Jurisprudence Commons^™

The Golden Age That Never Was: Catholic Law Schools From 1930-1960 And The Question Of Identity, John M. Breen

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

"There Must Be A Means" - The Backward Jurisprudence Of Baze V. Rees, Nadia N. Sawicki

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

New Law Complicates Foreclosure Sales In Texas., Katherine A. Tapley

St. Mary's Law Journal

A new law that recently took effect has changed the way non-judicial real property foreclosure sales work in Texas. The new law, known as House Bill 655 (HB 655), relates to foreclosure sales in Texas. HB 655 amends the language of Texas Property Code section 51.0075(f) dealing with when the purchase price is due at a foreclosure sale. The amendment, however, complicates foreclosure sales in Texas. The purchase price at the foreclosure sale is no longer due immediately. Instead, if a purchaser at a foreclosure sale requests additional time to deliver the purchase price, the trustee—the person conducting the foreclosure …

Unequal And Unfair: Why Texas Should Require Mandatory Sales Price Disclosure To Reconcile The Texas Property Tax Code With The Texas Constitution., Nathan Morey

St. Mary's Law Journal

Appraisal districts in Texas are implementing a system of taxation that is unequal and unfair. Texas counties, cities, and school districts depend on local ad valorem property taxes for revenue. Under the Texas Property Tax Code, the Code establishes appraisal districts to determine the value of taxable property. There is, however, a discrepancy between the cash value of the land and its appraisal value, especially when compared to commercial property and residential property. Commercial property and high-end residential real estate are often undervalued by appraisal districts throughout the state. Because commercial properties are under-appraised, the tax burden is being unequally …

Leaks, Lies, And The Moonlight: Fiduciary Duties Of Associates To Their Law Firms., Susan Saab Fortney

St. Mary's Law Journal

This symposium article examines the fiduciary duties of law firm associates. After applying agency principles to the firm-associate relationship, the article analyzes specific duties and discusses cases involving alleged breaches of fiduciary duties by associates. It explores associate duties in the current legal, organizational, and socio-technological environment in which associates practice. The article closes with observations on the importance of firm principals considering the effect of firm culture on associate attitudes and conduct.

If One Is Good, Two Must Be Better: A Comparison Of The Texas Standards For Appellate Conduct And The Texas Disciplinary Rules Of Professional Conduct., Edward L. Wilkinson

St. Mary's Law Journal

The Supreme Court of Texas and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals adopted the Standards for Appellate Conduct (Standards) on February 1, 1999. The Standards are intended to “give practitioners a valuable tool to use with clients who demand unprofessional conduct” by imposing “an affirmative duty to educate the client about the Standards of Appellate Conduct.” The Standards further state they do not “alter existing standards of conduct under the Texas Rules of Disciplinary Procedure, or the Code of Judicial Conduct.” Under the Rules of Disciplinary Procedure, sanctionable conduct includes “acts or omissions…which violate one or more of the Texas …

Hall's Standards Of Review In Texas Foreword., Wallace B. Jefferson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Technical Problem: How City Of Dallas V. Dallas Morning News, Lp Exposed A Major Loophole In The Texas Public Information Act Comment., Alexander J. Yoakum

St. Mary's Law Journal

The Texas Public Information Act (TPIA) grants everyone a statutory right to access records of a governmental body unless disclosure would violate the law. Generally, TPIA is construed broadly to favor disclosure, but the rise of modern technology like email and text messaging reveals how dated TPIA truly is. According to the recent City of Dallas v. Dallas Morning News, LP, a governmental body is not required to release any business-related electronic communications sent via personal devices. This means governmental employees can conduct official business via personal email or cell phone without being subject to disclosure provisions, unless the requester …

Hall's Standards Of Review In Texas., W. Wendell Hall, O. Rey Rodriguez, Rosemarie Kanusky, Mark Emery

St. Mary's Law Journal

Standards of review distribute power within the judicial branch by defining the relationship between trial and appellate courts. These standards “frame the issues, define the depth of review, assign power among judicial actors, and declare the proper materials to review.” Standards of review are the cornerstones of appeals. These standards must be woven into the discussion of the facts and substantive law in a manner which persuades the appellate court that the trial court erred. Litigants must measure their factual and legal arguments against the appropriate rubric to write an effective and persuasive brief. Appellate judges agree that mechanical recitation …

