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Journal Articles

1996

Constitutional law

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Direct Democracy And Hastily Enacted Statutes, John C. Nagle Jan 1996

Direct Democracy And Hastily Enacted Statutes, John C. Nagle

Journal Articles

Phil Frickey qualifies as the leading explorer of the borderline between statutory interpretation and constitutional law. Frickey explores ways to mediate the borderline between statutory interpretation and constitutional adjudication in the context of direct democracy. His is an enormously helpful attempt to reconcile the constitutional issues discussed by Julian Eule and the statutory interpretation issues discussed by Jane Schacter. I agree with many of Frickey's suggestions. Indeed, I will suggest some additional devices that can perform the same role. But I wonder whether Frickey has proved more than he set out to accomplish. The problems of direct democracy are special, …


Note, Civil Forfeiture And Innocent Owners, Deborah Challener Jan 1996

Note, Civil Forfeiture And Innocent Owners, Deborah Challener

Journal Articles

Although forfeiture is an ancient practice, its constitutional validity has only recently been seriously questioned. Historically, the Supreme Court has relied on a legal fiction-that the property itself is guilty-to confiscate property without regard to the Constitution. Cloaking itself in the "guilty property fiction," the Court has virtually ignored the property owner's culpability. In Bennis, the Court decided whether an owner's interest in property is subject to forfeiture when the owner entrusts the property to a party who uses it to commit a crime, even if the owner has no knowledge of the illegal use.