Law Commons^™

The New-Tort Centrifuge, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

What Europe, Japan And Other Countries Can Learn From The New American Restatement Of Products Liability, Aaron Twerski, J. A. Henderson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights At 50 And The Challenge Of Global Markets: Themes And Variations, Samuel K. Murumba

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Environmental Impact Assessment Laws In The Nineties: Can The United States And Mexico Learn From Each Other?, Heather N. Stevenson

University of Richmond Law Review

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) was the first major environmental law in the United States. The statute "was devised to establish a comprehensive national policy which would ... guid[e] federal activity and provid[e] for a coordinated, informed approach toward dealing with environmental problems." Since NEPA's enactment, agencies have been "required to prepare environmental analyses, with input from the state and local governments, Indian tribes, the public, and other federal agencies, when considering a proposal for a major federal action." Although most of the environmental impact assessment law in the world is modeled on NEPA and the impact …

Laughing At Treaties, Carlos Manuel Vázquez

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article responds to two articles by Professor John Yoo appearing in the same volume. Professor Yoo maintains that treaties, either categorically or presumptively, have the same status in the United States as in the United Kingdom, where they lack the force of domestic law, and hence are not judicially enforceable, until implemented by statute. This response argues that Yoo's thesis contradicts the text of the Constitution, which declares treaties to be the 'law of the land.' The response notes, further, that Professor Yoo's reliance on the ratification debates to read the Supremacy Clause's reference to treaties out of the …

Breard, Printz, And The Treaty Power, Carlos Manuel Vázquez

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article considers whether the anti-commandeering principle of New York v. United States and Printz v. United States applies to exercises of the Treaty Power. It illustrates the problem with an analysis of the treaty provision involved in Breard v. Greene, 118 S. Ct. 1352 (1998), which requires state officials to notify certain aliens they arrest that they have a right to consult with their consul. Whether exercises of the treaty power are subject to the commandeering prohibition depends on the resolution of two ambiguities in the Supreme Court's anti-commandeering doctrine. The first concerns the distinction between commandeering and …

Mfn Relations With Communist Countries: Is The Two-Decade Old System Working, Or Should It Be Revised Or Repealed?, Taunya L. Mclarty

University of Richmond Law Review

Most Favored Nation ('MEN") trade status has been a cornerstone of U.S. trade policy since 1934, and it is extended to all nations except those specifically denied MFN status by U.S. law. Since 1934, the United States has used MFN status as leverage to further U.S. national security and foreign policy goals, and on a few occasions, has used it as a tool to obtain trade concessions.

The Vertical Separation Of Powers, Victoria Nourse

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Standard understandings of the separation of powers begin with the concept of function. The author argues that function alone cannot predict important changes in structural incentives and thus serves as a poor proxy for assessing real risks to governmental structure. To illustrate this point, the article returns to proposals considered at the Constitutional Convention and considers difficult contemporary cases such as Morrison v. Olson, Clinton v. Jones, and the Supreme Court's more recent federalism decisions. In each instance, function appears to steer us wrong because it fails to understand separation of powers questions as ones of structural incentive …

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

We Some Of The People: Akhil Reed Amor And The Original Intent Of The Bill Of Rights, Wythe Holt

University of Richmond Law Review

The Leninist model of working-class consciousness and that of the Commons/Perlman progressive school of labor economists have much in common. Both regard the intellectual as playing a crucial role in changing the workers' consciousness.

Akhil Amar And The Establishment Clause, Andrew Koppelman

University of Richmond Law Review

Does Akhil Amar's The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction ("The Bill of Rights") say anything about what the law should be today? The answer is not clear. The book is a study of the original meaning of the Bill of Rights and the transformation of that meaning by the Fourteenth Amendment. Its project is archaeological rather than prescriptive. It focuses on what the Constitution meant in 1791 and in 1866, not what it means now. Amar acknowledges that he has "merely set the scene" for an investigation into what impact twentieth-century (textual and other) developments have had on Constitutional …

The Original Understanding Of The Seventh Amendment Right To Jury Trial, Stanton D. Krauss

University of Richmond Law Review

I ought to be very angry with my friend Akhil Amar. His new book, The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction, strengthens, develops, and popularizes his strikingly original claim that the meaning of our Bill of Rights must be sought in the understanding of the people who enacted the Fourteenth Amendment, rather than that of James Madison and his contemporaries. If Akhil carries the day on this question-and I find his arguments quite powerful, my ongoing research into the original meaning of the Bill will be of interest only to antiquarians.