The Stories We Tell, And Have Told, About Tribal Sovereignty: Legal Fictions At Their Most Pernicious, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Starting with Chief Justice John Marshall and continuing through to the present Supreme Court, the story of Indian sovereignty has been consistent—it exists only in the most diminished form. Some reasons for this have been premised on the incapacity of Indians to self-govern; others on theories of federalism; while still others on the ambitions of non-Indians. However, the factual premises behind the concept of diminished sovereignty are baseless—legal fictions about the conquest of Indians and their nature. These fictions originated in Chief Justice Marshall’s Indian Law Trilogy and should have vanished long ago when their original purposes were fulfilled, like …

Through Gritted Teeth And Clenched Jaw: Court-Initiated Sanctions Opinions In Bankruptcy Courts., Nancy B. Rapoport

St. Mary's Law Journal

Bankruptcy courts see too many incompetent bankruptcy lawyers, and the courts have few options for dealing with them. A court can rule against the lawyer, but this strategy punishes the lawyer’s client, who may be an innocent bystander. Alternatively, nothing prohibits a judge from deciding to hand down a sanctions opinion. Sanctions opinions arise when one party makes a request, or the court believes a lawyer’s behavior is serious enough to merit a written order. These instances include flouting the law—either bankruptcy law or the ethical rules—or being unaware of the fundamentals of bankruptcy practice and policy. In the instance …

Ethical Issues Associated With Multidisciplinary Practices In Texas., Michael Kelly

St. Mary's Law Journal

In 2000, the American Bar Association House of Delegates voted to uphold the ban on multidisciplinary practices (MDPs) set out in Rule 5.4 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Model Rules). In 2009, the ABA announced the creation of the Ethics 20/20 Commission to review the Model Rules in the context of globalization. The Commission announced it was looking into alternative business structures, including MDPs. In an MDP a client can seek the advice of several professionals with experience in different disciplines working in a single business. Under Rule 5.4, a lawyer is prohibited from sharing legal fees with …

Maslahah Sebagai Satu Justifikasi Terhadap Keharusan Sambutan Maulidur Rasul Di Malaysia., Azri Bhari

Student Works (2010-2019)

The celebration of maulidur rasul has long been practised by Muslims in Malaysia although it is not associated with acts of His companions, tabi‘in and muslim scholars in the past. However, some groups claim that celebrating the maulidur rasul is related to bid‘ah and this caused a prolonged emergence of polemic among Muslims up till now. Each of them has respectively used his own arguments based on the understanding brought by a particular group. This scenario requires a specific research involving the use of special instruments contained in the usul al-fiqh, that is, maslahah, as the real justification in assessing …

Penggunaan Al-Qiyas Dalam Kitab Umm Al-Barahin., Engku Hassan Engku Wok Zin

Student Works (2010-2019)

This research  attempts to study the use of al-qiyas in  Umm al-Barahin, the writings of Muhammad bin Yusuf al-Sanusi. Expounded in this dissertation  is the prominent  literary figure  who successfully explained the theology doctrines of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama`ah based on the use of al-qiyas method. al-Sanusi  was an eminent scholar in the ninth century Hijrah. Kitab  Umm al-Barahin  is an expression  of his theology which applies al-qiyas to explain issues of theology according to the thoughts of al-Asya`irah. The  use of al-qiyas is a method ti create al-tasdiq  indirectly. al-Qiyas  has many forms, such as al-qiyas from al-burhan can …

Amalan Fidyah Dalam Masyarakat Islam Di Kanchong Darat, Banting, Selangor : Satu Analisis., Rumaizi Ahmad

Student Works (2010-2019)

Fidyah is an obligatory practice in Islam for certain Muslims in certain cases. This is a main topic discussed in this research especially those practiced among Muslim community in Kampung Kanchong Darat, Banting, Selangor. The main issue discussed in this research is the way they practise fidyah, whether it is in accordance with Islamic law or otherwise especially fidyah solah and its paying method. The author attempts to get the answer by undertaking several methods such as a library research, interviews and observation by involving himself in the practice of fidyah . Then, by the inductive, deductive and comparative methods …

Kesan Teknologi Moden Terhadap Perubahan Hukum : Analisis Terhadap Penggunaan Short Message Service (Sms)., Muhammad Fakhruddin Ishak

