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Full-Text Articles in Jurisprudence

Assigning Infringement Claims: Silvers V. Sony Pictures, Heather B. Sanborn Nov 2017

Assigning Infringement Claims: Silvers V. Sony Pictures, Heather B. Sanborn

Maine Law Review

The Copyright Act establishes protection for original, creative works of authorship as a means of providing ex ante incentives for creativity. But how real is that protection? Imagine that you have written a script and managed to have your play produced in a local community theater. A few years later, you find that a major Hollywood studio has taken your script, adapted it slightly, and made it into the next summer blockbuster, raking in millions without ever obtaining a license from you. Of course, you can sue them for infringement. But how much will that litigation cost and what are …


The Judge And His Clerks, Barbara F. Riegelhaupt, Kaighn Smith Jr., J. Peter Byrne Oct 2017

The Judge And His Clerks, Barbara F. Riegelhaupt, Kaighn Smith Jr., J. Peter Byrne

Maine Law Review

In his memoir, Life and Times in the Three Branches, Judge Coffin recounts the history of the institution of the law clerk and observes, “I was the first such creature Maine had seen.” He served as a clerk from April 1947 to June 1949 for United States District Court Judge John D. Clifford, working in the same chambers that he would later inhabit as a judge. Over the course of his more than four decades on the Court of Appeals, Judge Coffin would have sixty-eight clerks of his own. Those of us lucky enough to be in that family of …


The Speeches Of Frank M. Coffin: A Sideline To Judging, Daniel E. Wathen, Barbara Riegelhaupt Oct 2017

The Speeches Of Frank M. Coffin: A Sideline To Judging, Daniel E. Wathen, Barbara Riegelhaupt

Maine Law Review

The Authors of this Article are engaged in a separate project to publish the full collection of law-related speeches delivered by Judge Coffin during his tenure on the bench. That collection in its entirety consists of more than 125 speeches, and it is a treasure trove of thoughts on the judiciary as an institution, the law, judging, the legal profession, legal education, and legal luminaries past and present. The speeches are also worthy of study purely as examples of communication, advocacy, speechcraft, composition, humor, and whimsy. Within the confines of this Article, the modest goal is to provide samples of …


In His Own Words: Judge Coffin And Workability, William C. Kelly Jr. Oct 2017

In His Own Words: Judge Coffin And Workability, William C. Kelly Jr.

Maine Law Review

Early in his judicial career, Judge Coffin proffered the concept of “workability” as one of the core factors in judging. Justice and Workability: Un Essai, his first published reflection on this idea, appeared in the Suffolk University Law Review in 1971. To frame the discussion, he started with a formal definition: “[T]he extent to which a rule protecting a right, enforcing a duty, or setting a standard of conduct—which is consistent with and in the interests of social justice—can be pronounced with reasonable expectation of effective observance without impairing the essential functioning of those to whom the rule applies.” This …


The Ways Of A Judge And On Appeal, Kermit V. Lipez Oct 2017

The Ways Of A Judge And On Appeal, Kermit V. Lipez

Maine Law Review

What do you do when your judicial hero, the author of two important books on appellate judging, was for many years your neighbor, friend, colleague, and mentor? You revel in your good fortune, and you share your admiration for his books. Judge Coffin’s long involvement in the political world contributed significantly to a primary focus of his two books on appellate judging, The Ways of a Judge, published in 1980, and On Appeal, published in 1994. As a political organizer, a candidate for public office, a Congressman, and an administrator in a federal agency, Judge Coffin understood his accountability to …


Coffin's Court: A Colleague's View, Levin Campbell Oct 2017

Coffin's Court: A Colleague's View, Levin Campbell

Maine Law Review

These reminiscences focus on the eleven years, from 1972 to 1983, that Frank M. Coffin of Maine was the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. While Coffin’s judicial career extended over more than forty years, I chose this period because it was a time when his influence over the court’s work was at its peak, as well as because he himself later singled it out as a “judicial Garden of Eden,” during which the First Circuit enjoyed its status as the last remaining three-judge federal court of appeals in the nation.


Frank Morey Coffin's Political Years: Prelude To A Judgeship, Donald E. Nicoll Oct 2017

Frank Morey Coffin's Political Years: Prelude To A Judgeship, Donald E. Nicoll

Maine Law Review

Each day when I go to my study, I see a wood block print of two owls gazing at me with unblinking eyes. Ever alert, they remind me of the artist, who in his neat, fine hand, titled the print “Deux Hiboux,” inscribed it to the recipients and signed it simply “FMC 8-2-87.” In addition to his talents as an artist and friend in all seasons, FMC was a remarkable public servant in all three branches of the federal government and, with his friend and colleague Edmund S. Muskie, a creative political reformer for the State of Maine. Throughout his …


Frank Coffin And Enlightened Governance, Robert A. Katzmann Oct 2017

Frank Coffin And Enlightened Governance, Robert A. Katzmann

Maine Law Review

I have often thought that Judge Frank M. Coffin is one of a handful of statesmen of recent times I could easily imagine in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 (indeed, as a central figure in a David McCollough biography). If he had been, as competing factions struggled to find solutions to thorny issues, Madison’s Notes would inevitably and often have recorded: “With negotiations on the verge of collapse, all eyes turned to Frank Coffin, who found not only the key to compromise, but also the better way.”


The Legacy Of Judge Frank M. Coffin, Peter R. Pitegoff Oct 2017

The Legacy Of Judge Frank M. Coffin, Peter R. Pitegoff

Maine Law Review

Judge Coffin had adopted the University of Maine School of Law as if it were his own. He was a committed friend to the Law School and served on the advisory Board of Visitors for almost two decades. Like so many others, I felt his keen personal commitment as well, with his periodic calls and visits, his steady counsel and encouragement. Before arriving in Maine, I had known of Judge Coffin. Little did I anticipate that he would so enrich my experience as Dean at Maine Law. He remains a role model to so many of our graduates and leaves …


Textualism And The Problem Of Scrivener's Error, John David Ohlendorf Oct 2017

Textualism And The Problem Of Scrivener's Error, John David Ohlendorf

Maine Law Review

Scrivener’s errors make easy prey for the gentle comedy of the bench and bar, much in the way that typographical errors in billboards, newspaper headlines, and church bulletins form an endless source of humor for late night talk show hosts. But theorists of legal interpretation have long seen that scrivener’s errors pose a more serious problem. The doctrine surrounding scrivener’s error stands considered as something of a cousin to the absurdity doctrine, which has roots extending to the earliest days of the American Republic. More recently, the post-legal-process revival of formalist approaches to statutory interpretation on the bench, and their …