Law Commons^™

Use Of The Freedom Of Information Act For Discovery Purposes, Edward A. Tomlinson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Grove City College V. Bell: Touchdown Or Touchback?, Karen Czapanskiy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Novotny In Light Of United Brotherhood Of Carpenters & Joiners V. Scott: The Scope And Constitutionally Permissible Periphery Of Section 1985 (3), Taunya Lovell Banks

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Limits On Nationwide Personal Jurisdiction In The Federal Courts, Maryellen Fullerton

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act's Spousal Cosignature Rules And Community Property States: Regulatory Haywire, Winnie F. Taylor

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

From The Editor: On Legislative History Research, Richard A. Danner

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Solvency And Survival After The Boom—A Different Perspective, A. Kenneth Pye, John R. Kramer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Scope Of Bargaining In Minnesota Public Sector Labor Relations: A Proposal For Change, Deborah A. Schmedemann

Faculty Scholarship

This article surveys and analyzes the law on the scope of bargaining under the Minnesota Public Employment Labor Relations Act (PERLA) and suggests ways to make it more certain and responsive to public policy. Part II sets out the conflicting policy considerations to be accommodated in defining the scope of bargaining. These considerations form the basis for Part Ill's criticism of the present law under PELRA and guide the recommendations for change made in Part IV.

A Special Pleading Rule For Civil Rights Complaints: A Step Forward Or A Step Back?, C. Keith Wingate

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Market Failure And The Economic Case For A Mandatory Disclosure System, John C. Coffee Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

Recent academic commentary on the securities laws has much in common with the battles fought in historiography over the origins of the First World War. The same progression of phases is evident. First, there is an orthodox school, which tends to see historical events largely as a moral drama of good against evil. Next come the revisionists, debunking all and explaining that the good guys were actually the bad. Eventually, a new wave of more professional, craftsmanlike scholars arrives on the scene to correct the gross overstatements of the revisionists and produce a more balanced, if problematic, assessment.

An Economic Analysis Of The Lost-Volume Retail Seller, Victor P. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

Suppose that a customer agrees to buy a boat and before it is delivered, he reneges. The dealer subsequently resells the boat to another customer at the same price. Has the seller suffered damages (aside from incidental damages) and, if so, should he be compensated? This question, dubbed the lost-volume seller problem, has been the subject of considerable legal analysis, usually in the context of explicating section 2-708(2) of the Uniform Commercial Code (U.C.C.). There have been a number of attempts to apply economic analysis to this difficult question, the most recent by Professors Goetz and Scott. Unfortunately, the economic …

Copyright Law, David Goldberg, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

In 1983 and 1984 the federal courts continued to interpret the changes in copyright law effectuated by the 1976 Copyright Act. During this period the United States Supreme Court decided its first copyright case since adoption of the 1976 Act. In general, the year's decisions tend to accord expanded copyright protection to authors. Several decisions, however, have provoked or exacerbated uncertainties in a number of areas, including the protection accorded nonfiction works, the "fair use" excuse to copyright infringement, and compliance with the U.S. copyright formality of affixing notice to published copies of a work.

Value Creation By Business Lawyers: Legal Skills And Asset Pricing, Ronald J. Gilson

Faculty Scholarship

What do business lawyers really do? Embarrassingly enough, at a time when lawyers are criticized with increasing frequency as nonproductive actors in the economy, there seems to be no coherent answer. That is not, of course, to say that answers have not been offered; there are a number of familiar responses that we have all heard or, what is worse, that we have all offered at one time or another without really thinking very hard about them. The problem is that, for surprisingly similar reasons, none of them is very helpful.

Some Unwise Reflections About Discretion, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

In listening to discussions about discretion in the criminal process, one has the sense of sharply cut distinctions slipping toward a black hole in our language. All decisions by police, prosecutors, judges and jury are routinely called discretionary. This usage pervades respectable, basically sound papers. In a recent article in the Yale Law Journal, Goldstein and Marcus seek to demonstrate that discretion pervades the decisions of French, German and Italian prosecutors. They write: "Claims that prosecutorial discretion has been eliminated, or is supervised closely, are exaggerated. Discretion is exercised in each of the systems [French, German and Italian] for …

Visions Of Practice In Legal Thought, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

This essay contrasts the vision of law practice expressed in the established professional culture with a vision derived from recent Critical legal writing.

