Law Commons^™

The Magic Of Money And Banking, Eric J. Gouvin

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter analyzes the banking system in the wizarding world of Harry Potter and compares it to the salient features of the banking system in the Muggle world. The chapter begins with a brief history of money. Although the economies in both the wizarding world and the Muggle world use money, there are striking differences between those worlds on this point. We can only speculate on why these differences exist, but it appears that the wizard concept of money stopped evolving in the Middle Ages, when bankers were really just trusted keepers of valuables. The chapter concludes that although Muggle …

Comparative Perspectives On Specialized Trials For Terrorism, Sudha Setty

Faculty Scholarship

On the campaign trail in 2008, presidential candidate and then-Senator Barack Obama promised to restore America’s place in the world by breaking with many of the national security policies put into effect by President George W. Bush. In January 2009, President Obama made numerous changes to United States foreign policy, including signing an executive order to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and announcing that the United States would not engage in interrogation techniques that constitute torture. In some respects, however, Obama has followed the example of President Bush - for example, in his resuscitation of a specialized military …

Revised Uniform Laws On Notarial Acts, Arthur Gaudio , Reporter

Faculty Scholarship

This version of the Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (“ULONA”) is a comprehensive revision of the Uniform Law on Notarial Acts as approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (“NCCUSL”) in 1982. Since that date, countless societal and technological as well as market and economic changes have occurred requiring notarial officers and the notarial acts that they perform to adapt. In addition, there has been a growing non-uniformity among the states in their laws regarding notarial acts. This version of ULONA adapts the notarial process to accommodate those changes, makes the Act more responsive to current …

The Cross-Dressing Case For Bathroom Equality, Jennifer Levi, Daniel Redman

Faculty Scholarship

This Article offers a new set of arguments for transgender equality based on a little-known series of cases in which courts declined to enforce cross-dressing laws against transgender defendants. As shown below, the arguments brought by the defenders of these laws closely mirror the arguments brought today in favor of bathroom discrimination. The Authors discuss both the bathroom and cross-dressing debates in historical context, draw out the underlying reasoning in the two sets of cases,and argue that the reasoning that supports bathroom discrimination is as flawed as the reasoning behind criminal cross-dressing laws. The analysis also suggests that, just as …

Stratification Of The Welfare Poor: Intersections Of Gender, Race & "Worthiness" In Poverty Discourse And Policy, Bridgette Baldwin

Faculty Scholarship

This Article analyzes the historical, cultural and legal treatments and representations of poor black women from Progressive Era philanthropic aid to early "work-to-welfare" reform protocol. When black women serve as the case study for a larger examination of social policy issues we see that welfare was rarely meant to remedy the structural crunch of poverty. Working class black women have been at the center of the construction of the poor and serve as the designation to determine which people deserve to be compensated for being poor.

Furthermore, the Author discusses both the ramifications and rationale of why the government never …

On Death And Magic: Law, Necromancy And The Great Beyond, Eric J. Gouvin

Faculty Scholarship

Every now and then, our legal system interacts with the spirit world, whether by virtue of seances being used in establishing the defense in a criminal matter or being used by the prosecution to impugn the defendant, or because of the impact that ghosts may have on stigmatized property or by virtue of houses being built on cemeteries, like in the movie "Poltergeist." Our legal system has an uneasy relationship with the spirit world and this chapter in the book explores that relationship.

Sidelined: Title Ix Retaliation Cases And Women's Leadership In College Athletics, Erin E. Buzuvis

Faculty Scholarship

Discrimination against women seeking or serving in leadership positions in sport is worthy of analysis, not only for the sake of individual women who desire to self-actualize as a head coach or athletic administrator, but because the unique role of sport in society gives underrepresentation of women in leadership positions additional significance. Due to its high visibility and widespread appeal—its veritable iconic status—sport is a salient site of cultural production. That is, sport operates on a symbolic level, reflecting and transmitting shared cultural values. Among these values, sport helps define the attributes associated with leadership, and thus, derivatively, power. By …

When The Truth And The Story Collide: What Legal Writers Can Learn From The Experience Of Non-Fiction Writers About The Limits Of Legal Storytelling, Jeanne M. Kaiser

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines what can be gained and what can be lost by using storytelling in legal writing. After reviewing some basic principles of legal storytelling, the Article reviews some lessons that can be learned from the experience of the New Journalists who adopted literary techniques in their non-fiction work. In the end, the Author concludes that while there is much value in using the tools of fiction in legal writing, it is only with a blend of narrative and analysis that we most successfully do our jobs as lawyers.

Following The Direction Of Traffix: Trade Dress Law And Functionality Revisited, Amy B. Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

For much of American history, in order to promote competition among the producers of useful products, the law did not grant protection to the design of such products unless the design met the demanding requirements for patent or copyright protection. In the 1980s, an expansion of trade dress law resulted in protection of product designs, with the courts relying primarily on the functionality doctrine to preserve the interest in competition. The functionality doctrine, however, riddled by ambiguity and conflicting interpretations, was not effective in preventing overly broad protection of the designs of useful products. As a result, more and more …

Slipping Through The Cracks: Why Can't We Stop Drugged Driving?, Tina Wescott Cafaro

Faculty Scholarship

Part I of this Article briefly explains the history of impaired driving laws, with respect to both alcohol and drugs. It then sets forth the various frameworks currently in place to establish that an individual is OUI drugs and evaluates the effectiveness of each standard. Part II discusses the impediments to detecting and prosecuting OUI drug cases. This section details the difficulties associated with the science behind drugged driving, including determining the effect a drug may have on an individual as well as the validity of tests used to determine if one has a drug in their system. Part II …

Clarion Call Or False Alarm: Why Proposed Exemptions To Equal Marriage Statutes Return Us To A Religious Understanding Of The Public Marketplace, Taylor Flynn

Faculty Scholarship

This Article discusses the problematic issues arising from proposed religious exemptions to equal marriage statutes. In the Author's view these exemptions would create the societal framework in which lesbians, bisexuals, and gay men can be refused service in virtually all aspects of life, whether fundamental or mundane—from healthcare to housing, from employment to flower-buying. This would all be accomplished with the express permission of the state. The Author believes that these proposals could permit widespread discrimination on a multitude of protected bases. The proposals appear to have been crafted to seize on cultural and religious anxiety and fears concerning same-sex …

Race And Healthcare In America: Foreword, Barbara A. Noah

Faculty Scholarship

In all four of the articles that form this Symposium, the authors identify troubling disparities and injustices in our healthcare system and suggest strategies to ameliorate these problems. Sadly, the reforms of the Obama administration will probably do little to address these issues directly. The mandated insurance coverage requirement, for example, applies to U.S. citizens and legal residents, but not, unsurprisingly, to undocumented immigrants? Similarly, the legislation expands public programs but does nothing directly to support the burden of EMT ALA's unfunded mandate on hospitals. And, as the evidence has long demonstrated, insurance coverage alone fails to guarantee equal medical …