Law Commons^™

Prevention And Imminence, Pre-Punishment And Actuality, Gideon Yaffe

San Diego Law Review

In a variety of circumstances, it is justified to harm persons, or deprive them of liberty, in order to prevent them from doing something objectionable. We see this in interactions between individuals--think of self-defense or defense of others--and we see it in large-scale interactions among groups--think of preemptive measures taken by countries against conspiring terrorists, plotting dictators, or ambitious nations. We can argue, of course, about the details. Under exactly what conditions is it justified to inflict harm or deprive someone of liberty for reasons of prevention? But in having such arguments we agree on the fundamental idea: there are …

Inchoate Crimes At The Prevention/Punishment Divide, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan

San Diego Law Review

In this Article, I argue that inchoate crimes are best dealt with under a preventive regime. Part II argues that inchoate crimes and preparatory offenses are primarily aimed at preventing a harm and not at punishing those who deserve it. It also revisits concerns with punishing incomplete attempts that Larry Alexander and I have voiced previously. Part III considers Alec Walen's recent proposal to combat terrorism through the criminalization of threats as an inchoate offense. It also addresses general concerns with Walen's proposal and claims that Walen does not resolve the problems with inchoate criminality set forth in Part II. …

Proposed 2009 Regulations Dealing With § 356 Nonrecognition Rules Should Be Given The Boot, Terri Guinn

San Diego Law Review

"Fire, Aim, Ready!" Could this be the approach taken by the Internal Revenue Service (the Service) in its attempt to finalize regulations, proposed more than two years ago, that would specify a new method for determining a shareholder's taxable gains and losses in certain reorganization transactions? Has the Service decided to elevate theory over practicality without thinking through all of the ramifications of these regulations? Finalizing these proposed regulations in their current form may have serious unintended consequences. As drafted, they miss their intended mark by inadvertently creating a loophole whereby some shareholders could take immediate losses on some of …

V.48-4, 2011 Masthead

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

Prevention As The Primary Goal Of Sentencing: The Modern Case For Indeterminate Dispositions In Criminal Cases, Christopher Slobogin

San Diego Law Review

This Article contends that properly constituted, indeterminate sentencing is both a morally defensible method of preventing crime and the optimal regime for doing so, at least for crimes against person and most other street crimes.

More specifically, the position defended in this Article is that, once a person is convicted of an offense, the duration and nature of sentence should be based on a back-end decision made by experts in recidivism reduction, within broad ranges set by the legislature. Compared to determinate sentencing, the sentencing regime advanced in this Article relies on wider sentence ranges and explicit assessments of risk, …

Introduction To The 2011 Editors’ Symposium: The Morality Of Preventive Restriction Of Liberty, Larry Alexander, Steven D. Smith

San Diego Law Review

Restricting the liberty of persons who can be held morally and legally responsible for their conduct on the ground that they might abuse that liberty and commit criminal acts is both suspect and ubiquitous. Laws that restrict the ownership of guns, explosives, and other materials out of fear that those materials will be put to illegal uses are examples of such restrictions. So, too, are restraining orders, no contact orders, and the like. Laws restricting the residency of sex offenders are another example, as are laws permitting increased incarceration on the basis of predictions of dangerousness. Detention of suspected terrorists …

Lifting The Cloak: Preventive Detention As Punishment, Douglas Husak

San Diego Law Review

Most of the scholarly reaction to systems of preventive detention has been hostile. Negative judgments are especially prevalent among penal theorists who hold nonconsequentialist, retributivist rationales for criminal law and punishment. Surely their criticisms are warranted as long as we confine our focus to the existing systems of preventive detention that flagrantly disregard fundamental principles of legality and desert. Nonetheless, I believe that many of their more sweeping objections tend to rest too uncritically on doctrines of criminal theory that are not always supported by sound arguments even though they are widely accepted. I will contend that we cannot fully …

A Punitive Precondition For Preventive Detention: Lost Status As A Foundation For A Lost Immunity, Alec Walen

San Diego Law Review

This Article argues that the presumption that an actor will be law-abiding, like the right to liberty itself, can be forfeited by criminal actions. In other words, the point is to argue that a just punishment could involve loss of the status of being a beneficiary of this presumption just as much as it could involve the loss of liberty.

