Law Commons^™

Valuation Averaging: A New Procedure For Resolving Valuation Disputes, Keith Sharfman

Rutgers Law School (Newark) Faculty Papers

In this Article, Professor Sharfman addresses the problem of "discretionary valuation": that courts resolve valuation disputes arbitrarily and unpredictably, thus harming litigants and society. As a solution, he proposes the enactment of "valuation averaging," a new procedure for resolving valuation disputes modeled on the algorithmic valuation processes often agreed to by sophisticated private firms in advance of any dispute. He argues that by replacing the discretion of judges and juries with a mechanical valuation process, valuation averaging would cause litigants to introduce more plausible and conciliatory valuations into evidence and thereby reduce the cost of valuation litigation and increase the …

Benin’S Constitutional Court: An Institutional Model For Enforcing Human Rights, Anna Rotman

ExpressO

This piece is based on field research the author conducted in Benin, West Africa during January 2003. The paper explores how the Court operates as a hybrid institution, by combining the competences traditionally associated with a constitutional court with the mandate of a national human rights commission. The paper argues that the Beninese Constitutional Court could provide an institutional model for guaranteeing human rights through a state-sponsored institution.

Owen Fiss: Heroism In The Law, Paul W. Kahn

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Stop Me Before I Vote For This Judge Again": Judicial Conduct Organizations, Judicial Accountability, And The Disciplining Of Elected Judges, Alex B. Long

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

No Free Lunch: How Settlement Can Reduce The Legal System's Ability To Induce Efficient Behavior, Abraham Lee Wickelgren

ExpressO

While there is widespread agreement that it is better for cases to settle than go to trial, the arguments in favor of settlement have typically overlooked how settlement affects one of the most important functions of the legal system: influencing the behavior that gives rise to lawsuits. This essay argues that, in some cases, settlement can impair the ability of the legal system to deter harmful behavior without chilling desirable behavior. Where it exists, this effect is a fundamental property of settlement in that there is no way to change other legal rules to eliminate it. Because settlements also have …

Tradition, Judges, And Civil Liberties In Canada, Douglas Hay

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Comments on the role of the first chief justice of Upper Canada, William Osgoode (1754-1824), on shaping the law during a period of "counter-revolutionary and anti-democratic repression throughout the British Empire." Concludes that laws were often presented as emergency legislation that nevertheless effectively became permanent, challenging civil liberties in times of political or social conflict

Rethinking Judicial Elections, Charles G. Geyh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Remarks Of The Chief Justice: My Life In The Law Series, William H. Rehnquist

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Testimonial Dinner: George And Joanne Dixon, Roger J. Miner '56

Tributes & Testimonials

No abstract provided.

I’M Sorry Your Honor, You Will Not Decide My Fate Today: The Role Of Judges In The Imposition Of The Death Penalty: A Note On Ring V. Arizona, John M. Challis

Saint Louis University Public Law Review

No abstract provided.

Voting And Electoral Politics In The Wisconsin Supreme Court, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article examines criminal cases decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court over a fifteen-year period in an effort to discern whether judicial elections undercut judicial independence by affecting the ways justices vote. Wisconsin was chosen for this study because the state's mix of appointed and elected judges allows a researcher to control for different judicial selection systems. Specifically, this Article questions whether voting patterns may be affected by a justice's proximity to judicial elections, election margins, and whether a justice was appointed or elected in the initial term, since the governor may appoint a justice to fill a vacancy on …

Justices At Home: Three Supreme Court Memoirs, Laura K. Ray

Laura K. Ray

No abstract provided.

Judging The Justices: A Supreme Court Performance Review, Laura K. Ray

Laura K. Ray

No abstract provided.

Judicial Elections, Campaign Financing, And Free Speech, Ronald D. Rotunda

Law Faculty Articles and Research

No abstract provided.

Why Judges Applying The Daubert Trilogy Need To Know About The Social, Institutional, And Rhetorical -- And Not Just The Methodological Aspects Of Science, Lewis H. Larue, David S. Caudill

Scholarly Articles

In response to the claim that many judges are deficient in their understanding of scientific methodology, this Article identifies in recent cases (i) a pragmatic perspective on the part of federal appellate judges when they reverse trial judges who tend to idealize science (i.e., who do not appreciate the local and practical goals and limitations of science), and (ii) an educational model of judicial gatekeeping that results in reversal of trial judges who defer to the social authority of science (i.e., who mistake authority for reliability). Next, this Article observes that courts (in the cases it analyzes) are not interested …

Alternative Approaches To Judicial Review Of Social Security Disability Cases, Jeffrey Lubbers

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

For many years, Congress has had various bills before it to create alternatives to the current practice of Article III review (in district courts) of Social Security disability cases. This report, prepared initially for the Social Security Advisory Board, reviews the various legislative proposals and statutory alternatives such as the Veterans Administration administrative/judicial review structure. It concludes that, on balance, review before an Article I court (with Court of Appeals review limited to purely legal issues) has numerous advantages over the present system. These advantages include improvements in the accuracy and consistency of results (the federal district courts have vastly …

Developing A Full And Fair Evidentiary Record In A Nonadversary Setting: Two Proposals For Improving Social Security Disability Adjudications, Jeffrey Lubbers, Frank S. Bloch, Paul R. Verkuil

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Law And Judicial Duty, Philip A. Hamburger

Faculty Scholarship

Two hundred years ago, in Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice Marshall delivered an opinion that has come to dominate modern discussions of constitutional law. Faced with a conflict between an act of Congress and the U.S. Constitution, he explained what today is known as "judicial review." Marshall described judicial review in terms of a particular type of "superior law" and a particular type of "judicial duty." Rather than speak generally about the hierarchy within law, he focused on "written constitutions."

He declared that the U.S. Constitution is "a superior, paramount law" and that if "the constitution is superior to any …

A Reply--The Missing Portion, Pierre Schlag

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Elusive (But Worthwhile) Quest For A Diverse Bench In The New Millennium, Theresa M. Beiner

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Crime And The Threat To Judicial Independence, Jeannine Bell

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Why Judicial Elections Stink, Charles G. Geyh

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Those who are concerned about judicial independence and accountability in the United States quite rightly focus their attention on state judicial election campaigns. It is there that the most sustained and successful efforts to threaten judicial tenure in response to isolated, unpopular judicial decisions have occurred; and it is there that escalating campaign spending has created a public perception that judges are influenced by the contributions they receive. Attempts to address these problems have been undermined by four political realities that the author refers to as "the Axiom of 80 ": Eighty percent of the public favors electing their judges; …

The Political (Science) Context Of Judging, Lee Epstein, Jack Knight, Andrew D. Martin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

On The Selection Of Judges In International Figure Skating, Michael B. Abramowicz

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This essay discusses the system that the International Skating Union (ISU) has long used to select skating judges for competitions and suggests that this system creates problems of partisanship, incentivizing national skating federations to pick judges who are most likely to favor the federation’s interests while also incentivizing skating judges to favor their national federations. I offer an alternative approach to the ISU’s present method of selecting judges, a tournament-like system that could be used to pick judges objectively by rating judges based on the correlation of their scores with those of other judges and allowing those with higher correlation …

Pay No Attention To That Man Behind The Robe: Judicial Elections, The First Amendment, And Judges As Politicians, Michael R. Dimino

Michael R Dimino

Justice Ginsburg And The Middle Way, Laura K. Ray

Laura K. Ray

No abstract provided.

Critical Factors Of Adjudication: Language And The Adjudication Process In Executive And Judicial Branch Decisions, Chris Mcneil

Christopher B. McNeil, J.D., Ph.D.

No abstract provided.