Courts Commons^™

Pragmatism Applied: Imagining A Solution To The Problem Of Court Congestion, Michael L. Seigel

UF Law Faculty Publications

Can we improve the efficiency of jury trials? If so, would this reduce the problem of court congestion? Is there any reason to favor this approach over those that seek to avoid jury trials altogether?

This Article attempts to answer these difficult questions. It does so by articulating and then employing a methodology suggested by recent scholarly ruminations about the philosophy of pragmatism and its implications for legal scholarship and practice. Although pragmatism does not provide "right answers" to questions of legal doctrine-indeed, it rejects the notion that such things exist-it does provide some guidance in formulating the search for …

On The Relevance Of The Admissibility Of Scientific Evidence: Tort System Outcomes Are Principally Determined By Lawyers’ Rates Of Return, Lester Brickman

Cardozo Law Review

The attention generated by Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. reflects the perceived importance of the issue of the admissibility of scientific evidence in tort litigation. In products liability litigation, whether claimants prevail often depends upon expert testimony presented on the issue of causation. Unless a claimant is able to have the expert's testimony admitted, there will be little or no chance of prevailing. Thus, though it is disputed whether Daubert will extend or contract tort liability, it is undisputed that its importance lies in its impact on the scope of tort liability.

The Meaning Of Daubert And What That Means For Forensic Science, Randolph N. Jonakait

Cardozo Law Review

Daubert's effect on forensic science is unclear because the opinion is unclear. The Daubert Court did start blazing a useful path by stating that before scientific testimony is admitted, the trial court must be convinced that "the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid and ... that [the] reasoning or methodology properly can be applied to the facts in issue." But the Court's trailblazing was incomplete and often misleading.

Check Your Crystal Ball At The Courthouse Door, Please: Exploring The Past, Understanding The Present, And Worrying About The Future Of Scientific Evidence, David L. Faigman, Elise Porter, Michael J. Saks

Cardozo Law Review

Since the earliest days of the use of expert witnesses, judges (and more recently legislatures) have struggled to design the juridical intersection where law and science cross paths. The effort has not met with notable success. This situation could be changing, however. Last term, in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the Supreme Court adopted a novel approach to the age-old problem of scientific evidence. The -Court determined that the Federal Rules of Evidence require scientific evidence to be scientifically valid before it enters the courtroom. The Court has served notice that experts should trade in their crystal balls …

The Supreme Court’S View Of Science: Has Daubert Exorcised The Certainty Demon?, Bert Black

Cardozo Law Review

The Supreme Court's mandate in Daubert that experts who give testimony based on science must confine themselves to valid scientific knowledge seems tautologically obvious, and hardly an issue requiring the attention of the nation's nine highest judges. The debate that led to Daubert was generated, however, by opponents of judicial screening who argued that holding experts to scientific standards somehow imposes an undue burden of proof on plaintiffs, especially in toxic tort cases - and the Supreme Court's decision has not put the issue completely to rest. Science, according to this "relaxed standards" argument, demands certainty far beyond the law's …

Daubert V. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Epistemiology And Legal Process, Margaret G. Farrell

Cardozo Law Review

Justice Blackmun's majority opinion in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. acknowledges that law and science have different goals, but it fails to recognize the implications of those differences for legal process. Recent increases in the scientifically-based claims brought in the federal courts, and in the size and complexity of the litigation in which such claims are made, have raised the stakes in the debate. At the same time, scientific concepts of relativity, uncertainty, and multiple causation are at odds with simple, legal notions about fact-finding and cause and effect. This disparity between legal and scientific understandings over the admission …

Conflict Resolution In The Courts: The Role Of Science, Anthony Z. Roisman

Cardozo Law Review

This Article is a philosophical examination of an issue that now engages many lawyers and scientists-the proper role of science in courtroom litigation. More specifically, the issue is this: In cases where expert testimony is useful to lay jurors in resolving factual issues, what is the proper role of a judge in restricting what sorts of experts can testify and what they can say?

