Value And The Weight Of Practical Reasons,
2016
Columbia Law School
Value And The Weight Of Practical Reasons, Joseph Raz
Faculty Scholarship
Assuming that the value of options (actions, activities, or omissions) constitutes the proximate reason for pursuing them, this chapter considers whether we have reason to promote or maximise value. A proper argument would require establishing a negative, but raising doubts is less demanding — explaining some aspects of the relation between values and reasons that enable us to dispense with the doubtful thesis by illustrating alternative relations between values and reasons. Theses that value should be promoted are accompanied by a way of determining the strength of reasons (the stronger reason promotes more value). This chapter develops theoretical doubts about …
The Guise Of The Bad,
2016
Columbia Law School
The Guise Of The Bad, Joseph Raz
Faculty Scholarship
My topic is the possibility of acting in the belief that the action is bad and for the reason that it is, as the agent believes, bad. On route, I examine another question – namely whether agents can, without having any relevant false beliefs, perform actions motivated by the badness of those actions. The main worry is the compatibility of action for the sake of the bad with the thesis of the Guise of the Good (roughly that actions undertaken with an intention to perform them are undertaken because they are, as the agents see things, good in some respects). …
When Society Becomes The Criminal: An Exploration Of Society’S Responsibilities To The Wrongfully Convicted,
2016
Pitzer College
When Society Becomes The Criminal: An Exploration Of Society’S Responsibilities To The Wrongfully Convicted, Amelia A. Haselkorn
Pitzer Senior Theses
This thesis explores how society can and should compensate those who have been wrongfully convicted after they are exonerated and how we can prevent these mistakes from happening to others in the future. It begins by presenting research on the scope of the problem. Then it suggests possible reforms to the U.S. justice system that would minimize the rate of innocent convictions. Lastly, it takes both a philosophical and political look at what just compensation would entail as well as a variety of state compensation laws.
Cosmopolitanism, Custom And Complexity: Kant's Cosmopolitan Norms In Action,
2016
Osgoode Hall Law School of York University
Cosmopolitanism, Custom And Complexity: Kant's Cosmopolitan Norms In Action, Tracey Leigh Dowdeswell
Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series
Immanuel Kant's Cosmopolitanism has come to stand alongside Political Realism and Liberal Internationalism as one of three broad theories of ethics in international relations. Yet Cosmopolitanism has been subjected to criticisms that the universal norms identified by Kant - including such norms as hospitality, reciprocity, and publicity (transparency and free political participation) - are Western and Eurocentric in nature, incompatible with cultural pluralism, and lack the justification and legitimacy for the broad-based consensus required for a Cosmopolitan politicalsphere to emerge among the world’s diverse peoples. This paper seeks to address these criticisms of Cosmopolitanism by studying examples of Cosmopolitan norms …
Probable Cause Revisited,
2016
Wayne State University
Probable Cause Revisited, William Ortman
Law Faculty Research Publications
No abstract provided.
Driverless Cars And The Much Delayed Tort Law Revolution,
2016
Columbia Law School
Driverless Cars And The Much Delayed Tort Law Revolution, Andrzej Rapaczynski
Faculty Scholarship
The most striking development in the American tort law of the last century was the quick rise and fall of strict manufacturers’ liability for the huge social losses associated with the use of industrial products. The most important factor in this process has been the inability of the courts and academic commentators to develop a workable theory of design defects, resulting in a wholesale return of negligence as the basis of products liability jurisprudence. This article explains the reasons for this failure and argues that the development of digital technology, and the advent of self-driving cars in particular, is likely …
The Importance Of 'The Gap',
2016
Cornell Law School
The Importance Of 'The Gap', Emily Sherwin
Cornell Law Faculty Publications
One of the central dilemmas of law is what Larry Alexander has called "the gap:" general, determinate rules have significant benefits from the forward-looking perspective of a lawmaker, but generate outcomes that appear wrong from the perspective of individual actors. In this 25-year retrospective of Alexander's initial article on the gap, I examine a possible way out of the dilemma of the gap, and conclude that it does not work.
Why Tax Wealth Transfers?: A Philosophical Analysis,
2016
University of Kentucky College of Law
Why Tax Wealth Transfers?: A Philosophical Analysis, Jennifer Bird-Pollan
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
The one-hundredth anniversary of the estate tax provides an ideal moment to reflect on the role of wealth transfer taxation in the larger scheme of the U.S. tax system. Wealth and income inequality are at historically high levels, and the responses to these issues are often reduced to a simplistic political dichotomy of “right” versus “left.” The multitude of views of the American people cannot be reduced to such simple generalities without losing important nuances. This Article identifies three general categories of political philosophical viewpoints that are commonly endorsed by both politicians and everyday Americans, and then examines the current …
Utilitarianism And Wealth Transfer Taxation,
2016
University of Kentucky College of Law
Utilitarianism And Wealth Transfer Taxation, Jennifer Bird-Pollan
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
This article is the third in a series examining the continued relevance and philosophical legitimacy of the United States wealth transfer tax system from within a particular philosophical perspective. The article examines the utilitarianism of John Stuart Mill and his philosophical progeny and distinguishes the philosophical approach of utilitarianism from contemporary welfare economics, primarily on the basis of the concept of "utility" in each approach. After explicating the utilitarian criteria for ethical action, the article goes on to think through what Mill's utilitarianism says about the taxation of wealth and wealth transfers, the United States federal wealth transfer tax system …
Nonmoral Theoretical Disagreement In Law,
2016
Mitchell Hamline School of Law
Nonmoral Theoretical Disagreement In Law, Alani Golanski
Mitchell Hamline Law Review
No abstract provided.
