis B. Perkins Mar 1914

Proposed Remedies In Court Procedure, Willis B. Perkins

Michigan Law Review

It is the judgment of the writer that the chief function of the legislature is to declare substantive rights. Court procedure being but the machinery by which substantive rights are determined, the responsibility for the effectiveness of that machinery should rest alone upon the courts. Unnecessary prolixity and confusion too frequently result from the present two-fold source of procedural law.


Judicial Criticism Of Legislation By Courts, Charles G. Haines Nov 1912

Judicial Criticism Of Legislation By Courts, Charles G. Haines

Michigan Law Review

In the application of the doctrine of judicial review of legislative acts, the federal courts of the United States have not infrequently been criticised for usurping part of the functions of the legislature. The criticisms have increased to such an extent as to raise an issue of national significance. Recently, charges against the judiciary for the usurpation of legislative functions have been made rather frequently by the justices of our federal Supreme Comt. The late Associate Justice Harlan, dissenting in part from the reasoning of the majority of the court in the Standard Oil case, brought such a criticism against …


The Public Service Of The Future Lawyer, John C. Park Dec 1909

The Public Service Of The Future Lawyer, John C. Park

Michigan Law Review

The lawyer has two characters. He is a private personage, and as such cares for his family, contributes to the local improvement and philanthropies and conducts the common business affairs of his clients. He is also a public functionary and as such his usefulness is not confined to appearance in court and the conduct of litigation. From him must be had the counsel necessary in public movements, his brain must plan and his hand write the rules necessary to make right and wrong govern modem conditions. His must be the thought which shall stir the people to action. In him …