Law Commons^™

Reaching Out Through The Universal: The Powerful And Positive Role Of A Jesuit Catholic Law School On The Secular Line, Judith A. Mcmorrow

Touro Law Review

There are multiple ways in which Catholic law schools can provide an education that supports and reflects a Catholic vision. Some schools align more closely to an orthodox view in which text and doctrine are the starting lens. Catholic law schools closer to the secular end of the spectrum play a powerful role by actively building bridges with the secular world. These schools, either implicitly or explicitly, start with values framed in more universal terms -- a moral or ethical worldview that can implement the common good in the secular world. A Catholic law school that emphasizes the universal generally …

A Logical Proof That The Common Good, Not Economics, Underlies Copyright, Michelle M. Wu

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Copyright experts endlessly debate its purpose: economic or common good. Both sides cite to judicial language backing their interpretations, and the frequency and cost of litigation between those representing the two interests have noticeably increased over recent years.

This article aims at a simpler way to resolve the dispute, by taking a step back and starting with the definition of a government. The government of a democratic republic, particularly one described as “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” has a single purpose: to address the common concerns of its people.

The following philosophical argument is a …

Is There A Constitutional Common Good?, R. George Wright

Journal of Catholic Legal Studies

(Excerpt)

Identifying and pursuing some widely shared idea of the common good seems central to a sustainable constitutional order. This may seem especially true in an era of deep political division. The problem, though, is that such political division may indeed heighten the need for recognizing and promoting a shared constitutional common good, while, at the same time, preventing such an identification and pursuit of any such common good. What is needed is a way to disrupt this vicious circle. This Article is an illustration of the operation of this vicious circle and, more optimistically, a proffering of the means …

The Case For A Liberal Communitarian Jurisprudence, Amitai Etzioni

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This article seeks to show that courts face difficulties without a principled, constitutional anchoring for the conception of the common good. Courts could divine the common good from the penumbra of the Fourth Amendment in the same way the Supreme Court created a right to privacy. In addition to creating a “common good” constitutional principle, the judicial branch should establish criteria to determine when this principle should take precedence over individual rights expressly preserved in the Constitution.

Deep-State Constitutionalism, Randy E. Barnett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this review, I explain how "Common Good Constitutionalism" taps into a deficiency of the conservative legal movement: namely, its exclusive focus on the law "as it is" at the expense of the underlying abstract normative principles that justify the positive law of our written Constitution. Due to this deficiency, the conservative legal movement gives short shrift to the Declaration of Independence and the Ninth Amendment and the natural rights to which both refer. This deficiency is in need of correction. But any such correction does not justify the jettisoning of originalism as Vermeule proposes. Nor does Vermeule defend his …

Toward More Robust Self-Regulation Within The Legal Profession, Veronica Root Martinez, Caitlin-Jean Juricic

Faculty Scholarship

The Trump Administration left reverberations throughout American life, and the legal profession was not insulated from its impact. The conduct of lawyers—both public and private—working on behalf of former President Trump was the subject of constant conversation and critique. The reality, however, is that the questions regarding the conduct of the Trump Administration lawyers, are rooted, in part, in more fundamental questions about the appropriate role of the lawyer within society. This Essay advocates for the adoption of a self-regulation scheme whereby lawyers regulate and oversee the conduct of other lawyers, to ensure that members of the legal profession are …

Republicanism: Philosophical Aspects | Republicanismo: Aspectos Filosóficos, Mortimer N.S. Sellers

All Faculty Scholarship

Republicanism is the doctrine that public power should always serve the common good of all those subject to its rule. This raises the question how to do so most effectively, either through particular policies or through constitutional structure (“the republican form of government”). The republican philosophical tradition began with Plato and Aristotle, flowered in the writings of Marcus Tullius Cicero, and reappeared with the revival of learning in such authors as Machiavelli, James Harrington, John Adams, and Immanuel Kant. More recently Philip Pettit, Jürgen Habermas, and others have returned to the republican conception of liberty as nondomination, and how to …

Book Review: Was Yosef On The Spectrum By Samuel J. Levine, Ian Hale, Ph.D.

