Law Commons^™

Interpretation, Francis J. Mootz Iii

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In this chapter from "Law and the Humanities: An Introduction," published by Cambridge University Press, I first survey various theoretical approaches to interpretation, including natural law, analytical legal positivism, law as communication (originalism, intentionalism, and new textualism), and the hermeneutical turn. I then discuss the role of interpretation in contract law, statutory law and constitutional law, to situate the theories in practice.

The Irrelevance Of Contemporary Academic Philosophy For Law: Recovering The Rhetorical Tradition, Francis J. Mootz Iii

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This short paper appears in a volume of original essays, On Philosophy in American Law (Francis J. Mootz III ed., Cambridge Univ. Press 2009). I argue that the undeniable rift between philosophy and law is more than a simple dichotomy of theory and practice. Instead, the sharp distinction between philosophy and law occurred when both disciplines built insular guilds that employed distinctive vocabularies to distinguish themselves from rhetoric, and it is by returning to their roots in rhetoric that philosophy and law might find their common ground in the elucidation of rhetorical knowledge.

Why Pedestrian-Friendly Street Design Is Not Negligent, Michael Lewyn

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In recent decades, American state and local highway officials have built wide streets and roads designed primarily to accommodate high-speed automobile traffic. However, such high-speed streets are more dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists than streets with slower traffic, and thus fail to adequately accommodate nondrivers. Government officials design streets for high-speed traffic partially because of their fear of tort liability. An influential street engineering manual, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' Green Book, has generally favored the construction of such high-speed streets, and transportation planners fear that if they fail to follow the Green Book's recommendations, they …

Recruiting Sexual Minorities And People With Disabilities To Be Dean, Joan W. Howarth

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As our day-to-day work lives make abundantly clear, a law faculty is a many-headed creature: an assortment of people with a variety of interests, strengths, foibles, personalities, and identities. Within the legal academy, a dominant consensus acknowledges that a strong faculty embodies diversity along multiple axes, including, for example, race, gender, religion, age, political ideology, research and teaching methodologies, and subject matter expertise.

The dean, however, stands alone, and stands above. Thus, issues of expectation, representation, comfort with and fear of difference operate quite differently when deans are selected, and when they do their jobs. The dean exercises authority over …

Step Away From The Case Book: A Call For Balance And Integration In Law School Pedagogy, Kathryn M. Stanchi

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No abstract provided.

Playing With Fire: The Science Of Confronting Adverse Material In Legal Advocacy, Kathryn M. Stanchi

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The Article seeks to use the science to determine what treatment of adverse information is most beneficial to the client's position. A careful study of the science reveals that, overall, it is advantageous for the advocate to volunteer negative information and rebut it early, and that a direct and in-depth confrontation of negative information is generally more effective than an indirect and cursory treatment.

A close look at the finer points of the data, however, reveals that the question of disclosure is a complicated one. Therefore, legal advocates should learn about the research findings and the theories underlying the research …

(Almost) Everything We Learned About Pleasing Bankruptcy Judges, We Learned In Kindergarten, Nancy B. Rapoport, Roland Bernier Iii

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In this essay, we demonstrate that most ethics violations (at least the ones that irritate bankruptcy judges) are also violations of simple rules of behavior that people should have learned in kindergarten.

Adam, Martin And John: Iconography, Infrastructure, And America's Pathological Inconsistency About Medical Insurance, Jeffrey W. Stempel

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Following the ongoing health care and insurance debate, which has once again moved toward center stage in American politics, one might understandably get the impression that the most important names in the area are politicians such as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, John McCain, or Mitt Romney. Similarly, public intellectuals and pundits such as David Broder, David Brooks, Paul Krugman (or at least the New York Times and Wall Street Journal editorial pages) come to mind. Alternatively, health care scholars such as the instant Symposium participants or other health policy scholars such as Uwe Reinhardt, Troyen Brennan or Theodore …

Introduction: Collaboration Good Or Bad: How Is It Working On The Colorado River?, Jean R. Sternlight

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This is an introduction to articles submitted as part of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution’s Symposium, Collaboration and the Colorado River. The Symposium focused on the uses of collaboration to resolve environmental and natural resource disputes pertaining to the Colorado River.

