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Books > Law > Laws of other jurisdictions & general law > Constitutional & administrative law
In Marbury v. Madison Chief Justice John Marshall defined the Constitution as "a superior, paramount law," one that superseded the laws passed by Congress and state legislatures. What makes it paramount? This book sets out to recover the enduring principles, purposes, and meanings that inform the founders' charter and continue to offer us political guidance more than 200 years later. In so doing it steers a middle course between "originalists" who constrict interpretation to constitutional specifics and "relativists" who adapt the Constitution to the moment by ignoring original meaning. "Original intent," Ralph Ketcham argues, is best discerned by a study of the political climate that nourished the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and, more particularly, by understanding the broader meanings, intentions, and purposes of the framers. To recover this full context of political thinking, Ketcham delves not only into the meaning of the documents but also into the connotations of the framers' vocabulary, the reasoning behind both accepted and rejected propositions, arguments for and against, and unstated assumptions. In his analysis the fundamental or enduring principles are republicanism, liberty, public good, and federalism (as part of the broader doctrine of balance of powers). Ketcham answers convincingly those who question the relevance to modern constitutional interpretation of the finding that the founders were both republican and liberal. He asserts that the rights-protecting character of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights derived from the founders' belief that private rights depended upon active government and public virtue. In other words, private liberties rested on the citizenry's right to self-governance. James Madison sought to ensure a system of government that would
serve as guardian "both of public Good and of private rights." In
providing an interpretation of the Constitution and the Bill of
Rights that incorporates both republican and liberal perspectives,
Ketcham should find a wide readership among politically active
citizens, lawyers, judges, and those who teach and study
constitutional law and political theory.
From colonial times to the information age, an exhaustive survey of one of America's most contentious constitutional rights. Freedom of Association: Rights and Liberties under the Law chronicles the evolution of a right derived from but not granted in the First Amendment-freedom of association. An opening analysis of the Supreme Court's ruling against a gay adult member of the Boy Scouts of America illustrates the range and complexity of this issue. Historical discussions of colonial America, including the British Parliament's efforts to suppress political associations, set the stage for a careful scrutiny of the political and legislative activities of the 1950s and 1960s when the Supreme Court established freedom of association as a constitutionally protected right. A concluding chapter delves into the contemporary issues of antidiscriminatory and campaign finance laws and explores the ever-present tension between liberty-freedom from the state-and equality-protection by the state. Extensive A-Z entries on individuals like Alexis de Tocqueville and Robert Putnam, organizations such as the NAACP, and concepts, terms, and events Chronology of key developments in the history of freedom of association, including Boy Scouts of America v. Dale and the Communist Control Act of 1954
The doctrine of judicial recusal enables - and may require - a judge who is lawfully appointed to hear and determine a case to stand down from that case, leaving its disposition to another colleague or colleagues. The subject is one of considerable import and moment, not only to 'insiders' in the judiciary, but also to litigants and their lawyers. Understanding the principles which guide recusal is also to understand the fundamentals of judging in the common law tradition. The subject is therefore of considerable interest both at practical and theoretical levels, for it tells us most of what we need to know about what it means "to be a judge" and what the discharge of that constitutional duty entails. Unsurprisingly therefore, the subject has attracted controversy, and some of the most savage criticisms ever directed at particular judges. The book commences with an introduction which is followed by an analysis of the essential features of the law, the legal principles (common-law origins, the law today in the USA, UK and Commonwealth) and the difficulties which currently arise in the cases and by operation of statute. The third part looks at process, including waiver, necessity, appellate review, and final appeals. Three specific problem areas (judicial misconduct in court, prior viewpoints, and unconcious bias) are then discussed. The book ends with the author's reflections on future developments and possible reforms of recusal law.
This book uses role theory to analyze the judicial decisions made by state supreme court judges. Grounded in the fields of anthropology, business management, psychology, and sociology, role theory holds that, for each position an individual occupies in society, he or she creates a role orientation, or a belief about the limits of proper behavior. Judicial role orientation is conceptualized as the stimuli that a judge feels can legitimately be allowed to influence his or her decision-making and, in the case of conflict among influences, what priorities to assign to different decisional criteria. This role orientation is generally seen as existing on a spectrum ranging from activist to restraintist. Using multi-faceted data collection and empirical testing, this book discusses the variation in judges' role orientations, the role that personal institutional structure and judges' backgrounds play in determining judicial orientations, and the degree to which judges' orientations affect their decision-making. The first study to provide cross-institutional research on state supreme court judges, this book expands and advances the literature on judicial role orientation. As such, this book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers studying political science, public policy, law, and the courts.