Modernizing Pakistan's Blasphemy Law As Hate Speech,
2016
Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University
Modernizing Pakistan's Blasphemy Law As Hate Speech, Farhan Raouf
LLM Theses
It is difficult to define blasphemy. What is regarded as blasphemous will depend on the values prevalent in a given society. In general, it includes denigrating and insulting expressions targeted toward God and other aspects of religion. My thesis is that blasphemy, to the extent it should be dealt with by the law, should be regarded a sub-category of hate speech. The law should concern itself only with those aspects of blasphemy which incite hatred against a group which is identifiable on the basis of religion. More specifically, I argue that Pakistan should repeal its blasphemy law (s. 295-c Penal …
Fighting Over The Conservative Banner,
2016
Roger Williams University School of Law
Fighting Over The Conservative Banner, Carl Bogus
Law Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Criminals Behind The Veil: Political Philosophy And Punishment,
2016
Saint Louis University School of Law
Criminals Behind The Veil: Political Philosophy And Punishment, Chad Flanders
All Faculty Scholarship
There is evidence everywhere that our criminal justice system is undergoing a crisis of practice. Increased police violence and the concomitant distrust of police in many communities, fear of aggressive enforcement tactics more generally, worries about widespread governmental surveillance and, above all, a concern with overcriminalization and mass incarceration-these are the dreary and familiar stuff of daily headlines. But, this crisis of practice in tum reflects a deeper crisis of how we theorize about criminal law. We lack, for the most part, any worked-out theory of what the policing and processing of crime should look like. Nor do we have …
Law's Emotions,
2016
Georgetown University Law Center
Law's Emotions, Robin West
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
The emerging interdisciplinary field of “Law and Emotions” brings together scholars from law, psychology, classics, economics, literature and philosophy all of whom have a defining interest in law’s various relations to our emotions and to emotional life: they share a passion for law’s passions. They also share the critical premise, or assumption, that most legal scholars of at least the last half century, with a few exceptions, have mistakenly accorded too great of a role to reason, rationality, and the cool calculations of self interest, and have accorded too small a role to emotion, to the creation, the imagining, the …
Fiduciary-Isms: A Study Of Academic Influence On The Expansion Of The Law,
2016
California Western School of Law
Fiduciary-Isms: A Study Of Academic Influence On The Expansion Of The Law, Daniel B. Yeager
Faculty Scholarship
Fiduciary law aspires to nullify power imbalances by obligating strong parties to give themselves over to servient parties. For example, due to profound imbalances of legal know-how, lawyers must as fiduciaries pursue their clients’ interests, not their own, lest clients get lost in the competitive shuffle. As a peculiar hybrid of status and contract relations, politics and law, compassion and capitalism, fiduciary law is very much in vogue in academic circles. As vogue as it is, there remains room for my “Fiduciary-isms...”, a meditation on the expansion of fiduciary law from its origins in the law of trusts through partnerships, …
Liberty At The Borders Of Private Law,
2016
California Western School of Law
Liberty At The Borders Of Private Law, Donald J. Smythe
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Applied Ethics: A Misnomer For A Field?,
2016
S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah
Applied Ethics: A Misnomer For A Field?, Leslie Francis
Utah Law Faculty Scholarship
You may have guessed that I’m a pragmatist, methodologically. To that, I plead guilty; I think ethics could learn a great deal from the pragmatist tradition. And one of the most important things it could learn is to object to artificial separations between “ethics” and its “application.”
The Legitimacy Of International Law,
2016
University of Richmond
The Legitimacy Of International Law, David Lefkowitz
Philosophy Faculty Publications
The conduct of international affairs is subject to three kinds of normative standards. The first of these is prudence or rational self-interest, and its most common manifestation in international affairs involves reference to a state's national interest as a basis for defending or critiquing its international conduct. Justice provides a second metric for assessing the international conduct of states, and sometimes other actors, and a set of normative concepts including freedom, equality and fairness with which to argue for or against particular acts or policies. Law, including both international law and the foreign law of particular states, provides the third …
Should The Law Convict Those Who Act From Conviction? Reflections On A Demands-Of-Conscience Criminal Defense,
2016
University of Richmond
Should The Law Convict Those Who Act From Conviction? Reflections On A Demands-Of-Conscience Criminal Defense, David Lefkowitz
Philosophy Faculty Publications
How should the judge or jury in a just criminal court treat a civil disobedient, someone who performs a conscientiously motivated communicative breach of the criminal law? Kimberley Brownlee contends that all else equal a court of law should neither convict nor punish such offenders. Though I agree with this conclusion, I contend that Brownlee mischaracterizes the nature of the criminal defense to which civil disobedients are entitled. Whereas Brownlee maintains that such actors ought to be excused for their criminal breach, I argue that they ought to enjoy a justification defense. Acts of civil disobedience are not (morally) wrongful …
Confounding Ockham's Razor: Minilateralism And International Economic Regulation,
2016
Brooklyn Law School
Confounding Ockham's Razor: Minilateralism And International Economic Regulation, Eric C. Chaffee
Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law
In Minilateralism: How Trade Alliances, Soft Law, and Financial Engineering Are Redefining Economic Statecraft, Professor Chris Brummer embraces the complexity of the global economic system and its regulation by exploring the emerging role and dominance of varying strands of economic collaboration and regulation that he collectively refers to as “minilateralism.” In describing the turn toward minilateralism, Brummer notes a number of key features of this new minilateral system, including a shift away from global cooperation to strategic alliances composed of the smallest group necessary to achieve a particular goal, a turn from formal treaties to informal non-binding accords and other …