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of The Concepts Of 'Common Good', 'Justice' And 'Diversity' In The Natural Law Of Our Time, Gines Marco

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

In this article we have projected three central objectives: first, to delimit the scope and limits of the recognition granted by the Aristotelian-Thomist tradition to the centrality of the common political good in life and in the fullness of the human being; Secondly, to specify the nature of the present difficulties that has the same possibility of the common reaches, by virtue of the valuation of the diversity projected by the liberal tradition inherited from Modernity; Thirdly, to analyze the impact that the dichotomy common good/diversity has had and continues to have on the way in which intra-organizational conflicts and …

Fostering Client Altruism And The Common Good In The Practice Of Law: Learning From Emerging Movements In Business And Economics, Ann Juergens, Diane Galatowitsch

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Few Thoughts On Free Speech Constitutionalism, Helen Norton

Publications

No abstract provided.

An Essay On Christian Constitutionalism: Building In The Divine Style, For The Common Good(S), Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Patrick McKinley Brennan

Theocracy is a matter of growing global concern and therefore of renewed academic interest. This paper answers the following question: "What would a Christian constitution, in a predominantly Christian nation, look like?" The paper was prepared for presentation as the Clark Lecture at Rutgers School of Law (Camden), where papers answering the same question with respect to Jewish and Islamic constitutions and cultures, respectively, were also presented. A Christian constitution would not have as its aim the comparatively anodyne -- and ultimately futile -- business of introducing more "Judeo-Christian values" into the life of the typical nation state. The paper …

The Environmental Limitations To Property Rights In Brazil And The United States Of America, Leonardo Munhoz

Dissertations & Theses

This thesis aims to comparatively analyze the legislative evolution that environmental protection has experienced in the Brazilian versus the American legal systems and their relationship with property rights.

Demonstrably, Brazil’s concern with the environment actually came into focus in the 1980s and it therefore received treatment within the Federal Constitution of 1988, as a diffuse right, contributing to better, stronger environmental protection.

Similarly, the protection of the environment in the American Constitution and its statutes as well as their enforcement and interpretation within the legal system are explored.

Of concern is the notion that environmental protection and third-generation rights consequently …

A Word For The Common Good, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.

Subsidiarity As A Structural Principle Of International Human Rights Law, Paolo G. Carozza

Paolo G. Carozza

This article argues that the principle of subsidiarity should be recognized as a structural principle of international human rights law primarily because of the way that it mediates between the universalizing aspirations of human rights and the fact of the diversity of human communities in the world. The idea of subsidiarity is deeply consonant with the substantive vision of human dignity and the universal common good that is expressed through human rights norms. Yet, at the same time it promotes respect for pluralism by emphasizing the freedom of more local communities to realize their own ends for themselves. Looking at …

The Priority Of Persons Revisited, John Finnis

Journal Articles

This essay, in the context of a conference on justice, reviews and reaffirms the main theses of “The Priority of Persons” (2000), and supplements them with the benefit of hindsight in six theses. The wrongness of Roe v. Wade goes wider than was indicated. The secularist scientistic or naturalist dimension of the reigning contemporary ideology is inconsistent with the spiritual reality manifested in every word or gesture of its proponents. The temporal continuity of the existence of human persons and their communities is highly significant for the common good, which is the point and measure of social justice, properly understood. …

International Law Clients: The Wisdom Of Natural Law, Robert John Araujo

Robert J. Araujo S.J.

This Article discusses natural law, the foundation of many international law principles. First, it describes the natural law and its bearing on the practice of international law. Second. it describes the concept of "the common good," a foundation of natural law. Third, it introduces the term "solidarity" and its relation to achieving the common good. Fourth, it describes the concept of "subsidiarity," a form of decision-making necessary for natural law to inform international law. Finally, it explains the suum cuique, a critical precept in natural law as it applies to international law. The Article concludes that natural law principles that …

Law, Religion, And The Common Good, James Davison Hunter

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ordered Liberty: Response To Michael Dorf, James E. Fleming, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

