Law Commons^™

Integrated Sovereignty, Philip M. Nichols

Philip M. Nichols

Sovereignty confounds legal scholarship. The doctrinal definition of sovereignty does not describe the real world, yet that definition dominates both the application of law and scholarly debate. Robert Dahl’s empirical methodology, never before applied to sovereignty, yields at least two insights. First, sovereignty does not consist of absolute control of everything, instead sovereignty is the final control of some things. Second, many different entities possess sovereignty; thus the sovereignty described in doctrinal international law is actually integrated. Accepting the notion of integrated sovereignty allows international law to better describe the empirical world, and positions international law to accommodate the needs …

Against Financial Literacy Education, Lauren E. Willis

Lauren E Willis

The dominant model of regulation in the United States for consumer credit, insurance, and investment products is disclosure and unfettered choice. As these products have become increasingly complex, consumers’ inability to understand them has become increasingly apparent, and the consequences of this inability more dire. In response, policymakers have embraced financial literacy education as a necessary corollary to the disclosure model of regulation. This education is widely believed to turn consumers into “responsible” and “empowered” market players, motivated and competent to make financial decisions that increase their own welfare. The vision is of educated consumers handling their own credit, insurance, …

Only Connect, Kevin Werbach

Kevin Werbach

There are two kinds of legal rules for communications networks, such as the Internet and the telephone system. Interconnection rules define how and when networks must exchange traffic with each other, and non-discrimination rules prevent networks from favoring some customers’ traffic over others. Each approach has unique strengths and weaknesses. The distinction has never been fully appreciated, even though regulators have imposed both requirements many times.

Non-discrimination questions predominate in communications and Internet policy today, thanks to the high-profile battle over “network neutrality” rules for broadband networks. Yet both sides in the network neutrality debate are mistaken. The central challenge …