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Punishment As Contract, Claire Oakes Finkelstein Jan 2011

Punishment As Contract, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

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This paper provides a sketch of a contractarian approach to punishment, according to a version of contractarianism one might call “rational contractarianism,” by contrast with the normative contractarianism of John Rawls. Rational contractarianism suggests a model according to which rational agents, with maximal, rather than minimal, knowledge of their life circumstances, would agree to the outlines of a particular social institution or set of social institutions because they view themselves as faring best in such a society governed by such institutions, as compared with a society governed by different institutional schemes available for adoption. Applied to the institution of punishment, …


What Will Our Future Look Like And How Will We Respond?, Michael A. Fitts Jan 2011

What Will Our Future Look Like And How Will We Respond?, Michael A. Fitts

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No abstract provided.


The Disadvantages Of Immigration Restriction As A Policy To Improve Income Distribution, Howard F. Chang Jan 2008

The Disadvantages Of Immigration Restriction As A Policy To Improve Income Distribution, Howard F. Chang

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In this Article, I argue that tax and transfer policies are more efficient than immigration restrictions as instruments for raising the after tax incomes of the least skilled native workers. Policies to protect these native workers frol1'l immigrant competition in the labor market do no better at promoting distributive justice and are likely to impose a greater economic burden on natives in the country of immigration than the tax alternative. These immigration restrictions are especially costly given the disproportionate burden that they place on households with working women, which discourages fel1'wle participation in the labor force. This burden runs contrary …


The Rhetoric Of Anti-Relativism In A Culture Of Certainty, Howard Lesnick Jan 2007

The Rhetoric Of Anti-Relativism In A Culture Of Certainty, Howard Lesnick

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No abstract provided.


A Contractarian Argument Against The Death Penalty, Claire Oakes Finkelstein Oct 2006

A Contractarian Argument Against The Death Penalty, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

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Opponents of the death penalty typically base their opposition on contingent features of its administration, arguing that the death penalty is applied discriminatory, that the innocent are sometimes executed, or that there is insufficient evidence of the death penalty’s deterrent efficacy. Implicit in these arguments is the suggestion that if these contingencies did not obtain, serious moral objections to the death penalty would be misplaced. In this Article, Professor Finkelstein argues that there are grounds for opposing the death penalty even in the absence of such contingent factors. She proceeds by arguing that neither of the two prevailing theories of …


Hobbes And The Internal Point Of View, Claire Oakes Finkelstein Jan 2006

Hobbes And The Internal Point Of View, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

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No abstract provided.


Hart On Social Rules And The Foundations Of Law: Liberating The Internal Point Of View, Stephen R. Perry Jan 2006

Hart On Social Rules And The Foundations Of Law: Liberating The Internal Point Of View, Stephen R. Perry

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No abstract provided.


Government Regulation Of Irrationality: Moral And Cognitive Hazards, Jonathan Klick, Gregory Mitchell Jan 2006

Government Regulation Of Irrationality: Moral And Cognitive Hazards, Jonathan Klick, Gregory Mitchell

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Behavioral law and economics scholars who advance paternalistic policy proposals typically employ static models of decision-making behavior, despite the dynamic effects of paternalistic policies. This Article considers how paternalistic policies fare under a dynamic account of decision making that incorporates learning and motivation effects. This approach brings out two important limitations on the efficiency effects of paternalistic regulations. First, if preferences and biases are endogenous to institutional forces, paternalistic government regulations may perpetuate and even magnify a given bias and cause other adverse psychological effects. Second, for some biases, it will be more efficient to invest resources in debiasing than …


Ripstein, Rawls, And Responsibility, Stephen R. Perry Jan 2004

Ripstein, Rawls, And Responsibility, Stephen R. Perry

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No abstract provided.


The Implications Of Transition Theory For Stare Decisis, Jill E. Fisch Jan 2003

The Implications Of Transition Theory For Stare Decisis, Jill E. Fisch

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No abstract provided.


Harm, History, And Counterfactuals, Stephen R. Perry Jan 2003

Harm, History, And Counterfactuals, Stephen R. Perry

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No abstract provided.


The Right To Remain Silent Helps Only The Guilty, Stephanos Bibas Jan 2003

The Right To Remain Silent Helps Only The Guilty, Stephanos Bibas

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No abstract provided.


Harmonizing Substantive-Criminal Law-Values And Criminal Procedure: The Case Of Alford And Nolo Contendere Pleas, Stephanos Bibas Jan 2003

Harmonizing Substantive-Criminal Law-Values And Criminal Procedure: The Case Of Alford And Nolo Contendere Pleas, Stephanos Bibas

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No abstract provided.


