Law Commons^™

Social Welfare, Human Dignity, And The Puzzle Of What We Owe Each Other, Amy L. Wax

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

Proponents of work-based welfare reform claim that moving the poor from welfare to work will advance the goals of economic self-reliance and independence. Reform opponents attack these objectives as ideologically motivated and conceptually incoherent. Drawing on perspectives developed by luck egalitarians and feminist theorists, these critics disparage conventional notions of economic desert, find fault with market measures of value, debunk ideals of autonomy, and emphasize the pervasiveness of interdependence and unearned benefits within free market societies. These arguments pose an important challenge to justifications usually advanced for work-based welfare reform. Reform proponents must concede that no member of society can …

The Camel's Nose Is In The Tent: Rules, Theories And Slippery Slopes, Mario Rizzo, Glen Whitman

Mario Rizzo

The authors provide a general theory for understanding and evaluating slippery slope arguments (SSAs) and their associated slippery slope events (SSEs). The central feature of the theory is a structure of discussion within which all arguments take place. The structure is multi-layered, consisting of decisions, rules, theories,and research programs. Each layer influences and shapes the layer beneath: rules influences decisions, theories influence the choice of rules, and research programs influence the choice of theories. In this structure, SSAs take the form of meta-arguments, as they purport to predict the future development of arguments in this structure. Evaluating such arguments requires …

Too Close To The Rack And The Screw: Constitutional Constraints On Torture In The War On Terror, Seth F. Kreimer

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

Political Correctness Today, Joseph Ellin

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Paper presented to the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University, November 14th, 2003.

The Ethics Of Apology And The Role Of An Ombuds From The Perspective Of A Lawyer, Sharan Lee Levine, Paula A. Aylward

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Papers presented for the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University, March 20, 2003.

United Nations Tribunals And Complicity In Human Rights Violations: The Assassination Of Zoran Djindjic, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article presents a hypothesis of untoward consequences through the reification of human rights.

Two Conceptions Of Relevance, Jonathan Yovel

Jonathan Yovel

Courts use complex modes of relevance judgments in regulating the introduction of information and construction of factual narratives; likewise, common law works both through and around relevance presuppositions in determining doctrine. This study examines different functions of relevance - conceived as different conceptions, at times competing, at times interdependent. The distinctions between these conceptions are arranged on three levels: 1) a normative/"causal" level, arguing for the status of relevance as a requirement for a "meaning-based" conception of entailment and drawing on discussions from relevance logic (RL) and modal logic; 2) a pragmatic/metapragmatic level that explores the ways in which law's …

The Moral Emotions Of The Criminal Law, Stephen P. Garvey

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Imagine you have committed a crime. You might experience any number of emotional responses to what you've done, ranging from self-satisfaction to self-disgust. But however you do feel, how should you feel? The question seems especially appropriate for a conference honoring Professor Herbert Morris and celebrating his work, for no one has shed light more on the moral emotions of the criminal law. The line of thought that follows owes Professor Morris a large and obvious debt.

So, once again, how should you feel when you have committed a criminal wrong? "Guilty" comes immediately to mind. But guilt is not …

Deception In Morality And Law, Larry Alexander, Emily Sherwin

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Is Risk A Harm?, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

The Right To Remain Silent Helps Only The Guilty, Stephanos Bibas

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

Nietzschean Critique And Philosophical Hermeneutics, Francis J. Mootz Iii

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Dworkin's Fallacy, Or What The Philosophy Of Language Can't Teach Us About The Law, Michael S. Green

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Nietzschean Critique And Philosophical Hermeneutics, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Scholarly Works

This article appears as part of a Symposium on "Nietzsche and Legal Theory" published by the Cardozo Law Review. It addresses connections between philosophical hermeneutics and Nietzschean critique, and the relevance that these connections might have for legal theory.

