Jurisprudence Commons^™

The Value Of Rational Nature, Donald H. Regan

Articles

Kant tells us in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals that rational nature is an end in itself; that it is the only thing which is unconditionally valuable; and that it is the ultimate condition of all value.1 A striking trend in recent Kant scholarship is to regard these value claims, rather than the formalism of universalizability, as the ultimate foundation of Kant’s theory.2 But does rational nature as Kant conceives it deserve such veneration? Can it really carry the world of value on its shoulders? I think not. As will become clear, I do not doubt the value …

Toward The Formation Of "Innocence Commissions" In America, Barry C. Scheck, Peter J. Neufeld

Articles

The article advocates for the establishment of "innocence commissions" to investigate and address wrongful convictions in the U.S. criminal justice system. Drawing parallels to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigates transportation accidents, the authors propose that these commissions would identify systemic defects leading to wrongful convictions and recommend reforms to prevent future miscarriages of justice. They emphasize the need for independence, subpoena power, and public accountability to ensure the commissions' effectiveness.

Economic Rationality, Empathy, And Corporate Responsibility, Jeanne L. Schroeder

Articles

Judge Richard A. Posner - the doyen of the law and economics movement - is probably the leading proponent of the hypothesis that legal subjects act as if they were economically rational. Over the years, however, Posner's conception of rationality has devolved from end-means reasoning by a conscious individual human actor, to unconscious instinct which is, nevertheless, beneficial to an individual subject (animal or human) to the mechanistic reproductive activity of individual genes which may or may not be beneficial to either the organism of which the gene is a part - or even to the gene itself. Indeed, all …

Europe In America: Grammatology, Legal Studies, And The Politics Of Transmission, Peter Goodrich

Articles

This Essay begins by analyzing the way American legal theory has failed to adequately address the challenges and insights of grammatology, the philological critique of the language of law initiated with Jacques Derrida's work Of Grammatology. Professor Goodrich traces the form that this failed confrontation took and then outlines how this philological critique ought to inform a study of law. Importantly for Professor Goodrich, the grammatological approach to law provides ways of analyzing not just the written legal text, but also the effects of new media technologies on the law more broadly. The changes in the law brought about by …

Nine Shibboleths Of The New Federalism, Marci A. Hamilton

Articles

No abstract provided.

A Measure Of Freedom, James W. Nickel

Articles

No abstract provided.

Law, Economics, And The Skeleton Of Value Fallacy, Kyron Huigens

Articles

Experiments in the last decade or so have demonstrated persistent failures on the part of ordinary individuals rationally to pursue self-interest. The experiments pose serious challenges to economics, rational choice theory, and the law and economics school. Some experiments, for example, suggest an "endowment effect", that contradicts the Coase Theorem; the notion that, in the absence of transaction costs, goods will find their most efficient distribution regardless of their initial assignment. Cass Sunstein has collected a set of essays by economists and legal scholars exploring these challenges, in a volume entitled Behavioral Law and Economics.

Rhetoric And Somatics: Training The Body To Do The Work Of Law, Peter Goodrich

Articles

The article explores the intersection of law, rhetoric, and corporeality, arguing that law is deeply embedded in the human body and its emotional and sensory experiences. It posits that legal dogmatics, while often seen as abstract, is shaped by the body's characteristics and movements, which serve as a substrate for legal logic. The analysis centers on Abraham Fraunce and his contemporaries, who critique the strict legality by emphasizing rhetoric, decorum, and the form of life that rhetoric implies. This critique challenges the notion of law as a detached, abstract system by highlighting its corporeal and emotional dimensions.

The Muddy Boundaries Between Res Judicata And Full Faith And Credit, Stewart E. Sterk

Articles

The Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution requires states to respect and recognize the legal decisions of other states, but its application is limited when it comes to judgments that attempt to control future behavior or infringe on a state's sovereignty. The article argues that while the clause ensures finality and uniformity, it does not obligate states to enforce sister-state injunctions or orders that dictate conduct beyond their borders. This distinction is particularly evident in cases involving family law, where states retain flexibility to modify or ignore prior judgments based on evolving circumstances, such as the best …

Latcrit At Five: Institutionalizing A Postsubordination Future, Elizabeth M. Iglesias, Francisco Valdes

Articles

No abstract provided.

