Common Law Commons^™

Spandrel Or Frankenstein's Monster? The Vices And Virtues Of Retrofitting In American Law, Michael C. Dorf

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Ancient mythology, literary fiction, and modern science fiction films all recount a similar cautionary tale: human ingenuity gives rise to a powerful invention, but through human fallibility and, in some tellings, venality, the invention becomes a monster and turns on its creators. Perhaps the most famous example is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, in which Dr. Frankenstein's attempt to fashion a living man from the dead remains of others succeeds, only then to go horribly awry. Such stories are timeless because they warn of the dangers of indelible features of human nature: hubris and short-sightedness. Recent large-scale catastrophes such as the 2010 …

Contract Law In A Comparative Perspective, Suharnoko Suharnoko

Indonesia Law Review

Media reports on cases of the theft of pre-paid pulses taking place nowadays have created a misunderstanding in terms of the appropriate application of criminal law. In the context of existing legal provisions concerning consumer protection as set forth both under the Consumer Protection Law as well as in part under the Telecommunications Law, law enforcement agencies are leaning towards applying general criminal provisions (theft) which, after a careful observation of the Indonesian Criminal Code, in fact do not extend to corporate criminal acts. This paper purports to explain that the currently occurring cases of the theft of pre-paid pulses …

Property Before Property: Romanizing The English Law Of Land, Thomas J. Mcsweeney

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

System Adjustments, Brendan Maher

Faculty Articles and Papers

This invited Essay considers the future of law data and system reform.

Punishment Without Culpability, John F. Stinneford

UF Law Faculty Publications

For more than half a century, academic commentators have criticized the Supreme Court for failing to articulate a substantive constitutional conception of criminal law. Although the Court enforces various procedural protections that the Constitution provides for criminal defendants, it has left the question of what a crime is purely to the discretion of the legislature. This failure has permitted legislatures to evade the Constitution’s procedural protections by reclassifying crimes as civil causes of action, eliminating key elements (such as mens rea) or reclassifying them as defenses or sentencing factors, and authorizing severe punishments for crimes traditionally considered relatively minor.

The …

Criminal Law—No Stitches For Snitches: The Need For A Duty-To-Report Law In Arkansas, Breanna Trombley

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

It is difficult to get witnesses of brutal crimes to step up and act. This article argues that every state, including Arkansas, would be well served by implementing laws that would require individuals to notify law enforcement officials when they witness certain offenses.

First, the note discusses the common law history of the no-duty-to-aid principle, as well as duty-to-assist laws in other jurisdictions and current Arkansas reporting statutes. Next, the note examines the need for a specific duty-to-report in Arkansas. Then, a duty-to-report statute is proposed for consideration by the Arkansas Legislature. Thereafter, the note addresses imposition of both civil …

English Justices And Roman Jurists: The Civilian Learning Behind England's First Case Law, Thomas J. Mcsweeney

Faculty Publications

Article looks at a historical problem—the first use of case law by English royal justices in the thirteenth century—and makes it a starting point for thinking about the ways legal reasoning works in the modern common law. In the first Part of the Article, I show that, at its origin, the English justices’ use of decided cases as a source of law was inspired by the work civil and canon law scholars were doing with written authorities in the medieval universities. In an attempt to make the case that English law was on par with civil law and canon law, …

Taking The English Right To Counsel Seriously In American Civil Gideon Litigation, Scott F. Llewellyn, Brian Hawkins

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Courts have rejected a right to counsel for indigent civil litigants under the U.S. Constitution. But in some American states, that right arguably already exists as a matter of common law, albeit derived from centuries-old English common and statutory law. This Article analyzes the viability of arguments for incorporating the old English right to counsel in the twenty-seven American states that continue to recognize old English common and statutory law as a source of binding authority. Such "originalist" arguments may be appealing to judges who are more willing to revive a historically based right than establish a new right based …

New York's Property Condition Disclosure Act: Extensive Loopholes Leave Buyers And Sellers Of Residential Real Property Governed By The Common Law, Philip Lucrezia

St. John's Law Review

No abstract provided.

Advocacy In Charity: A Breakaway From The Common Law, Fiona Martin

Social Space

Can advocacy work be considered charitable? Common law systems don’t think so, but Australia is the first to break this convention. Fiona Martin examines the whys and the hows of this historic event.