In Part II, I introduce a basic framework for detention consistent with respect for autonomy and locate the lost status view within that framework. In Part III, I spell out the lost status view in more detail and contrast it …

Protecting Liberty And Autonomy: Desert/Disease Jurisprudence, Stephen J. Morse

San Diego Law Review

This Article begins by describing the positive law of preventive detention, which I term "desert/disease jurisprudence." Then it provides a brief excursus about risk prediction (estimation), which is at the heart of all preventive detention practices. Part IV considers whether proposed expansions of desert jurisprudence are consistent with retributive theories of justice, which ground desert jurisprudence. I conclude that this is a circle that cannot be squared. The following Part canvasses expansions of disease jurisprudence, especially the involuntary civil commitment of mentally abnormal, sexually violent predators, and the use of post-insanity acquittal involuntary commitment. This Part also considers whether disease …

Dangerous Psychopaths: Criminally Responsible But Not Morally Responsible, Subject To Criminal Punishment And To Preventive Detention, Ken Levy

San Diego Law Review

How should we judge psychopaths, both morally and in the criminal justice system? This Article will argue that psychopaths are often not morally responsible for their bad acts simply because they cannot understand, and therefore be guided by, moral reasons.

Scholars and lawyers who endorse the same conclusion automatically tend to infer from this premise that psychopaths should not be held criminally punishable for their criminal acts. These scholars and lawyers are making this assumption (that just criminal punishment requires moral responsibility) on the basis of one of two deeper assumptions: that either criminal punishment directly requires moral responsibility or …

Untangling The Web: Exploring Internet Regulation Schemes In Western Democracies, Renee Keen

San Diego International Law Journal

This Comment investigates past censorship schemes proposed and implemented by selected democratic administrations, in order to develop an improved framework and accompanying infrastructure that may accomplish the goals that these policies envisioned, but failed to achieve. The difficulty of this undertaking is in developing the intermediate and legally defensible parameters under which a regulation scheme can endure and gain support in a democratic society. The greater difficulty lies in developing a system that can accomplish these objectives in the burgeoning and ever-changing cyber realm. The challenges posed by Internet activity are novel ones, and the legitimacy of the actions taken …

Foreword, Nicole J. Smith

San Diego International Law Journal

The thirteenth volume of the San Diego International Law Journal is composed of articles illustrating the value in looking abroad at the diverse historical experiences of foreign nations to help shed light on solutions to contemporary legal issues. The articles tackle general legal topics such as property rights, patent regulation, and internet censorship, while utilizing an international lens to provide perspective and possible solutions. This issue aims to foster a comparative understanding of national legal structures and demonstrate the benefit in researching, understanding, and applying international and comparative law to modern legal problems.

Property Rights In Land, Agricultural Capitalism, And The Relative Decline Of Pre-Industrial China, Taisu Zhang

San Diego International Law Journal

Scholars have long debated how legal institutions influenced the economic development of societies and civilizations. This Article sheds new light on this debate by reexamining, from a legal perspective, a crucial segment of the eighteenth and nineteenth century economic divergence between England and China: By 1700, English agriculture had become predominantly capitalist, reliant on managerial farms worked chiefly by hired labor. On the other hand, Chinese agriculture counterproductively remained household-based throughout the Qing and Republican eras. The explanation for this key agricultural divergence, which created multiple advantages for English proto-industry, lies in differences between Chinese and English property right regimes, …

The Genius Of Roman Law From A Law And Economics Perspective, Juan Javier Del Granado

San Diego International Law Journal

The Article is organized as follows: The first part of this Article will introduce Roman private law, and sketch out the law and economics methodology to be applied to the Roman classical system. The second part of this Article will discuss the Roman private law of property, obligations, as well as commerce and finance. The third part will discuss the interaction of private law and private morality in the construction of Roman social order. The fourth part of this Article will discuss private procedural aspects of the Roman legal system. The fifth and final part of this Article will discuss …

Commercial High Technology Innovations Face Uncertain Future Amid Emerging "Brics" Compulsory Licensing And It Interoperability Frameworks, Lawrence A. Kogan

