Law Commons^™

Civilian Immunity And The Rebuttable Presumption Of Innocence, James M. Donovan

James M. Donovan

"Terrorist" is a word that at once vilifies and justifies, serving the same function in today's politics and popular imagination as was served by the term "Nazi" a half century ago, or "communist" thereafter, or "witch" in our colonial days, in that it is "always, or even necessarily, wrong." Few appellations today are as effective to ostracize a person, movement, or organization from civilized company, and an astonishing array of actions and reactions can be fully warranted when having as their intent a response to the mere threat -- much less an actual act -- of terrorism.

This Essay does …

Anthropology & Law, James M. Donovan, H. Edwin Anderson

James M. Donovan

This book defends the thesis that the two fields of law and anthropology co-exist in a condition of "balanced reciprocity" wherein each makes important contributions to the successful practice and theory of the other. Anthropology offers a cross-culturally validated generic concept of "law," and clarifies other important legal concepts such as "religion" and "human rights." Law similarly illuminates key anthropological ideas such as the "social contract," and provides a uniquely valuable access point for the analysis of sociocultural systems.

Baby Steps Or One Fell Swoop?: The Incremental Extension Of Rights Is Not A Defensible Strategy, James M. Donovan

James M. Donovan

The problem of incrementalism emerges from the common practice of limiting certain rights only to groups on certified lists. Section I reviews this problem of the list, and how the failure of lists to include gay men and lesbians profoundly impacts their daily lives. Possible strategic responses to this problem (such as doing nothing, interpreting the current list to include us, eliminating the list altogether, or expanding the list to include us explicitly) are considered in Section II, concluding by focusing on a special kind of gradualism, list incrementalism. List incrementalism occurs when a right is extended to new groups …

An Ethical Argument To Restrict Domestic Partnerships To Same-Sex Couples, James M. Donovan

James M. Donovan

For purposes of this Essay, the preservation of marriage in its present superior status, albeit not necessarily in its present form, constitutes a good. Further, it is a very high good within the hierarchy of values. Within the arena of domestic relations, in fact, there is no higher good. Marriage is the ground from which all other relations in an ordered society spring.

Extremists aside, gays and lesbians desire the right to marry because we value the institution, and we will herein take this state of affairs to be "good." That cannot be overstated. We like marriage, we appreciate what …

A Philosophical Ground For Gays' Rights: "We Must Learn What Is True In Order To Do What Is Right", James M. Donovan

James M. Donovan

A major platform of gays' rights seems to be that gays are entitled to social and political rights because, in fact, they are not different from the heterosexual majority when one looks past the definitional criterion of sleeping with the same sex. Any other differences, they claim, are "myths" and do not exist. From this perspective, without investigating bedroom behavior, one could never tell who is gay and who is not: Gays are just like "regular" people, the line goes, so they should be treated like them. "The best hope for acceptance," writes one Ann Landers reader, "is to show …

The Theory Of Reciprocal Altruism, Robert Lipkin

Robert Justin Lipkin

No abstract provided.

Hare's Theory Of Rational Assent, Robert Lipkin

Robert Justin Lipkin

No abstract provided.

Jurisprudence "Under-Mind": The Case Of The Atheistic Solipsist, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Universalizability And Prescriptivity In Practical Reasoning, Robert Justin Lipkin

Robert Justin Lipkin

No abstract provided.