Law and Society Commons^™

Banking For The Unbanked, Michael S. Barr

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The consequences of not having access to mainstream financial services can be severe. Fim, the "unbanked" face high costs for basic financial servies. For example, a 2000 Treasury [U.S. Treasury Department] study found that a worker eaming $12,000 a year would pay approximately $250 annually just to cash payroll checks at a check cashing outlet, in addition to fees for money orders, wire transfers, bill payments, and other common transactions. Regular payments with low credit risk that could be directly deposited into bank accounts, with significantly lower payment systems costs, form the bulk of checks cashed at these check cashing …

Welfare Entitlements In The Era Of Devolution, Christine N. Cimini

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In 1996, the Republican Congress and Democratic President enacted the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), ushering in a new era of public benefits. This 1996 act’s fundamental change to the administration and substance of public benefits called into question the applicability of a substantial body of procedural due process doctrine. As a result, unanswered questions remain regarding the applicability of established due process doctrine in the welfare reform context. This Article analyzes whether public law entitlements exist in the context of PRWORA’s first order devolution from the federal to state governments as well as some states’ second …

The New Contract: Welfare Reform, Devolution, And Due Process, Christine N. Cimini

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This Article analyzes the due process implications of the change in welfare administration from a federal statutory entitlement model to the devolved contractual model and posits that, despite the changes, due process protections still exist. These protections arise from the private law of contracts on two different levels. The first level is the macro, or implied, contract, that I refer to as the social contract between the government and the populace. The existence of this social contract is evidenced in numerous sources including: political theories that explore the use of governmental authority; foundational democratic legal sources, such as the Declaration …

Linking Progressive Corporate Law With Progressive Social Movements, Kellye Y. Testy

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Professor Testy critically assesses what has been termed a "new" corporate social responsibility project After noting the hegemony of shareholder primacy in corporate law, she critiques four major counter-hegemonic discourses: team production theory, corporate social accountabiity, stakeholder theory, and corporate social responsibility (or progressive corporate law). Finding the first three ineffective foils for the problems of corporate power that have spurred calls for reform, she turns to an examination of the progressive corporate law project. That project, presently poised at a defining juncture as it attempts to use the "master's tools" to "dismantle the master's house," nonetheless holds promise for …

Evaluating The Sex Discrimination Argument For Lesbian And Gay Rights, Edward D. Stein

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The sex discrimination argument for lesbian and gay rights analyzes laws that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in terms of sex discrimination. For example, sodomy laws that prohibit only same-sex sexual activities are analyzed as discriminating on the basis of sex because they prohibit women from doing something men are permitted to do, that is, have sex with women. This argument has been championed by some scholars and litigators, and it has persuaded some judges. Edward Stein shows that there are sociological, theoretical, moral, and practical problems facing the sex discrimination argument. He suggests that there are better …

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

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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 …

The Symbiosis Of Constitutionalism And Technology, John O. Mcginnis

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Technology does not change the essential problems that constitutionalism seeks to address because these problems are rooted in the enduring nature of man. Technological change, however, can transform man's environment. A different environment, in turn, may require substantially modified forms of constitutionalism even if the underlying objectives remain constant. As the great political philosopher Edmund Burke recognized, the key to sound structures of governance in every age and place is to understand the intersection of man's enduring nature with his particular circumstances. Because technology increasingly shapes the circumstances of modem man, technology is becoming progressively more important to constitutionalism.

Chief Judge Edward R. Becker: A Truly Remarkable Judge, Marci A. Hamilton

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No abstract provided.

Representational Standing: U.S. Ex Rel. Stevens And The Future Of Public Law Litigation, Myriam E. Gilles

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In May 2000, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. U.S. ex rel. Stevens, a seemingly predictable 11th Amendment case. In upholding the plaintiff's Article III standing to bring that case, however, the Court suggested a theory of "representational standing" that holds the potential to radically transform the entire body of law governing the ability of private citizens to seek, through the federal courts, the vindication of broadly-held public interests.

Over the past 30 years, the Court's increasingly restrictive standing jurisprudence has effectively precluded private citizens from playing a meaningful role in public …

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

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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.

Faith In Justice: Fiduciaries, Malpractice & Sexual Abuse By Clergy, Zanita E. Fenton

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No abstract provided.

