Law Commons^™

Ireland 1880-2005: A Constitutional Perspective, Sir David Williams

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Promissory Estoppel: The Life History Of An Ideal Legal Transplant, Joel M. Ngugi

University of Richmond Law Review

This article hopes to accomplish three things. First, it will revisit the historical origins of the doctrine of promissory estoppel in the American law of contracts and the role that Samuel Williston, the Chief Reporter of the Restatement (First) of Contracts ("First Restatement") played in the evolution of the doctrine. The dominant theory is that Williston conceptualized the new promissory estoppel doctrine in a way that retarded and blunted the doctrine shortly after its birth. This theory is adhered to by both critics and proponents of the expansion of promissory estoppel as a ground of promissory obligation. According to both …

Increasing Safety For Battered Women And Their Children: Creating A Privilege For Supervised Visitation Intake Records, Nat Stern, Karen Oehme

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Georgia V. Randolph: Whose Castle Is It, Anyway?, Lesley Mccall

University of Richmond Law Review

The Fourth Amendment protects individuals against unreasonable searches and seizures. Generally, a warrant is required to conduct a lawful search of a person's home, and a warrantless search is unreasonable per se. However, there are some exceptions to this requirement. A warrantless search is reasonable if police obtain voluntary consent from a person to search their home or effects. The Supreme Court has also recognized that a third party with common authority over a household may consent to a police search affecting an absent co-occupant. The Supreme Court of the United States recently addressed whether third party consent was effective …

Managing Preservation Obligations After The 2006 Federal E-Discovery Amendments, Thomas Y. Allman

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The 2006 E-Discovery Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (2006 Amendments or the Amendments) do not directly address the onset or scope of preservation obligations. As noted in the September 2005 Report of the Standing Committee of the Judicial Conference recommending adoption of the 2006 Amendments, preservation obligations “arise from independent sources of law” and are dependent upon “the substantive law of each jurisdiction.” However, the Amendments have a major impact on how parties must analyze and execute preservation obligations involving electronically stored information (“ESI”).

Information Inflation: Can The Legal System Adapt?, George L. Paul, Jason R. Baron

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Information is fundamental to the legal system. Accordingly, lawyers must understand that information, as a cultural and technological edifice, has profoundly and irrevocably changed. There has been a civilization- wide morph, or pulse, or one might say that information has evolved. This article discusses the new inflationary dynamic, which has caused written information to multiply by as much as ten thousand-fold recently. The resulting landscape has stressed the legal system and indeed, it is becoming prohibitively expensive for lawyers even to search through information. This is particularly true in litigation.

The Two-Tier Discovery Provision Of Rule 26(B)(2)(B) - A Reasonable Measure For Controlling Electronic Discovery?, Theodore C. Hirt

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

One of the most innovative provisions in the newly-effective amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure addressing electronic discovery may be the creation of a two-tier system for the discovery of electronically stored information, under new Rule 26(b)(2)(B). This rule states that “[a] party need not provide discovery” of such information “from sources that the party identifies as not reasonably accessible because of undue burden or cost.”

Silencing The Blogosphere: A First Amendment Caution To Legislators Considering Using Blogs To Communicate Directly With Constituents, D. Wes Sullenger

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that “every new invention, every new want which it occasioned, and every new desire which craved satisfaction were steps toward a general leveling [of society].” The changes wrought by the growth of Internet use reaffirm the truth of the statement. The Internet has created new opportunities for communication and expanded the reach of speakers more than any medium yet conceived.

Preventing A Modern Panopticon: Law Enforcement Acquisition Of Real-Time Cellular Tracking Data, Steven B. Toeniskoetter

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Nineteenth Century philosopher Jeremy Bentham designed a prison system known as the Panopticon which was arranged in such a way that a single guard could, at any given time, view the activities and whereabouts of any particular prisoner. Bentham designed the prison in such a way that the prisoners could never tell whether they were being watched. Twentieth Century French philosopher Michel Foucault further considered use of the Panopticon as a means of societal control through fear in his seminal book Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison.

A Decent Proposal: The Constitutionality Of Indecency Regulation On Cable And Direct Broadcast Satellite Services, Matthew S. Schwartz

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Little Timmy’s parents both work late, and he often finds himself sitting alone in front of the television after school. He doesn’t know the difference between “broadcast,” “cable,” or “direct broadcast satellite,” but he does know how to work the remote control. One day, as he is clicking through the channels – 2, 4, 7, 93, 128, they’re all the same to him – he comes across a provocative scene. What are those two people doing? he wonders with wide eyes. And where are most of their clothes? At that moment, Timmy’s father walks in and is shocked by the …

When Offshore Activities Become Infringing: Applying § 271 To Technologies That “Straddle” Territorial Borders, Eric W. Guttag

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Patents have traditionally been territorial creatures. The territorial nature of U.S. patents is reflected by the main infringement statute, § 271 of Title 35. For example, § 271(a) says that “whoever without authority makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells any patented invention, within the United States or imports into the United States any patented invention during the term of the patent therefore, infringes the patent.”

