Legal Theory Commons^™

Indeterminacy, Value Pluralism, And Tragic Cases, David Wolitz

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Natural Law, Equality, And Same-Sex Marriage, Perry Dane

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Structural Overdelegation In Criminal Procedure, Anthony O'Rourke

Journal Articles

In function, if not in form, criminal procedure is a type of delegation. It requires courts to select constitutional objectives, and to decide how much discretionary authority to allocate to law enforcement officials in order to implement those objectives. By recognizing this process for what it is, this Article identifies a previously unseen phenomenon that inheres in the structure of criminal procedure decision-making.

Criminal procedure’s decision-making structure, this Article argues, pressures the Supreme Court to delegate more discretionary authority to law enforcement officials than the Court’s constitutional objectives can justify. By definition, this systematic “overdelegation” does not result from the …

Theorizing American Freedom (Reviewing Aziz Rana, The Two Faces Of American Freedom (2010)), Anthony O'Rourke

Book Reviews

This is a review essay of The Two Faces of American Freedom, by Aziz Rana. The book presents a new and provocative account of the relationship between ideas of freedom and the constitutional structure of American power. Through the nineteenth century, Rana argues, America’s constitutional structure was shaped by a racially exclusionary, yet economically robust, concept that he calls “settler freedom.” Drawing on the burgeoning interdisciplinary field of settler colonial studies, as well as on the vast historical literature on civic republicanism, Rana contends that the concept of settler freedom necessitated a constitutional framework that enabled rapid territorial expansion and …

The Market As A Legal Concept, Justin Desautels-Stein

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Together Again, John Henry Schlegel

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

How The "Unintended Consequences" Story Promotes Unjust Intent And Impact., Martha T. Mccluskey

Journal Articles

In the guise of critical analysis of the limits of law reform, the familiar phrase “unintended consequences” serves to rationalize rising inequality and to undermine democratic accountability. This paper examines how the phrase promotes a story of disentitlement, using the recent financial crisis as an example. By naturalizing inequality as power beyond law’s reach, this phrase’s message that benign law is likely to bring unequal consequences dovetails with a seemingly contradictory message that benign intent, rather than harmful impact, is what primarily counts for evaluating inequality.

As part of a LatCrit XV symposium taking a “bottom-up” view of the recent …

How Money For Legal Scholarship Disadvantages Feminism, Martha T. Mccluskey

Journal Articles

A dramatic infusion of outside money has shaped legal theory over the last several decades, largely to the detriment of feminist theory. Nonetheless, the pervasive influence of this funding is largely ignored in scholarly discussions of legal theory. This denial helps reinforce the marginal position of feminist scholarship and of women in legal theory. Conservative activists and funders have understood the central role of developing community culture and institutions, and have helped shift the prevailing framework for discussion of many questions of theory and policy through substantial investments in law-and-economics centers and in the Federalist Society. Comparing the institutional resources …

The Political Economy Of Criminal Procedure Litigation, Anthony O'Rourke

Journal Articles

Criminal procedure has undergone several well-documented shifts in its doctrinal foundations since the Supreme Court first began to apply the Constitution’s criminal procedure protections to the States. This Article examines the ways in which the political economy of criminal litigation – specifically, the material conditions that determine which litigants are able to raise criminal procedure claims, and which of those litigants’ cases are appealed to the United States Supreme Court – has influenced these shifts. It offers a theoretical framework for understanding how the political economy of criminal litigation shapes constitutional doctrine, according to which an increase in the number …

American Legal Theory And American Legal Education: A Snake Swallowing Its Tail?, John Henry Schlegel

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Langdell And The Invention Of Legal Doctrine, Catharine Pierce Wells

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Principios, Moral Y Positivismo Jurídico: Respuestas Y Redefinición Del Positivismo Contemporáneo [Principles, Morality And Legal Positivism], Jorge Luis Fabra-Zamora

Journal Articles

El objetivo de este escrito es hacer una esbozar la evolución del positivismo jurídico desde las críticas de Dworkin. La idea principal es servir como una introducción a este importante debate de la Filosofía del Derecho. El autor parte de una elucidación del Problema Original, analiza las respuestas incluyentes y excluyentes del Positivismo y Finaliza con la tesis que fueron los principios los causantes de la redefinición del Positivismo Jurídico.

[This paper seeks to sketch the evolución of Legal Positivism since Dworkin criticism. The main idea is to serve as an introduction of this current debate in Legal Philosophy. The …

For Peter, With Love, John Henry Schlegel

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Una Visita Al Debate Hart-Dworkin [Revisiting The Hart–Dworkin Debate], Jorge Luis Fabra-Zamora

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Competitive Supragovernmental Regulation: How Could It Be Democratic?, Errol E. Meidinger

Journal Articles

This paper explores the possibility that a developing form of regulatory governance is also sketching out a new form of anticipatory regulatory democracy. 'Competitive supra-governmental regulation' is largely driven by non-state actors and is therefore commonly viewed as suffering a democracy deficit. However, because it stresses broad participation, intensive deliberative procedures, responsiveness to state law and widely accepted norms, and competition among regulatory programs to achieve effective implementation and widespread public acceptance, this form of regulation appears to stand up relatively well under generally understood criteria for democratic governance. Nonetheless, a more satisfactory evaluation will require a much better understanding …

Drawing Back From The Abyss, Or Lessons Learned From Count Von Count, John Henry Schlegel

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Thinking With Wolves: Left Legal Theory After The Right's Rise (Review Essay), Martha T. Mccluskey

Book Reviews

Reviewing Wendy Brown & Janet Halley, Left Legalism/Left Critique (2001).

Left legal theory is in crisis. This crisis reflects a broader problem of contemporary U.S. politics: the lack of grand ideas capable of mobilizing meaningful opposition to the triumph of the political right. Right-wing legal theory has contributed to that dramatic political change by promoting ideas questioning the foundations of the twentieth century liberal welfare and regulatory state.

This review essay analyzes a rare recent attempt to revive left legal theory in the face of the right's triumph: the anthology Left Legalism/Left Critique edited by Wendy Brown and Janet Halley …

Cls Wasn't Killed By A Question, John Henry Schlegel

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Centering Men's Experience: Norah Vincent's Self-Made Man Complicates Feminist Legal Theorists' Views Of Gender, Kathy A. Thomack

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Law, Economics, And The Theory Of The Firm, Michael J. Meurer

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Prophylactic Remedy: Normative Principles And Definitional Parameters Of Broad Injunctive Relief, Tracy A. Thomas

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Righting Victim Wrongs: Responding To Philosophical Criticisms Of The Nonspecific Victim Liability Defense, Aya Gruber

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Symbols Of Governance: Thurman Arnold And Post-Realist Legal Theory, Mark Fenster

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

But Pierre, If We Can't Think Normatively, What Are We To Do?, John Henry Schlegel

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Gary Minda's Boycott In America: How Imagination And Ideology Shape The Legal Mind, Robert J. Steinfeld

Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Habermas's Discourse Theory Of Law And Democracy, Hugh Baxter

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Of Duncan, Peter And Thomas Kuhn, John Henry Schlegel

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

The Theory Of Law As Literature, Dennis Patterson

Buffalo Law Review

Book review of Guyora Binder & Robert Weisberg's Literary Criticisms of Law

Langdell's Auto-Da-Fé, John Henry Schlegel

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Does Duncan Kennedy Wear Boxers Or Briefs? Does Richard Posner Ever Sleep? Writing About Jurisprudence, High Culture And The History Of Intellectuals (Review Essay), John Henry Schlegel

Book Reviews

Reviewing Neil Duxbury, Patterns of American Jurisprudence(1995).