Common Law Commons^™

Lawrence V. Texas: The Decision And Its Implications For The Future, Martin A. Schwartz

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Summary Of Nevada Ass’N. Servs. V. Eighth Jud. Dist., 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 94, Michael Valiente

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The voluntary payment doctrine provides an affirmative defense to a claim for the recovery of money that a plaintiff voluntarily paid. The duress/coercion exception to the voluntary payment doctrine requires the plaintiff show no reasonable alternative to payment existed. Additionally, the defense of property exception requires the plaintiff show an imminent risk of losing the property.

How Wartime Detention Ends, Deborah N. Pearlstein

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Study Of The Distribution Of Ownership Rights In Property In An Apartment Or Condominium Scheme In Common Law, Civil Law And Mixed Law Systems, C.G. Van Der Merwe

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

What Is In A Name: Why The European Same-Sex Partnership Acts Create A Valid Marital Relationship, Edward Brumby

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Subordinate Or Independent, Status Or Contract, Clarity Or Circularity: British Employment Law, American Implications, Harry Hutchison

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Parol Evidence Rule: A Comparative Study Of The Common Law, The Civil Law Tradition, And Lex Mercatoria, Alberto Luis Zuppi

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Constitutional Review In America And The Commonwealth: Judicial Protection Of Human Rights In The Common Law World, Po Jen Yap

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Qualified Immunity And Statutory Interpretation, Ilan Wurman

Seattle University Law Review

Before the 1989 case of Graham v. Connor, excessive force cases were pursued under either state law or the insuperable “shocks the conscience” test of the Fourteenth Amendment. Only after Graham did excessive force cases—now under the Fourth Amendment and 42 U.S.C. § 1983—inundate the federal courts, which had by then granted far-reaching immunities to officers for their constitutional torts. As a result of federal qualified immunity doctrine, which many states have adopted for themselves, excessive force cases rarely get to trial, plaintiffs often cannot recover, and courts struggle to find principled distinctions from one qualified immunity case to the …

Federal Jurisdiction Over U.S. Citizens' Claims For Violations Of The Law Of Nations In Light Of Sosa, Gwynne Skinner

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

A Funhouse Mirror Of Law: The Entailment In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice, Peter A. Appel

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Dynamic Common Law And Technological Change: The Classification Of Bitcoin, Shawn Bayern

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Most legal analysis of Bitcoin has addressed public-law and regulatory matters, such as taxation, securities regulation, and money laundering. This essay considers some questions that Bitcoin raises from a private-law perspective, and it aims to show that technological innovation may highlight problems with conceptualistic, classical rules of private law.

Summary Of Greenberg Traurig, Llp V. Frias Holding Company, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 67, Tom Stewart

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court adopted an exception to the common law litigation privilege for legal malpractice and professional negligence actions. A client can pursue malpractice and professional negligence actions against an attorney, and support those actions with communications made in the course of litigation.

Summary Of State V. White, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 56, Michael Bowman

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined whether a person could burglarize his or her own home.

The Mandatory Death Penalty In Ghana: A Comparative Constitutional Perspective On Dexter Johnson V. Republic, Andrew Novak

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The article examines the Supreme Court of Ghana's decision to uphold the mandatory death penalty, contrasting it with the global trend towards abolition. It highlights the tension between the court's textual interpretation of the constitution and international human rights pressures, emphasizing the need for legislative reform to align with human rights standards.

The Common Law Foundations Of The Takings Clause: The Disconnect Between Public And Private Law, Richard A. Epstein

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Changing Tides: The Introduction Of Punitive Damages Into The French Legal System, Matthew K.J. Parker

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Americanization Of The Common Law: The Intellectual Migration Meets The Great Migration, David Thomas Konig

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This essay is an appreciation of William E. Nelson’s Americanization of the Common Law: The Impact of Legal Change on Massachusetts Society, 1760–1830 (1975) and the complementary study published six years later as Dispute and Conflict Resolution in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1725–1825 (1981). The essay places Nelson’s research project in the immediate context of historical writing on colonial New England at the time of their publication but steps back from that narrow context to identify the significance of the book in the long trajectory of great legal historical writing on the Anglo-American legal tradition.

The Federal Rules At 75: Dispute Resolution, Private Enforcement Or Decisions According To Law?, James R. Maxeiner

Georgia State University Law Review

This essay is a critical response to the 2013 commemorations of the75th anniversary of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were introduced in 1938 to provide procedure to decide cases on their merits. The Rules were designed to replace decisions under the “sporting theory of justice”with decisions according to law.