Response: There Is No New General Common Law Of Severability, Kevin C. Walsh

Law Faculty Publications

In this solicited response to The New General Common Law of Severability, I first offer an interpretation of Ayotte and subsequent Supreme Court decisions as continuous with existing doctrine instead of a departure from it. I then suggest that much of Scoville’s evidence for a federalization of severability doctrine is better viewed as evidence of doctrinal looseness rather than of doctrinal change. I conclude by returning to the lessons of severability’s doctrinal history, suggesting that the prehistory of severability doctrine may supply a better guide for how courts should deal with problems of partial unconstitutionality in the future.

Prosecution Appeals Of Court-Ordered Midtrial Acquittals: Permissible Under The Double Jeopardy Clause?, David S. Rudstein

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Taking, Tort, Or Crown Right?: The Confused Early History Of Government Patent Policy, 12 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 145 (2012), Sean M. O'Connor

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

From the early days of the Republic, Congress and the federal courts grappled with the government’s rights to own or use patents it issued. Courts rejected the British “Crown Rights” rule that allowed the sovereign to practice whatever patents it issued. Instead, the federal government was conceptualized as a legal person on par with any other persons with regard to issued patents. But, this simple rule presented challenges as complexities arose in three intertwined patent rights scenarios. The first involved inventions by government employees. The second revolved around government and government contractor use of patents held by private citizens. And …

American Electricpower V. Connecticut: Disaster Averted By Displacing The Federal Common Law Of Nuisance, Damian M. Brychey

Georgia Law Review

Historically, the federal common law of nuisance has
provided a means to regulate interstate pollution. With
the passing of legislative acts such as the Clean Water Act
and the Clean Air Act, however, traditional federal
nuisance lawsuits were displaced. The continued viability
of the federal common law of nuisance to regulate
pollution, specifically greenhouse gases, was brought to
the forefront of American jurisprudence in American
Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut. There, the Supreme
Court held that the Clean Air Act and the EPA actions the
Act authorizes displace any federal common law right to
seek abatement of greenhouse gases-reversing the …

Necessity Defense To Felon-In-Possession Charges: The Third Circuit Justifies A Federal Justification Defense In Virgin Islands V. Lewis, Kathryn Maza

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

The article presents information on the conceptions of morality and justice and the maximization of social welfare. The defense of necessity, its common law justification and the recognition of federal justification defense are discussed. The decisions made by the Third Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in the trial of Virgin Islands v. Lewis, the judicial duty and the justification doctrine are also discussed.

Message In Mortgage: What Dodd-Frank's 'Qualified Mortgage' Tells Us About Ourselves, David Reiss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Restore Colorado's Repair Doctrine For Construction- Defect Claims, Michael F. Lutz

University of Colorado Law Review

The "repair doctrine" is a common law defense to statutes of limitations. It protects defective product and property buyers who delay suit due to sellers' promises to make repairs. Recently, in Smith v. Executive Custom Homes, the Colorado Supreme Court rejected the repair doctrine for construction-defect claims due to an apparent redundancy between the doctrine and the notice-and-opportunity-to repair provision of Colorado's Construction Defect Action Reform Act. This Note explains why Smith was wrongly decided.

Debunking The Myth That Insurance Coverage Is Not Available Or Allowed For Intentional Torts Or Damages, Christopher French

Faculty Scholarship

Over the years, a myth has developed that insurance coverage is not available or allowed for intentional injuries or damage. This myth has two primary bases: one, the “fortuity” doctrine, which provides that insurance should only cover losses that happen by chance; and two, public policy, which allegedly disfavors allowing insurance for intentional injuries or damage. This article dispels that myth. Many types of liability insurance policies expressly cover intentional torts including trademark infringement, copyright infringement, invasion of privacy, defamation, disparagement, and improper employment practices such as discrimination. In addition, punitive damages, which typically are awarded for intentional misconduct, are …

Three Principles For Federal Housing Policy, David Reiss

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Legal Medievalism In Lex Mercatoria Scholarship, Ralf Michaels

Faculty Scholarship

This short reaction piece to an article by Emily Kadens asks why a long-refuted story of an alleged uniform medieval lex mercatoria is still being maintained. The answer is that the story serves not as an actual history but instead as a foundation myth. Attempts to falsify the myth with historical data are therefore futile: the myth derives its value not from its truth value but from its symbolic power.