Clearly, the structure of authority in this country rests on how Americans understand the nature and relationship of law and politics. Law consists of pronouncements from the courts, but also of what we think of these pronouncements: should abortion be a choice or is it murder? Law is formed as much through the dynamic tensions that govern how these laws are received as through their official decree. Legal forms - contracts, property, rights - similarly do not reflect pre-existing or natural categories but themselves constitute social and political life because they dictate how we conceptualize our world. Even activists who seek reform inadvertently reinforce the traditional legal remedies against which they rally, oftentimes relying on legal institutions while claiming to be free of them. John Brigham's book focuses on four particular ideological movements and their strategies, including the emphasis placed by gay men on their rights during the legal struggle over the closing of gay bathhouses in the early years of the AIDS crisis and the radical feminist use of rage and radical consciousness in anti-pornography campaigns. The effect of law in politics, Brigham convincingly reveals, is constitutive precisely when political life finds its meaning in various legal forms.
This book discusses affirmative action or positive discrimination, defined as measures awarding privileges to certain groups that have historically suffered discrimination or have been underrepresented in specific social sectors. The book's underlying rationale is that one cannot place at the same starting point people who have been treated differently in the past because in this way one merely perpetuates a state of difference and, in turn, social gaps are exaggerated and social cohesion is endangered. Starting out with an introduction on the meaning and typology of affirmative action policies, the book goes on to emphasise the interaction of affirmative action with traditional values of liberal state, such as equality, meritocracy, democracy, justice, liberalism and socialism. It reveals the affirmative action goals from a legal and sociological point of view, examining the remedial, cultural, societal, pedagogical and economy purposes of such action. After applying an institutional narrative of the implementation of affirmative action worldwide, the book explains the jurisprudence on the issue through syntheses and antitheses of structural and material variables, such as the institutional recognition of the policies, the domains of their implementation and their beneficiaries. The book eventually makes an analytical impact assessment following the implementation of affirmative action plans and the judicial response, especially in relation to the conventional human rights doctrine, by establishing a liaison between affirmative action and social and group rights.. The book applies a multi-disciplinary and comparative methodology in order to assess the ethical standing of affirmative action policies, the public interests involved and their effectiveness towards actual equality. In the light of the above analysis, the monograph explains the arguments considering affirmative action as a theology for substantive equality and the arguments treating this policy as anathema for liberalism. A universal discussion currently at its peak.
The struggle for civil rights in America was fought at the lunch counter as well as in the streets. It ultimately found victory in the halls of government-but, as Richard Cortner reveals, only through a creative use of congressional power and critical judicial decisions. Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination in public accommodations, and shortly after its passage blacks were refused service at the Heart of Atlanta Motel and at Ollie's Barbecue in Birmingham, Alabama, as a test of the new law by business owners who claimed the right to choose their own customers. These challenges made their way to the Supreme Court, becoming landmark cases frequently cited in law. Until now, however, they have never benefited from book-length analysis. Cortner provides an inside account of the litigation in both decisions to tell how they spelled the end to segregation in the South. The fact that blacks could not travel in the South without assured access to food and lodging led Congress to enforce civil rights on the basis of its authority to regulate interstate commerce. The Supreme Court unanimously sustained Title II's constitutionality under the commerce clause in both test cases, joining the executive and legislative branches in defining the power of the federal government to desegregate society, even by circuitous means. Drawing on justice department files, Supreme Court justices' papers, and records of defense attorneys, Cortner provides the background for the cases, including previous legal battles over sit-ins. He describes the roles of key players in the litigation-particularly Solicitor General Archibald Cox and members of the Warren Court. In addition, he uses presidential files, oral histories, and other primary sources to give readers a clear picture of the forces at work in the creation, implementation, and validation of the Civil Rights Act. Cortner's thorough account illuminates the nature of
constitutional litigation and the judicial process, as well as the
role of the Constitution and law, in two decisions that marked the
crowning achievement of the civil rights movement and changed the
face of America forever.