Federal Court Abstention In Civil Rights Cases: Chief Justice Rehnquist And The New Doctrine Of Civil Rights Abstention, Bryce M. Baird

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

After Daubert: Going Forward With Lessons From The Past, Marc S. Klein

Cardozo Law Review

Ground zero in the ongoing battle over scientific evidence in toxic tort cases has clearly shifted in light of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In that case, the Supreme Court settled at least two profound issues. One has immediate practical consequences, the other has important philosophical implications.

Perceptions Of Civil Justice: The Litigation Crisis Attitudes Of Civil Jurors, Valerie P. Hans, William S. Lofquist

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Public perceptions that the civil justice system is in crisis are apparently widespread, but little is known about the causes or correlates of such views. This article analyzes the litigation crisis attitudes of a sample of civil jurors. Like the public, jurors endorsed a number of statements suggesting that there is a litigation crisis. Factor analysis identified two independent components: general concern over excessive litigation, and criticism of the civil jury. Litigation crisis views were found in all demographic and attitudinal subgroups. However, attitudes about the civil justice system were related to the respondent's political efficacy, claims consciousness, belief in …

Never Again? The "Concentration Camps" In Bosnia-Herzegovina: A Legal Analysis Of Human Rights Abuses, Alan C. Laifer

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note draws parallels between the atrocities committed during the Holocaust and the ongoing violence in Bosnia, emphasizing the need for international accountability. It advocates for the establishment of a War Crimes Tribunal, modeled after the Nuremberg Tribunal, to prosecute individuals responsible for genocide and other war crimes. The analysis critiques the international community’s inaction and underscores the importance of upholding international law to prevent future atrocities.

The Evolution Of Coordinate Precedential Authority In Canada: Interprovincial Citations Of Judicial Authority, 1922-92, Peter Mccormick

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

It comes as no surprise that the provincial courts of appeal frequently cite as authority the decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada or the prior decisions of the court of appeal itself. However, the citation practices of these courts also show (emerging before, and persisting after, 1970) a striking reliance on their counterparts in other provinces. Both the simple existence of this interprovincial conversation and the details of its provenance-such as the dominance of Ontario, the persistent isolation of Quebec, the recent emergence of British Columbia-constitute an important and distinctive element of judicial decision making in Canada.

Enforcing Corrections-Related Court Orders In The District Of Columbia, Jonathan M. Smith

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

In 1909, a presidential commission made the following comment about the conditions that prevailed in the District of Columbia's jail: That men and women should be sent to these narrow and confined cells, the lazy to be fostered in laziness, the industrious to be deprived of every form of employment, in one promiscuous assembly, to corrupt and be corrupted by each other, to be fed like beasts and maintained at the public charge, with no prospect for improvement in condition, with the moral certainty that they will come out far worse than they went in, is a fact that has …

Res Judicata And Plaintiff's Burden Of Invoking A Federal Court's Supplemental Jurisdiction To Save "State" Court Claims In The District Of Columbia: A Bright Line Test, Stephen Giunta

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Supreme Court Voting Behavior: 1992 Term, Richard G. Wilkins, Troy R. Braegger, James L. Kimball Iii

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Race In The Memphis Courts, D'Army Bailey

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Truth, Justice, And The American Way: The Case Against The Client Perjury Rules, Jay S. Silver

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1637, England's dreaded Court of Star Chamber pronounced the sentence: John Bastwick, a Puritan activist,' was to be pilloried twice with one ear cut off each time, imprisoned in perpetuity without "books, pen, ink, or paper," stripped of his university degrees, and fined 5,000. Shortly before, he had been escorted up a twisting staircase in Westminster Palace and into a dark, cavernous room with stars painted on the ceiling to be tried on charges of criminal libel for having penned a political tract critical of the government. According to Star Chamber procedure, since Bastwick's counsel refused to vouch for …

Lev V. Tel-Aviv-Jaffa Rabbinical Court, Aharon Barak, Dov Levin, Shlomo Levin

Translated Opinions

[This abstract is not part of the Court's opinion and is provided for the reader's convenience. It has been translated from a Hebrew version prepared by Nevo Press Ltd. and is used with its kind permission.]