Interpretive Communities: The Missing Element In Statutory Interpretation, William S. Blatt

Articles

No abstract provided.

Rationality In Law And Economics Scholarship, Jeanne L. Schroeder

Articles

Jeanne L. Schroeder critiques Richard Posner's conception of rationality in law and economics, arguing that his broad and evolving definition dilutes the concept, rendering it too vague and analytically weak. She advocates for a more nuanced approach that integrates psychological insights and acknowledges the limitations of traditional economic models. Schroeder emphasizes the need for empirical accuracy and theoretical rigor, challenging Posner's dismissal of behavioral economics and his reliance on evolutionary biology for explanations of irrational behavior.

Kenneth Starr: Diabolically Evil?, Jeanne L. Schroeder, David G. Carlson

Articles

The article explores the intersection of law, morality, and subjectivity through the lens of Slavoj Žižek's philosophical works, particularly in the context of the impeachment of President Clinton. It argues that the public's negative reaction to the impeachment was rooted in a fear of encountering "diabolical evil," a concept drawn from Kantian philosophy, where law and morality coincide perfectly. This form of evil is more terrifying than ordinary evil because it is committed without pathological motives, purely for the sake of duty.

The Dead End Of Deterrence, And Beyond, Kyron J. Huigens

Articles

No abstract provided.

Copyright At The Supreme Court: A Jurisprudence Of Deference, Marci A. Hamilton

Articles

No abstract provided.

Rethinking The Penalty Phase, Kyron Huigens

Articles

This article argues that the chaos of the US Supreme Court’s death penalty jurisprudence can be sorted with the use of a single point of clarification. That jurisprudence uses the term “culpability” – and similar terms, such as desert, responsibility, and blameworthiness – without regard to a critical ambiguity. We use “culpability” to refer to fault in wrongdoing, as reflected in “culpability elements” such as purpose or recklessness. We also use culpability to refer to eligibility for punishment, which is at issue in the defenses of insanity or minority. Death sentencing is structured around aggravating and mitigating factors, but aggravation …

Adr: An Eclectic Array Of Processes, Rather Than One Eclectic Process, Lela P. Love, Kimberlee K. Kovach

Articles

When mediators try to resolve a controversy by providing their analysis of the legal – or other – merits, they are providing the service that judges, arbitrators and neutral experts provide. In essence, such endeavors use the neutral’s judgment, award or opinion to determine or jump-start a resolution. This article urges that this add-on activity to mediation should be called by its proper name. The essay highlights the advantages of calling "mediation plus evaluation" a mixed process and discusses the advantages of having an eclectic and diverse mix of processes from which parties and counsel can choose to promote party …

Amatory Jurisprudence And The Querelle Des Lois, Peter Goodrich

Articles

It is my view, and here, no doubt, I am pre-empting my conclusion, that what literary and feminist historicism recognizes as the querelle des femmes, the debate as to the status and political role of women, is in fact underpinned and motivated by a much less explicit, yet nonetheless portentous, querelle des lois. The querelle des femmes, in other words, was always a polemic as to the legal status of women, as to their definition and role in theology and jurisprudence, canon and civil law. More than that, however, what the recovery of amatory jurisprudence can help to show is …

Afterword And Response: What Digging Does And Does Not Do, Patricia D. White

Articles

No abstract provided.

Duellism In Modern American Jurisprudence, David G. Carlson

Articles

No abstract provided.

