Law Commons^™

Rural Rhetoric, Lisa Pruitt

Lisa R Pruitt

This Article investigates law’s constitutive rhetoric about rural people, places, and livelihoods. Specifically, it considers five categories of judicial opinions that discuss the legal relevance of rurality: judicial self-identification as rural; definitions of rural; line-drawing between rural and urban; taking judicial notice of rural characteristics; and idealized portrayals of the rural. Viewed together, these clusters of opinions reveal a comprehensive – if not entirely coherent – judicial portrait of rurality. They also provide an overview of the many instances when a rural setting is relevant to a legal outcome. Implicated are issues of tort, property, criminal, and constitutional law, among …

Land Titling: A Mode Of Privatization With The Potential To Deepen Democracy, Bernadette Atuahene

Bernadette Atuahene

Land titling is a form of privatization in that public assets are transferred to private families and individuals. This is unlike other forms of privatization, however, because there is a systematic diffusion of economic and decision making power down to indigent populations rather than out of the country or up to its local elites. In light of this uniqueness, the question I will grapple with in this Article is, can property ownership, achieved through land titling programs, bolster democracy? First, using Peru as an example, I explain the context that necessitated the creation of land titling and the process by …

Beyond Worship: The Religious Land Use And Institutionalized Persons Act Of 2000 And Religious Institutions' Auxiliary Uses, Sara Bronin

Sara C. Bronin

Religious institutions have long offered their congregants services that go beyond worship. Particularly in the last two decades, they have begun expanding far beyond their traditional offerings to a wider and more diverse array of auxiliary uses - non-worship uses that are affiliated with a religious institution. (One type of large religious institution, the megachurch, is fast gaining members by offering schools, community centers, dining facilities, even movie theaters and gymnasiums.) Government has long granted special protections to the worship uses of religious institutions. A recent federal law - the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) …

Moving Toward Exclusive Tribal Autonomy Over Lands And Natural Resources, Stacy Leeds

Stacy Leeds

In order for tribal governments and individual American Indians to gain autonomy over their lands and natural resources, federal law must end the federal government’s trustee status over Indian lands. The General Allotment Act of 1887 was intended to accelerate the transfer of American Indians into mainstream American society by teaching them how to become self-sufficient through efficient land use. In turn, this would lessen the federal government’s need to supervise and protect American Indian interests. However, the allotment policy was never fully implemented, leaving the federal government with perpetual oversight of Indian lands. The federal government’s trustee role has …

An Empirical Look At Churches In The Zoning Process, Stephen Clowney

Stephen Clowney

Unintended Consequences: Eminent Domain And Affordable Housing, Matthew J. Parlow

Matthew Parlow