The Problem of Authority: Revisiting the Service Conception
By Joseph Raz. Full text here. Why ought we subject our will to authority? How is a person with authority justified in demanding that we subject our will? What does it mean to be a legitimate authority? This is the problem of authority that Professor Raz addressed many years ago under the title of the…
Continue ReadingWhy the Defense of Marriage Act Is Not (Yet?) Unconstitutional: Lawrence, Full Faith and Credit, and the Many Societal Actors That Determine What the Constitution Requires
By Mark D. Rosen. Full text here. When Hawaii seemed poised to be the first state in the Union to permit same-sex marriage in the 1990s, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). DOMA provides that states need not recognize same-sex marriages (or judgments in connection with such marriages) performed in sister states. Though many…
Continue ReadingThird-Party Copyright Liability After Grokster
By Alfred C. Yen. Full text here. This Article studies the construction of third-party copyright liability after the recent Supreme Court case Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. This inquiry is important because third-party copyright liability has become a controversial area of law that affects the viability of entire industries. Unfortunately, the law governing third-party copyright…
Continue ReadingTribute: Continuing the Path to Excellence: University of Minnesota Law School Dean Alex M. Johnson, Jr.
By Edward S. Adams. Full text here.
Continue ReadingJuveniles' Competence to Exercise Miranda Rights: An Empirical Study of Policy and Practice
By Barry C. Feld. Full text here. The Supreme Court does not require any special procedural safeguards when police interrogate youths. Instead, it uses the adult standard—“knowing, intelligent, and voluntary under the totality of the circumstances”—to gauge the validity of juveniles’ waivers of Miranda rights. Developmental psychologists have examined adolescents’ capacity to exercise or waive…
Continue ReadingNote: "Don't Read This If It's Not For You": The Legal Inadequacies of Modern Approaches to E-mail Privacy
By Joshua L. Colburn. Full text here. E-mail has become the cheap and reliable replacement for many forms of business and personal communication. Despite a lack of any significant advances in privacy laws or software, lawyers have surrendered their once vocal privacy concerns in favor of efficient communication. In an effort to minimize any remaining privacy…
Continue ReadingWhat Doth It Profit? Pelikan's Parallels
By Steven D. Smith. Full text here.
Continue ReadingNote: Evaluating the Integraty of Biotechnology Research Tools: Merck v. Integra and the Scope of 35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(1)
By Michael R. Mischnick. Full text here. Patents are critical in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. However, patents have inhibited competition in certain instances. For example, until the 1980s, pioneer drug companies benefited from a de facto “patent term windfall” because generic manufacturers could not begin the regulatory approval process of their generics until after…
Continue ReadingPermissive Rules of Professional Conduct
By Bruce A. Green & Fred C. Zacharias. Full text here. In the wake of Enron’s collapse and other corporate scandals, the Securities and Exchange Commission considered adopting a regulation requiring lawyers in certain circumstances to publicly report corporate misconduct. The American Bar Association countered by expanding model disciplinary rules that allow, but do not require,…
Continue ReadingLecture: The Future of the Legal Profession
By Robert A. Stein. Full text here.
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