This written version of the conference now builds upon the live event. We are most fortunate that many (unfortunately not all) of the speakers were able to contribute articles to comprise this written version of the Symposium. In their papers, presenters have expanded on their oral remarks and responded to points made by others during the conference.

Séances, Ciénegas, And Slop: Can Collaboration Revive The Colorado Delta?, Bret C. Birdsong

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Issues of transboundary allocation of water resources and its environmental effects are, virtually by their very nature, ones that require collaborative solutions. In the absence of international law norms and institutions to resolve sovereign claims to the waters of international rivers, much of the decisionmaking is left to the collaborative, or negotiated, arrangements between the countries involved and their respective domestic stakeholders. This Article examines collaborative efforts to allocate waters in the Colorado River basin as they relate to the lowest reaches of that great river, the ecologically important but very fragile Colorado River Delta in Mexico. Collaboration is sometimes …

The Emerging Importance Of "Social Visibility" In Defining A Particular Social Group And Its Potential Impact On Asylum Claims Related To Sexual Orientation And Gender, Fatma E. Marouf

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An emerging issue in U.S. asylum claims based on "membership in a particular social group" is the relevance of social visibility in determining whether such a group exists. Of the five protected grounds for asylum, "membership in a particular social group" has always generated the most debate. In 2002, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) issued guidelines that present the "protected characteristic" and "social perception" approaches as alternative ways of establishing a particular social group, instructing States Parties to the 1951 Refugee Convention (the "Convention") to determine first if there is a protected characteristic and, only if no …

Identical Cousins? On The Road With Dilution And The Right Of Publicity, Mary Lafrance

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The dilution doctrine and the right of publicity have a great deal in common, because both represent property-like rights that have evolved from legal doctrines largely unrelated to property concerns. Although both doctrines have engendered controversy in the United States, the dilution doctrine generally evokes greater skepticism and confusion. This Article evaluates how these concepts are viewed in a number of jurisdictions outside the United States. From this examination, two conclusions emerge. First, despite the similarities between the doctrines, countries do not tend to adopt or reject them in tandem. Second, the degree to which each doctrine achieves widespread and …

Law On The Street: Legal Narrative And The Street Law Classroom, Elizabeth L. Macdowell

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This Article argues that the failure of anti-discrimination law to address the problems of subordination reflects the hegemonic perspective in legal narratives. For the lawyer concerned with social change, it is imperative to identify these narratives and the ways in which they not only inhibit deep social change, but may perpetuate the conditions of subordination. Yet, law school polices against the consciousness necessary for the lawyer to identify the hegemonic narrative in the law, and often instills attitudes, which are antithetical to the project of social change. In this context, Street Law - a practical law course taught by law …

Only Skin Deep: The Cost Of Partisan Politics On Minority Diversity Of The Federal Bench: Why Care Whether Judges Look “Like America” If, Because Of Politics, A “Voice Of Color” Has Become A “Whisper Of Color”?, Sylvia R. Lazos

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This article explores the difficulties encountered in diversifying the federal bench and why the partisanship of the confirmation process decreases the diversity of viewpoints on the bench. Presidents value diversity in nominating judges. While Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had very contrasting political styles and judicial philosophies, the judges appointed by these two presidents now account for almost 80% of the current active federal minority judges. There has been progress in the area of descriptive diversity; currently 18% of the active federal bench is made up of minority judges according to data compiled from the Judicial Center. However, there …

The Right To The City, Ngai Pindell

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The identity and character of cities in America have been profoundly influenced by race. In the past, laws mandating the segregation of African American and white urban residents through racially discriminatory housing and lending policies created racial geographic boundaries within cities and between cities and suburbs. The impact of this racial segregation in cities can be seen in the creation and persistence of an urban African American underclass in some cities as well as many urban neighborhoods marked by racial homogeneity and economic underinvestment.

