Courts Commons^™

The Concept Of The Common Law, Samuel L. Bray

Journal Articles

From the article

The common law is, among other things, a mode of legal development. In this mode, judges develop the law yet simultaneously act as if they were only discovering law that already existed. This sketch of the common law introduces contemporary readers to a way of thinking and talking about law that was once instinctive for judges. The common law as a mode of development may seem alien at certain points, yet its influence on the legal systems of the United States has been enormous, and it is critical background for understanding the grant of “the judicial power” …

Lessons Learned From The Trump Rule Of Law Stress Test: Beware Bad Faith Actors, Brian Z. Tamanaha

Scholarship@WashULaw

The second Trump Administration has engaged in a vast swath of actions that press against the outer boundaries of legality. These actions provide a unique opportunity to identify potential vulnerabilities and expose how the rule of law can be undermined. While I will elucidate well-known points along the way, my primary aim is to bring out aspects of the rule of law that usually go unnoticed or under the radar. After setting out basic aspects of the rule of law, I cover three topics: 1) adhering to the truth, 2) pretextual arguments, and 3) flooding the field with actions and …

Judicial Reform From The Inside Out, Daniel Epps, Marin K. Levy

Scholarship@WashULaw

Prepared for the Notre Dame Law Review’s Spring 2025 Federal Courts Symposium on the 100th Anniversary of the Judiciary Act of 1925.

The Judiciary Act of 1925, the subject of this Symposium, is known as “The Judges Bill” for a reason. The Justices of the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice Taft in particular, produced the Act and persuaded Congress to enact it. To modern eyes, such efforts seem indecorous; perhaps even scandalous. But in fact, Supreme Court Justices and other federal judges have been extensively involved in judicial reform throughout American history. This Essay examines participation by federal judges in …

When Hard Cases Make Bad Law: A Theory Of How Case Facts Affect Judge-Made Law, Sepehr Shahshahani

Scholarship@WashULaw

“Hard cases make bad law” is one of the most famous aphorisms in Anglo-American law. Its insight is that when strict application of a generally sound law would impose a special hardship on someone, a court may be tempted to distort the law to avoid the hardship. Scholars have long debated the meaning and truth of the aphorism, but the debate has suffered from an imprecise conceptualization of what makes a case “hard.” This lack of precision limits our ability to disentangle and work through the important questions the aphorism raises about how the facts of a particular case affect …

The Impact Of Divorce Proceedings On Victims Of Domestic Violence, Quinn G. Di Ienno

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Divorce often signifies the end of conflict in relationships that individuals no longer wish to continue. However, the impact of divorce on victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) is a topic that remains underexplored. This research investigates the extent to which individuals navigating divorce proceedings are victims of IPV and aims to illuminate their experiences within the legal system. The study delves into various forms of abuse, including physical, emotional, and financial, while also addressing the challenges victims face in seeking assistance. Employing a mixed-methods research design, this study comprises a comprehensive literature review and an online survey targeting those …

How Does The Modern Supreme Court Treat The Idea Of Retribution In The Context Of Capital Punishment?, Paige Forsberg

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis explores the modern U.S. Supreme Court's treatment of retribution in the context of capital punishment, analyzing how justices have framed and justified the death penalty as a form of justice. Through the examination of key Supreme Court rulings and legal arguments, this study evaluates the evolving role of retribution in the Court’s decisions on death penalty cases, highlighting how judicial reasoning has shifted over time in response to legal, philosophical, and societal developments.

