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Full-Text Articles in Law
Reviving Fiscal Citizenship, Ajay K. Mehrotra
Reviving Fiscal Citizenship, Ajay K. Mehrotra
Michigan Law Review
April 15 is a day that most Americans dread. That date is, of course, when federal and nearly all state-level individual income tax returns are due. Agonizing over the filing of income tax returns has long been a perennial part of modern American legal culture. Since the mid-1940s, when the United States first adopted a return-based mass income tax, the vast majority of Americans have been legally required to file an annual Form 1040. Over the years, taxpayers have been complaining about, procrastinating over, and generally loathing the filing of their annual tax returns. Indeed, in recent times, April 15 …
The Vitality Of The American Sovereign, Todd E. Pettys
The Vitality Of The American Sovereign, Todd E. Pettys
Michigan Law Review
The proposition that "the people" are the preeminent sovereign in the United States has long been a tenet of American public life. The authors of the Declaration of Independence characterized the American people's sovereignty as a "self-evident" truth when announcing the colonies' decision to sever their ties with Great Britain, the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention in 1787 invoked the people's sovereignty when framing the nation's Constitution, and Americans today exercise their sovereignty each time they cast their ballots on Election Day. Yet what prerogatives, precisely, does the people's sovereignty entail? In modern America, where neither a bloody revolution nor …
Juror Delinquency In Criminal Trials In America, 1796-1996, Nancy J. King
Juror Delinquency In Criminal Trials In America, 1796-1996, Nancy J. King
Michigan Law Review
This article examines two aspects of the jury system that have attracted far less attention from scholars than from the popular press: avoidance of jury duty by some citizens, and misconduct while serving by others. Contemporary reports of juror shortages and jury dodging portray a system in crisis. Coverage of recent high-profile cases suggests that misconduct by jurors who do serve is common. In the trial of Damian Williams and Henry Watson for the beating of Reginald Denny, a juror was kicked off for failing to deliberate; Exxon, Charles Keating, and the man accused of murdering Michael Jordan's father all …
Government Information And The Rights Of Citizens, Michigan Law Review
Government Information And The Rights Of Citizens, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
This Project delineates the federal and state responses to these two fundamental societal concerns. The course of the discussion suggests the vitality of these concerns, and the flexibility and continuing development of the governmental responses. Clearly, the interests in maximizing disclosure of government-held information and minimizing the handling and dissemination of unnecessary or inaccurate personal information can conflict. The contours of this conflict, only intimated herein, will doubtless become more bold with the maturation of the opposing statutory schemes.
Legal Knowledge Of Michigan Citizens, Michigan Law Review
Legal Knowledge Of Michigan Citizens, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
This empirical study of the legal knowledge of Michigan citizens arose in response to the paucity of research in the area, especially in Michigan, where no such study had previously been conducted, and the contradictory findings of those earlier studies that had been conducted. Its findings may have implications for future efforts to educate the public and may provide some clues as to whether and why certain segments of the population are deficient in legal knowledge.
Apportionment Of Representation In The Legislature: A Study Of State Constitutions, Elizabeth Durfee
Apportionment Of Representation In The Legislature: A Study Of State Constitutions, Elizabeth Durfee
Michigan Law Review
This paper is concerned with the rules found in our state constitutions for apportionment of representation in the state legislature. It does not attempt to solve the problems of high-tension politics that are involved in the making and remaking of such rules; it goes no deeper than an exposition of existing rules. Even on this level it is not exhaustive. Since the constitutions exhibit manifold variations, from simple directions which are scarcely more than a declaration of policy to complex rules for the formation of districts, no attempt will be made to classify all the different types of provisions. With …
Theory Of Popular Sovereignty, Harold J. Laski
Theory Of Popular Sovereignty, Harold J. Laski
Michigan Law Review
Alexis de Tocqueville has wisely insisted upon the natural tendency of men to confound institutions that are necessary with institutions to which they have grown accustomed.' It is a truth more general in its application than he perhaps imagined. Certainly the student of political and legal ideas will in each age be compelled to examine theories which are called essential even when their original substance has, under pressure of new circumstance, passed into some allotropic form. Anyone, for instance, who analyses the modern theory of consideration will be convinced that, while judges do homage to an ancient content, they do …