Race Prosecutors, Race Defenders, Anthony V. Alfieri

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Teaching The Law Of Race (Book Review), Anthony V. Alfieri

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A Better Analogy: "Jews," "Homosexuals," And The Inclusion Of Sexual Orientation As A Forbidden Characteristic In Antidiscrimination Laws, Marc A. Fajer

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Insiders And Outsiders: What The American Law Institute Has Done For Gay And Lesbian Families, Mary I. Coombs

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Crime Control And Feminist Law Reform In Domestic Violence Law: A Critical Review, Donna Coker

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Rulemaking, Michael Herz

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How To Talk About Religion, James Boyd White

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Our experience, supported we think by that of others, is that it is most difficult to do this well, whether we are trying to talk about religion within a discipline, such as law or psychology or anthropology, or even in more informal ways, with our friends and colleagues. There are many reasons for this: It is in the nature of religious experience to be ineffable or mysterious, at least for some people or in some religions; different religions imagine the world and its human inhabitants, and their histories, in ways that are enormously different; and there is no superlanguage into …

The Law Of White Spaces: Race, Culture, And Legal Education, Peter Goodrich, Linda G. Mills

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The scene, drawn from memory, is a first-year law school classroom. It is the early 1980s and the class is on civil procedure. The teacher is a white woman. She is nervous, and the class is dominated by students who provide standard right answers to formulaic law school questions. Other points of view, particularly those of a critical or feminist nature, are either passed over quickly or ignored. Questions of color are never mentioned. More than that, the teacher never calls on any African-American students. Students of color are either ignored completely or told, when they have questions, “We are …

"The Verdict" Is In: The Civic Implications Of Civil Trials, Richard H. Weisberg

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The article argues that civil trials have become central to American civic imagination, reflecting broader societal values and conflicts. Despite current negative portrayals of plaintiffs' lawyers, the cultural narrative of the heroic lawyer fighting against powerful institutions persists, influenced by popular media and historical legal traditions.

The Four Discourses Of Law: A Lacanian Analysis Of Legal Practice And Scholarship, Jeanne L. Schroeder

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The article explores the evolving roles of modern lawyers, highlighting the tension between traditional duties like confidentiality and newer disclosure obligations, particularly in securities law. It employs Lacan's discourse theory to analyze legal roles, categorizing them into master, university, analyst, and hysteric discourses. The article argues that understanding these discourses can inform ethical frameworks and professional responsibilities, advocating for a nuanced approach to legal representation.

Suing The Devil: A Guide For Practitioners, Charles M. Yablon

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The essay humorously argues that suing the Devil is a viable legal strategy, challenging the perception of his invincibility. It provides a guide on navigating the procedural and substantive legal challenges involved, suggesting that the Devil's legal vulnerabilities make him a feasible target for litigation.

Prosecuting Violence/Reconstructing Community, Anthony V. Alfieri

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For two centuries, the private violence of American history has paraded into courts for public trial. Often dramatized by the spectacle of rape and murder, the public trials of private violence increasingly are seen to decide the fates of both the accused and the victim of crime. The fate of community, whether the community of the victim, the accused, or the public, seems at first blush untouched by such trials. Like victims and their families, however, communities struck by violence suffer profound loss. That loss is expressed in the destruction of public discourse, reason, and citizenship. This public ruin is …

Dealing With Histories Of Oppression: Black And Jewish Reactions To Passivity And Collaboration In William Styron's Confessions Of Nat Turner And Hannah Arendt's Eichmann In Jerusalem, David Abraham, Kimberly A. Mccoy

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No abstract provided.

Expanding Directions, Exploding Parameters: Culture And Nation In Latcrit Coalitional Imagination, Elizabeth M. Iglesias, Francisco Valdes

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Whiteness And Remedy: Under-Ruling Civil Rights In Walker V. City Of Mesquite, Martha R. Mahoney

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Shifting Power For Battered Women: Law, Material Resources, And Poor Women Of Color, Donna Coker

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No abstract provided.

Institutionalizing Economic Justice: A Latcrit Perspective On The Imperatives Of Linking The Reconstruction Of "Community" To The Transformation Of Legal Structures That Institutionalize The Depoliticization And Fragmentation Of Labor/Community Solidarity, Elizabeth M. Iglesias

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No abstract provided.

Constructing Solidarity: Interest And White Workers, Martha R. Mahoney

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Learning And Serving: Pro Bono Legal Services By Law Students, David L. Chambers, Cynthia F. Adcock

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All lawyers' codes of professional ethics in the United States expect members of the bar to perform legal services for low-income persons. In practice, as we all know, many lawyers perform a great deal of such service while others do little or none. By much the same token, the accreditation rules of the American Bar Association urge all law schools to provide students with opportunities to do pro bono legal work; by much the same token, some schools in the United States have extensive programs for their students but many do not. In 1998, the Association of American Law Schools …