We appreciate Michael Dorf's serious engagement with our book and his conclusion that “it responds effectively to the charge that liberalism focuses on rights to the exclusion of responsibilities.” 1 He charges us, however, with an “errant theodicy” - with making the “claim that we have . . . the freedoms we have in virtue of a freestanding principle that respectful treatment of persons requires granting them autonomy as responsibility.” 2 He also criticizes us for deriving basic liberties from a “freestanding interest in autonomy.” 3 In this response we aim to clarify our argument concerning responsibility as autonomy and …

Public Interest 101: Using The Law School Curriculum To Quell Public Interest Drift And Expand Students' Public Interest Commitment, Lynn A. Addington, Jessica L. Waters

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Balancing Privacy, Autonomy, And Scientific Needs In Electronic Health Records Research, Sharona Hoffman, Andy Podgurski

Faculty Publications

The ongoing transition from paper medical files to electronic health records will provide unprecedented amounts of data for biomedical research, with the potential to catalyze significant advances in medical knowledge. But this potential can be fully realized only if the data available to researchers is representative of the patient population as a whole. Thus, allowing individual patients to exclude their health information, in keeping with traditional notions of informed consent, may compromise the research enterprise and the medical benefits it produces.

This Article analyzes the tension between realizing societal benefits from medical research and granting individual preferences for privacy. It …

Conscience And Citizenship: The Primacy Of Conscience For Catholics In Public Life, Gregory A. Kalscheur S.J.

Gregory A. Kalscheur, S.J.

In their statement, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, the U.S. Catholic bishops acknowledge that “the responsibility to make choices in political life rests with each individual in the light of a properly formed conscience.” This essay argues that, in light of this responsibility, it is important to affirm a commitment to the primacy of conscience as that idea has been understood in the Catholic tradition. If we really expect voters and public officials to make responsible, conscientious decisions about matters of public policy, we should not speak in ways that suggest that the proper formation of conscience is simply a …

Sandel On Religion In The Public Square, Hugh Baxter

Faculty Scholarship

In the final chapter of "Justice" (2009), Sandel calls for a “new politics of the common good,” which he presents as an alternative to John Rawls’s idea of public reason. Sandel calls “misguided” Rawls’s search for “principles of justice that are neutral among competing conceptions of the good life.” According to Sandel, “[i]t is not always possible to define our rights and duties without taking up substantive moral questions; and even when it’s possible it may not be desirable.” In taking up these moral questions, Sandel writes, we must allow specifically religious convictions and reasons into the sphere of public …

Religious Exemptions And The Common Good: A Reply To Professor Carmella, Laura S. Underkuffler

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Individuals First, Richard Garnett

Journal Articles

Richard Garnett reviews Modern Liberty and the Limits of Government by Charles Fried, W.W. Norton, 224 pp. (2006)

Action On Global Warming: Making Room For Tribal Governments In The New Kind Of Wedge Issue, Dean B. Suagee

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

Presenter: Dean B. Suagee, Of Counsel, Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker LLP, Washington, D.C.

1 page.

Harry Potter And The Half-Crazed Bureaucracy, Benjamin H. Barton

Michigan Law Review

What would you think of a government that engaged in this list of tyrannical activities: tortured children for lying; designed its prison specifically to suck all life and hope out of the inmates; placed citizens in that prison without a hearing; ordered the death penalty without a trial; allowed the powerful, rich, or famous to control policy; selectively prosecuted crimes (the powerful. go unpunished and the unpopular face trumped-up charges); conducted criminal trials without defense counsel; used truth serum to force confessions; maintained constant surveillance over all citizens; offered no elections and no democratic lawmaking process; and controlled the press? …

The New Mandate Of The Corporate Lawyer After The Fall Of Enron And The Enactment Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Christina R. Salem

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Subsidiarity As A Structural Principle Of International Human Rights Law, Paolo G. Carozza

Journal Articles

This article argues that the principle of subsidiarity should be recognized as a structural principle of international human rights law primarily because of the way that it mediates between the universalizing aspirations of human rights and the fact of the diversity of human communities in the world. The idea of subsidiarity is deeply consonant with the substantive vision of human dignity and the universal common good that is expressed through human rights norms. Yet, at the same time it promotes respect for pluralism by emphasizing the freedom of more local communities to realize their own ends for themselves.

Looking at …

Quarantine Revision And The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act: Laws For The Common Good, Lorena Matei

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

No abstract provided.