Law Commons^™

Affordable Housing And Civic Participation: Two Sides Of The Same Coin, Goutam U. Jois

Goutam U Jois

Over the past several decades, America’s inner cities have deteriorated socially, economically, and politically. Simultaneously, civic engagement, almost by any measure, has been on the decline: Americans vote less and volunteer less, go out to dinner with friends less and attend PTA meetings less. In this Article, I argue that the two phenomena are linked, at least from the perspective of remedies. Specifically, by rebuilding our inner cities to promote mixed-use, mixed-income development, we can revitalize some of the most impoverished neighborhoods in our country while simultaneously engendering the mechanisms to foster increased civic engagement in our participatory democracy.

Paying To Save: Tax Withholding And Asset Allocation Among Low- And Moderate-Income Taxpayers, Michael S. Barr, Jane Dokko

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

We analyze the phenomenon that low- and moderate-income (LMI) tax filers exhibit a “preference for over-withholding” their taxes, a measure we derive from a unique set of questions administered in a dataset of 1,003 households, which we collected through the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan. We argue that the relationship between their withholding preference and portfolio allocation across liquid and illiquid assets is consistent with models with present-biased preferences, and that individuals exhibit self-control problems when making their consumption and saving decisions. Our results support a model in which individuals use commitment devices to constrain their consumption. …

Law And Norms In Left-Wing Novels Of The U. S. Mid-Twentieth Century, Walter J. Kendall

Walter J. Kendall lll

Law and Norms in Left-Wing Novels of the U.S. Mid-Twentieth Century Each of the major law-based structuring or ordering systems of society – markets, regulation, litigation, and democracy – should work as a path to a good and just society. However, the scholarship of the last half of the 20th century establishes that none work the way they should ; each is blocked by a wall with doors locked to working people. In such circumstances most people either make an everyday life for themselves through consumption , especially of small systems that do work, like DVDs and microwave ovens; or …

International Law's Lessons For The Law Of The Lakes, Joseph W. Dellapenna

Working Paper Series

The eight Governors of the Great Lakes States signed a proposed new compact for the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence basin on December 13, 2005, and they joined with the Premiers of Ontario and Québec in a parallel agreement on the same topic on the same day. Neither document is legally binding—the proposed new compact because it has not yet been ratified by any state nor consented to by Congress; the parallel agreement because it is not intended to be legally binding. Both documents are designed to preclude the export of water from the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence basin apart from …

The Impossibility Of A Prescriptive Paretian, Robert C. Hockett

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Most normatively oriented economists appear to be “welfarist” and Paretian to one degree or another: They deem responsiveness to individual preferences, and satisfaction of one or more of the Pareto criteria, to be a desirable attribute of any social welfare function. I show that no strictly “welfarist” or Paretian social welfare function can be normatively prescriptive. Economists who prescribe must embrace at least one value apart from or additional to “welfarism” and Paretianism, and in fact will do best to dispense with Pareto entirely.

Does Australia Have A Constitution? Part I -- The Powers Constitution, Howard Schweber, Ken Mayer

Howard Schweber

The conventional wisdom about the Australian Constitution is that it neither says what it means, nor means what it says. The gap between language and meaning is starkest in the sections on executive power, in which the explicit language vesting all executive power in the Governor-General is supplanted by the conventions of Responsible Government, according to a universally accepted view of what the constitutional framers intended to create. One consequence of this divergence between language and practice is that constitutional interpretation normally requires a series of finesses, in which much of the text is read out of the document entirely. …

Does Australia Have A Constitution? Part Ii -- The Rights Constitution, Howard Schweber, Ken Mayer

Howard Schweber

In this article, we visit the question of whether Australia has a “genuine” constitution with respect to guarantees of individual rights. The Australian constitutional text lacks explicit rights guarantees, but various types of rights protections have been derived from the text through judicial construction. To test the Australian model, we compare three other cases -- the United States, the U.K., and Israel -- with respect to the relationship between text, convention, and constitutional ethos. Australia does not fit cleanly into any of these three models, although it displays elements of each. More importantly, the High Court’s extrapolation of rights from …

Outsiders Looking In: The American Legal Discourse Of Exclusion, Luis E. Chiesa

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In the first part of the article it is pointed out that during the last two hundred years our government has frequently enacted measures that unfairly burden certain social groups during times of crisis. The historical analysis set forth in Part II of this article reveals that adoption of such measures is usually justified by an appeal to national security. Thus, we have been told that we need to exclude some groups from the full protection of our laws in order to guarantee the safety of the rest of the populace. The rest of the article is dedicated to explaining …

Motivational Law, Arnold S. Rosenberg

Arnold S Rosenberg

This article introduces a new concept of law’s motivational functions and the laws that serve those functions, which I call “motivational law.” Motivational law consists of those rules and principles, a purpose or function of which is to motivate people to comply with laws that regulate their conduct toward each other or their environment. Motivational laws include obscenity and censorship laws, religious laws on diet, dress, liturgy and ritual, military disciplinary rules, “soft law,” the doctrine of consideration in contract law, and even procedural due process.

