Law Commons^™

The Possible Futures Of American Democracy, Jedediah Purdy

Utah Law Review

Everyone worries about democracy, although not everyone pauses to say what they mean by it. A New York Times poll shortly before the last election found that large shares of voters in both parties feared for democracy, although they didn’t fear the same things. In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, about ninety percent of partisan voters said the country would suffer serious damage if the other guy won2; they presumably didn’t have quite the same worries. Pollsters ask people whether they expect political violence in future elections, and voters respond that they do. Bookstores have been full of …

Religious Liberty, Discriminatory Intent, And The Conservative Constitution, Luke Boso

Utah Law Review

The Supreme Court shocked the world at the end of its 2021–22 term by issuing landmark decisions ending constitutional protection for abortion rights, expanding gun rights, and weakening what remained of the wall between church and state. One thread uniting these cases that captured the public’s attention is the rhetoric common of originalism—a backwards-looking theory of constitutional interpretation focused on founding-era meaning and intent. This Article identifies the discriminatory intent doctrine as another powerful tool the Court is using to protect the social norms and hierarchies of a bygone era, and to build a conservative Constitution.

Discriminatory intent rose to …

Tribal Cannabis Agriculture Law, Ryan B. Stoa

Utah Law Review

Indian tribes have some freedom to develop their own approach to cannabis agriculture, but what is the nature of that freedom, and how have tribes acted upon it?

This Article investigates the current legal framework surrounding tribal cannabis agriculture and tribal participation in legal cannabis markets. It is generally believed that tribes have some authority to determine the legality of cannabis cultivation on their lands, and to create rules and regulations governing that practice. However, this freedom is nascent and inconsistently granted by the federal government. In addition, the legal frameworks tribes are developing with respect to cannabis agriculture are …

It Shouldn’T Be This Hard: The Law And Economics Of Business In Indian Country, Adam Crepelle

Utah Law Review

Indian reservation economies have been in shambles for generations. Although some tribes operate successful gaming enterprises, no tribe has a vibrant private sector economy. Law and economics help explain why. Economics is the study of choices, and Indian country’s complex legal rules deter businesses from investing on tribal land. After all, no business wants to spend a year waiting for the federal government to approve a land lease on reservation when land is easily accessible off reservation. Likewise, jurisdictional rules are clear off reservation, but within Indian country, simply determining whether to file a breach of contract suit in tribal, …

Religious Freedom (For Most) Restoration Act: A Critical Review Of The Ninth Circuit’S Analysis In Apache Stronghold, Alex Mcfarlin

Utah Law Review

This Note analyzes sacred site protection under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”) and argues that the Ninth Circuit’s upcoming en banc review of Apache Stronghold is a critical moment for many Indigenous faiths. Against the backdrop of a religious freedom resurgence for other faiths over the past decade, the practitioners in Apache Stronghold face the irreparable loss of identity and culture.

How An Amended Right To Education Could Meaningfully Improve California's Classrooms, Abigail Palmquist

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Patrolling For Police Disguised As Cultural Experts: California’S Opportunity To Dissolve The Expert Admissibility Double Standard And Restore Due Process, Madison Sykes

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

A New Dawn For The Common Law: A Proposal For A New Court System For The Asean Trade In Goods Agreement, Nicholas R. Gucciardo

William & Mary Business Law Review

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) formed the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) to facilitate trade liberalization between the bloc’s members. The ASEAN Member States have continued to implement the agreement according to the dispute settlement mechanism set out in the ASEAN Protocol on Enhanced Dispute Settlement Mechanism (Protocol). However, this Note will argue that the current dispute settlement mechanism (DSM) is inadequate because the panel system does not always provide a final forum for disputes between Member States. A new mechanism is necessary to better adhere to the principles of the ASEAN Charter, strengthen Southeast Asia as …

Vol. 44, No. 1, Fall 2023: Table Of Contents, Northern Illinois University Law Review

Northern Illinois University Law Review

Table of Contents and Masthead for Volume 44, Issue 1 of the Northern Illinois Law Review

The Future Of Employee Job Security In Illinois, Daniel S. Alcorn

Northern Illinois University Law Review

The at-will employment doctrine is more than a century and a half old. Illinois has long subscribed to the at-will employment doctrine, but the doctrine is dying a slow death. The doctrine has positive and negative aspects, but the lack of employee job security will prove to be a fatal flaw. The doctrine is not so well founded in reason or legal history to save it. Employee job security is becoming increasingly desirable and important. The legislatures and courts are making significant inroads on the doctrine to protect employee job security. A bill to abrogate the doctrine and require cause …

Editorial Note, O'Brien Kaaba, Madrine Mukabili

SAIPAR Case Review

No abstract provided.