San Diego International Law Journal

The pathways that lead to the success of cutting-edge technologies are often fraught with risk, difficulty, and uncertainty. These issues are particularly prevalent under a regime involving lengthy time horizons for competent research, development, and commercialization, which may require regulatory approvals. These challenges are known to be endemic to capital-intensive technology development which requires significant follow-on funding, particularly in highly regulated industries such as life sciences (e.g., pharmaceuticals/biotechnology and electronic medical devices ) and clean technology (which may be subdivided into clean or renewable energy generation and clean or renewable energy efficiency technologies and services, the former having more direct …

Divided We Stand: The Haudenosaunee, Their Passport And Legal Implications Of Their Recognition In Canada And The United States, Nicole Terese Capton Marques

San Diego International Law Journal

There are several indigenous nations divided by the international border between the U.S. and Canada (hereinafter, border tribes). Part II will provide historical background on the Haudenosaunee and the Haudenosaunee passport, as well as on the Jay Treaty's free passage right as recognition that the international border was not to affect border tribes. Part III of this comment will examine the trust-like duty both federal governments owe to indigenous populations in general, briefly describe benefits and services offered, and then discuss the legal effects of current legislation and regulations by the American and Canadian governments on Haudenosaunee tribal members living …

Retrying The Acquitted In England Part Iii: Prosecution Appeals Against Judges' Rulings Of "No Case To Answer", David S. Rudstein

San Diego International Law Journal

The Order in Council permitting the prosecution appeal of "Mo" Courtney's acquittal and allowing him to be retried for the same offense of which he had previously been acquitted stems from the Criminal Justice Act 2003. That Act, which applies in England and Wales, grants the government the right to appeal certain rulings by the trial judge in criminal prosecutions on an indictment, including a ruling that there is no case to answer, i.e., a directed verdict of acquittal, and if the appeal is successful, allows the reviewing court to order that the acquitted defendant?s trial be resumed or that …

Independent Counsel In Insurance, Douglas R. Richmond

San Diego Law Review

Mention the term "independent counsel" to many lawyers and they think immediately of the process whereby the Attorney General of the United States requests a panel of federal judges to appoint an Independent Counsel to investigate and prosecute crimes by government officials. Business lawyers may think of "independent counsel" in the context of counsel for independent directors on a corporate board in connection with select matters. For most litigators, however, the term "independent counsel" describes a lawyer engaged to defend an insured at a liability insurer's expense in a case in which the liability insurer has lost the right to …

Socioeconomic Rights And Theories Of Justice, Jeremy Waldron

San Diego Law Review

This Article considers the relation between theories of justice - such as John Rawls's theory - and theories of socioeconomic rights. In different ways, these two kinds of theories address much of the same subject matter. But they are quite strikingly different in format and texture. Theories of socioeconomic rights defend particular line-item requirements: a right to this or that good or opportunity, such as housing, health care, education, and social security. Theories of justice tend to involve a more integrated normative account of a society's basic structure, though they differ considerably among themselves in their structure. So how exactly …

The Regrettable Clause: United States V. Comstock And The Powers Of Congress, H. Jefferson Powell

San Diego Law Review

In this Article, I argue that in Comstock, the Court encountered one of the oldest and most basic constitutional issues about the scope of congressional power--whether there are justiciable limits to the range of legitimate ends Congress may pursue. The Justices, without fully recognizing the fact, were taking sides in an ancient debate, and in doing so, they inadvertently reopened an issue that ought to be deemed long settled.

Neoformalism And The Reemergence Of The Right-Privilege Distinction In Public Employment Law, Paul M. Secunda

San Diego Law Review

The First Amendment speech rights of public employees, which have traditionally enjoyed protection under the doctrine of unconstitutional conditions, have suddenly diminished in recent years. At one time developed to shut the door on the infamous privilege/rights distinction, the unconstitutional conditions doctrine has now been increasingly used to rob these employees of their constitutional rights.