From Facebook To Folsom Prison Blues: How Banning Laptops In The Classroom Made Me A Better Law School Teacher, Nancy G. Maxwell

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

A well-respected judge recently was asked to speak to a law school Administrative Law class. When he took the podium, he noticed that most of the students had laptops in front of them. As he was talking, the students’ fingers were flying across the keyboards, making clicking noises, their eyes fixed on the screens in front of them. Several times he noticed grins or frowns on the students’ faces, but the facial expressions were clearly unrelated to what he was saying. About twenty minutes into his talk, the judge, exasperated, clapped his hands together several times, calling out, “Is anyone …

Almost Quiet On The Copyright Front: Ebay’S False Alarm, Jetti Gibson

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

In the current digital millennium, intellectual property law is constantly besieged by new technologies, threatening various patent, trademark, and copyright protections. Though intellectual property law shields individual rights on the one hand, on the other hand the overarching purpose of this protection was not to espouse a regime of private ownership, but to imbue the Founders’ intent within a legal framework by “promot[ing] the Progress of Science and the useful Arts,” through “secur[ing] for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” The grant of a copyright was merely a means to serve …

The Historical Race Competition For Corporate Charters And The Rise And Decline Of New Jersey: 1880-1910, Charles M. Yablon

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Incoherence Of Dormant Commerce Clause Nondiscrimination: A Rejoinder To Professor Denning, Edward A. Zelinsky

Articles

A sound intuition animates Professor Denning's defense of the doctrinal status quo under the dormant commerce clause: the courts should not lightly abandon well-established constitutional canons. I nevertheless remain unconvinced by Professor Denning's effort to justify the long-standing interpretation of the dormant commerce clause as forbidding taxes which discriminate against interstate commerce. Whatever the historical justification for this constitutional precept, its past utility, or its visceral appeal, dormant commerce clause nondiscrimination is today doctrinally incoherent in tax contexts. The problem is not one of borderlines and close cases. Rather, at its core, the notion of dormant commerce clause tax nondiscrimination …

Using Comparative Torts Materials To Teach First-Year Torts, Anthony J. Sebok

Articles

The article argues that incorporating comparative torts materials, particularly from European jurisdictions such as Germany and Italy, can effectively enhance the teaching of tort damages in first-year law courses. This approach is not about adopting a comparative curriculum but using these materials to provide deeper insights into American tort law.

Innocence, Race, And The Death Penalty, Barry Scheck

Articles

The article argues that the death penalty in the United States is deeply flawed due to systemic issues such as wrongful convictions, racial disparities, and procedural failures. It emphasizes the critical role of DNA exonerations in revealing these injustices and advocates for reforms to address the root causes of wrongful convictions, including inadequate legal representation and flawed forensic science. The article also highlights the moral and financial costs of capital punishment, urging its abolition.

Protecting Gay And Lesbian Families From Eviction From Their Homes: The Quest For Equality For Gay And Lesbian Families In Braschi V. Stahl Associates, Paris R. Baldacci

Articles

No abstract provided.

On The Legal Consequences Of Sauces: Should Thomas Keller’S Recipes Be Per Se Copyrightable?, Christopher Buccafusco

Articles

The restaurant industry now takes in over $500 billion a year, but recent courts have been skeptical of the notion that one of its most valuable assets, original recipes, are subject to copyright protection. With more litigation looming and the contours of the debate insufficiently mapped out, this article establishes the appropriate groundwork for analyzing the copyrightability of recipes. I show that, contrary to recent appellate court opinions, recipes meet the statutory requirements for copyrightability. I argue, by analogizing to musical compositions, that written recipes work to satisfy the fixation requirement of copyright law just as musical notation does for …

Proving Lost Profits Under Daubert: Five Questions Every Court Should Ask Before Admitting Expert Testimony, Robert M. Lloyd

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reconciling Shareholder Limited Liability With Vicarious Copyright Liability: Holding Parent Corporations Liable For The Copyright Infringement Of Subsidiaries, Joshua M. Siegel

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Whose Public, Whose Order? Imperium, Region, And Normative Friction, Christopher J. Borgen

Faculty Publications

Theories of international law and politics are a product of their times. They focus on the issues of the day (or of the immediate past) and their assumptions are often the assumptions of the society in which they were born. Perhaps that it is why so many international relations scholars were surprised by the end of the Cold War: Their theories were so informed by bipolarity that they were unable to see the actual changes that would transform the state system. As international relations scholars are re-assessing their theories in a post-Cold War world, lawyers may do the same concerning …

