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Full-Text Articles in Law

Settler's Remorse, Floyd Abrams Apr 2007

Settler's Remorse, Floyd Abrams

Michigan Law Review

Who can quarrel with the notion that settling civil cases is generally a good thing? Litigation is expensive, time-consuming, preoccupying, and often personally destructive. Our courts are overburdened and, in any event, imperfect decision-making entities. It may even be true that, more often than not, "the absolute result of a trial is not as high a quality of justice as is the freely negotiated, give a little, take a little settlement." But not every case should be settled. Many are worthless. The settlement of others could too easily lead to a torrent of unwarranted litigation. Sometimes, as Professor Owen Fiss …


Truth, Accuracy And Neutral Reportage: Beheading The Media Jabberwock's Attempts To Circumvent New York Times V. Sullivan, David A. Elder Jan 2007

Truth, Accuracy And Neutral Reportage: Beheading The Media Jabberwock's Attempts To Circumvent New York Times V. Sullivan, David A. Elder

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

In over four decades since the New York Times v. Sullivan decision, the United States Supreme Court has accorded the American media a level of freedom of expression that is unparalleled in the democratic world. Yet, the Supreme Court has also repeatedly affirmed its unwillingness to give the media a constitutional blank check, and has authorized redress where public persons can prove that the defendant published a "calculated falsehood." As any lawyer knows, the calculated falsehood standard is so difficult to satisfy that often none but the impulsive, the intrepid or the naive will contemplate suing for libel. However, Sullivan …


Post A Message And Go To Jail: Criminalizing Internet Libel In Japan And The United States, Salil K. Mehra Jan 2007

Post A Message And Go To Jail: Criminalizing Internet Libel In Japan And The United States, Salil K. Mehra

University of Colorado Law Review

In the United States, criminal libel is all but dead. American law professors only write about it to denounce the continued existence of rarely enforced criminal libel statutes. In Japan, however, criminal libel laws have become vital tools in policing injurious speech on the Internet. Defamatory posts lead to police intervention and even arrest. Because the United States is considering regulation of online speech, potentially including criminal penalties, we can learn from the experience of Japan. From a positive perspective, this Article explains why Japan applies such laws to the Internet. From a normative perspective, the Article addresses why broadly …