Vol. 6, Issue 2 Table Of Contents

SAIPAR Case Review

No abstract provided.

Editorial Board

SAIPAR Case Review

No abstract provided.

Sanat Limited V Shaileshukmar Suryakant Amin Caz Appeal No. 137 Of 2019, Clement Ngoma

SAIPAR Case Review

This Judgement demonstrates the importance of judicial interpretation of statutes through the Court of Appeal’s decision which was not solely based on one section of the Lands and Deeds Registry Act but the the Act as a whole thereby correcting and rectifying the lower court’s narrow and limited interpretation of the Statute. The judgement serves as a remainder of the courts’ role in protecting the rights of beneficial owners as well as honouring the original terms agreed by the parties involved against claims made by trustees who may seek to assert ownership contrary to the terms of the trust. Further, …

Learning To Do Good While Doing Well 11-2023, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Evidence Law’S Blind Spots, James Macleod

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Is There Really Anything Wrong With That? An Aristotelian Analysis Of Duty, Luke J. Mcgrath

Honors College Theses

In the iconic Seinfeld series finale, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer find themselves in a peculiar legal predicament when they mock a crime rather than intervene to help the victim. The show’s commitment to portraying reality, even in its finale, vividly demonstrates the potential consequences of a society lacking the legal obligation to aid others. This comical incident raises a thought-provoking question about the legitimacy of duty-to-act laws in the United States. This thesis examines the application of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics to the concept of duty-to-act laws and argues for the necessity and benefits of such laws in promoting a …

A Right To Fly: Navigating The Air Carrier Access Act And The Americans With Disabilities Act Following Alexander V. Sandoval, William Belles

Northern Illinois University Law Review

There are approximately 54 million disabled individuals in the United States. Those 54 million American citizens live their day to day lives differently than the average person, facing difficulties most others cannot comprehend. While legislation has come a long way in recent decades, one area that has remained stagnant is how we treat disabilities on airplanes. Despite legislation remaining relatively stagnant, judicial opinions have not. In fact, many United States Circuit Courts have determined that the Air Carrier Access Act, which provides limited protections on airplanes, does not confer a private cause of action for violations. As a result, the …

U.S. Incentives To Capture And Store Co2, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet on the 45Q tax credit. 45Q was created in 2008 as a tax credit to incentivize the development of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) projects. [This item is an outdated or superseded version and retained for historical purposes only. It may no longer reflect current information, policies, or practices.]

The Impact Of Generative Ai In The Financial Sector [El Impacto De La Inteligencia Artificial Generativa En El Sector Financiero], Nydia Remolina Leon

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

No abstract provided.

Binding Hercules: A Proposal For Bench Trials, Maggie Wittlin

Vanderbilt Law Review

If you were a federal judge presiding over a bench trial, you probably would not want the Federal Rules of Evidence to apply to you. Sure, you might want to be insulated from privileged information. But you are, no doubt, capable of cool-headed, rational reasoning, and you have a realistic understanding of how the world works; if you got evidence that was unreliable or easy to overvalue, you could handle it appropriately. But surely, you would have the same desire if you were a juror--it is not your position as a judge that makes you want all the relevant evidence. …

A New Baseline For Character Evidence, Julia Simon-Kerr

Vanderbilt Law Review

Perhaps no rules of evidence are as contested as the rules governing character evidence. To ward off the danger of a fact finder's mistaking evidence of character for evidence of action, the rules exclude much contextual information about the people at the center of the proceeding. This prohibition on character propensity evidence is a bedrock principle of American law. Yet despite its centrality, it is uncertain of both content and application. Contributing to this uncertainty is a definitional lacuna. Although a logical first question in thinking about character evidence is how to define it, the Federal Rules of Evidence have …

Measuring Follow-On Innovation, Janet Freilich, Sepehr Shahshahani

Faculty Scholarship

How patents affect follow-on innovation is a key question for the patent system. We disaggregate follow-on innovation into activities that infringe patents and others that do not infringe but can be indirectly affected by patents. Replicating an important study using our disaggregated measure, we find that 87 percent of follow-on scientific publications describing patented genes do not constitute patent infringement. Supplementing our empirical strategy with data on patent expiration dates, we find that gene patents which are not close to expiration cause an increase in noninfringing follow-on research, but the effect disappears for patents close to expiration. Our nuanced measure …