Student Works (2010-2019)

This dissertation is a study on the impact of modern technologies on hukm. It is looking particularly at the impact of telecommunications industries by using the Short Message Service (SMS). The focus of the study will try to discern whether the Islamic law can be adapted to the changing situation including the modern technologies that has been influenced the Muslim societies. Therefore, it main objectives to expose the impact of the modern technologies in the transformation of Islamic hukm. Besides, it also describes the certain fiqh’s legal theories pertaining to the contemporary Islamic law and its impact upon the use …

Pentafsiran Ayat-Ayat Mawarith Menurut H. Munawir Sjadzali., Ali Akbar

Student Works (2010-2019)

This research is aimed at studying H.Munawir Sjadzali's concept of his interpretation on inheritance (Mawarith) verses, especially verse 11 of surah al-Nisa' which was compiled in his article entitled: "Reaktualisasi Ajaran Islam" (towards re-actualization of Islamic Teachings). The article was published in a few books for examples , in the book edited by Drs. Iqbal Abdurrauf Saimima entitled: "Polemik Reaktualisasi Ajaran Islam" (Polemic on the re-actualization of Islamic Teachings), “Kontekstualisasi Ajaran Islam 70 Tahun Prof. Dr. H. Munawir Sjadzali. MA” (Contextualisation of Islamic Teachings, 70 years Prof. Dr. H. Munawir Sjadzali MA) by Team Editor Muhamad Wahyuni Nafis and the …

A Distributive Theory Of Criminal Law, Aya Gruber

Publications

In criminal law circles, the accepted wisdom is that there are two and only two true justifications of punishment-retributivism and utilitarianism. The multitude of moral claims about punishment may thus be reduced to two propositions: (1) punishment should be imposed because defendants deserve it, and (2) punishment should be imposed because it makes society safer. At the same time, most penal scholars notice the trend in criminal law to de-emphasize intent, centralize harm, and focus on victims, but they largely write off this trend as an irrational return to antiquated notions of vengeance. This Article asserts that there is in …

Putting The Community Back Into The ‘Community Benefit’ Standard, Jessica Wilen Berg

Faculty Publications

The responsibility of hospitals to provide charity care raises fundamental questions about the structure of the United States' health care system. There has been little concrete effort to reassess the obligations of hospitals. This Article seeks to fill that gap by proposing a novel framework for analyzing hospitals' community obligations. This new framework challenges traditional notions of individual charity care and provides a normative basis for encouraging a shift toward public health benefits.

Margae, Inc. V. Clear Link Technologies, Jonathan Goodman

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Review Of Law At The Vanishing Point By Aaron Fichtelberg, Robert D. Sloane

Faculty Scholarship

This is a largely critical review of Professor Aaron Fichtelberg’s philosophical analysis of international law. The centerpiece of the book’s affirmative agenda, a “non-reductionist” definition of international law that purports to elide various forms of international law skepticism, strikes the reviewer as circular, misguided in general, and, in its application to substantive international legal issues, difficult to distinguish from a rote form of legal positivism. Law at the Vanishing Point’s avowed empirical methodology and critical agenda, while largely unobjectionable, offer little that has not been said before, often with equal if not greater force. I commend the author’s effort to …

The Quasi-Class Action Method Of Managing Multi-District Litigations: Problems And A Proposal, Charles Silver, Geoffrey P. Miller

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article uses three recent multi-district litigations ("MDLs") that produced massive settlements-Guidant ($240 million), Vioxx ($4.85 billion), and Zyprexa ($700 million)-to study the emerging quasi-class action approach to MDL management. This approach has four components: (1) judicial selection of lead attorneys, (2) judicial control of lead attorneys' compensation, (3) forced fee transfers from non-lead lawyers to cover lead attorneys' fees, and (4) judicial reduction of non-lead lawyers' fees to save claimants money. These procedures have serious downsides. They make lawyers financially dependent on judges and, therefore, loyal to judges rather than clients. They compromise judges' independence by involving them heavily …

Stare Decisis As Judicial Doctrine, Randy J. Kozel

Journal Articles

Stare decisis has been called many things, among them a principle of policy, a series of prudential and pragmatic considerations, and simply the preferred course. Often overlooked is the fact that stare decisis is also a judicial doctrine, an analytical system used to guide the rules of decision for resolving concrete disputes that come before the courts.