John Jay was one of America's greatest Founding Fathers. First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Secretary for Foreign Affairs during the Confederation, President of the Continental Congress, Governor of New York -- the only surprise is that he never became President. A New York lawyer, Jay (1745-1829) negotiated (with Franklin and Adams) the treaty that ended the War of Independence and later, in Jay's Treaty of 1794, the first commercial agreement with Britain. Actively engaged in the Revolutionary War, and a major contributor to the development and ratification of the Constitution, he was a central figure in the early history of the American Republic. A slave owner himself, he was nevertheless an early exponent of the gradual abolition of slavery. John Jay is the first biography for over sixty years of this remarkable man. Drawing on substantial new material, Walter Stahr has written a full and highly readable portrait of both the public and the private man.
Although philosophers debate the morality of open borders, few social scientists have explored what would happen if immigration were no longer limited. This book looks at three examples of temporarily unrestricted migration in Miami, Marseille, and Dublin and finds that the effects were much less catastrophic than opponents of immigration claim.
In 1945 a Labour government deployed Britain's national autonomy and parliamentary sovereignty to nationalise key industries and services such as coal, rail, gas and electricity, and to establish a publicly-owned National Health Service. This monograph argues that constitutional constraints stemming from economic and legal globalisation would now preclude such a programme. It contends that whilst no state has ever, or could ever, possess complete freedom of action, nonetheless the rise of the transnational corporation means that national autonomy is now siginificantly restricted. The book focuses in particular on the way in which these economic constraints have been nurtured, reinforced and legitimised by the creation on the part of world leaders of a globalised constitutional law of trade and competition. This has been brought into existence by the adoption of effective enforcement machinery, sometimes embedded within the nation states, sometimes formed at transnational level. With Britain enmeshed in supranational economic and legal structures from which it is difficult to extricate itself, the British polity no longer enjoys the range and freedom of policymaking once open to it. Transnational legal obligations constitute not just law but in effect a de facto supreme law entrenching a predominantly neoliberal political settlement in which the freedom of the individual is identified with the freedom of the market. The book analyses the key provisions of WTO, EU and ECHR law which provide constitutional protection for private enterprise. It dwells on the law of services liberalisation, public monopolies, state aid, public procurement and the fundamental right of property ownership, arguing that the new constitutional order compromises the traditional ideals of British democracy.
There are moments in American history when all eyes are focused on a federal court: when its bench speaks for millions of Americans, and when its decision changes the course of history. More often, the story of the federal judiciary is simply a tale of hard work: of finding order in the chaotic system of state and federal law, local custom, and contentious lawyering. The Federal Courts is a story of all of these courts and the judges and justices who served on them, of the case law they made, and of the acts of Congress and the administrative organs that shaped the courts. But, even more importantly, this is a story of the courts' development and their vital part in America's history. Peter Charles Hoffer, Williamjames Hull Hoffer, and N. E. H. Hull's retelling of that history is framed the three key features that shape the federal courts' narrative: the separation of powers; the federal system, in which both the national and state governments are sovereign; and the widest circle: the democratic-republican framework of American self-government. The federal judiciary is not elective and its principal judges serve during good behavior rather than at the pleasure of Congress, the President, or the electorate. But the independence that lifetime tenure theoretically confers did not and does not isolate the judiciary from political currents, partisan quarrels, and public opinion. Many vital political issues came to the federal courts, and the courts' decisions in turn shaped American politics. The federal courts, while the least democratic branch in theory, have proved in some ways and at various times to be the most democratic: open to ordinary people seeking redress, for example. Litigation in the federal courts reflects the changing aspirations and values of America's many peoples. The Federal Courts is an essential account of the branch that provides what Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Judge Oliver Wendell Homes Jr. called "a magic mirror, wherein we see reflected our own lives."
"The good of the people, " the Roman philosopher Cicero once said, "is the greatest law." But as Contemporary Legal Issues demonstrates, things aren't so clear-cut in modern America. Do the rights of homosexuals override the moral concerns of religious Americans? Does scientific progress outweigh the welfare of laboratory animals? These are some of the critical legal and political questions explored in Contemporary Legal Issues, a series focusing on the key issues facing today's legislatures and courts. Combining a broad overview essay with concise topical entries, lists of key cases, and a guide to further research, each title provides a one-stop resource for students, readers, and scholars alike.