Retribution, long considered one of the primary justifications for capital punishment, is examined through a nuanced lens in this study. While historically viewed as a …

Exploring The Impact Of Attorneys With Exposed Tattoos On Jurors, Diego F. Mahoney

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Within the legal field, there appears to be a pervasive stigmatization of exposed tattoos. Law firms justify their explicit or implicit bans on exposed body art by arguing that tattoos could negatively prejudice jurors who may be biased against people with tattoos. This thesis intends to put that notion to the test via a digital survey. Subjects who meet the qualifications to serve as a juror in the United States were shown one of two identical videos of an opening statement. However, in one video the attorney has a neck tattoo, whereas in the other the attorney does not. Subjects …

Flexing The Celebrity Muscle: Celebrity Leverage In Trademark Law And Why Small Businesses Deserve Equitable Treatment, Victoria M. Lopez

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The note examines the imbalance in trademark law disputes between celebrities and small businesses, arguing that celebrities often leverage their fame and resources to gain an unfair advantage. It highlights how this dynamic can overshadow the rights of small businesses, even when they have prior use of a trademark, as seen in the case of Beauty Concepts vs. Kim Kardashian. The analysis advocates for a more equitable approach to trademark law to protect small businesses from being disadvantaged by celebrity influence.

Chancery Court Rejects Argument That Corwin Is Inapplicable To Post-Signing Board, Robert S. Reder, Jonathan Rose

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Dynamics And Outcomes Of Family Engagement In Child Welfare Services: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach, Jianchao Lai, Michelle Graef, Todd Franke

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

Background: Engaging families effectively in child welfare services remains a persistent challenge, shaped by complex interactions between agency practices and family circumstances. While existing research has explored this issue, it has predominantly relied on data from agency and caseworker perspectives, often overlooking the crucial viewpoint of the families. Objectives: This study investigates families’ subjective experiences and perceptions within the child welfare system, focusing on their satisfaction with child welfare workers and overall engagement. Methods: The study draws on data collected through an evaluation of the implementation of Alternative Response in a Midwestern state. Agency administrative data is integrated with additional …

The Supervisory Power Of State Supreme Courts, Adam B. Sopko

Publications

State supreme courts are currently center stage as they face some of the most important issues of our time. But nearly all of the attention is focused on their ability to interpret state constitutions to provide rights guarantees that the U.S. Supreme Court has diminished or eliminated from the Federal Constitution. While important, judicial review is but one instance of a state high court’s authority. Their supervisory power—the primary source of judicial administrative authority—has served as a vital source of policymaking power to safeguard individual rights and enhance the public good. Supreme courts have relied on their supervisory power to …

Judicial Accountability, Anya Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

Judicial decisions are moving ever more authority over regulatory statutes away from agencies and to courts instead. One justification offered for this power transfer: agencies lack the accountability of courts. This Article takes up that claim, assessing the institutions’ relative capacities for accountability in their authoritative interpretations of regulatory statutes—agency regulations and court rulings. I take accountability to involve actors undertaking reasoned decisionmaking grounded in publicly recognized values and facts and justifying their decisions to others who can evaluate, influence, or override those judgments. Accountability thus involves a give and take: it gives an account of government reasoning to a …

Disrupting Public Defense: A Transitions Theory Approach, Matt Bender

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Public defense problems are well known, but a solution has been elusive. This Article analyzes public defense’s adaptive features using the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) for the first time. The MLP is a theoretical framework that is often employed to study institutional and societal barriers to innovative ideas, like climate change responses and clean energy transitions. This Article describes the MLP’s theoretical model and uses it to examine why public defense reform consistently fails.

This Article then goes beyond the MLP framework to explore how transition management tools can be used to design and nurture new approaches to public defense. I …

Texas, Delaware, And The New Controller Primacy, Christine Hurt

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

In January 2024, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, Inc., initiated the process of moving Tesla’s state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas, citing concerns over Delaware corporate law. The move sparked discussions about the dominance of Delaware corporate law and its recent rulings, with critics accusing Court of Chancery judges of favoring shareholder interests over controller innovation and managerial discretion.

The shift away from Delaware is set against a backdrop of increasing judicial scrutiny in the Delaware Court of Chancery, where plaintiffs have recently seen successes in litigation against controlling shareholders, corporate directors, and officers. Concerns over Delaware’s evolving legal …

Rethinking Juror Impartiality, Anna Offit

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Jury impartiality in the contemporary court often justifies the perpetuation

of exclusionary selection practices that make juries more—not less—biased.