Introduction, Edward K. Cheng

Vanderbilt Law Review

Prior to the eighteenth century, cartographers would often fill uncharted areas of maps with sea monsters, other artwork, or even rank speculation-a phenomenon labeled "horror vacui," or fear of empty spaces. For example, in Paolo Forlani's world map of 1565, a yet- to-be-discovered southern continent was depicted with anticipated mountain chains and animals. The possible explanations for horror vacui are varied, but one reason may have been a desire "to hide [the mapmakers'] ignorance." Not until "maps began to be thought of as more purely scientific instruments . . . [did] cartographers . . . restrain their concern about spaces …

Ignorance Of The Rules Of Omission: An Essay On Privilege Law, Rebecca Wexler

Vanderbilt Law Review

Evidentiary privileges--that is, rules that empower people to withhold evidence from legal proceedings-are one thread in a mesh of secrecy powers that control the flow of information in society. They are part and parcel of the laws, rules, norms, and practicalities that determine who can conceal and who can compel, that allocate power based on access to knowledge and its opposite. Despite the significance of privileges and of the harms that they produce, our understanding of this body of law has profound gaps.5 The questions posed above turn out to be more challenging than they might at first appear. Notwithstanding …

"Pics Or It Didn't Happen" And "Show Me The Receipts": A Folk Evidentiary Rule, Timothy Lau

Vanderbilt Law Review

"Pics or It Didn't Happen," "Show Me the Receipts," and related refrains are frequently encountered in online discussion threads today. They are typically invoked to demand corroboration in support of a claim or to declare from the outset that a claim is supported by some sort of proof In many ways, they are the functional counterpart of legal evidentiary objections in online discussions. They embody a folk evidentiary rule, democratically and organically developed by the people.

The topic of "Pics or It Didn't Happen" is much broader than can be covered in a symposium piece. As such, this Article seeks …

On Proving Mabrus And Zorgs, Michael S. Pardo

Vanderbilt Law Review

An unfortunate disconnect exists in modern evidence scholarship. On one hand, a rich literature has explored the process of legal proof in general and legal standards of proof in particular. Call this the "macro level" of legal proof. On the other hand, a rich literature has explored the admissibility rules that regulate the admission or exclusion of particular types of evidence (such as hearsay, character evidence, expert testimony, and so on). Call this the "micro level" of legal proof. Little attention, however, has focused on how the issues discussed in these two distinct strands of evidence scholarship intertwine. One important …

One Size Does Not Fit All: Alternatives To The Federal Rules Of Evidence, Henry Zhuhao Wang

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Federal Rules of Evidence have been so successful that many people equate them to the whole field of evidence law. But this is a false equivalence. Our world is complicated, diversified, and dynamic. So, too, is evidence law, which is like a rainforest in which the Federal Rules are simply the largest tree, not a forest unto themselves. In fact, the Federal Rules of Evidence are limited in their applicability due to three fundamental assumptions: the presence of a jury trial, an adversarial process, and witness oral testimony. The universe of dispute resolution, however, extends far beyond a contour …

Evidence-Based Hearsay, Justin Sevier

Vanderbilt Law Review

The hearsay rule initially appears straightforward and sensible. It forbids witnesses from repeating secondhand, untested gossip in court, and who among us prefers to resolve legal disputes through untested gossip? Nonetheless, the rule's unpopularity in the legal profession is well-known and far-reaching. It is almost cliche to say that the rule confounds law students, confuses practicing attorneys, and vexes trial judges, who routinely make incorrect calls at trial with respect to hearsay admissibility. The rule fares no better in the halls of legal academia. Although defenses exist, scholars have unleashed a parade of pejoratives at the rule over the years, …

Models And Limits Of Federal Rule Of Evidence 609 Reform, Anna Roberts

Vanderbilt Law Review

A Symposium focusing on Reimagining the Rules of Evidence at 50 makes one turn to the federal rule that governs one's designated topic--prior conviction impeachment--and think about how that rule could be altered. Part I of this Article does just that, drawing inspiration from state models to propose ways in which the multiple criticisms of the existing federal rule might be addressed. But recent scholarship by Alice Ristroph, focusing on ways in which criminal law scholars talk to their students about "the rules," gives one pause. Ristroph identifies a pedagogical tendency to erase the many humans who turn rules into …