Method And Principle In Legal Theory, Stephen R. Perry Jan 2002

Method And Principle In Legal Theory, Stephen R. Perry

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No abstract provided.


Two Men On A Plank, Claire Oakes Finkelstein Jan 2001

Two Men On A Plank, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

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Can two individuals, each of whom needs a certain resource for his survival, have equal and conflicting rights to that resource? If so, is each entitled to try to exclude the other from its use? An old chestnut of moral and legal philosophy raises the problem. Following a shipwreck, two men converge simultaneously on a plank floating in the sea. There is no other plank available and no immediate hope of rescue. Unfortunately the plank can support only one; it sinks if two try to cling to it. Is it permissible for each to attempt to secure his own survival …


The Inefficiency Of Mens Rea, Claire Oakes Finkelstein Jan 2000

The Inefficiency Of Mens Rea, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

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No abstract provided.


Positivism And The Notion Of An Offense, Claire Oakes Finkelstein Jan 2000

Positivism And The Notion Of An Offense, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

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While the United States Supreme Court has developed an elaborate constitutional jurisprudence of criminal procedure, it has articulated few constitutional doctrines of the substantive criminal law. The asymmetry between substance and procedure seems natural given the demise of Lochner and the minimalist stance towards due process outside the area of fundamental rights. This Article, however, argues that the "positivistic" approach to defining criminal offenses stands in some tension with other basic principles, both constitutional and moral. In particular, two important constitutional guarantees depend on the notion of an offense: the presumption of innocence and the ban on double jeopardy. Under …


The Possibility Of A Fair Paretian, Howard F. Chang Jan 2000

The Possibility Of A Fair Paretian, Howard F. Chang

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No abstract provided.


When The Rule Swallows The Exception, Claire Oakes Finkelstein Jan 2000

When The Rule Swallows The Exception, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

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No abstract provided.


The Hazards Of Legal Fine Tuning: Confronting The Free Will Problem In Election Law Scholarship, Michael A. Fitts Jun 1999

The Hazards Of Legal Fine Tuning: Confronting The Free Will Problem In Election Law Scholarship, Michael A. Fitts

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No abstract provided.


Personal Fulfillment In The Changing World Of Law Practice: Opportunities And Obstacles, Howard Lesnick Jan 1999

Personal Fulfillment In The Changing World Of Law Practice: Opportunities And Obstacles, Howard Lesnick

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No abstract provided.


Threats And Preemptive Practices, Claire Oakes Finkelstein Jan 1999

Threats And Preemptive Practices, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

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No abstract provided.


Preempting Oneself: The Right And The Duty To Forestall One's Own Wrongdoing, Leo Katz Jan 1999

Preempting Oneself: The Right And The Duty To Forestall One's Own Wrongdoing, Leo Katz

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Economists and philosophers working on problems of rational choice have for some time been concerned with various puzzles raised by so-called "Ullysean" configurations: actors who rationally cause themselves to act irrationally. (e.g., the person who swallows Thomas Schelling's famous irrationality pill to preempt an attempted robbery). What has attracted less attention is that these configurations present fascinating problems for morality, most especially for non-consequentialist morality. This article undertakes the exploration of some of these problems and the implications they hold for the morality of preemptive detention, preemptive self-defense, the creation of prophylactic crimes (like our drug laws) and a variety …


On The Obligation Of The State To Extend A Right Of Self-Defense To Its Citizens, Claire Oakes Finkelstein Jan 1999

On The Obligation Of The State To Extend A Right Of Self-Defense To Its Citizens, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

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No abstract provided.


Self-Defense As A Rational Excuse, Claire Oakes Finkelstein Jan 1996

Self-Defense As A Rational Excuse, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

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No abstract provided.


The Proposed Equal Protection Fix For Abortion Law: Reflections On Citizenship, Gender, And The Constitution, Anita L. Allen Jan 1995

The Proposed Equal Protection Fix For Abortion Law: Reflections On Citizenship, Gender, And The Constitution, Anita L. Allen

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No abstract provided.


Duress: A Philosophical Account Of The Defense In Law, Claire Oakes Finkelstein Jan 1995

Duress: A Philosophical Account Of The Defense In Law, Claire Oakes Finkelstein

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No abstract provided.


Hobbes, Formalism, And Corrective Justice, Anita L. Allen, Maria H. Morales Jan 1992

Hobbes, Formalism, And Corrective Justice, Anita L. Allen, Maria H. Morales

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No abstract provided.


The Power Of Private Facts, Anita L. Allen Jan 1991

The Power Of Private Facts, Anita L. Allen

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No abstract provided.


The Limits Of Social Policy, Cary Coglianese May 1990

The Limits Of Social Policy, Cary Coglianese

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No abstract provided.