Law Commons^™

Deadly Confusion: Juror Instructions In Capital Cases, Theodore Eisenberg, Martin T. Wells

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

A fatal mistake. A defendant is sentenced to die because the jury was misinformed about the law. The justice system should be designed to prevent such a tragic error. Yet our interviews with jurors who served in South Carolina capital cases indicate that this nightmare is a reality.

Although our data are limited to South Carolina, the question whether jurors are adequately instructed in capital cases is of national concern. For example, the issue whether jurors should be more fully informed about the alternative to a death sentence has arisen in other states. And the question whether jurors understand the …

The Future Of Source-Based Taxation Of The Income Of Multinational Enterprises, Robert A. Green

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Jurors' Views Of Civil Lawyers: Implications For Courtroom Communication, Valerie P. Hans, Krista Sweigart

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In courtroom communication, lawyers play a key role. During presentations of opening statements and closing arguments, and through examination and cross-examination of witnesses, lawyers communicate the merits of the case that the jury is to decide. Yet there is surprisingly little systematic information about how jurors perceive lawyers' communication activities. This Article presents new information based upon an interview study with civil jurors about how jurors view and evaluate attorneys and their courtroom behavior. The results of this study are used to make recommendations about enhancing the effectiveness of lawyers' communications.

Harmless Error In Federal Habeas Corpus After Brecht V. Abrahamson, John H. Blume, Stephen P. Garvey

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The law of habeas corpus has changed again. This time it was the law of harmless error. Before Brecht v. Abrahamson, the courts applied the same harmless error rule on direct appeal and in federal habeas corpus. Under that rule, embraced for constitutional errors in Chapman v. California, a conviction tainted by a constitutional error susceptible to harmless error analysis could be upheld only if the state demonstrated that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. After Brecht, the venerable Chapman rule still applies to constitutional errors identified and reviewed on direct appeal, but an ostensibly "less …

Life-Cycle Justice: Accommodating Just Cause And Employment At Will, Stewart J. Schwab

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Contribution Arguments In Commercial Law, Steven Walt, Emily Sherwin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Revising Section 402a: The Limits Of Tort As Social Insurance, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Langugage And Culture (Not To Say Race) Of Peremptory Challenges, Sheri Lynn Johnson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Evidence, Faust Rossi

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Lords Of Lash, Loom, And Law: Justice Story, Slavery, And Prigg V. Pennsylvania, Barbara Holden-Smith

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Many Contexts Of Welfare Reform, Jeffrey S. Lehman

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Baseline Problems In Assessing Chapter 11, Theodore Eisenberg

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Dealing with failing businesses is like dealing with failing marriages. It is messy. The bigger the business the messier the process is likely to be. Many big business failures in the United States go through their death throes or cure their ills in reorganizations under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Act. As the vehicle in which big business messes travel, Chapter 11 is viewed as unnecessarily complex, time-consuming, and costly. The justification for Chapter 11's very existence has been challenged.

This article suggests that we are blaming the vehicle for the mess that it carries. Much of what is problematic …

Keeping Faith: Government Ethics & Government Ethics Regulation, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Is The Glass Half-Empty Or Half-Full?: Reflections On The Kodak Case, George A. Hay

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Policing Employment Contracts Within The Nexus-Of-Contracts Firm, Katherine V.W. Stone

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Some Thoughts On Poverty And Failure In The Market For Children's Human Capital, Lynn A. Stout

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Thomas's Supreme Unfitness--A Letter To The Senate On Advise And Consent, Gary J. Simson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Horizontal Mergers: Law, Policy, And Economics, George A. Hay, Gregory J. Werden

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The legality of a horizontal merger under section 7 of the Clayton Act turns on a reckoning of its social costs and benefits. This paper reviews what economics has to say about that reckoning and explores the relationship between economic learning and merger law and policy.

Legal Ethics And The Restatement Process -- The Sometimes-Uncomfortable Fit, Charles W. Wolfram

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Parts And Wholes: The Integrity Of The Model Rules, Charles W. Wolfram

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

As important as is each of its parts, the 1983 Model Rules of Professional Conduct was, of course, meant to function as a whole. At the very least, the parts were presumably intended to work well with one another, sketching a regulatory apparatus that would guide both lawyers subject to it and courts and regulators administering it in a coherent and consistent manner. To a large extent the Model Rules made significant headway in this respect, continuing the movement toward more explicit and articulated regulation of the profession begun by their predecessor, the Model Code of Professional Responsibility.

Yet, …

The Scholar's Workstation Now A Reality! Enhancing Faculty Information Access And Delivery, Claire M. Germain

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Street Harassment And The Informal Ghettoization Of Women, Cynthia Grant Bowman

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Neumeier-Schultz Rules: How Logical A "Next Stage In The Evolution Of The Law" After Babcock?, Gary J. Simson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Artifactions: The Battle Over The National Endowment For The Arts, Michael C. Dorf

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Pensions And Passivity, Gregory S. Alexander

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article discusses how modem fiduciary law has extended equity's tradition of constructing ownership as passive through the corporate pension system. It examines how the corporate pension system as a mode of owning pooled capital is a new stage of passive ownership. This stage creates a different aspect of the familiar problem of separating control from beneficial ownership. Berle and Means argued that the problem that the separation of control from ownership created was economic. The interests of managers and shareholders in the modern corporation diverge, and, they argued, this divergence diminishes the overall efficiency of the modern economy, dominated …

Products Liability Cases On Appeal: An Empirical Study, Theodore Eisenberg, James A. Henderson Jr.

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This article analyzes 1,100 opinions to find the determinants of products liability cases on appeal in state and federal courts. The strongest predictor of plaintiff success on appeal is whether the plaintiff prevailed in a jury trial. Other important factors are the defendant's status as manufacturer, wholesaler, or successor corporation; the plaintiffs degree of injury; and whether the case involved a failure-to-warn claim. The existence of a comparative negligence regime increases the tendency of appellate courts to affirm lower courts. These results allow rejection of a simple model in which pre- and posttrial settlement behavior filters out cases in which …

An Empirical And Constitutional Analysis Of Racial Ceilings And Public Schools, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Public Funds, Private Schools, And The Court: Legal Issues And Policy Consequences, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Will A New Restatement Help Settle Troubled Waters: Reflections, James A. Henderson Jr., Aaron Twerski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Racial Imagery In Criminal Cases, Sheri Lynn Johnson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.