Three interrelated developments explain this state of affairs. First, a jurisprudential school of thought--the "subsidy school"--has significantly undermined the vitality of the unconstitutional conditions doctrine through its largely successful sparring with an alternative school of thought, the "penalty school." Second, although initially developed in the …

Do Sexting Prosecutions Violate Teenagers' Constitutional Rights?, Joanne Sweeny

San Diego Law Review

The media has recently been highlighting a rash of prosecutions of teenagers who engage in "sexting"--sending nude or sexually explicit images of themselves or their peers--under child pornography laws. These prosecutions have led to mass criticism for threatening teens with long prison terms and registration as sex offenders for activities that are perceived to be relatively innocent. Many, if not most, of these sexting teens are legally permitted to engage in sexual activities through their states' statutory rape laws, which leads to an absurd situation in which teens are permitted to engage in sex but not photograph it. This mismatch …

V.48-3, 2011 Masthead

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Federal Trade Commission And Privacy: Defining Enforcement And Encouraging The Adoption Of Best Practices, Andrew Serwin

San Diego Law Review

This Article examines the history of privacy enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), including the FTC’s jurisdiction under section 5, and its privacy enforcement matters, as well as the FTC’s recently issued report, Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers, in which the FTC examines past enforcement models, noting their failings. In light of the FTC’s examination of past enforcement models, this Article then analyzes these models, including the accountability-centric model that has previously been utilized in the United States, as well as the FTC’s proposed solution to the privacy …

The Trouble With Investment Banking: Cluelessness, Not Greed, Will Bunting

San Diego Law Review

We assume that the set of marketable financial instruments can be divided into two distinct categories: (1) easy to price and (2) difficult to price, and then isolate two behavioral effects as most important with respect to securities trading in difficult-to-price securities; specifically, the "house money effect" and the "earned money effect." It is shown that these behavioral effects discourage profitable investment in research effort.

We then argue that the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) safe harbor should not apply to investment banks that issue/underwrite difficult-to-price securities. We also advocate for the return of the private investment banking partnership …

Foreword, Brian J. Kennedy

San Diego International Law Journal

This final issue of the San Diego International Law Journal's twelfth volume is composed of articles which examine a broad range of contemporary legal issues which raise foreign, international, and global concerns.

The Dangerous Illusion Of International Financial Standards And The Legacy Of The Financial Stability Forum, Cally Jordan

San Diego International Law Journal

In the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis, and the criticism directed towards the International Monetary Fund, in particular, for not having seen it coming, the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) was created in 1999 under a mandate from the G7 ministers of finance and central bank governors. The Asian Financial Crisis arose suddenly, spread rapidly, and spared neither developed nor developing economies in the region, although some fared much better than others. In retrospect, the causes of the crisis were obvious and the consequences predictable. Contagion entered the financial lexicon. Thus, the role of the FSF was to promote financial …

Economic And Social Rights: The Role Of Courts In China, Randall Peerenboom

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article considers what the role of the courts could and should be in implementing ESR in China. Part II surveys recent global developments giving greater bite to economic and social rights, as well as some of the main controversies, debates, and approaches to promoting, protecting, and fulfilling ESR, with particular attention to the role of the courts. Part III provides a general introduction to the social, legal, political, and economic context in China, and contrasts the situation in China with South Africa?one of the global leaders in judicial implementation of ESR. The overall environment in China is, if not …

Overseeing Controlling Shareholders: Do Independent Directors Constrain Tunneling In Taiwan?, Yu-Hsin Lin

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article intends to explore the extent to which independent directors constrain tunneling by controlling shareholders in Taiwan. Taiwan serves as an appropriate jurisdiction for research since the private benefits agency problem is prevalent among Taiwanese public companies. A further twist in Taiwan?s case is that independent directors were newly introduced to Taiwan?s corporate boards, which follow dual-board system where the traditional monitoring function is served by statutory supervisors, instead of board committees, which adds to the complexity in analyzing the effectiveness of independent directors in constraining tunneling activities. Part II reviews relevant literature and lays the foundation for this …

A Test Case In International Bankruptcy Protocols: The Lehman Brothers Insolvency, Jamie Altman

San Diego International Law Journal

Part II of this Article, explains the competing theories underlying bankruptcy systems: universalism and territorialism. Part III details various statutory solutions to international bankruptcy problems. Next, Part IV analyzes the provisions of the Lehman Protocol in depth. Part V then examines the precedent upon which the Lehman Protocol relies. Part VI assesses potential threats to the Protocol?s success. This leads to Part VII, which contains suggestions for future protocols. Finally, Part VIII concludes.