Legislation Commons^™

An Analysis Of The Personal Use Principle Under Copyright Law, Hsin-Chih Cheng

LLM Theses and Essays

Personal use is when an individual uses a copyrighted work for private purposes, such as learning or entertainment. Personal use is a right given in the Copyright Clause of the U.S. Constitution, however, an issue arises when the individual wants to make a copy of the copyrighted work. New technologies like photocopying and videotaping make this issue more prominent today. Some copyright owners think that the individual’s copying for private use is harmful to their potential market and they argue for compensation. Does the individual have the right under the personal use principle to reproduce the copyrighted work for private …

Federal Reserve: History, Purposes And Functions - An Analysis, Mukunda Lakshamanarao

LLM Theses and Essays

On December 23, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Federal Reserve Act. With this law, Congress established a central banking system which would enable the world’s most powerful industrial nation to manage its money and credit more effectively than ever before. The political and legislative struggle to create the Federal Reserve System was long and often bitter, and this final product in 1913 was the result of a carefully crafted and somewhat tenuous political compromise between national and regional powers. Since its founding, the Federal Reserve System has evolved to meet the needs of a changing financial system …

Fair Use In American And Continental Laws, Omar M.A. Obeidat

LLM Theses and Essays

Intellectual property, unlike tangible property, does not exclusively occupy one place at a designated time. Instead, intellectual property is composed of information which can be reproduced or used in multiple places at any given time. This fundamental difference between intellectual and tangible property is reflected in the legal provisions that regulate these types of property. There are two dominant theories that justify the legal protection of intellectual property: the individualistic European approach, and the commercial Anglo-American approach. Under the European approach, the protection of the creation is a natural right guaranteed to the author. In other words, natural law guarantees …

Markets And Law Reform: The Tension Between Uniformity And Idealism, James C. Smith

Scholarly Works

The most ambitious effort at uniform property legislation ever launched was the Uniform Land Transactions Act (“ULTA”) and its companion, the Uniform Simplification of Land Transfers Act (“USLTA”). Both Acts, however, met with singular failure in the sense of uniform legislative shunning and have not substantially influenced judges in their lawmaking roles. In published opinions, very few courts have relied upon the ULTA or USLTA positions for analogous support.

Why did a single state legislature, somewhere in America, not pass at least one of the Acts? We cannot tell for sure why the legislatures eschewed the USLTA and the ULTA. …

The Continental Moral Rights Doctrine And Its Applicability In The United States Copyright System, Oswaldo Jose Quintana

LLM Theses and Essays

In the last half of the twentieth century, international copyright protection has become of much greater concern as the copyright industry has become supranational. Treaties enacted in the last ten years such as the Berne Convention Implementation Act, the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, provide the highest copyright protection available at the international level. Global piracy has declined in the last several years because of these provisions. However, the adherence by the United States to these treaties has caused controversy; some maintain that it represents a major overhaul of federal law …

Choice Of The Applicable Law In United States Maritime Law And The Venezuelan System, Daniel Eric Vielleville

LLM Theses and Essays

International maritime transport is an important means of transport in international trade. The vessels used in international maritime transport face unique dangers which necessitate maritime law that addresses the perils associated with maritime transport. Maritime law concerns many jurisdictions, which creates a special interest for the study of conflict of laws. There are private international maritime laws in addition to multilateral treaties. This paper analyzes the international approach that the United States takes in maritime conflict of laws, and compares it with the Venezuelan system of private international law. Venezuela is a civil law country with old maritime legislation which …

Testing Two Assumptions About Federalism And Tort Reform, Thomas A. Eaton, Susette M. Talarico

Scholarly Works

In, 1996 both the United States House of Representatives and Senate passed legislation that, if enacted, would preempt state tort laws in significant ways. Why would a Congress otherwise apparently committed to vesting states with greater policymaking autonomy call for federal control of tort law?