Drawing on cognitive dissonance theory and other behavioral research, I conclude that motivational law …

Climate Change, Regulatory Fragmentation, And Water Triage, Robin K. Craig

Robin K. Craig

Fresh water is a regulatorily fragmented resource – that is, water is subject to multiple assertions of regulatory authority and to multiple types of use right claims that those authorities regulate. As fresh water supplies become increasingly unequal to task of meeting the multiple demands for both consumptive and in situ use, and as consumptive and in situ uses of water come increasingly into irreconcilable conflict, the various regulatory schemes governing water have also increasingly come into legal conflict. These courtroom battles have revealed many tensions, overlaps, and gaps in the overall governance of water as a natural resource, especially …

The Hidden Harm Of Law And Economics, Daniel Cohen

Daniel Cohen

The paper deals with the adverse psychodynamic consequences to an individual and to society, immediately and in the long run, of dissolving individual responsibility for fault as in the doctrine of Law and economics.

The Insanity Of Mens Rea: Due Process And The Abolition Of The Insanity Defense, Jean K. Phillips, Rebecca E. Woodman

Jean K Phillips

The Insanity of the Mens Rea Model:

Due Process and the Abolition of the Insanity Defense.

Jean K. Gilles Phillips and Rebecca E. Woodman

Abstract

In the last 15 years a flurry of legislative activity has taken place as states have attempted to redefine the insanity defense. This article focuses on those states who chose not just to refine the definition of insanity, but to completely abolish it as an affirmative defense.

During the 2006 Supreme Court term many believed that the Court would answer the question of whether the Due Process Clause protects the right of the accused to …

Background Principles And The Rule Of Law: Fifteen Years After Lucas, James L. Huffman

James L. Huffman

Abstract

The Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council was welcomed by property right advocates. Justice Scalia’s opinion for the Court established a categorical taking where all economic value is lost as a result of regulation. Not surprisingly, advocates of unconstrained environmental and land use regulation were dismayed, although many were quick to suggest (hopefully) that Lucas’s impacts would be minimal since most regulations do not destroy all economic value.

Fifteen years later some who saw only dark clouds on the regulatory horizon as a consequence of Lucas now see a rainbow with a pot of …

Originalism And The Problem Of Fundament Fairness, R. George Wright

R. George Wright Professor

Originalism is perhaps the most prominent theory of how to interpret the Constitution. Originalism, however, rests upon a process of constitutional drafting and ratification that systematically excluded important demographic groups. Originalism thus rests on a fundamental injustice. Crucially, this fundamental injustice is not confined to the past once the various excluded groups gain the franchise. Originalist theories remain crucially tainted and skewed, particularly with respect to constitutional questions on which originally excluded groups had interests diverging from those of non-excluded groups. The continuing effects of the fundamental unfairness of the constitutional drafting and ratifying process are explored through considering the …

When Obscenity Discriminates, Elizabeth M. Glazer

Elizabeth M Glazer

When public indecency statutes outlaw gender nonconformity, obscenity discriminates; when movie ratings censor representations of sexual minorities, obscenity discriminates, and discriminates on the basis of their status as sexual minorities. This Article addresses obscenity doctrine’s infliction of first generation, or status discrimination against sexual minorities by conflating “sex” – and the prurient representation of sex that constitutes obscenity – and “sexual orientation.” Civil rights lawyers and scholars have turned their attentions away from “first generation” discrimination,” where groups experience discrimination on the basis of their status, and toward “second generation” discrimination, where groups experience discrimination for failing to downplay or …

The Domestic Legal Status Of Customary International Law In Comparative Perspective, David M. Ginn

David M Ginn

This essay considers the contested domestic legal status of customary international law. Two distinct positions have emerged in the debates about customary international law. The first position maintains that customary international law operates as a type of federal common law that is automatically incorporated into U.S. law and should be applied by courts in any appropriate case. The second position holds that only the political branches may incorporate customary international law into U.S. law, and that courts may only apply customary international law if a federal statute authorizes them to do so.