A Satire Of Law Firm Employment Practices, Miriam A. Cherry

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Jeremy Blachman's new book, Anonymous Lawyer, is a black-humorous stab at the hearts and souls of large elite law firms everywhere (if firms had such things as hearts and souls). The novel had its beginnings as a weblog, with someone named "Anonymous Lawyer"—ostensibly a hiring partner at a large elite law firm—posting entries on the internet. Anonymous Lawyer's posts discussed everything from over-the-top summer associate outings complete with fireworks and drunken debauchery to lamenting Daylight Savings Time and the loss of hundreds of billable hours. In December 2004, the author of the blog was revealed to be Jeremy …

The Future Of Labor Through The Prism Of Bankruptcy, G. Ray Warner, David L. Gregory

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

On Friday, September 28, 2008, St. John's University School of Law was very honored to host "The Future of Labor Through the Prism of Bankruptcy" Symposium. St. John's Institute of Bankruptcy Policy, the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, and the Labor Relations and Employment Society at the School of Law co-sponsored this landmark symposium.

Many of the structural changes in contemporary labor-management relationships emanate from the intersections of labor law and bankruptcy law. Many of the nation's major "legacy" industries—including, but not limited to, the unionized auto makers and many airlines—are compelling case studies. Indeed, only a few …

Federalism And Bankruptcy: Deciphering Katz, G. Ray Warner

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

A symposium on bankruptcy and state sovereign immunity was held on February 9, 2007 at St. John's University School of Law. Scholarly symposium papers included in this issue of the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review were prepared by five participants who are experts on issues arising from the intersection of constitutional and bankruptcy law with state sovereign immunity from suits in federal courts. Three of the participating authors, who explore in their articles the theory and history of the jurisprudence of sovereign immunity and the Eleventh Amendment, are outstanding academics who have previously written extensively on this subject—Professor Ralph …

The "Federalism Five" As Supreme Court Nominees, 1971-1991, John Q. Barrett

Faculty Publications

This article looks back at the Senate confirmation hearing testimonies of five Supreme Court nominees. Following their appointments to the Court, these justices—Chief Justice Rehnquist and Associate Justices O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy and Thomas—generally voted together in path-breaking federalism cases. They reinvigorated constitutional law limits or decreed new ones on national legislative power, supported the "sovereignty" of state governments, and thus came to be known in some circles as the Rehnquist Court's "Federalism Five." As nominees testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, however, these "federalism" justices did not announce, or for the most part even much hint at, what came to …

White Challengers, Black Majorities: Reconciling Competition In Majority-Minority Districts With The Promise Of The Voting Rights Act, Janai S. Nelson

Faculty Publications

Majority-minority districts have been the subject of extensive, and often rancorous, critique and debate. In their prime, these districts nearly single-handedly changed the face of American politics by enabling racial minorities to elect their preferred candidates who reflected both their interests and identity. However, precisely at the point when these districts achieve an optimal balance of majority and minority populations and host multi-candidate competition, they reveal a frailty that not only thwarts their immediate purpose but contradicts both the express and implicit goals of their source: The Voting Rights Act of 1965. Majority-minority districts possess an inherent limitation that contradicts …

Towards A Madisonian, Interest-Group-Based, Approach To Lobbying Regulation, Anita S. Krishnakumar

Faculty Publications

Recent lobbying scandals involving Jack Abramoff and Representative Tom DeLay have created a much-needed impetus for legislative reform of the lobbying process. But the question cries out: Will Congress actually enact any of the multitude of reform proposals currently on the table, and if it does, will any of those reforms make a difference in how the lobbying process operates? History suggests that the answer is "no."

This Article examines the reasons for Congress's persistent failure to enact effective lobbying reform and posits that the primary cause is an underlying disjunct between legislators' and the public's views about the value …

The (Boundedly) Rational Basis Of Trademark Liability, Jeremy N. Sheff

Faculty Publications

This article argues that trademark infringement and dilution are best understood as commercial behavior that manipulates the cognitive biases of consumers, and as such threatens to render their heuristic judgments persistently inaccurate. In this view, trademark liability—whether imposed under the label of infringement or dilution—serves neither to protect property rights of trademark owners, nor to protect them against the unfair trade practices of competitors, but to shape consumer markets in such a way as to conform to the innate cognitive processes of boundedly rational consumers. The trademark regime can thus be understood as a legal apparatus designed (albeit perhaps unconsciously) …

Williston As Conservative-Pragmatist, Mark L. Movsesian

Faculty Publications

In her pathbreaking article, "Restatement and Reform: A New Perspective on the Origins of the American Law Institute, Professor N.E.H. Hull rejects the conventional wisdom about the conservative, even reactionary, character of the First Restatements. The truth, she argues, is more subtle. The Restatements, and the larger ALI project of which they were a part, reflect the "'progressive-pragmatic"' worldview of the law professors most responsible for their creation. These professors were reformers. They rejected the formalism of earlier generations; for them, law was not a conceptual system but a practical tool for promoting beneficial social goals. They tempered their zeal …