This Article examines stare decisis as applied by the U.S. Supreme Court, our nation’s highest doctrinal authority. A review of the Court’s jurisprudence yields two principal lessons about the modern doctrine of stare decisis. First, the doctrine is comprised largely of malleable factors …

The Person In Law, The Number In Math: Improved Analysis Of The Subject As Foundation For A Noveau Régime , Orlando I. Martínez-García

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

The Empty Tomb: Post-Critical Legal Hermeneutics, Peter Goodrich

Nevada Law Journal

There is nothing more refreshing than a successful failure. A momentary flaring of flamboyance. A near miss. Fifteen weeks as media monarchs; a good part—a small part—of a decade as a political threat to the order of the academy, if not the stability of the system. The affective bonds and the institutional disruption of youthful and latterly not-so-young dissidents and socialist sympathizers within the law schools definitely had their excitements, their impetus and novelties, and then they grew old, got rejected, disappeared into the shadows, backrooms, and faculty lounges. The various histories assign different figures to the failure of critical …

Hermeneutics- The Path Of The Hermeneutic-Ontological Shift And The Decolonial Shift, Celso Luiz Ludwig

Nevada Law Journal

The purpose of the reflections that follow is to highlight the meaning and importance of the hermeneutic shift produced by the work of Gadamer, to consider some of his themes and categories, and to extend the meaning of this hermeneutic rationality to the legal field in terms of a new conception of interpretation. A second objective is to catch sight of new theoretical perspectives, having as a starting point the unfolding of practical philosophy into hermeneutic philosophy carried out by Gadamer. This article aims at recuperating, among other things, the fundamental hermeneutic problem, so as to obtain a glimpse into …

The Existential Subject Of Rights And Private Law: The Example Of The Indian Issue In Brazil, Jose Carlos Moreira Da Silva Filho

Nevada Law Journal

The issue of the juridical subject has been a topic of discussion as part of the rethinking of the classical jurisprudential concepts in Brazil. In particular, some authors have written about the “repersonalization of private law.” This has opened a promising path of inquiry regarding the legal subject for at least four major reasons. First, continental private law is the classical field to discuss the subject of rights. Second, the focus of private law remains the concept of the person, opening an important space to recover the moral philosophy in law. Third, the repersonalization of private law demonstrates the necessity …

Constitution, Human Rights And Republic: A Necessary Dialogue Between Gadamer's Philosophical Hermeneutics And Boaventura De Sousa Santos's Diatopic Heremeneutics, Jania Maria Lopes Saldanha, Jose Luis Bolzan De Morais

Nevada Law Journal

When we think about the concept of human rights—including all the possible ways of its realization, and considering the complementarities and also the unity of different dimensions of the concept—we confront several difficult questions. In particular, in an age when constitutions and constitutional doctrine have already incorporated a substantive body of human rights law, we must address how some of the constitutional promises regarding individual rights have not been fulfilled. Additionally, we must consider how rights that foster solidarity in the economic, social, and cultural spheres have not been recognized.

This article operates on two levels. On one level, we …

Deconstructing The Models Of Judges: Legal Hermeneutics And Beyond The Subject-Object Paradigm, Lenio Luiz Streck

Nevada Law Journal

The linguistic-ontological turn has brought uncountable consequences to the interpretation of Law. However, dogmatic-legal knowledge remains hostage to a judicial protagonism, a philosophy of consciousness that, together with legal discretion, represent two sides of the same coin. The criticism of judicial discretion is a matter of democracy: decisions must be coherent, assuring the integrity of Law by reinforcing the normative power of the Constitution from which arises the need for correct answers in Law.

Legal Interpretation: The Window Of The Text As Transparent, Opaque, Or Translucent, George H. Taylor

Nevada Law Journal

It is a common metaphor that the text is a window onto the world that it depicts. I want to explore this metaphor and the insights it may offer us for better understanding legal interpretation. As in the opening epigraph from James Boyd White, I shall develop the metaphor of the text as window in three ways: the text may be transparent, opaque, or translucent. My goal will be to argue that the best way to understand legal interpretation is to conceive of the legal text as translucent, but along the way I will compare the merits also of considering …