Drawing from the federal courts' experience with admiralty …

Government Lawyers And Confidentiality Norms, Kathleen Clark

Kathleen Clark

This article addresses the confidentiality obligations of government lawyers, and how those obligations differ from private sector lawyers. It examines the rather complex question of the identity of a government lawyer’s client, notes that many government lawyers make decisions that are normally reserved for clients, and finds that those lawyers can appropriately consider the public interest in making those decisions. On the specific issue of confidentiality, the article asserts that, as a substantive matter, government lawyers may disclose government wrongdoing and may reveal information that is subject to disclosure under freedom of information laws. But as a procedural matter, state …

Presidents And Process: A Comparison Of The Regulatory Process Under The Clinton And Bush (43) Administrations, Stuart Shapiro

Stuart Shapiro

Do procedural controls placed on the regulatory process allow politicians to control bureaucratic decisionmaking? I use data on the regulatory process under the Clinton and Bush Administrations to assess the differences between these presidents with distinct ideological regulatory agendas. I find that the number of comments received, the changes made between proposal and finalization of rules, the frequency with which agencies bypass notice and comment, the frequency of use of different regulatory analyses, and the time to complete a rulemaking did not vary substantially between the two presidencies. This raises questions about the role of procedural controls on agency decisionmaking.

An Empirical Investigation Of Judicial Decisionmaking, Statutory Interpretation & The Chevron Doctrine In Environmental Law, Jason J. Czarnezki

Jason J. Czarnezki

How do the United States Courts of Appeals decide environmental cases? More specifically, how do courts evaluate decisions of statutory interpretation made by government agencies that deal in environmental law? While research on judicial decisionmaking in environmental law has primarily focused on the D.C. Circuit, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the influence of ideology, only recently have legal scholars begun to consider the role of legal factors in judicial decisionmaking in environmental law. Yet, more can be learned about environmental jurisprudence outside the District of Columbia, the “other” environmental agencies, and the influence of legal interpretive approaches and legal doctrine—as …

A Comparative Guide To The Eastern Public Trust Doctrines: Classifications Of States, Property Rights, And State Summaries, Robin K. Craig

Robin K. Craig

Public trust doctrine literature to date has displayed two distinct tendencies, both of which limit comprehensive discussion of the American public trust doctrines. At one end of the spectrum, articles focused on broader legal principles tend to discuss the public trust doctrine, as though a single public trust doctrine pervaded the United States. At the other end, articles focus on how one particular state implements its particular state public trust doctrine. Few articles have grappled with the richness and complexity of public trust philosophies that more comparative approaches to the nation’s public trust doctrines – emphasis on the plural – …

Large-Scale Disasters Attacking The American Dream: How To Protect And Empower Homeowners And Lenders, Matthew D. Ekins

Matthew D Ekins

The 2005 hurricane season reminded the world that such catastrophes can and do occur anywhere at anytime. Recovery efforts continue long after tides recede and after-shocks cease. In the context of Hurricane Katrina, this article examines the homeowner-lender relationship to determine risks natural disasters pose to the mortgage industry, likely repercussions a fallout in the mortgage industry may have on the health of the general economy, and what preventative steps have been and may be taken to prevent further economic suffering in a post-catastrophe environment.

Procedural Path Dependence: Discrimination And The Civil-Criminal Divide, Julie C. Suk

Julie C Suk

Procedural path dependence occurs when the particular features of the procedural system which has been charged with enforcing a given legal norm determine the substantive path of that legal norm. This article shows how the limits of employment discrimination law in two different national contexts can be explained by procedural dynamics. In France, as in several European countries, employment discrimination law is enforced predominantly in criminal proceedings. French criminal procedure enables the discovery of information necessary to proving the facts of discrimination, whereas the limited nature of French civil procedure makes it impossible for such information to be revealed. As …

The Public Network, Thomas B. Nachbar

Thomas B Nachbar

This article addresses the timely yet persistent question of how best to regulate access to telecommunications networks. Concerns that private firms may use their ownership of communications networks to their own economic advantage has led many to propose restrictions, variously referred to as “network neutrality” or “open access” proposals, on network operators. To date, the network neutrality debate has focused almost exclusively on economic arguments for or against such regulation. Taking a step back from current debates, this paper seeks to derive from established law the accepted bases for imposing nondiscrimination rules and then to work forward to ask whether …