Franchisor Liability For The Torts Of Its Franchisees: The Case For Substituting Liability As A Guarantor For The Current Vicarious Liability, John L. Hanks

Articles

The author reviews the justifications for applying the law of vicarious liability in the franchising context and concludes that its application is often inefficient and arbitrary. He argues that the employee-independent contractor dichotomy used by courts to determine franchisor liability is not well-suited to franchising, where the relationship encompasses both concepts. He proposes that vicarious liability not be applied in the franchising context. Instead, the courts by case law or state legislatures by statute should impose a guarantor status on franchisors that would expose them to liability for the torts of the franchisees only if the franchisee was unavailable to …

What Is A Human Right? Universals And The Challenge Of Cultural Relativism, Paul Dubinsky, Jeremy Waldron, Tracy Higgins, Michel Rosenfeld, Ruti Teitel

Articles

The article explores the tension between the universality of human rights and the challenges posed by cultural relativism, emphasizing the need to reconcile these perspectives to address human rights violations effectively. While human rights are foundational and inherent to all individuals, their application must navigate cultural, moral, and legal complexities. The discussion highlights the importance of dialogue and adaptability in upholding universal principles while respecting diverse contexts.

Supermajority Rules As A Constitutional Solution, John O. Mcginnis, Michael B. Rappaport

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Cutting Edge Of Poster Law, Michael A. Heller

Articles

Students place tens of thousands of posters around law schools each year in staircases, on walls, and on bulletin boards. Rarely, however, do formal disputes about postering arise. Students know how far to go-and go no farther despite numerous avenues for postering deviance: blizzarding, megasigns, commercial or scurrilous signs. What is the history of poster law? What are its norms and rules, privileges and procedures? Is poster law effident? Is it just?

In Praise Of The Efficiency Of Decentralized Traditions And Their Preconditions, John O. Mcginnis

Articles

No abstract provided.

Succession By Estoppel: Hong Kong's Succession To The Iccpr, Peter K. Yu

Articles

No abstract provided.

How To Do Things With Hegel, David G. Carlson

Articles

The article argues that contract is not merely a tool for pre-existing personalities but is instead constitutive of personality itself. It challenges the conventional view that personality exists prior to law, instead positing that contract is necessary for the emergence and recognition of personality. The author contends that contract is foundational to legal and personal identity, as it establishes mutual recognition and rights between individuals.

Three's A Crowd: A Feminist Critique Of Calabresi And Melamed's One View Of The Cathedral, Jeanne L. Schroeder

Articles

The article critiques Calabresi and Melamed's trichotomy of property rights, arguing that it oversimplifies property as a binary relationship between subject and object, neglecting the complexities of enjoyment and third-party interests. By employing a feminist and Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective, the analysis highlights how this framework fails to address the dynamic, relational, and intersubjective nature of property, particularly in environmental disputes. The author advocates for a more inclusive understanding of property that incorporates both masculine and feminine metaphors, emphasizing the need to move beyond possession and exchange to recognize the mutual constitution of entitlements and law.

The End Of The Market: A Psychoanalysis Of Law And Economics, Jeanne L. Schroeder

Articles

The perfect market is the end of all actual markets - it is their ideal form. In normative economics, actual markets are the means of achieving the end or ideal of the perfect market. But this means that to achieve a perfect market would result in the end of all actual markets. Despite the centrality of the ideal of the perfect market in the subset of law and economics scholarship based on classical price theory, there is surprisingly little literature on its parameters. In this Commentary, Professor Schroeder examines this literature in order to explicate the nature of this ideal. …

Pandora's Amphora: The Ambiguity Of Gifts, Jeanne L. Schroeder

Articles

The law is notoriously suspicious of gifts, giving gratuitous promises less protection than contracts. An analysis based on the political philosophy of G.W.F. Hegel and the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan reveals that the law's ambivalence reflects the fundamental ambiguous nature of gifts.

The two dominant jurisprudential analyses of gift-utilitarianism and romanticism-share the single erroneous assumption that contract relations are characterized by atomistic rational behavior. The utilitarian, who views all human relations in terms of individual self-interest, analyzes gift as a primitive, incomplete, imperfect, and inferior form of contract. In contrast, the romantic, who believes that human relations can, and …