The racial climate in the United States in more recent years has been decidedly different. Overt …

Overcoming Lochner In The Twenty-First Century: Taking Both Rights And Popular Sovereignty Seriously As We Seek To Secure Equal Citizenship And Promote The Public Good, Thomas B. Mcaffee

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Professor McAffee reviews substantive due process as the textual basis for modern fundamental rights constitutional decision-making. He contends that we should avoid both the undue literalism that rejects the idea of implied rights, as well as the attempt to substitute someone’s preferred moral vision for the limits, and compromises, that are implicit in—and intended by—the Constitution’s text. He argues, moreover, that we can largely harmonize the various goals of our constitutional system by taking rights seriously and understanding that securing rights does not exhaust the Constitution’s purpose.

Ketubah, The Marriage Contract Under Jewish Law, And Its Application In Secular Legal Systems, Marketa Trimble

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The article presents ketubah, an institute of Jewish law that is unknown in the current Czech academic literature; it describes its evolution and content, and the manner in which secular countries with large Jewish communities deal with it. Throughout the centuries ketubah achieved a standardized format that has been adjusted to local customs. Additionally, there are attempts to use ketubah to solve the problem of agunah – the problem of parties who have obtained a secular divorce but not a divorce under Jewish law because the other party prevented it. Some legal systems, such as those of the State of …

No Law Respecting The Practice Of Religion, Leslie C. Griffin

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No abstract provided.

Kyoto Comes To Georgia: How International Environmental Initiatives Foster Sustainable Commerce In Small Town America, Peter A. Appel, T. Rick Irvin, Julie M. Mcentire, J. Chris Rabon

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This Article posits that in response to adoption of Kyoto Protocol targets by governments and multi-national corporations overseas that comprise significant portions of the global economy as well as global financial markets, businesses and state and local governments in the U.S. are also being driven by necessity to undertake sustainable commerce initiatives. Businesses in the EU and other Kyoto-compliant regions that have implemented sustainable commerce programs now require overseas vendors and suppliers-including those in the U.S.-to implement their own sustainable commerce initiatives as a condition of approved supplier status. New EU environmental regulations developed in part to meet Kyoto-specified emissions …

Changing Intellectual Property And Corporate Legal Structures To Promote The U.S. Environmental Management And Technology Systems Industry, Peter A. Appel, T. Rick Irvin

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This Article posits that for the U.S. environmental management and technology industry to enjoy success comparable to that of the biotechnology and semiconductor industries requires critical examination of current law to enable market-based and regulatory incentives, which would position U.S. industry to compete with equal strength against global competitors in global markets. This Article explains that the legal community, along with the environmental science and engineering disciplines, must guide both growth and market dominance of this industry in the global marketplace. The Article examines three areas of the law critical to the U.S. Environmental Technology Management System (EMTS) industry -- …

Does Sarbanes-Oxley Foster The Existence Of Ethical Executive Role Models In The Corporation?, Joan Macleod Heminway

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If compliance with, or the efficacy of, Sarbanes-Oxley and other corporate governance initiatives requires that executives (or other firm leaders) be good ethical role models, then it is important to ask whether Sarbanes-Oxley - or any other attribute of existing corporate governance regulation - in fact promotes or permits the production or preservation of ethical role models in the executive ranks of public companies. An absence of support for ethical role models in public companies may signal the failure of broad-based federal corporate governance initiatives like Sarbanes-Oxley.

This Article assumes that ethical roles models may be important to the maintenance …

Introducing The New And Improved Americans With Disabilities Act: Assessing The Ada Amendments Act Of 2008, Alex B. Long

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This essay summarizes the changes to the Americans with Disabilities made by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. The Act represents the first substantive revision to the ADA since its inception and contains some dramatic changes. This essay summarizes those changes and makes some preliminary assessments as to how the new amendments are likely to alter the current interpretation of the ADA.