"No Word Is An Island": Textualism And Aesthetics In Akhil Reed Amar's The Bill Of Rights, Robert Spoo

University of Richmond Law Review

Akhil Reed Amar's The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction ("The Bill of Rights") probes three defining moments of American constitutional history-two of them in the contested past and one in the restless present. The first two are the performative acts of framing, in 1789 and 1868, respectively, of the initial ten amendments and of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. For Amar, history is too multivalent, and the Framers' text too loftily open-textured, for simple answers to the vexed question of incorporation. The Bill of Rights is, in one of Amar's controlling metaphors, an "alloy" of majoritarian …

Response: Continuing The Conversation, Akhil Reed Amar

University of Richmond Law Review

In The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction, I aimed to start a conversation, not end one. I am thus grateful for the generosity of the many fine scholars who in the preceding pages have graciously accepted the invitation to converse. And I am especially grateful for the extraordinary hospitality of the University of Richmond Law Review, which has kindly given a home to this conversation.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Antitrust And Trade Regulation, Michael F. Urbanski, James R. Creekmore

University of Richmond Law Review

During the past year, the United States Supreme Court, in two decisions of significance, refused to summarily censure conduct having legitimate, procompetitive benefits. In similar fashion, the United States Court ofAppeals for the Fourth Circuit continued to scrutinize antitrust claims, rejecting those failing to measure up to pleading and proof requirements, while also reaffirming the vitality of the state action immunity doctrine as a bar to those that did. Meanwhile, Virginia's federal district courts grappled with time worn conspiracy challenges to medical staff privileging decisions, while simultaneously forging new ground in one of the first cases to consider market definition …

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Corporate Law, A. Eric Kauders Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

Despite its widely held reputation as being a bastion of all things conservative, Virginia has long been a leader on the frontier of corporate and partnership law. As a recent example confirming its progressive reputation, one need look no further than the 1991 passage of legislation permitting the formation of limited liability companies. While the amount ofactivity in corporate law this year was far from notable, the legislation and judicial decisions from the past year continue to demonstrate Virginia's "corporate activism."

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Criminal Law, Carolyn V. Grady, Jennifer M. Newman

University of Richmond Law Review

This article summarizes most published criminal law decisions of the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Virginia Court ofAppeals sitting en banc, issued between July 1, 1998 and July 1, 1999. This article also includes selected published panel opinions oftheVirginia Court of Appeals and a summary of the most significant criminal law enactments from the 1999 session of the Virginia General Assembly.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Employment Law, Thomas M. Winn Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." For both Virginia employers and employees alike, this sentiment rang true over the past year in the employment law arena, with both camps winning and losing battles as they litigated various employment law matters. This article discusses three principal areas where there was substantial activity in Virginia's courts: public policy wrongful discharge claims; negligent hiring, retention, and supervision claims; and the enforcement of noncompetition agreements. Beyond the scope of this article are decisions rendered in other areas of law affecting the employment relationship, including the areas of workers' …

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Legal Issues Involving Children, Robert E. Shepherd Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

The Virginia General Assembly once again acted in a very restrained fashion in addressing juvenile justice issues in the lengthening wake after the extensive statutory changes in 1994 and 1996. The newly enacted juvenile competency statute is an important innovation contained in the new article 18 oftitle 16.1 of the Virginia Code, and a study by the Virginia Bar Association on the applicability of the insanity defense in juvenile delinquency proceedings will further address the implications of mental health problems for children in trouble. One major issue in the delinquency area that arose during the past year involved the necessity …

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: 1999 Technology Legislation In Virginia, Diane E. Horvath, John S. Jung

University of Richmond Law Review

During its 1999 Session, the Virginia General Assembly passed sixty-four pieces oflegislation related to technology that were signed into law. Of these, eighteen bills and resolutions were proposed by the Joint Commission on Technology and Science ("JCOTS").

Federal Common Law In Admiralty: An Introduction To The Beginning Of An Exchange, Joel K. Goldstein

All Faculty Scholarship

Most scholars and practitioners of admiralty law have long relied upon two central assumptions regarding their subject. First, they have understood that uniformity was a requisite of maritime law such that, generally speaking, national, rather than state, law governed most maritime events and transactions. Second, they have believed that in order to preserve the uniformity of maritime law, federal admiralty courts are empowered to fashion federal common law.[1] The commitment to these related propositions has been attested to or illustrated by a collection of Supreme Court decisions.[2] For instance, in Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen,[3] the case that stands as …

Affirmative Action And Discrimination, Girardeau A. Spann

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The contemporary debate about race in the United States is perplexing. Each side seems genuinely to feel distressed at the demands being made by the other. Racial minorities point to Dred Scott's insistence on racial castes, Plessy's endorsement of official segregation, and Brown's reluctance to remedy unlawful discrimination as evidence that the white majority is inevitably inclined to advance its own interests at minority expense. Minority group members, therefore, tend to argue that the only way to arrest this majoritarian inclination is through the use of race-conscious remedial programs that will ensure an equitable distribution of resources. Most members of …