Tort policymaking has traditionally been done at the state level. One assumption underlying this distribution of power is that states are better able than the national government to fashion tort rules appropriate for local conditions and circumstances. In other words, states are thought to have a special competence in crafting tort rules responsive to local …

The Relevant Market In European Merger Law, Benedicte Haubold

LLM Theses and Essays

Due to the rapid acceleration of merger movements in the 1980s, the adoption of new merger regulation was a must for the European market. Before the new merger regulation was adopted in 1989, the European Commission used to apply the general competition rules of the Rome Treaty when dealing with mergers. The Commission used to interpret Articles 85 and 86 of the Rome Treaty as a means to condemn mergers that would lead to an abuse of a dominant position at a European level; at that time, there was an absence of complete and systematic control as far as structural …

Legal Foundations And Institutional Framework Of The Monetary Union In Europe And In The United States, Johan Van Den Cruijce

LLM Theses and Essays

An economic and monetary union (EMU) is an area where there is complete freedom of movement of persons, goods, services, and capital. The financial markets in an EMU are completely integrated while the national currencies are conventional and have fixed exchange rates. Ultimately the national currencies may be replaced by a common currency and there will be one monetary policy. The EMU is considered to be the highest form of economic integration. This paper examines two examples of a monetary union; the first part focuses on the blueprint for a European monetary union as laid out in the Treaty on …

Untangling The Market-Participant Exemption To The Dormant Commerce Clause, Dan T. Coenen

Scholarly Works

This article focuses on an important vehicle through which the modern Court has moved to protect local prerogatives: the market-participant exemption to the dormant commerce clause. The core of the Court's dormant commerce clause jurisprudence is well-settled: "The commerce clause, by its own force, prohibits discrimination against interstate commerce, whatever its form or method...” Over the past two decades, however, the Court has lifted this prohibition when states act as "market participants" rather than as "market regulators." Invoking this distinction, the Court has shielded from commerce clause attack blatant favoritism of local interests when a state or municipality buys printing …

Uniform Status Of Children Of Assisted Conception Act: A View From The Drafting Committee, Robert C. Robinson, Paul M. Kurtz

Scholarly Works

The "Status of Children of Assisted Conception" Act was designed primarily to effect the security and well-being of children born and living in our midst as a result of assisted conception. The Conference's Executive Committee and the general Conference, considering the plight of these children, some with five biological parents, some with no readily identifiable biological parents, and some with other deprivations, determined that the greatest priority and first call on the energy and talent of the Drafting Committee was to provide an act which addressed these and other deficiencies.

There was great urgency on the part of the Drafting …

The Warranty Of Quality In Sale Of Goods Under The Perspective Of The American And French Law, Renaud Baguenault De Puchesse

LLM Theses and Essays

While the United States’ common law system is characterized by diversity due to each state having its own set of rules, in certain areas there are nationwide legislative attempts of unification and standardization. One such attempt is the adoption of the Uniform Commercial Code which governs the sale of goods law in the United States. The French civil law system generally differs greatly from the American system in that it is primarily based upon statutes and codes. However, the American Uniform Commercial Code and the French Civil Code provide tangible, comparable bases to assess similarities and differences between American and …

Legal Evolution And Legislation, Alan Watson

Scholarly Works

For several years I have been working on two relationships: the relationship between legal rules and the society in which they operate, and the relationship between sources of law and the way law evolves. Some critics have suggested that in discussing the evolution of law, I have understated the revolutionary force of legislation and statutory law. This issue will be the focus of this article.

The Role Of Efficiency Justifications In U.S.-American And West German Merger Control Law: A Comparison, Christian Westerhausen

LLM Theses and Essays

When merger control laws first emerged in the United States and West Germany in the early 1900s, some businessmen and economists argued that the efficiency of businesses was impeded by antimerger laws. They contended that only very large businesses could realize significant efficiencies, be internationally competitive, and attain technological progress. This paper analyzes the role that these efficiency arguments had on the laws in West Germany and the United States, respectively. German law mainly upheld the idea that preservation of competition was most important for business efficiency, but also included a provision that firms could put forward the social desirability …

Codification And Consequences: The Georgian Motif, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

Scholarly Works

For roughly the last 45 years, the Georgia statutory scene has featured both codification species--a statutorily sanctioned code of 1933, and a supplemented and "annotated" code of private publication. For many purposes this situation was of little interest or importance; on occasion, however, the point could become one of ominous significance, particularly for lawyers (and their clients). Perhaps a brief account of a few of those occasions and a summary description of the current codification effort--itself already the subject of litigation--will prove of general interest.

A Model First-Party Insurance Excess-Liability Act, Eric M. Holmes

Scholarly Works

The purpose of this article is to study the various statutes concerning first-party, excess-liability in an effort to compose a model act. The primary issues affecting this problem are two-fold: First, what type of extra-contract damages should be available (e.g., attorney fees, litigation expenses, consequential losses, emotional distress, punitive damages); and second, should these extra-contract damages be based on an equitable standard of good-faith conduct (fault) or on strict liability principles (no fault)? These are crucial questions as the division between contract and tort becomes ever more blurred in modern law.