Conceptualizing Intimate Violence And Gender Equality: A Comparative Approach, Valorie K. Vojdik

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No abstract provided.

Dna -- Intimate Information Or Trash For Public Consumption?, Melanie Wilson

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This essay discusses the increasingly popular police practice of covertly collecting DNA samples from people who inadvertently leave saliva, hair or other biological matter in public places. The essay contends that although the United States Supreme Court has yet to decide whether the practice is constitutional, well-established Fourth Amendment principles of “abandonment” supply the necessary framework to permit the practice and simultaneously protect citizen privacy.

When Informal Adoption Meets Intestate Succession: The Cultural Myopia Of The Equitable Adoption Doctrine, Michael J. Higdon

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In certain circumstances, the equitable adoption doctrine allows a person to inherit as the child of a testator even when the testator was neither that person's biological or adoptive parent. Although this doctrine, at first blush, might appear to be a move toward a more inclusive system of intestate succession, as many scholars have noted, the restrictive tests that the various courts have designed to determine who qualifies as an equitably adopted child have only served to greatly undermine the utility of the doctrine and, in numerous cases, have led to the denial of rather compelling claims.

While agreeing with …

How To Entrench A De Facto State Church In Russia: A Guide In Progress, Robert C. Blitt

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The Russian Orthodox Church's (ROC) assertion of a constitutionally inappropriate role in affairs of state has severely compromised Russia's secular constitutional framework. This gradual but steady erosion of the barrier between church and state is evidenced by a series of contemporary developments that are inexorably linked to the Church's vision of its traditional place in Russian history.

Disturbingly, each successive post-communist regime has further enabled this behavior, and there is no indication that the political transition from President Vladimir Putin to his hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, will change anything.

This paper argues that the emerging pattern of collusion presents a …

Heller's Future In The Lower Courts, Glenn Harlan Reynolds

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The Supreme Court's recent decision in District of Columbia v. Heller not only established an individual right to gun ownership, but also overturned - by a 9-0 margin - lower-court caselaw based on a "collective right" interpretation of the Second Amendment. This article looks at how Heller is likely to fare in the lower courts, based on experience with other recent Supreme Court decisions, and incorporates new scholarship on decision rules and the so-called "new doctrinalism."

A Tale Of Two Case Methods, Benjamin H. Barton

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This essay argues that law schools should adopt the business school case method. Business school cases are generally real life problems. They ask the students to read the files and then perform actual management tasks. The students also generally work in teams and are graded on their actual work throughout the semester. The students thus spend their time learning how to actually manage, instead of only learning dry management theory.

There are several advantages to the business school case method. The business school case method is much more focused on the actual process of being a business manager. By comparison, …

Retaliatory Discharge And The Ethical Rules Governing Attorneys, Alex B. Long

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In Garcetti v. Ceballos, the Supreme Court held that a deputy district attorney who, as part of his job duties, raised concerns with his superiors about possibly unlawful activity and was allegedly fired in response had no First Amendment retaliation claim. In support of its conclusion, the Court suggested that adequate checks already existed at the state and federal level to curb the behavior of employers who engage in unlawful activity and to protect the employees who seek to prevent or expose such activity. In addition to state and federal whistleblower statutes, the Court singled out the rules of professional …

Legal Advocacy And Education Reform: Litigating School Exclusion, Dean Rivkin

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School exclusion has existed as a dark side of public education since the creation of America's public schools. Several cases in the United States Supreme Court memorably invalidated State and school system efforts to deny equal educational opportunities to marginalized school children and youth. In these cases, the over-riding multiple values of education were poignantly articulated in the majority decisions.

School exclusion has stubbornly persisted. It takes many forms. This article surveys the most prominent pathways to school exclusion, highlighting what has been called the "School-To-Prison-Pipeline." Various legal challenges are also evaluated. The pros and cons of litigating school exclusion …