Petitioner 1 and Respondent 3 were in divorce proceedings. In the context of a suit for marital reconciliation filed by Respondent 3, he requested that Respondent 1 prevent Petitioner 1 from leaving the country. His request was granted. Petitioner 1 requested that the order be vacated because her trip was intended as a vacation with her eldest daughter as well as for conducting business …

Incorporating The Suspension Clause: Is There A Constitutional Right To Federal Habeas Corpus For State Prisoners?, Jordan Steiker

Michigan Law Review

In the early 1960s, the Supreme Court adopted generous standards governing federal habeas petitions by state prisoners. At that time, the Court suggested, rather surprisingly, that its solicitude toward such petitions might be constitutionally mandated by the Suspension Clause, the only provision in the Constitution that explicitly refers to the "Writ of Habeas Corpus." Now, thirty years later, the Court has essentially overruled those expansive rulings, and Congress has considered, though not yet enacted, further limitations on the availability of the writ. Despite these significant assaults on the habeas forum, the constitutional argument appears to have been entirely abandoned. The …

Peace Vs. Accountability In Bosnia, Anthony D'Amato

Faculty Working Papers

Hovering over the peace negotiations in progress in former Yugoslavia is the international community's determination to bring to trial as war criminals those political and military leaders responsible for atrocities in Bosnia. The question clearly presented is that, however desirable the idea of war crimes accountability might appear in the abstract, pursuing the goal of a war crimes tribunal may simply result in prolonging a war of civilian atrocities. Is it not conceivable that, in return for securing a peace treaty, the UN officials may have extended some assurance to the leaders in former Yugoslavia that, one way or another, …

Volume 61

Tennessee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reports: Introduction, J. Clark Kelso

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Proposal To Change The Patent Reexamination Statute To Eliminate Unnecessary Litigation, 27 J. Marshall L. Rev. 887 (1994), Marvin Motsenbocker

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Imagining The Alternative Futures Of The U.S. Courts Of Appeals, Thomas E. Baker

Faculty Publications

Any number of extramural or structural reforms have been proposed over the years to solve the present problems and to meet the future needs of the United States Courts of Appeals. Some have been on the drawing board for a long time, while others are much more novel. In this article, Professor Baker gathers the more provocative extramural or structural proposals that have coalesced thus far in the decades-long debate over what Congress should do about the intermediate federal appellate courts. The Final Report of the Federal Courts Study Committee is the point of departure for this "inquiry and discussion."

The Eleventh Circuit’S First Decade Contribution To The Law Of The Nation, 1981-1991, Thomas E. Baker

Faculty Publications

Likewise, the task of commentary is difficult. The period covered here-the first decade of the Eleventh Circuit-represents, quite literally and figuratively, the formative era of the court. Indeed, the volume of decisions and their variety are qualities that ought to humble, if not intimidate, most commentators. Justice Holmes once observed that a common law court could be expected to replicate the entire corpus juris in the space of a single generation. The Eleventh Circuit did this consciously between 1981 and 1991. In Bonner v. City of Prichard, the inaugural en banc court held that the new court-just cleaved from the …

Defamation By Will: Theories And Liabilities, 27 J. Marshall L. Rev. 749 (1994), Paul T. Whitcombe

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Under The Influence: Responses Of The New Jersey Supreme Court To Drunk Driving Cases--A Study Of Management Influence On Judicial Decisions, Martin L. Haines

St. Thomas Law Review

This Article is not written in defense of drunk drivers - they have no defense. It is written in defense of due process, which the courts, by constitutional mandate, must provide to al defendants including drunk drivers. It is a mandate the New Jersey Supreme Court has ignored, thereby encouraging the appearance of an over-eagerness to convict. Too often, the court has curtailed the liberties of DWI defendants, speeding convictions, and therefore dispositions, to further the demands of efficiency.

Review Of The 1993 Trademark Decisions Of The Court Of Appeals For The Federal Circuit, Stephen R. Baird

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Year In Review: The Federal Circuit's Patent Decisions Of 1993, Thomas L. Irving, Michael D. Kaminski, Linda S. Evans, Donald R. Mcphail

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dangerous Precedent: Federal Government Attempts To Vacate Judicial Decisions Upon Settlement, 27 J. Marshall L. Rev. 689 (1994), Robert P. Deyling

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.