Legal History Commons^™

Come Back To The Boat, Justice Breyer!, Richard D. Friedman

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

I want to get Justice Breyer back on the right side of Confrontation Clause issues. In 1999, in Lilly v. Virginia, he wrote a farsighted concurrence, making him one of the first members of the Supreme Court to recognize the inadequacy of the then-prevailing doctrine of the Confrontation Clause. That doctrine, first announced in Ohio v. Roberts, was dependent on hearsay law and made judicial assessments of reliability determinative. In Crawford v. Washington, the Court was presented with an alternative approach, making the key inquiry whether the statement in question was testimonial in nature. During the oral …

Calling Them As He Sees Them: The Disappearance Of Originalism In Justice Thomas's Opinions On Race, Joel K. Goldstein

Maryland Law Review

During his first two decades on the Court, Justice Clarence Thomas has been associated with originalism and is often viewed as its leading judicial proponent. Justice Thomas has linked originalism with the effort to limit judicial discretion and to promote judicial impartiality. In cases dealing with many constitutional provisions, Justice Thomas has shown his commitment to originalism by often writing solitary concurrences and dissents advocating an originalist analysis of a problem. Yet in constitutional cases dealing with race, Justice Thomas routinely abandons originalism and embraces the sort of constitutional arguments based on morality or consequentialism that he often discounts. These …

Originalism Talk: A Legal History, Mary Ziegler

BYU Law Review

Progressives have long recognized the tremendous political appeal of originalism. For many scholars, originalism appears to have succeeded because it achieves results consistent with conservative values but promises judicial neutrality to the public. By drawing on new historical research on anti-abortion constitutionalism, this Article argues for a radically different understanding of the originalist ascendancy. Contrary to what we often think, conservative social movements at times made significant sacrifices in joining an originalist coalition. These costs were built in to what this Article calls originalism talk—the use of arguments, terms, and objectives associated with conservative originalism.

Scholars have documented the costs …

Customary Indigenous Law In The Mexican Judicial System, Jeffrey N. Gesell

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Quebec Independence Vote And Its Implications For English Language Legislation, Deborah E. Richardson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Law In Ancient Egyptian Fiction, Russ Versteeg

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Mexico's Legal Revolution: An Appraisal Of Its Recent Constitutional Changes, 1988-1995, Jorge A. Vargas

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Sources Of International Law, Louis B. Sohn

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Treaties And Other Formal International Acts On The Customary Law Of Human Rights, Arthur M. Weisburd

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

So Help Me God: A Comparative Study Of Religious Interest Group Litigation, Jayanth K. Krishnan, Kevin R. Den Dulk

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Mining For Gold: The Constitutional Court Of South Africa's Experience With Comparative Constitutional Law, Ursula Bentele

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Reforming High School American History Curricula: What Publicized Student Intolerance Can Teach Policymakers, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

This article concerns the way public high schools teach American history under curricula and standards mandated by state law. “We’re raising young people who are, by and large, historically illiterate,” says David McCullough, the dean of American historians.

The article describes three recent nationally publicized incidents in which high school students belittled lynching and the Trail of Tears, evidently without appreciating the episodes’ legal and historical significance to African Americans and Native Americans respectively. Standards and textbooks typically recognize diversity and multiculturalism, but research and surveys indicate that classroom teachers frequently sanitize or avoid discomforting topics that might trigger complaints, …

The Emergence Of Constitutionalism As An Evolutionary Adaptation, Fábio Portela L. Almeida

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The emergence of modern societies is an evolutionary puzzle. Homo sapiens is the only animal species capable of cooperating in large-scale societies consisting of genetically unrelated individuals. From a biological point of view, this feature leads to enormous questions. Social scientists typically assume that human life is lived in large-scale societies as a result of cultural, social and institutional history. In this perspective, social institutions such as law, economy and religion enhance cooperation to higher levels. Gene-culture coevolutionary theories have studied this issue in an integrated framework that accounts for social and biological theories of cooperation. These theoretical approaches have …

Haydn Doren's Defense In The Court Of The Jarl Of Whiterun, Balgruuf The Greater, Ryan W. Selfridge

Student Publications

This paper is a look at an American Mock Trial Association scenario placed in the world of Skyrim. The piece applies legal concepts regarding forming narratives in the courtroom, something that is absolutely necessary to a jury trial. The unique scenario the trial was held in facilitated the explanation of the rules of evidence in the footnotes, and illustrates how the evidence was admitted to the court.

The International Legal Status Of International Non-Governmental Organizations: The Century-Long Normative Debate And Its Future Prospects, Rephael Ben-Ari

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The legal status of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) remains unresolved despite their growing influence in global politics. Over the past century, various proposals and frameworks have attempted to define INGOs' legal personality and legitimacy, but these efforts have been criticized for being either overly simplistic or politically unattainable. The article argues that while INGOs wield significant power and legitimacy through lobbying, public mobilization, and operational activities, their lack of formal international legal personality leaves their position ambiguous. The analysis highlights the need for a systematic evaluation of past efforts to inform future attempts at establishing a coherent legal framework for …

Unintended Consequences: The Posse Comitatus Act In The Modern Era, Mark P. Nevitt

Cardozo Law Review

America was born in revolution. Outraged at numerous abuses by the British crown - to include the conduct of British soldiers in the colonists' daily lives - Americans declared their independence, creating a new republic with deep suspicions of a standing army. These suspicions were intensely debated at the time of the nation's formation and enshrined in the Constitution. But congressional limitations on the role of the military in day-to-day affairs would have to wait. This did not occur until after the Civil War when Southern congressmen successfully coopted the framers' earlier concerns of a standing army and passed a …

Auctioning Class Settlements, Jay Tidmarsh

Journal Articles

Although they promise better deterrence at a lower cost, class actions are infected with problems that can keep them from delivering on this promise. One of these problems occurs when the agents for the class (the class representative and class counsel) advance their own interests at the expense of the class. Controlling agency cost, which often manifests itself at the time of settlement, has been the impetus behind a number of class-action reform proposals. This Article develops a proposal that, in conjunction with reforms in fee structure and opt-out rights, controls agency costs at the time of settlement. The idea …

Magna Carta And The Right To Trial By Jury, Thomas J. Mcsweeney

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Alan Watson's Controversial Contribution To Legal Scholarship, Gary Francione

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Intervention In Roman Law: A Case Study In The Hazards Of Legal Scholarship, Peter A. Appel

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.