The proportionality test, as proposed in Robert Alexy's principles theory, is becoming commonplace in comparative constitutional studies. And yet, the question "are courts justified in borrowing proportionality?" has not been expressly put in many countries where judicial borrowings are a reality. This book sheds light on this question and examines the circumstances under which courts are authorized to borrow from alien legal sources to rule on constitutional cases. Taking the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil - and its enthusiastic recourse to proportionality when interpreting the Federal Constitution - as a case study, the book investigates the normative reasons that could justify the court's attitude and offers a comprehensive overview of its case law on controversial constitutional matters like abortion, same-sex union, racial quotas, and the right to public healthcare. Providing a valuable resource for those interested in comparative constitutional law and legal theory, or curious about Brazilian constitutional law, this book questions the alleged universality of the proportionality test, challenges the premises of Alexy's principles theory, and discloses more than 68 Brazilian Supreme Court decisions delivered from 2003 to 2018 that would otherwise have remained unknown to an English-speaking audience.
This text evolved out of a series of fiscal studies prepared by a team from Harvard University of which the author was the director. It analyses the many constraints and economic characteristics found in low-income countries that affect the type of modern tax system that can work in these countries. It specifically looks at Nepal and reengineering the tax system there in terms of policy and administration.
View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction. aWell written, compelling, and even pioneering to the extent
that Romero, in his quest to protect noncitizens, seeks assistance
from many and varied sources. By tempering his idealism with large
doses of pragmatism, moreover, he leaves the reader feeling that
while his goals are lofty, they are not entirely out of
reach.a "The book is well-written, compelling, and even pioneering to
the extent that Romero, in his quest to protect noncitizens, seeks
assistance from many and varied sources." "Clearly written and contains copious footnotes and an extensive
and useful bibliography." "An important book. Its analysis is thoughtful, detailed, and
well-argued. Only over time have white ethnics, Jews, African
Americans, Asian immigrants, Latino/as, Arabs and 'others' come to
be accepted as equal members in a changing community. Yet we
continue to believe that our national sovereignty depends on our
power to distinguish between citizens and aliens. Victor Romero
reveals the tension between these contradictory conceptions of the
New World. The changes brought about by September 11, 2001, and the
Patriot Act have made it crucial to develop principles that will
allow us to survive -- and thrive. Romero inspires us to be
critical but optimistic. His work should be the pre-requisite to
discussion of these issues." "Victor C. Romero has done what few scholars and journalists
have been able to do: he has put a human face on the tragic events
ofSeptember 11, and equally importantly, on their aftermath. His
important book is almost the perfect blend of doctrinal scholarship
in the complex field of immigration law and social
science--particularly the anthropological and sociological studies
of immigrants in this alien nation. Inasmuch as he immigrated to
this country, his voice has a clear and haunting pitch. He has set
the bar very high for those of us who write in these areas: all of
us will have to reckon with this work." Throughout American history, the government has used U.S. citizenship and immigration law to protect privileged groups from less privileged ones, using citizenship as a "legitimate" proxy for otherwise invidious, and often unconstitutional, discrimination on the basis of race. While racial discrimination is rarely legally acceptable today, profiling on the basis of citizenship is still largely unchecked, and has in fact arguably increased in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States. In this thoughtful examination of the intersection between American immigration and constitutional law, Victor C. Romero draws our attention to a "constitutional immigration law paradox" that reserves certain rights for U.S. citizens only, while simultaneouslypurporting to treat all people fairly under constitutional law regardless of citizenship. As a naturalized Filipino American, Romero brings an outsider's perspective to Alienated, forcing us to look at constitutional immigration law from the vantage point of people whose citizenship status is murky (either legally or from the viewpoint of other citizens and lawmakers), including foreign-born adoptees, undocumented immigrants, tourists, foreign students, and same-gender bi-national partners. Romero endorses an equality-based reading of the Constitution and advocates a new theoretical and practical approach that protects the individual rights of non-citizens without sacrificing their personhood.
This volume explores the role race and racism played in the Texas redistricting process and the creation and passage of the state's Voter Identification Law in 2011. The author puts forth research techniques designed to uncover racism and racist intentions even in the face of denials by the public policy decision makers involved. In addition to reviewing the redistricting history of the state, this book also provides an analysis of court decisions concerning the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, the Voting Rights Act, and a thorough discussion of the Shelby County decision. The author brings together scholarly research and the analysis of significant Supreme Court decisions focusing on race to discuss Texas' election policy process. The core of the book centers on two federal court trials where both the state's congressional, house redistricting efforts, and the Voter ID Bill were found to violate the Voting Rights Act. This is the first book that speaks specifically to the effects of electoral politics and Latinos. The author develops new ground in racial political studies calling for movement beyond the 'dual-race' theoretical models that have been used by both the academy and the courts in looking at the effects of race on the public policy process. The author concludes that the historically tense race relations between Anglos and Latinos in Texas unavoidably affected both the redistricting process and the creation and design of the Voter ID Bill.
