Law Commons^™

Why I Use "Seinfeld" As Precedent, Irma S. Russell

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No abstract provided.

The Trial Of Socrates, Douglas O. Linder

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The trial and execution of Socrates in Athens in 399 B.C.E. puzzles historians. Why, in a society enjoying more freedom and democracy than any the world had ever seen, would a seventy-year-old philosopher be put to death for what he was teaching? The puzzle is all the greater because Socrates had taught - without molestation - all of his adult life. What could Socrates have said or done than prompted a jury of 500 Athenians to send him to his death just a few years before he would have died naturally? Finding an answer to the mystery of the trial …

The Ethics 2000 Process: Revisions To The Aba Model Rules Approved By The Aba House Of Delegates, Irma S. Russell

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This article provides examples of the Ethics 2000 Commission's work and examines a few changes likely to affect lawyers practicing in the environmental arena.

The Trial Of Galileo, Douglas O. Linder

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Galileo Galilei was born in 1564 - the same year that Shakespeare was born and Michelangelo died. From an early age, Galileo showed his scientific skills. At age nineteen, he discovered the isochronism of the pendulum. By age twenty-two, he had invented the hydrostatic balance. By age twenty-five, Galileo assumed his first lectureship, at the University of Pisa. Within a few more years, Galileo earned a reputation throughout Europe as a scientist and superb lecturer. Eventually, he would be recognized as the father of experimental physics. Galileo's motto might have been follow knowledge wherever it leads us. In the 1633 …

The Trial Of Jesus: An Account, Douglas O. Linder

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Providing an account of the trial of Jesus presents challenges unlike that for any of the other trials on the Famous Trials Website. First, there is the challenge of determining what actually happened nearly 2,000 years ago before the Sanhedrin and the Roman prefect of Judea, Pontius Pilate. The task is daunting because almost our entire understanding of events comes from five divergent accounts, each of which was written by a Christian (who did not witness the final days of Jesus directly) for a distinct audience from fifteen (at least) to seventy years after the trial. Second, there is the …

Insurance Implications Of September 11 And Possible Responses, Jeffrey E. Thomas

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September 11 was a "defining moment" for this generation. The graphic images of that day will forever remain seared into people's individual and collective consciousness. Americans responded in many ways, both individually and collectively. The government, with nearly unanimous public support, immediately responded by declaring "war" on terrorism and by adopting measures to provide relief for victims of the attack.

September 11 was also a defining moment for the insurance industry. It was "the largest single insured event in history." Insurance companies are expected to pay some $50 billion to victims of the attack -more than eight times what the …

“No War, No Hate, No Propaganda” – Promoting Films About European War And Fascism During The Period Of American Isolationism, Allen K. Rostron

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Marketing films about European fascism and war to American audiences posed a dilemma for studios during the period 1937 to 1941. Fearful of offending foreign markets or being accused of propagandizing for American intervention, the studios delivered mixed signals and contradictory messages through their films and the marketing campaigns developed to promote them.

Films discussed in the article include "Fire Over England" (1937), "Three Comrades" (1938), "Blockade" (1938), "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" (1939), "Beasts of Berlin" (1939), "The Mortal Storm" (1940), "Four Sons" (1940), "The Man I Married" (1940), "Escape" (1940), "Pastor Hall" (1940), "Arise, My Love" (1940), "Foreign …

Ethical Issues For Innocence Projects: An Initial Primer, Ellen Y. Suni

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While the advent of DNA has led to more than 100 exonerations in the United States, few of them would have been possible without the existence of innocence projects around the country that have undertaken the often difficult work of exonerating the wrongfully convicted. More than thirty projects are now in operation, with several more in the planning stages.

As these projects have developed, issues have emerged regarding the professional responsibility obligations of attorneys and others engaged in this post-conviction work. These issues were the subject of discussion at national innocence conferences in 2000 and 2002, but that discussion, while …

Bending Toward Justice: John Doar And The Mississippi Burning Trial, Douglas O. Linder

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All other civil rights groups in 1964 considered Mississippi - the most impenetrable state in the union - hopeless. The decision of Bob Moses of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to shake up the Magnolia State by sending six hundred young volunteers into every corner of the state to register new black voters brimmed with danger. Moses explained to a first gathering of student volunteers, When you're not in Mississippi, it's not real. And when you're there, the rest of the world isn't real. In the early morning hours of June 20, Mickey Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney …

The Impact Of Expectations On Teaching And Learning, Barbara Glesner Fines

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Law schools are in a crisis of confidence in the abilities and motivations of their students. Conferences on law school teaching feature presentations such as "The Challenges of Connecting with 21st Century Students." Journal articles lament "The Happy Charade" that constitutes the learning and motivation of law students today. Professor Maranville of the Association of American Law Schools ("AALS") Section on Teaching Methods summarized these sentiments: "Many law students are so bored by the second year that their attendance, preparation, and participation decline precipitously; by graduation they have lost much of the passion for justice and the enthusiasm for helping …

One Small Step For Women: Female-Friendly Provisions In The Rome Statute Of The International Criminal Court, Rana R. Lehr-Lehnardt

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No abstract provided.

Financial Services In The 21st Century: The Perspective Of Insurance, Jeffrey E. Thomas

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No abstract provided.