This Article calls for a rethinking of this important but flawed concept. Constitutional

interpretations and conceptions of “impartiality” frame it as a transient

orientation toward particular evidence or parties. Yet, during voir dire, the prevailing

conception of jury impartiality is that it is an immutable character trait

that must be discovered—if not created—by professional legal actors. What voir

dire creates is not an impartial jury, but precisely the opposite: a venire shaped

by the strategic biases of lawyers.

This Article offers …

Dekolonisasi Hukum Perdata Indonesia: Kritik Terhadap Warisan Kolonial Dan Implikasinya Terhadap Pembangunan Hukum Berkeadilan, R. Mustar Lofi

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Hukum perdata Indonesia hingga kini masih berada di bawah bayang-bayang warisan kolonial, terutama melalui keberlakuan Burgerlijk Wetboek (BW) 1848 yang diwarisi dari Belanda. Meskipun berbagai peraturan baru telah diundangkan, fondasi utama hukum perdata belum sepenuhnya lepas dari struktur, nilai, dan cara pandang kolonial. Artikel ini mengkaji secara kritis bagaimana dominasi hukum kolonial masih berpengaruh dalam pembentukan dan penegakan hukum perdata di Indonesia, serta mengapa dekolonisasi menjadi penting dalam pembangunan sistem hukum yang berkeadilan. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan yuridis-normatif dan analisis interdisipliner dari perspektif sosiologis hukum dan filsafat hukum, tulisan ini menelusuri bagaimana warisan hukum kolonial menciptakan ketimpangan, terutama dalam hal akses …

Precedential Trauma: Integrating Trauma-Informed Judging In Federal Courts Of Appeals Through Opinion Writing, Alison Brochu

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Notice Pleading’S Quiet Return, Alexander A. Reinert

Articles

Fifteen years ago, the Supreme Court announced two significant civil procedure decisions – Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009). Together, Iqbal and Twombly marked a new approach to pleading in federal courts. No longer would courts apply the forgiving notice pleading standard, in force since the 1938 adoption of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In its place, the Court introduced plausibility pleading, inviting district courts to apply their “judicial experience and common sense” to decide whether a claim was “plausible.” Commentators expressed alarm, predicting that the new standard …

Concrete And Particularized Standards To Resolve The Difficulty Of Muldrow V. City Of St. Louis, Ian C. Stephens

Student Scholarship

Muldrow v. City of St. Louis shattered a widespread rule that required Title VII plaintiffs to not just be harmed but significantly harmed by unlawful discrimination. Under the old standard, "significance" was ill-defined and often left to the whims of what any particular judge thought was "bad enough," limiting access to justice for those who suffered non-pecuniary harms. But Muldrow's new standard that a plaintiff must suffer only "some harm" is equally ill-defined. All we know about the new standard is that it is not the old one. Unable to decipher the bounds of when no harm becomes some harm …

No-Hire Rulings Forget Competition, Val Ricks

American University Law Review

Two recent and noted antitrust rulings on the legality of no-hire (or “no-poach”) agreements paid lip service to preserving and promoting competition for employees but in the end failed to apply competition as a standard. Instead—and this is seen only deep in the weeds of the decisions themselves, on careful reading—judges demanded that no-hire agreements be held illegal only when they constitute abuse of market power, more or less. These decisions impliedly distinguish horizontal agreements not to compete for employees from horizontal agreements not to compete for customers, or on price. The opinions tend to “require careful economic analysis” of …

Erie And Enforceability Of Forum Selection Clauses, Patrick Woolley

American University Law Review

Whether and to what extent state law governs the contractual validity of forum selection clauses in federal court remains highly contested. This Article argues for a two-part answer.

