Law Commons^™

The Enduring Connections Between Law And Culture: Reviewing Lawrence Rosen, Law As Culture, And Oscar Chase, Law, Culture, And Ritual, Paul Schiff Berman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In an era of globalization, "culture" is sometimes treated as a dirty word. For those who see the world as increasingly "flat," culture can seem to be merely a retrograde imposition of local prerogative that stands in the way of progress. Likewise, those who seek greater harmonization of human rights norms, commercial trade rules, or other legal standards may view culture as simply a monkey wrench in the machinery of global consensus and cooperation. In such debates, culture is often conceptualized as fundamentally pre-modern, something "they" cling to, but that "we" have long since jettisoned.

Two recent books - Law …

Faithful Hermeneutics, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Scholarly Works

This article was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools on January 9, 2009 as part of a panel on "Scriptural and Constitutional Hermeneutics." The panel was co-sponsored by the Law and Religion Section, Section on Jewish Law, and Section on Islamic Law, and the papers will be published by the Michigan State Law Review.

My article compares legal and religious hermeneutics by exploring the dual nature of what I term "faithful hermeneutics." The ambiguity evoked by this phrase is intentional. On one hand, it suggests an investigation of the relationship between legal and religious …

Ignorance Is Effectively Bliss: Collateral Consequences, Silence, And Misinformation In The Guilty-Plea Process, Jenny Roberts

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

In the 2009-2010 term, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide if it matters whether a criminal defense lawyer correctly counsels a client about the fact that the client faces deportation as a result of a guilty plea. Under prevailing constitutional norms in almost every jurisdiction, a lawyer does not have a duty to tell her client about many serious but "collateral" consequences of a guilty plea. Yet, in every jurisdiction that has considered the issue, that very same lawyer will run afoul of her duties if she affirmatively misrepresents a collateral consequence-every jurisdiction, that is,except Kentucky. The Supreme Court of …

Regulatory Competition, Choice Of Forum And Delaware’S Stake In Corporate Law, Faith Stevelman

Articles & Chapters

As Delaware corporate law confronts the twenty-first-century global economy, the state's legislators and jurists are becoming sensitive to increased threats to the law's sustained preeminence. The increased presence of federal laws and regulations in areas of corporate governance traditionally allocated to the states has been widely noted. The growth of federal corporate law standards may be undermining Delaware's confidence in the sustained prosperity of its chartering business - which has been a vital source of revenues and prestige for Delaware, its equity courts, and especially its corporate bar. The Delaware Court of Chancery appears to be concerned about the emigration …

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

Front Matter includes title page, masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for Animal Law Review Volume 15, Issue 2.

A Call To Action: Concrete Proposals For Reducing Widespread Animal Suffering In The United States, Dana M. Campbell

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

California Proposition 2: A Watershed Moment For Animal Law, Jonathan R. Lovvorn, Nancy V. Perry

Animal Law Review

This essay explores the legislative and legal campaign to enact California Proposition 2: The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, approved by California voters on November 4, 2008. The authors direct the legislation and litigation programs for The Humane Society of the United States, and, along with many other individuals and organizations, were centrally involved in the drafting, campaigning, and litigation efforts in support of the measure.

Using Dogs For Emotional Support Of Testifying Victims Of Crime, Marianne Dellinger

Animal Law Review

Courts and prosecutorial offices around the nation have started using service dogs to support emotionally frail child witnesses who are unwilling to testify but for the calming presence of a dog. Proponents claim that this new type of therapeutic jurisprudence helps bring criminal defendants to justice in cases where the testimony of the complaining witness is crucial to the prosecution’s case. Opponents fear the infringement of the defendants’ rights to a fair trial because of the dogs’ potential to prejudice a jury to come out in favor of the witnesses.

This article analyzes the legal foundations supporting the use of …

The Alaskan Wolf War: The Public Trust Doctrine Missing In Action, Edward A. Fitzgerald

Animal Law Review

Wolf killing in Alaska is authorized by the Board of Game (BOG), an agency captured by hunting and trapping interests. The BOG’s wolf killing policies have generally been supported by state legislatures and governors. Alaskan courts have not halted the wolf killing. The courts have viewed wolf killing as an issue of administrative law and deferred to BOG expertise. This article argues that the courts should have invoked Alaska’s public trust doctrine, which prevents the granting of preferences over state natural resources. The courts should have also rigorously examined the BOG’s wolf killing policies and protected the wolf as a …

Caring For Dolphins, Otters, And Octopuses: Speciesism In The Regulation Of Zoos And Aquariums, Marla K. Conley

Animal Law Review

Current regulations for zoos and aquariums rely heavily on standards established by industry associations, and the government increasingly expects public display facilities to self-monitor. Unfortunately, the industry associations charged with policing zoos and aquariums lack the enforcement authority necessary to ensure that animals kept in these facilities receive adequate attention or resources. This article argues that marine animals kept in public display facilities, such as zoos and aquariums, should benefit from the same level of regulatory protection as their land-bound counterparts. Even though marine animals demonstrate intellectual abilities equivalent or superior to those of land-bound animals, federal regulations allow facilities …

2007-2008 Legislative Review, Nancy R. Hoffman, Robin C. Mcginnis

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Natural Behavior, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Speaking For The Modern Prometheus: The Significance Of Animal Suffering To The Abolition Movement, Elizabeth L. Decoux