Legal practice inevitably is hermeneutical, with lawyers and judges interpreting governing legal texts and the social situations in which they must be applied. Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics describes this practice well, but he treats the question of the possibility of a critical hermeneutics in an ambiguous and under-developed manner. Consequently, Gadamer is frequently (and unfairly) accused of conventionalism and quietism. At …

The Implications Of Transition Theory For Stare Decisis, Jill E. Fisch

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

The Immigration Paradox: Poverty, Distributive Justice, And Liberal Egalitarianism, Howard F. Chang

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

The immigration of unskilled workers poses a fundamental problem for liberals. While from the perspective of the economic welfare of natives, the optimal policy would be to admit these aliens as guest workers, this policy would violate liberal egalitarian ideals. These ideals would treat these resident workers as equals, entitled to access to citizenship and to the full set of public benefits provided to citizens. If the welfare of all incumbent residents determines admissions policies, however, and we anticipate the fiscal burden that the immigration of the poor would impose, then our welfare criterion would preclude the admission of unskilled …

What Do We Mean By "Judicial Independence"?, Stephen B. Burbank

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

In this article, the author argues that the concept of "judicial independence" has served more as an object of rhetoric than it has of sustained study. He views the scholarly literatures that treat it as ships passing in the night, each subject to weaknesses that reflect the needs and fashions of the discipline, but all tending to ignore courts other than the Supreme Court of the United States. Seeking both greater rigor and greater flexibility than one usually finds in public policy debates about, and in the legal and political science literatures on, judicial independence, the author attributes much of …

Justification And Excuse, Law And Morality, Mitchell N. Berman

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

Anglo-American theorists of the criminal law have concentrated on-one is tempted to say "obsessed over"-the distinction between justification and excuse for a good quarter-century and the scholarly attention has purchased unusually widespread agreement. Justification defenses are said to apply when the actor's conduct was not morally wrongful; excuse defenses lie when the actor did engage in wrongful conduct but is not morally blameworthy. A near consensus thus achieved, theorists have turned to subordinate matters, joining issue most notably on the question of whether justifications are "subjective"-turning upon the actor's reasons for acting-or "objective"-involving only facts independent of the actor's beliefs …

Shareholder Value And Auditor Independence, William W. Bratton

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

This Article questions the practice of framing problems concerning auditors’ professional responsibility inside a principal-agent paradigm. If professional independence is to be achieved, auditors cannot be enmeshed in agency relationships with the shareholders of their audit clients. As agents, the auditors by definition become subject to the principal’s control and cannot act independently. For the same reason, auditors’ duties should be neither articulated in the framework of corporate law fiduciary duty, nor conceived relationally at all. These assertions follow from an inquiry into the operative notion of the shareholder-beneficiary. The Article unpacks the notion of the shareholder and tells a …

Regionalization Of International Criminal Law Enforcement: A Preliminary Exploration, William W. Burke-White

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

Harm, History, And Counterfactuals, Stephen R. Perry

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

No Other Gods: Answering The Call Of Faith In The Practice Of Law, Howard Lesnick

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

Privacy Isn't Everything: Accountability As A Personal And Social Good, Anita L. Allen

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

Speaking Volumes: Musings On The Issues Of The Day, Inspired By The Memory Of Mary Joe Frug, Regina Austin, Elizabeth M. Schneider

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

Immigration Restrictions As Employment Discrimination, Howard F. Chang

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

In this paper, I analyze restrictions on immigration to the United States as a form of government-mandated employment discrimination against aliens. Through our immigration laws, we deny aliens access to valuable employment opportunities that are open to natives. Under our immigration and nationality laws, we base this discrimination explicitly on circumstances of birth beyond the control of the alien. I argue that immigration restrictions thereby violate our liberal ideals of equality, which require a cosmopolitan perspective that extends equal concern to all individuals. Furthermore, even if we assume a less demanding moral theory that allows us to give the interests …

Something For Nothing: Liberal Justice And Welfare Work Requirements, Amy L. Wax

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

Inevitable Mens Rea, Stephen J. Morse

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

Before And After: Temporal Anomalies In Legal Doctrine, Leo Katz

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

Harmonizing Substantive-Criminal Law-Values And Criminal Procedure: The Case Of Alford And Nolo Contendere Pleas, Stephanos Bibas

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.

Preferences And Rational Choice: Introduction, Claire Oakes Finkelstein, Matthew D. Adler, Peter H. Huang

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.