State law should govern whenever a party seeks a § 1404(a) transfer of venue within the federal judicial system. The Court has insisted that the choice-of-law rules of the state to which the suit is transferred govern when transfer is required by a contractually valid clause. That insistence accords with the Erie policy of vertical uniformity between state and federal courts only if the law of the state in which the transferring …

The Paradox Of Continuing Risk, W. Jonathan Cardi, Ashton Jenne, Chance Villarreal

American University Law Review

The continuing-risk rule is ubiquitously cited by Restatements, casebooks, and treatises as a core duty rule in negligence cases. Indeed, as this Article reveals, the rule has been “adopted”—in the sense that at least one court in a jurisdiction has applied the rule, and no court has rejected it—in thirty-one jurisdictions. In addition to the breadth of its adoption, the continuing-risk rule is also far-reaching: it imposes an affirmative duty to warn, protect, or rescue another from a risk if the defendant’s conduct contributed to the initial creation of that risk. Because most negligence cases involve risk-creating conduct by the …

Personal Jurisdiction’S Aberrant Theory Of Consent, Roger Michalski

American University Law Review

Consent has been a pillar of personal jurisdiction doctrine at least since Pennoyer. The Supreme Court recently strengthened this pillar by deeming a corporate registration statute to constitute consent. Consent to submit to a court’s adjudicatory power can now be unintentional, based on inaction, is irrevocable, does not have to be informed, is all-or-nothing, and is blind to power inequalities. Failing to say “no” at the right time in the right way means “yes.”

Such a theory of consent clashes with what consent means elsewhere. In other contexts, we are reminded that “no means no,” the “absence of no does …

Pengakuan Hak Masyarakat Adat Dalam Hukum Pengelolaan Sumber Daya Alam: Studi Perbandingan Indonesia–Australia, Farid Al Hadana, Sukarman Sukarman, Farhan Margono, Hamzah Hamzah

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Meskipun terdapat pengakuan konstitusional di Indonesia dan Australia, hak-hak masyarakat adat dalam tata kelola sumber daya alam masih lemah perlindungannya, terutama karena kerangka kerja Indonesia yang terfragmentasi dan tersentralisasi gagal mewujudkan keadilan lingkungan. Makalah ini membandingkan rezim hukum Indonesia dan Australia terkait tata kelola lahan dan sumber daya masyarakat adat untuk mengidentifikasi bagaimana pengakuan dapat diubah menjadi hak yang dapat ditegakkan dan untuk merumuskan model reformasi yang berorientasi pada keadilan bagi Indonesia. Dengan menggunakan analisis hukum komparatif kualitatif, makalah ini menggabungkan observasi doktrinal terhadap yurisprudensi konstitusional, peraturan-undangan, dan yurisprudensi dengan pemeriksaan dokumen kebijakan dan konflik ilustratif yang melibatkan wilayah masyarakat …

Ius Constituendum Pengaturan Ambang Batas Parlemen Berdasarkan Putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi Nomor 116/Puu-Xxi/2023, Arsyianti Mega Nanda, Erland Ferdinansyah

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Pemilu merupakan wujud pelaksanaan kedaulatan rakyat di Indonesia yang menganut sistem presidensial dan multipartai. Namun, banyaknya partai memicu instabilitas koalisi dan melemahkan dukungan terhadap presiden. Untuk mengatasi hal ini diterapkan ambang batas parlemen (Parliamentary Threshold). Putusan MK No. 116/PUU-XXI/2023 menyatakan ambang batas 4% konstitusional untuk Pemilu 2024, namun inkonstitusional untuk Pemilu selanjutnya. Putusan ini menegaskan perlunya ambang batas baru yang tidak hanya menyederhanakan sistem kepartaian, tetapi juga menjamin keadilan suara dan proporsionalitas sesuai prinsip kedaulatan rakyat. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode yuridis normatif dengan pendekatan kualitatif-deskriptif. Pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui studi kepustakaan. Kerangka teori yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini meliputi teori …