Forgetting Lochner In The Journey From Plan To Market: The Framing Effect Of The Market Rhetoric In Market-Oriented Reforms, Joel M. Ngugi

Joel M Ngugi

Since the 1980s the developing world has been undergoing a transition styled by the World Bank as a journey from “Plan” to “Market.” This article argues, first, that rhetorically, this transition parallels a transition described by Legal Anthropologist, Henry Sumner Maine more than a century ago, as a progressive movement from “Status” to “Contract.” Second, the article demonstrates that this transition has been accompanied by a Lochnerian vision of management of the relationship between the state and the market. This vision obscures settled “lessons” about the role of and interaction between the state and the market in the service of …

Where Lies The Emperor's Robe? An Inquiry Into The Problem Of Judicial Legitimacy, Gregory C. Pingree

Gregory C. Pingree

Gregory C. Pingree Article Abstract

Where Lies the Emperor’s Robe?

An Inquiry Into The Problem of Judicial Legitimacy

Today the American judiciary is, by any reasonable assessment, under attack. In politicians’ pious calls for religious retribution in response to controversial judicial decisions (e.g., in the Terri Schiavo case); in recent state ballot initiatives calling for “Jail-4 Judges” who don’t render decisions ideologically satisfactory to some groups; in the embattled and nearly intractable confirmation process for federal judges; and certainly in the wake of Bush v. Gore, which left many Americans convinced that the judiciary is not the impartial branch it …

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: Moral Agency And The Role Of Victims In Reparations Programs, Carlton Waterhouse

Carlton Waterhouse

ABSTRACT Despite the growing interest in reparations, at the domestic and international level, little attention has been given to the role of victims in the design and implementation of reparations programs. Instead, most programs and commentators place emphasis upon the apology, recompense, or restitution required by former wrongdoers rather than the restoration and recovery of victims. This prevailing approach neglects the critical role that communities and individuals suffering from past abuses should play in order to reestablish their personal well being and societal standing. This methodology replicates the past subordination of victims by rendering them the passive recipients of government …

No Right To Respect: Dred Scott And The Southern Honor Culture, Cecil J. Hunt

Cecil J. Hunt II

Article Abstract: No Right to Respect: Dred Scott and the Southern Honor Culture; by Professor Cecil J. Hunt, II This article reflects on the 150th anniversary of the infamous decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford, 19 How. (60 U.S.) 393 (1857) in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the constitutionality of slavery. This essay is part of the considerable national effort by all of the constituencies in the American legal community to reflect on this infamous case and consider the distance the nation has come since it was decided as well as its continuing legacy on the …

The Choice-Necessity Paradigm: Rethinking Debtor-Creditor Relationships In The Consumer Context, David Fuller

David Fuller

The choice-necessity paradigm is a new approach to understanding the problem of rising rates of consumer bankruptcy. The choice-necessity paradigm uses an analytical structure that is based on a combination of the two dominant analytical models for explaining the increased rate of consumer bankruptcy filings: the structural model and the cultural model. The structural model emphasizes social and economic factors that cause debtors to rely on consumer credit, and increase the risk of bankruptcy filing. Although the structural model defines the problem and identifies the risk to consumers, it does not solve the problem, because it does not adequately balance …

Local Public Entrepreneurship And Judicial Intervention In A Euro-American And Global Perspective, Fernando Christian Iaione

Fernando Christian Iaione

Local public entrepreneurship is a concept which encompasses a variety of activities carried out by local governments to foster local economic development. The first part of this paper puts forward local public entrepreneurship as a windfall of the right to local self-government. In the second part two cases are presented - one from EU and one from US - where local public entrepreneurship is playing a major role. However, in the EU the ECJ jurisprudence is discouraging local governments to engage in such activities thereby undermining the right to local self-government. By contrast, the US legal system actively encourages a …

Local Public Entrepreneurship And Judicial Intervention In A Euro-American And Global Perspective, Fernando Christian Iaione

Fernando Christian Iaione

Local public entrepreneurship is a concept which encompasses a variety of activities carried out by local governments to foster local economic development. The first part of this paper puts forward local public entrepreneurship as a windfall of the right to local self-government. In the second part two cases are presented - one from EU and one from US - where local public entrepreneurship is playing a major role. However, in the EU the ECJ jurisprudence is discouraging local governments to engage in such activities thereby undermining the right to local self-government. By contrast, the US legal system actively encourages a …