Law Commons^™

The Future Of Health Care Must Be Harm Reductionist—To Bring It About, We Need Moral Philosophy, Travis N. Rieder

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

In the United States, more than 100,000 people now die each year from drug overdose, but nearly all of these deaths are preventable. The purpose of this Article is to show that harm reduction interventions could go a long way towards saving these lives, but we don’t adopt many of these interventions, or fail to adopt them at the scale needed. Although it is often suggested by opponents of harm reduction that the interventions are unlikely to actually reduce harm, this Article argues that the empirical debate is largely over—decades of data demonstrate that harm reduction saves lives, promotes health, …

Demons & Droids: Nonhuman Animals On Trial, Gerrit D. White

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

Nonhuman animal trials are ridiculous to the modern sensibilities of the West. The concept of them is in opposition to the idea of nonhuman animals—entities without agency, incapable of guilt by nature of irrationality. This way of viewing nonhuman animals is relatively new to the Western mind. Putting nonhuman animals on trial has only become unacceptable in the past few centuries. Before this shift, nonhuman animal trials existed as methods of communities policing themselves. More than that, these trials were part of legal systems ensuring they provided justice for all. This shift happened because the relationship between Christian authorities and …

Textualism Today: Scalia’S Legacy And His Lasting Philosophy, Chase Wathen

University of Miami Law Review

Appointed to the Supreme Court in 1986 by President Reagan, Justice Antonin Scalia redefined the philosophy of textualism. Although methods like the plain meaning rule had been around for over a century, the textualist philosophy of today was not mainstream. While Scalia’s textualism is thought to be a conservative philosophy, Scalia consistently maintained that it was judicial restraint rather than conservatism at the heart of his method. The key tenant of Scalia’s new textualism was an outright rejection of legislative history, which he often brought up in opinions only to mock and dismiss as irrelevant. Starting with the hypothesis that …

A New Metaphor: How Artificial Intelligence Links Legal Reasoning And Mathematical Thinking, Melissa E. Love Koenig, Colleen Mandell

Marquette Law Review

Artificial intelligence’s (AI’s) impact on the legal community expands exponentially each year. As AI advances, lawyers have more powerful tools to enhance their ability to research and analyze the law, as well as to draft contracts and other legal documents. Lawyers are already using tools powered by AI and are learning to shift their methodologies to take advantage of these enhancements. To continue to grow into their shifting role, lawyers should understand the relationship between AI, mathematics, and legal reasoning.

Judges As Superheroes: The Danger Of Confusing Constitutional Decisions With Cosmic Battles, H. Jefferson Powell

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reflection On The Philosophy Behind The Exemption To Notice Of Employment Termination A Study In The Light Of The Jordanian Labour Law 1996, Firas Kasassbeh

UAEU Law Journal

Under the Jordanian Labour Act 1996, it is not permissible for the employer to terminate the employee’s contract without giving the labourer/ employee at least one month notice before the date of termination. This is because sudden dismissal may cause hardship on the employee such as finding him/herself unemployed. However, there are cases where the employer is exempted from giving such notice due to either the nature of the contract (such as in the case of definite period contracts and the case of employment under probation), or the nature of termination (such as in the cases where the termination is …

Memory, Moral Reasoning, And Madison V. Alabama, Elias Feldman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Icc Should Not Encourage Occupation, Uri Weiss

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Keeping Faith With Nomos, Steven L. Winter

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Unwavering Movement: Integrating Reason Into British Penal Code 1730-1823, Rebecca M. Good

International ResearchScape Journal

Between the early 16^th and 18^th centuries, English attitude towards crime and correction were based on the strong held belief that faith and religion were the only cure to immorality. Lawmakers began to threaten citizens with capital punishment for menial crimes such as petty theft and begging. Resulting of a moral panic, lawmakers turned to the deterrence to dissuade citizens from partaking in criminal activity. The list of crimes punishable by death in England rose from 50 offenses in 1688 to over 220 in 1815. This article explains the origins of the Bloody Code and how Enlightenment-Era thought …