The Mechanisms Of Market Efficiency, Ronald J. Gilson

Faculty Scholarship

Of all recent developments in financial economics, the efficient capital market hypothesis ("ECMH") has achieved the widest acceptance by the legal culture. It now commonly informs the academic literature on a variety of topics; it is addressed by major law school casebooks and textbooks on business law; it structures debate over the future of securities regulation both within and without the Securities and Exchange Commission; it has served as the intellectual premise for a major revision of the disclosure system administered by the Commission; and it has even begun to influence judicial decisions and the actual practice of law. In …

Federal Jurisdiction Over Preemption Claims: A Post-Franchise Tax Board Analysis, Ronald J. Mann

Faculty Scholarship

As Congress uses the commerce power to regulate areas of the economy previously controlled by the states, federal statutes conflict with state law with increasing frequency. When such conflicts occur, federal law "preempts" the state law under the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution. Litigants who foresee a preemption issue often seek a declaratory judgment of preemption or nonpreemption in order to clarify their rights and duties. This Note addresses the scope of federal question jurisdiction over declaratory judgment actions in which preemption is the only federal question raised.

Aspects Of Puritan Jurisprudence; Comment On Berman, Revolution And Law: Ii The Puritan Revolution And English Law, Barbara Aronstein Black

Faculty Scholarship

In his learned and informative lecture on the Puritan Revolution and English law, Professor Berman tells us that England in the seventeenth century witnessed fundamental, revolutionary change, both religious and legal; a "Puritan belief system" became dominant and the English constitution and laws were transformed. According to Professor Berman, while there have been studies of the interconnections between religious change and constitutional change, nobody has attempted to relate overall change in the legal system to change in the belief system. However, "the new law that emerged in England as a result of the upheavals of 1640 and 1689 must be …

Promise, Benefit, And Need: Ties That Bind Us To The Law, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

In this lecture, I address the fundamental question of whether we have a good moral reason for obeying the law. Understanding why we should obey the law, if we should, is the starting point for resolving conflicts between that duty and other claims upon us.

I am primarily concerned here with generally applicable laws of the state, but I also consider rules that apply to members of more limited associations, such as law schools and the bar. Concern over obligation to obey rules does not begin and end with rules of the state. Moreover, the relation of citizens to the …

Religion As A Concept In Constitutional Law, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

Because federal and state constitutions forbid government from infringing upon religious liberty or supporting religion, courts must sometimes decide whether a claim, activity, organization, purpose, or classification is religious. In most cases arising under these religion clauses, the religiousness of an activity or organization will be obvious. However; when the presence of religion is seriously controverted, the threshold question, "defining religion," becomes important. Most courts have prudently eschewed theoretical generalizations in approaching that question. Academic commentators have struggled to startlingly diverse proposals.

This Article suggests that in both free exercise and establishment cases, courts should decide whether something is religious …

Litigation And Corporate Governance: An Essay On Steering Between Scylla And Charybdis, John C. Coffee Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

Criticism of the ALI's Corporate Governance Project has had two very different strains. Most vocal have been those critics who exhibit what one sympathetic observer has aptly termed "a neurotic fear of articulation." Although their expressed concern – namely, that courts will be encouraged to second guess boards and impose liability for arm's length business decisions that turned sour – would be a legitimate cause for anxiety if this indeed were the intent or likely effect of the Project, the underlying fear of these critics is more basic and instinctive. It is best revealed in the title of one critique …

Constitutional Law As Moral Philosophy, Gerard E. Lynch

Faculty Scholarship

The seemingly inexhaustible debate over the proper role of the Supreme Court in constitutional adjudication concerns an issue of enormous practical importance: whether the Court has or should have the power to overturn the decision of a democratically elected legislature to, say, prohibit abortions, affects not only the allocation of significant political power, but also the moral lives and indeed the very bodies of millions of citizens. For this reason, many contributions to that debate, from academics as well as from practicing politicians, have burned with the passion of political commitment, seeking to influence events directly by persuading judges (or …