Crisci V. Security Insurance Co.: The Dawn Of The Modern Era Of Insurance: Bad Faith And Emotional Distress Damages, Jeffrey E. Thomas

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Crisci v. Security Insurance Co. typifies the doctrine of "bad faith," one of the most interesting and important contributions of insurance law to the general body of law. It "typifies" the doctrine with its classic, if somewhat extreme, fact pattern, and with its reliance on the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing for the recognition of a cause of action that sounds in tort. Yet it also represents a potential for bad faith law that has not yet been fulfilled: the promise of emotional distress damages for an insurer's failure to settle.

This article explores both what Crisci …

Introduction To The Symposium On Wrongful Convictions: Issues Of Science, Evidence, And Innocence, Ellen Y. Suni

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t is hard to imagine an injustice greater than the incarceration or, worse yet, execution of an innocent. Especially in our system of justice, which purports to accept as a basic premise that it is better that ten guilty go free than that one innocent person be imprisoned, the incarceration of an innocent is simply intolerable. Yet it happens--and much more often than we would like to believe. Questions abound as to why and what can be done about it. The problem of wrongful convictions has been discussed for some time, but it has often been rejected or downplayed. It …

The Internet, Regulation And The Market For Loyalties: An Economic Analysis Of Transborder Information Flow, Paul D. Callister

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As the Internet has gained prevalence, attention has turned to its regulation. Indeed, regulation proves to be a unique and complex problem, given the Internet's lack of traditional borders and boundaries. Highlighting possible avenues of regulation, the author discusses neo-classical economic theory, specifically Monroe E. Price's market for loyalties theory. Although originally applied to the regulation of broadcasting, the author contends that the market for loyalties theory can also be applied to the Internet. Building on Professor Price's pioneering analysis, the article extends the theory to examine market elasticity's effect on the loss of monopoly control over information flow (as …

Rethinking The Legal Oversight Of Benefit Program Exclusions, Mark Berger

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Increasingly, American workers rely upon employers to provide employee benefit programs that include critical health insurance and retirement savings plans. However, employers are finding that providing benefits is a costly undertaking. As a result an increasing number of employers are making use of alternative workforce systems. These involve supplementing a core of full-time workers with contingent employees for whom no commitments are made other than payment for services rendered. Such contingent workers have no expectation of indefinite or continuous employment, and are generally excluded from whatever benefit programs the company may provide.

The increasing use of two-tier employment systems of …

American Perspectives On Self-Incrimination And The Compelled Production Of Evidence, Mark Berger

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The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that no person may be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. The Boyd decision in 1886 recognised an intimate relation between the privilege against self-incrimination and the restrictions on search and seizure in the Fourth Amendment and created a virtually impenetrable barrier to government demands that a suspect or defendant be compelled to produce evidence against himself. However, since that time the Supreme Court has progressively restricted the scope of Fifth Amendment protection in relation to the compelled production of evidence. This has been achieved by …

Introduction: Theorizing The Connections Among Systems Of Subordination, Nancy Levit

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Theorizing the Connections Among Systems of Subordination introduces a symposium that addresses issues on the leading edge of identity theory, race theory, and critical social theory. It explains the concepts of anti-essentialism, intersectionality, multiple consciousness, multi-dimensionality, and post-intersectionality. It investigates the ways specific types of oppression - such as racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia - support and feed off of one another. It explores the dynamics of subordination that make different forms of subordination connected to each other - the mechanisms by which subordinating systems buttress each other. Where one sees sexism, one frequently can find racism; where classism exists, …

Client Confidences And Public Confidence In The Legal Profession: Observations On The Aba House Of Delegates Deliberations On The Duty Of Confidentiality, Irma S. Russell

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This article sets forth points to encourage the ABA House of Delegates to reconsider proposed revisions to Model Rule 1.6 (b)(2) and (b)(3) and to reject any proposals to revert back to the former rule. Specifically, the article urges the delegates to: 1) be aware of absolutes and consider proportionality; 2) recognize lawyers as trustworthy decision makers; and 3) acknowledge the profession's responsibility to the public. The article suggests that the possibility of reverting to the former rule is radically out of step with the tradition of confidentiality in the American legal profession and with the rules of professional conduct …

Alternative Communities For The High Plains: An Exploratory Essay On Holistic Responses To Issues Of Environment, Economy, And Society, John W. Ragsdale Jr

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No abstract provided.

How The Board Of Tax Appeals Changed Hollywood History, Allen K. Rostron

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Everyone remembers when Charlton Heston, as Moses, held his staff toward the heavens and the Red Sea parted in Cecil B. deMille's epic motion picture The Ten Commandments. Few know the curious tale of tax law that lies behind it. In the early 1930s, the Bureau of Internal Revenue claimed that Cecil and his brother, William C. deMille, also a successful motion picture director, had used personal service corporations to avoid huge amounts of income tax. The deMilles fought the charges. One brother emerged victorious, his career flourished, and he later gave credit to the wisdom of a tax court …

Treat Your Women Well: Comparisons And Lessons From An Imperfect Example Across The Waters, Rana R. Lehr-Lehnardt

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A young woman could not endure another night with the elderly man she was forced to marry, so she slipped out of the house and spent the night with the young man she had loved for years and desperately wanted to marry. When the woman's father learned of the illicit behavior, he entered the police station where she had sought refuge and fired four shots at her. He shed his daughter's blood to cleanse the family's honor. Jordan, 1999

A jealous husband returned home from an evening at the mosque and accused his pregnant wife of having an affair. The …