Animal Law Review

There is a great divide in animal advocacy between Abolition and Welfare. Abolitionists seek to end the property status of animals. Welfarists, while acquiescing in the categorization of animals as property, seek to improve the conditions in which those animals live and die. Abolitionists have worked toward their goal for decades, and Welfarists toward theirs for centuries, but animals continue to suffer and die in ever-increasing numbers. This Article reviews the theories and methods of Abolitionists and Welfarists and suggests one reason that they have failed to relieve animal suffering and death: Welfarists use the right tool in the service …

Animals As Vulnerable Subjects: Beyond Interest-Convergence, Hierarchy, And Property, Ani B. Satz

Animal Law Review

This Article presents a new paradigm, premised on the equal protection principle, for the legal regulation of human interactions with domestic animals: Equal Protection of Animals (EPA). EPA combines the insights of vulnerability theorists with the equal protection principle and capability theory to create a mechanism for recognizing the equal claims of human and nonhuman animals to protections against suffering. Under such an approach, domestic animals—like humans—have claims to food, hydration, shelter, bodily integrity (including avoiding pain), companionship, and the ability to exercise and to engage in natural behaviors of movement.

Existing animal welfare and anti-cruelty laws, despite their stated …

Oats, Water, Hay, And Everything Else: The Regulation Of Anabolic Steroids In Thoroughbred Horse Racing, Bradley S. Friedman

Animal Law Review

In May 2008, a horse named Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby, narrowly beating a filly named Eight Belles. Just as Eight Belles crossed the finish line, she collapsed and was put to her death in front of millions of viewers as a result of her two broken legs. As the world tried to make sense of the tragedy, the prominent trainer of Big Brown casually announced that he administered anabolic steroids before the race to enhance Big Brown’s performance and that he would continue to give steroids before every other race for the same reason. Thus, the issue of …

Ringling Brothers On Trial: Circus Elephants And The Endangered Species Act, Mark Eichelman

Animal Law Review

In February 2009, the case of American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, et al. v. Feld Entertainment, Inc. was heard in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs, four animal rights organizations and one former elephant handler for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, brought a citizen suit against Feld Entertainment, Inc. (FEI), owner of Ringling Brothers, alleging that the Circus’ use of bullhooks and leg tethers on its endangered Asian elephants constituted illegal “takings” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). FEI argued that the plaintiffs did not have standing to …

Son Of Sam And Dog Of Sam: Regulating Depictions Of Animal Cruelty Through The Use Of Criminal Anti-Profit Statutes, Emma Ricaurte

Animal Law Review

In 1991, Congress enacted 18 U.S.C. § 48, which prohibits the interstate sale and distribution of depictions of animal cruelty, in response to the proliferation of animal “crush videos” on the Internet. In 2008, the Third Circuit, in United States v. Stevens, a case involving dog fighting, held that the law was an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. In April of 2009, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari. Discussions about the regulation of depictions of animal cruelty have largely focused on whether the child pornography or obscenity exceptions to the First Amendment should be extended to include …

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

Front Matter includes Title Page, Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for Animal Law Review Volume 16, Issue 1, 2009.

Patient Negligence: The Unreasonableness Of Relying On Trust, Song Richardson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This project initiates a conversation about patient negligence and trust in the medical setting and offers a test to determine whether patient negligence should be considered in litigation. The project examines the line at which a physician’s impermissible conduct should become reasonably obvious to a patient and therefore trigger a reasonable response. Absent a reasonable response by patients, this project considers whether comparative negligence attaches. Goodwin and Richardson argue due diligence, an aspect of loyalty, is treated as a value fiduciaries owe their clients, rather than a reasonable step that clients owe themselves.

In this collaboration, the authors imagine and …

The Dangers Of Equitable Remedies, Mary Siegel

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Introduction: "While Delaware jurisprudence is renowned for its clarity and sophistication, one area of its corporate case law is, by design, uncharacteristically ambiguous: equitable remedies. One Delaware judge summarized his equitable powers as follows: " [T]his court will use its 'broad discretion to tailor [a remedy] to suit the situation as it exists.' As Delaware has long recognized, 'the Court of Chancery [has] the inherent powers of equity to adapt its relief to the particular rights and liabilities of each party." The most well known of the equitable remedies is the Schnell doctrine, which allows the court to invalidate conduct …

December 31, 2008: Ursula K. Leguin Responds, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Ursula K. LeGuin Responds“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

December 29, 2008: Hegel On Hallowed Secularism, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Hegel on Hallowed Secularism“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

December 22, 2008: A New Kind Of Faith, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “A New Kind of Faith“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

December 7, 2008: The Conclusion Of For The Establishment Of Religion, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Conclusion of For the Establishment of Religion “ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

November 17, 2008: The Mormon Church And Proposition 8, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Mormon church and Proposition 8“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

November 11, 2008: From The Conclusion Of For The Establishment Of Religion, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “From the Conclusion of For the Establishment of Religion“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

November 8, 2009: Who Lost California?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Who Lost California?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Copyright 101, Jay M. Nadlman

Learning Exchange Networks

This presentation gives a brief overview of copyright, Fair Use, and other issues of intellectual property.

November 2, 2008: Religion And The 2008 Campaign, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Religion and the 2008 Campaign“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

October 29, 2008: The Federalist Society And Free Speech, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Federalist Society and Free Speech“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.