Resolving The Paradox Of The Innocent Construction Rule, David Larson

Faculty Scholarship

The application of the innocent construction rule in defamation cases has led to illogical and questionable holdings. This article will explain the nature of that rule and illustrate its use by focusing on cases arising in Illinois. It will review the recent case of Chapski v. Copley Press, where the Illinois Supreme Court rejected the innocent construction rule, and raise the possibility that additional reform may be necessary in Illinois. Finally, other jurisdictions relying upon similar rules of interpretation will be identified and discussed.

Miranda Revisited: Broadening The Right To Counsel During Custodial Interrogation--Commonwealth V. Sherman, Beth Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

The judicially created Miranda protections require law enforcement officials to inform criminal suspects of their right to counsel prior to proceeding with custodial interrogation. In Commonwealth v. Sherman, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts considered whether a criminal defendant validly waived his right to counsel when a police officer failed to inform him that an attorney, appointed to represent him in an unrelated case, had requested to be present during his interrogation. Concluding that, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, the defendant did not voluntarily waive his right to counsel, the court suppressed the defendant's in-custody statements to police. …

Preliminary Injunctions: The Varying Standards, Arthur D. Wolf

Faculty Scholarship

The Author undertakes a survey in this Article which shows that the Supreme Court and the courts of appeals have not articulated or applied consistent criteria for preliminary injunctive relief. Their decisions have described a sinuous path through primary standards, alternative tests, and sliding scale variations. Part of the difficulty may be because the Supreme Court has not taken a firm hand in resolving conflicts between and among the circuits on critical issues involving interlocutory injunctions. In addition while the courts of appeals make reference to each others' opinions, they have not demonstrated a desire to achieve uniformity in their …

Lawyers, Politics, And The "Lawyers' Interest": An Historical Inquiry, James W. Gordon

Faculty Scholarship

The assumption that the occupational identification of "lawyer" is the salient feature in evaluating political motivation is interesting, if questionable, according to the Author. Does occupational identity overwhelm other identities? Are politically active lawyers really a homogeneous group? Are they less affected by competing identities associated with wealth, geography, familial and constituency concerns, political ideology, party considerations, or any of the myriad other sources of public and private motivation of behavior? Surely the hypothesis that politically active lawyers behave differently from nonlawyers is worth investigating. This Article offers some preliminary responses to these questions posed, which are grounded in empirical …

Recovery Of Basis In Non-Qualifying Stock Redemptions Under Sections 302 And 304, Frederick D. Royal

Faculty Scholarship

This Article reviews the redemption provisions of both section 302 and section 304 of the Internal Revenue Code. It discusses the existing rules for basis recovery in dividend equivalent redemptions, and highlights the situations where the recovery of the basis of the stock redeemed becomes a problem. A number of cases, revenue rulings, and hypothetical illustrations where the basis recovery of redeemed stock has created or potentially could create a problem are examined. The Article also analyzes the tax policies which may influence the structure of a basis recovery procedure in dividend equivalent redemptions, and suggests the recovery method which …

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act's Spousal Co-Signature Rules: Suretyship Contracts In Separate Property States, Winnie F. Taylor

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

High Society: The Building Height Limitation On Baltimore's Mt. Vernon Place, Garrett Power

Faculty Scholarship

The "Anti Skyscraper" Law of 1904 is often described as Maryland's first zoning law and one of the first zoning laws in the United States. But there is more. Behind this dusty statute is a story of speculation, selfishness, collusion and changing social values, which takes a century and a half to unfold and which has something to say about the role of government in regulating the use of land.

Thinking Like A Statistician: The Report Of The American Statistical Association Committee On Training In Statistics In Selected Professions, David H. Kaye

Faculty Scholarship

In 1983, a subcommittee of the American Statistical Association composed of legal educators and one judge issued a report describing existing programs for educating law students in statistics and offering recommendations for improving these programs. This article summarizes that report.