The New Wto Agreement On Financial Services And Chapter 14 Of Nafta: Has Free Trade In Banking Finally Arrived?, Constance Z. Wagner

All Faculty Scholarship

This article discusses the U.S. policy rationale for seeking free international trade in financial services and assesses whether U.S. policy goals have been met through recent trade agreement negotiations. Free trade in financial services has been a goal of U.S. trade policy since the early 1980’s. Over a period of fifteen years, the United States concluded several agreements on financial services with key trading partners. The most significant agreements are the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Financial Services (FSA) and Chapter 14 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Financial Services. In both of these trade agreements, …

Antitrust And The Health Care Industry: The View From The Three Branches, Thomas L. Greaney

All Faculty Scholarship

This article provides a critical appraisal of the summer's three major health care antitrust events. The California Dental Association case, the Justice Department's challenge to the Aetna-Prudential merger, and the proposed Quality Health Care Coalition Act of 1999 are likely to have a significant influence on the trajectory of antitrust enforcement in the coming years. The author argues that the reasoning of these precedents suffers from an over reaction to the managed care bogeyman and a lack of attention to sound antitrust jurisprudence. In a postscript, it finds similar shortcomings with the Eighth Circuit's recent decision in FTC & State …

Unnecessary Adversaries At The End Of Life: Mediating End-Of-Life Treatment Disputes To Prevent Erosion Of Physician-Patient Relationships, Robert Gatter

All Faculty Scholarship

Professor Gatter estimates that institutional ethics consultation processes are used to resolve as many as 13,500 end-of-life treatment (EOLT) disputes each year. Despite this sizable case load, the law has largely ignored the method of dispute resolution used to address EOLT disagreements. This article argues that, at the stage when an ethics consultation is requested in an EOLT dispute, mediation is the most appropriate method for attempting to resolve that dispute. This article challenges current wisdom that mediation is inappropriate for addressing disputes between physicians and patients. The challenge is based on four key points. First, EOLT disputes between physicians …

The Plenary Power Background Of Curtiss-Wright, Sarah H. Cleveland

Faculty Scholarship

In his article The Transformation of the Constitutional Regime of Foreign Relations, Professor Ted White argues that the early twentieth century saw a major shift in constitutional understandings and expectations regarding the distribution of authority in foreign affairs. According to White, until that era the foreign affairs power, like all other powers under the Constitution, were considered subject to a formalistic, essentialist world view in which powers were distributed by the text of the Constitution according to clear principles of federalism and separation of powers. Congress and the President could only exercise powers in this area that had been dedicated …

Punishment Or Treatment For Adolescent Offenders: Therapeutic Integrity And The Paradoxical Effects Of Punishment, Jeffrey A. Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

Throughout much of its history, the American juvenile court maintained a goal of rehabilitation of the individual, and placed custody and punishment as secondary or ancillary goals in the pursuit of "remaking the child's character and lifestyle." To its founders, the development of a separate juvenile court reflected a fundamental distinction between sanctions based on characteristics of the offender, and punishment based on the offense. Juvenile court dispositions were designed to determine why the child was in court, and what could be done to avoid future appearances. Judge Julian Mack's classic statement of the original theory of the juvenile court …

Copyright And Intermediate Users' Rights, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

The impending "Digital Millennium" has amplified the assertion of users' rights in U.S. copyright law. Copyright has been reimagined as a "law of users' rights" whose acolytes caution copyright owners not to stand as piggish impediments to the progress of learning and culture in the Digital Age. Proponents advance a variety of arguments in support of a user rights construct of copyright law, from the historical to the philosophical to the pragmatic. I propose to address some of these. But first it is important to specify what I mean by "users' rights" in U.S. copyright law today.

User rights in …

The Common Law And Statutes, Peter L. Strauss

Faculty Scholarship

Controversies about statutory interpretation and the proper roles for judges in interpretation are particularly noticeable in the Supreme Court but have penetrated downward throughout the judicial system. What I mean to explore here are some implications of our common law heritage and the presuppositions of a common law system for these controversies, that seem rarely noticed in the ongoing debates. I mean by this not only common law judging, but also what we might call common law legislating – that is, the practice of creating statutes to achieve marginal changes in existing law in response to perceived deficiencies, rather than …

Legal Aid And Public Interest Law In China, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

This article describes the evolution of legal aid and public interest law in China and examines its implications for the legal profession and the law in the context of four intertwined developments: first, China's efforts to establish a nationwide system of government-run legal aid centers; second, China's attempt to expand the availability and improve the quality of legal representation for indigent criminal defendants; third, China's bid to force the legal profession to serve poor clients via mandatory pro bono requirements for lawyers; fourth, the development of non-governmental legal aid centers and the expanding incentives for profit-oriented lawyers to take on …