A Conspiracy Of Life: A Posthumanist Critique Of Appoaches To Animal Rights In The Law, Barnaby E. Mclaughlin

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Near the end of his life, Jacques Derrida, one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, turned his attention from the traditional focus of philosophy, humans and humanity, to an emerging field of philosophical concern, animals. Interestingly, Derrida claimed in an address entitled The Animal That Therefore I Am that,

since I began writing, in fact, I believe I have dedicated [my work] to the question of the living and of the living animal. For me that will always have been the most important and decisive question. I have addressed it a thousand times, either directly or obliquely, …

Revenge Against Robots, Christina Mulligan

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Gossip And Gore: A Ghoulish Journey Into A Philosophical Thicket, Sean Hannon Williams

Michigan Law Review

A review of Don Herzog, Defaming the Dead.

Foreword: What’S Next? Counter-Stories And Theorizing Resistance, Tayyab Mahmud

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property And The Prisoner’S Dilemma: A Game Theory Justification Of Copyrights, Patents, And Trade Secrets, Adam D. Moore

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

In this article, I will offer an argument for the protection of intellectual property based on individual self-interest and prudence. In large part, this argument will parallel considerations that arise in a prisoner’s dilemma game. In brief, allowing content to be unprotected in terms of free access leads to a sub-optimal outcome where creation and innovation are suppressed. Adopting the institutions of copyright, patent, and trade secret is one way to avoid these sub-optimal results.

A Philosophy Toolkit For Tax Lawyers, Bret N. Bogenschneider

Akron Law Review

Philosophy functions as a tool for tax lawyers.The various schools of philosophy are akin to a toolkit with different tools suited for differing projects where the more tools the tax lawyer knows how to use, the more effective he or she will be in the practice of tax law. This paper accordingly sets out to provide a systemization of philosophy relevant to tax law in the areas of Moral Philosophy, Legal Philosophy, Law and Economics, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language, and Critical Legal Studies. A summary is provided of each followed by a discussion of prior …

The Psychology Of Conflict: Mediating In A Diverse World, Samantha Skabelund

Arbitration Law Review

No abstract provided.

Taxing Greed, Genevieve Tokić

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

Appeals to greed in support of various tax proposals are often seen in response to populist moods in politics. Such appeals may be used to garner political support for a policy or proposal. However, there has been little academic consideration of the role of greed (or attitudes towards greed) in the law, and in tax law in particular. This Article seeks to fill that gap by taking a close look at the concept of greed. In doing so, the Article first surveys the history of greed and its meaning, and draws on political philosophy and economic literature to provide a …

Postmodern Free Expression: A Philosophical Rationale For The Digital Age, Stephen M. Feldman

Marquette Law Review

Three philosophical rationales--search-for-truth, self-governance, and self-fulfillment--have animated discussions of free expression for decades. Each rationale emerged and attained prominence in American jurisprudence in specific political and cultural circumstances. Moreover, each rationale shares a foundational commitment to the classical liberal (modernist) self. But the three traditional rationales are incompatible with our digital age. IN particular, the idea of the classical liberal self enjoying maximum liberty in a private sphere does not fit in the postmodern information society. The time for a new rationale has arrived. The same sociocultural conditions that undermine the traditional rationales suggest a self-emergence rationale built on the …

Beyond Punks In Empty Chairs: An Imaginary Conversation With Clint Eastwood’S Dirty Harry—Toward Peace Through Spiritual Justice, Mark L. Jones

University of Massachusetts Law Review

This Article is based on a presentation at the 2012 conference on “Struggles for Recognition: Individuals, Peoples, and States” co-sponsored by Mercer University, the Concerned Philosophers for Peace, and the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, and it seeks to help combat our human tendency to demonize the Other and thus to contribute in some small way to the reduction of unnecessary conflict and violence. The discussion takes the form of a conversation in a bar between four imagined protagonists, who have participated in the conference, and Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, who is having a bad day questioning his …

