Category Archives: Law Review Article

Harry Potter and the Trouble with Tort Theory

Imagine that upon graduation from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter goes to law school. As a 1L, he takes torts from a professor with an economist’s view of the institution. She teaches Potter that tort law aims to minimize the sum of the costs of accidents and… Read More » Continue reading

Posted in Law & Economics, Law and Economics, Law Review Article, Stanford Law Review, Thought Experiment, Tort Law, Torts | Comments Off

Flexing Judicial Muscle: An Empirical Study of Judicial Activism in the Federal Courts

Immediately following President Obama’s nomination of then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace Justice Souter on the United States Supreme Court, critics branded her a “judicial activist” who would work without regard to the “rule of law.” Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay contended that President Obama “couldn’t have appointed a more activist… Read More » Continue reading

Posted in Empirical Analysis, Law & Politics/Social Science, Law Review Article, Northwestern Law Review | Comments Off

Three Approaches to Law and Culture

Two major developments in the second half of the twentieth century manifest the appropriation of the concept of culture by academic disciplines beyond anthropology, its traditional custodian. The first is the rise of the cultural studies movement since the mid-twentieth century. The second is the “cultural turn,” the process whereby… Read More » Continue reading

Posted in Cornell Law Review, Law Review Article | Comments Off

Guns, Fruits, Drugs, and Documents: A Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Responsibility for Real Evidence

“My client came to my office with a loaded gun, burglar’s tools, and a stolen Picasso. These can each be traced to him through fingerprint evidence or in other ways. Theft of the Picasso is headline news, but police say they have no leads. What do I do now?”
A… Read More » Continue reading

Posted in Evidence, Law Review Article, Legal Ethics & Legal Practice, Professional Responsibility, Stanford Law Review | Comments Off

Israel’s Supreme Court Appellate Jurisdiction: An Empirical Study

The article reports the results of an empirical study conducted with respect to the appellate jurisdiction of the Israeli Supreme Court (hereinafter “ISC”).  The ISC sits atop a high-quality common law system and functions as an appellate court for district court rulings.  Cases in which the district court has original jurisdiction—particularly,… Read More » Continue reading

Posted in Affirmance Rates, Appellate Courts, Cornell Law Review, Criminal Law & Procedure, Discretionary Appeals, Dissent Rates, Empirical Analysis, Israeli Supreme Court, Jurisdiction, Law Review Article, Mandatory Appeals, Post Type, Reversal Rates, Schools, Topics | Comments Off

Unbundling Risk

Lee Anne Fennell
When individuals and households select products, services, or endeavors, they are usually making a bundled choice that comes with a certain level of risk exposure or insurance protection built in. Buying a house? You’re also buying a hefty dose of local housing market risk, for better or… Read More » Continue reading

Posted in Decision Making, Duke Law Journal, insurance, Law Review Article, Legal Philosophy & Critical Theory, Risk Assessment | Comments Off

Disaster Mythology and the Law

More than five years have passed since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, yet images from Katrina’s aftermath continue to haunt the American mind.  Many of the most shocking and disturbing images that remain with us today are not from photographs or news footage, but images constructed and seared in… Read More » Continue reading

Posted in Cornell Law Review, Criminal Law & Procedure, Disaster Law, Hurricane Katrina, Law & Politics/Social Science, Law Review Article, Media, Military Response, Police, Post Type, Property Law, Public Officials, Schools, Topics | Comments Off

Disaster Mythology and the Law

More than five years have passed since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, yet images from Katrina’s aftermath continue to haunt the American mind.  Many of the most shocking and disturbing images that remain with us today are not from photographs or news footage, but images constructed and seared in… Read More » Continue reading

Posted in Cornell Law Review, Criminal Law & Procedure, Humanitarian Aid, Hurricane Katrina, Law & Politics/Social Science, Law Review Article, Media, Military Response, Police, Post Type, Property Law, Public Officials, Schools, Topics | Comments Off

Agency Rulemaking and Political Transitions

Even before President Obama took to the dance floor on the night of his inauguration, his then-Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, had already fired off a memorandum to the heads of federal agencies instructing them not to start or finish any regulations without approval of the new Administration.  Emanuel also… Read More » Continue reading

Posted in Administrative Law, Agency Rulemaking, Law & Politics/Social Science, Law Review Article, Northwestern Law Review, Political Transitions | Comments Off

Law and Society Jurisprudence

 Introduction
My point of departure is Robin West’s claim that legal scholarship should strive to answer three questions: What is the law?  Why is the law what it is?  What should the law be?   I adopt her position that jurisprudence should be engaged in explicitly utopian, non-imitative, and nonadjudicative normative… Read More » Continue reading

Posted in Cornell Law Review, Law Review Article | Comments Off