By 1976, at midlife, it was clear that they were not achieving their goal. America’s proceduralists split into two sides about what to do. One side promotes rules that control and conclude litigation: e.g.,plausibility pleading, case management, limited discovery, cost indemnity for discovery, and summary …

Law For The Empire: The Common Law In Colonial America And The Problem Of Legal Diversity, Lauren Benton, Kathryn Walker

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In laboring to uncover the legal origins of the American Revolution, historians of law in early America often separated the field from the comparative legal history of empires. William E. Nelson does not explicitly set out to place American colonial legal history in a global context in The Common Law in Colonial America. But in analyzing legal diversity and identifying elements of early legal convergence, Nelson does address key questions within the comparative history of empire and law. This article surveys Nelson’s contributions and places them alongside two other approaches to the study of colonial legal diversity and the constitution …

Historical Antecedents Of Challenges Facing The Georgia Appellate Courts, Michael B. Terry

Georgia State University Law Review

The Georgia appellate courts face challenges common to many courts in these days of reduced governmental resources. At the same time, the Georgia appellate courts face unusual challenges that can be traced to their historical antecedents and one unique constitutional provision: the “Two-Term Rule.” Just as “[t]he law embodies the story of a nation’s development through many centuries,” the current rules and practices of both the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Court of Appeals of Georgia embody the story of the development of those courts since their founding.

Several aspects of the history of the courts directly impact the …

A Theory Of Local Common Law, Annie Decker

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Common Law Powers Of The Nevada Attorney General: Ryan V. Eighth Judicial District Court, Robert Stewart

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Towards Universal Fiduciary Principles, Tamar Frankel

Faculty Scholarship

Fiduciary relationships play an important role in civil law and common law jurisdictions. While both legal systems offer similar outcomes in upholding fiduciary law principles, the way they achieve these ends is fundamentally different. In common law jurisdictions, fiduciary law is rooted in the law of property. By contrast, in civil law jurisdictions, fiduciary principles find their source in contract law. This article seeks to reconcile these differences, by identifying universal principles that apply to both systems. The author describes the sources of fiduciary law in the common law and the civil law, then highlights underlying differences between the two …

Taxing Judicial Restraint: How Washington's Supreme Court Misinterpreted Its Role And The Washington State Constitution, Nicholas Carlson

Seattle University Law Review

In the realm of constitutional interpretation, the judicial department reigns supreme. League of Education Voters v. State exemplifies the judiciary’s potential abuse of its interpretative role: The Washington Supreme Court misinterpreted its judicial function because it ignored the text of Washington State’s constitution and held a statute unconstitutional. The court, therefore, voided a statute because of judicial volition, not because Washington’s constitution demanded that outcome. This Note challenges the reasoning in League and makes a novel suggestion for Washington State constitutional analysis, an approach that may apply to other states. This Note details a new analytical framework for constitutional analysis …

Apportioning Liability In Maryland Tort Cases: Time To End Contributory Negligence And Joint And Several Liability, Donald G. Gifford, Christopher J. Robinette

Faculty Scholarship

The Article presents a comprehensive proposal for assigning liability in tort cases according to the parties’ respective degrees of fault. The authors criticize the Court of Appeals of Maryland’s recent decision in Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia declining to abrogate contributory negligence, particularly the court’s notion that it should not act because of the legislature’s repeated failure to do so. The Article provides a comprehensive analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of comparative fault, including its effect on administrative costs, claims frequency, claims severity, insurance premiums, and economic performance. The authors propose the legislative enactment of comparative fault and …

The Restatement (Second) Of Contracts Reasonably Certain Terms Requirement: A Model Of Neoclassical Contract Law And A Model Of Confusion And Inconsistency, Daniel P. O'Gorman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Islamic Influence In (Pre-)Colonial And Early America: A Historico-Legal Snapshot, Nadia B. Ahmad

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Of Trees, Vegetation, And Torts: Re-Conceptualizing Reasonable Land Use, L. Daniel Bidwell

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Canadian Bijuralism At A Crossroad? The Impact Of Section 8.1 Of The Interpretation Act On Judicial Interpretation Of Federal Legislation, Aline Grenon

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Section 8.1 of the Interpretation Act affirms the equal authority of the common law and civil law in the field of property and civil rights. The section states, subject to two exceptions, that federal enactments based on rules and concepts that are part of the law of property and civil rights are to be interpreted in accordance with these rules and concepts. Prior to the enactment of section 8.1 in 2001, courts had a tendency to opt for a uniform application of federal legislation based on common law concepts, with often negative results for Quebec civil law. Since then, the …