Free Will Is No Bargain: How Misunderstanding Human Behavior Negatively Influences Our Criminal Justice System, Sean Daly

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Cesare Beccaria, John Bessler And The Birth Of Modern Criminal Law, Alberto Cadoppi

University of Baltimore Journal of International Law

Professor Bessler’s The Birth of American Law offers a contribution to the research on Cesare Beccaria of extraordinary value for legal historians and for legal scholars in general. Not only is the book extremely fascinating, but it gives us an enormous mass of information about the “celebrated Marquis” and his influence on the developments of the law and the legal jurisprudence in Europe and outside Europe over the last 250 years. Here follows a brief summary of Professor Bessler’s book

Rejustifying Retributive Punishment On Utilitarian Grounds In Light Of Neuroscientific Discoveries More Than Philosophical Calisthenics! , Robert B. Mccaleb

Cleveland State Law Review

Each of these unique features [of the Rotten Social Background (RSB) defense] is skeptically received by the classical criminal law mainly because of its fundamentally non-scientific, folk-psychological position on free will. However, discoveries in contemporary neuroscience strongly support each of these features. While chemical, causal, and deterministic brain events indisputably play a central role, RSB is virtually ignored as a frightening intrusion by materialism into the dualist sanctuary of the law. Yet RSB, as an indicator species for the health of the criminal law’s philosophic ecosystem, cannot be discounted out of hand any longer. In fact, the reconciliation of law …

Much Ado About Nothing? A Critical Examination Of Therapeutic Jurisprudence, Dennis Roderick, Susan T. Krumholz

University of Massachusetts Law Review

In the decades since the 1970s there have been several movements designed to impact or alter the workings of the legal system. The most lasting and widespread of these movements has been the development and systemic incorporation of mediation or Alternative Dispute Resolution, especially in the arena of family law but also impacting community disagreements, a variety of commercial disputes, and civil cases in general. However mediation did not significantly impact the practice of criminal law. Rapid growth in the number of individuals being processed through the criminal courts during the 1980s and 1990s shifted the focus to the criminal …

How Feminist Theory Became (Criminal) Law: Tracing The Path To Mandatory Criminal Intervention In Domestic Violence Cases, Claire Houston

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Our popular understanding of domestic violence has shifted significantly over the past forty years, and with it, our legal response. We have moved from an interpretation of domestic violence as a private relationship problem managed through counseling techniques to an approach that configures domestic violence first and foremost as a public crime. Mandatory criminal intervention policies reflect and reinforce this interpretation. How we arrived at this point, and which understanding of domestic violence facilitated this shift, is the focus of this Article. I argue that the move to intense criminalization has been driven by a distinctly feminist interpretation of domestic …

False Persuasion, Superficial Heuristics, And The Power Of Logical Form To Test The Integrity Of Legal Argument, Stephen M. Rice

Pace Law Review

This Article will generally describe philosophical logic, logical form, and logical fallacy. Further, it will explain one specific logical fallacy—the Fallacy of Negative Premises—as well as how courts have used the Fallacy of Negative Premises to evaluate legal arguments. Last, it will explain how lawyers, judges, and law students can use the Fallacy of Negative Premises to make and evaluate legal argument.

On Reading The Language Of Statutes (Book Review), Linda D. Jellum

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Linda D. Jellum reviews Lawrence M. Solan, The Language of Statutes: Laws and Their Interpretation (The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2010), ISBN-13: 978-0-226-76796-3.

Law And Conscience, Paul V. Niemeyer

Notre Dame Law Review

No abstract provided.

Do Survival Values Form A Sufficient Basis For An Objective Morality: A Realist's Appraisal Of The Rules Of Human Conduct, C. Emerson Talmage

Notre Dame Law Review

No abstract provided.

Socrates Is Mortal: Formal Logic And The Pre-Law Undergraduate, Patricia Sayre

Notre Dame Law Review

No abstract provided.