Analisis Demokrasi Pada Pengisian Jabatan Gubernur Dan Wakil Gubernur Di Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, Akbar Ardya Putra, Rosita Candrakirana, Andina Elok Puri Maharani

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

The aim of this research is to analyze the implementation of democracy in the process of filling the governor and deputy governor positions in the Yogyakarta Special Region. This is regulated in the Special Areas Act No. 13/2012. The Act stipulates that the candidates for governor can only be the descendants of the Yogyakarta Sultanate and the candidates for deputy governor can be the descendants of the Duchy of Pakualaman. Following these provisions, there are differences between the special region of Yogyakarta and other regions using general elections to fill regional heads. The results of the study show that the …

Digital Constitutionalism: Resistensi Kebebasan Berpendapat Di Indonesia Dalam Hegemoni Algoritma Ruang Digital, Yuniar Prehatini, Linda Noviana Mita Devi

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Era digital membawa transformasi dalam segala aspek kehidupan. Perkembangan teknologi menghadirkan perkembangan zaman pada sisi positif dan negatif dimana penggunaan ruang digital yang dapat diakses tanpa batasan wilayah. Kebebasan diartikan melalui teknologi dengan adanya akses ruang digital memberikan kemudahan akses kepada siapa pun. Melalui algoritma digital, segala hal baik dari aspek budaya, politik, maupun ekonomi dapat diketahui sehingga hal ini juga dapat menimbulkan keresahan apabila tidak diatur batasan akan keberadaannya. Penelitian ini menggunakan penelitian normatif yang fokus pada analisis terhadap norma, asas, doktrin, dan teori hukum yang berkaitan dengan perlindungan hak asasi manusia di ruang digital. Hasil penulisan ini menunjukkan …

Analisis Klausula Choice Of Forum Dalam Kontrak Standar E-Commerce Di Indonesia: Kajian Berdasarkan Perspektif Perlindungan Konsumen, Sarping Saputra

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

This research discusses choice of forum clauses in standard contracts on the five largest e-commerce platforms in Indonesia, namely Shopee, Tokopedia, Lazada, Bukalapak, and Blibli. The clause stipulates the mechanism and location of dispute resolution that automatically binds consumers when using the platform. In practice, these clauses tend to burden consumers, especially regarding access to fair dispute resolution. This research focuses on the compatibility of the choice of forum clause with the principles of consumer protection regulated in the Consumer Protection Law (UUPK). The results reveal that most e-commerce platforms use exclusive forms of choice of forum clauses, such as …

College Courts: Administrative Abuse Of Title Ix And Its Consequences, Noah Bloomberg

MC Law Review

This article examines the contentious application of Title IX in addressing campus sexual assault, tracing its evolution through recent presidential administrations. Initially designed to combat sex-based discrimination in education, Title IX has been expansively interpreted to regulate university adjudication of sexual violence cases. Policies introduced during the Obama administration mandated quasi-judicial procedures, sparking debates over fairness and due process, while Trump-era reforms shifted focus toward protecting the rights of accused students, prompting criticism from victims' advocates. The article argues that these approaches have overstepped Title IX's intended purpose, burdening universities and creating systemic challenges for survivors and the accused alike. …

Policy And Poppycock In Proximate Cause Cases A/K/A Scope Of Liability And Starting To Make Sense, Thomas Galligan

FIU Law Review

Studying proximate cause is like trying to decode mumbo jumbo. Courts continue to use words like direct, remote, natural and probable, foreseeable, hindsight, and intervening and superseding causes, and they make them sound like tests. They make them sound like law. Furthermore, as one test is debunked and another appears, courts continue to apply the debunked tests. They just pile on a new one as well. Then, they calm themselves and say that proximate cause is all a matter of policy. After all, Leon Green said that; William Prosser said that. It must be true. But courts fail to ever …