Material Witness And Material Injustice, Ronald L. Carlson, Mark S. Voelpel

Scholarly Works

No serious student of the adversary system can ignore the grave threat to the integrity of the American witness process posed by this nation’s material witness statutes. These outmoded laws, some dating back to the territorial period of a state’s history, are not invoked in every case, perhaps not even routinely, but when dusted off and put into operation, these archaic statutes result in innocent citizens spending weeks – even months – in custody. To remedy such injustices the authors, after examining cases decided and legislation adopted during the last ten years, will propose a model material witness law that …

Statutes Of Nonstatutory Origin, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

Scholarly Works

It is appealing, perhaps, to envision the legislative process as the fountainhead of public policy, most representative of society's felt needs, and the branch of government most unrestrained in responding to those needs. Shackled by neither the presence of a specific litigated controversy nor the absence of the power of appropriation, the legislative branch presumably possesses the most peripheral perspective and the most undiluted source of solution. Bounded only by the vague confines of practical politics, the legislature enjoys unique theoretical status in foreseeing and formulating rather than merely reflecting and reacting.

Production And Consumption Of Informal Law: A Model For Identifying Information Loss, Sandra M. Huszagh, Fredrick W. Huszagh

Scholarly Works

This Article seeks to indicate where the probability of citizen ignorance is greatest, and to identify the important independent variables that determine the probable level of ignorance. On the basis of this analysis, the Article sets forth a model designed to facilitate development of law communication reforms that can restore legitimacy to the government's assumption that ignorance is not a proper defense to noncompliance. The model can be applied at any jurisdictional level. The nine charts at the end of the Article illustrate how various communication factors individually and cumulatively condition information flow at each level.

A Model Of The Law Communication Process: Formal And Free Law, Sandra M. Huszagh, Fredrick W. Huszagh

Scholarly Works

This Article and the one to be published in the next issue depict how government decrees are made available to citizens and identify those conditions under which various citizens are not likely to acquire the knowledge essential for the deference that American government requires. The process by which government communicates its commands to citizens is often inadequate to make individuals or organizations aware of applicable laws. Even if the citizen receives the law, he may fail to understand or respond to the law as the law-drafters intended. The roots of these failures can be examined alternatively by (1) analyzing the …

"Reference Statutes"--Borrow Now And Pay Later?, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

Scholarly Works

In 1923, the General Assembly of Nod enacted the "Statute of Paul" (so designated because of the sponsoring legislator, Paul Perfect), which empowered municipalities of Nod (called "sleepy hollows") to issue licenses to individuals wishing to engage in legitimate private enterprises. One provision of the Paul Statute directed that applicants for such licenses "must make application in the mode prescribed by Code Section 23-112, dealing with county licesning [sic] of pickle processors" (popularly known as the "Peter Pickle Statute"). In 1923, Code Section 23-112 required that an applicant for a pickle processing license submit his application to county licensing authorities …

Union Discipline Of Its Membership Under Section 101(A)(5) Of Landrum-Griffin: What Is "Discipline" And How Much Process Is Due?, J. Ralph Beaird, Mack A. Player

Scholarly Works

Analogies between criminal trials and union disciplinary hearings are easily drawn. Both involve charges of prohibited conduct, the presentation of evidence, and decisions by competent and impartial tribunals. Whereas one’s physical freedom is at stake in a criminal proceeding, his economic freedom is often imperiled in a union disciplinary hearing. It is not surprising therefore that the requirements of due process have been extended to the labor setting. Embodied in section 101(a)(5) of the Landrum-Griffin Act, due process in the union sphere has been as elusive of definition as in judicial proceedings. Examining section 101(a)(5), Professors Beaird and Player attempt …

Local Legislation In Georgia: The Notice Requirement, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

Scholarly Works

Professor Sentell's commentary concerns Georgia's efforts to curb potential abuses of local or special legislation by requiring notice of such legislation to the affected locality. After examining the ineffectiveness of the notice requirement under Georgia's Constitution of 1877, Professor Sentell focuses upon various aspects of the notice requirement under the Constitution of 1945, and concludes that despite its rather erratic history in Georgia, the notice requirement reasonably serves its purpose as a compromise between the extremes of unrestricted special legislation and no special legislation.

The Legislative Process In Georgia Local Government Law, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

Scholarly Works

What our city fathers do as legislators and how they do it impinges upon the daily lives of most of us. Those involved in the production of municipal law and those affected by it will find this study of legislative procedure at the local level of great interest and help. Here is a solid piece of research which will stand for a long time to come.