Originally published: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1908.
xxviii, 547 pp. Although Maitland never intended to publish these
lectures, they have long been regarded as one of the best
introductions to the English Constitution. Delivered in the winter
of 1887 and spring of 1888, and edited and published in 1908 by one
of Maitland's students, Herbert A.L. Fisher, they cover the period
from 1066 to the end of the nineteenth century. Rather than a
narrative historical format, they focus on describing the work of
the constitution during five distinct moments in English history:
1307, 1509, 1625, 1702 and 1887. They provide an entry to some of
the major concepts he later expounded in his seminal work written
with Sir Frederick Pollock, The History of English Law.
Edited by Ronald J. Rychlak, American Law from a Catholic Perspective is one of the most comprehensive surveys of American legal topics by major Catholic legal scholars. Contributors explore bankruptcy, corporate law, environmental law, family law, immigration, labor law, military law, property, torts, and several different aspects of constitutional law, among other subjects. Readers will find probing arguments that bring to bear the critical perspective of Catholic social thought on American legal jurisprudence. Essays include Michael Ariens's account of Catholicism in the intellectual discipline of legal history, William Saunders's assessment of human rights and Catholic social teaching, Hadley Arkes's look at the place of Catholic social thought with respect to bioethics, and many others on major legal topics and their intersection with Catholic social teaching. American Law from a Catholic Perspective is essential reading for all Catholic lawyers, judges, and law students, as well as an important contribution to non-Catholic readers seeking guidance from a faith tradition on questions of legal jurisprudence. Based on well-developed and established ideas in Catholic social thought, the evaluations, suggestions, and remedies offer ample food for thought and a basis for action in the realm of legal scholarship.
Prisoners' rights is an area of constitutional law that is often overlooked. Combining an historical and strategic analysis, this study describes the doctrinal development of the constitutional rights of prisoners from the pre-Warren Court period through the current Rehnquist Court. Like many provisions in the Bill of Rights, the meaning of the Eighth Amendment's language on cruel and unusual punishment and the scope of prisoners' rights have been influenced by prevailing public opinion, interest group advocacy, and--most importantly--the ideological values of the nine individuals who sit on the Supreme Court. These variables are incorporated in a strategic analysis of judicial decision making in an attempt to understand the constitutional development of rights in this area. Fliter examines dozens of cases spanning 50 years and provides a systematic analysis of strategic interaction on the Supreme Court. His results support the notion that justices do not simply vote their policy preferences; some seek to influence their colleagues and the broader legal community. In many cases there was evidence of strategic interaction in the form of voting fluidity, substantive opinion revisions, dissents from denial of certiorari, and lobbying to form a majority coalition. The analysis reaches beyond death penalty cases and includes noncapital cases arising under the Eighth Amendment, habeas corpus petitions, conditions of confinement cases, and due process claims.
This book studies the practical experience and theoretical development of rule of law in China, and provides fundamental theory for the construction of rule of law in contemporary China. The author examines the rule of law by exploring the entire legal system, and highlighting various aspects including the legislation, law enforcement and supervision systems. Readers will also discover the author's strong opinions on scientific legislation, legal government, judicial reform, and the culture of rule of law. This highly readable book will appeal to both general readers and researchers interested in rule of law in China.
Historian Ramses Delafontaine presents an engaging examination of a controversial legal practice: the historian as an expert judicial witness. This book focuses on tobacco litigation in the U.S. wherein 50 historians have witnessed in 314 court cases from 1986 to 2014. The author examines the use of historical arguments in court and investigates how a legal context influences historical narratives and discourse in forensic history. Delafontaine asserts that the courtroom is a performative and fact-making theatre. Nonetheless, he argues that the civic responsibility of the historian should not end at the threshold of the courtroom where history and truth hang in the balance. The book is divided into three parts featuring an impressive range of European and American case studies. The first part provides a theoretical framework on the issues which arise when history and law interact. The second part gives a comparative overview of European and American examples of forensic history. This part also reviews U.S. legal rules and case law on expert evidence, as well as extralegal challenges historians face as experts. The third part covers a series of tobacco-related trials. With remunerations as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars and no peer-reviewed publications or communication on the part of the historians hired by the tobacco companies the question arises whether some historians are willing to trade their reputation and that of their university for the benefit of an interested party. The book further provides 50 expert profiles of the historians active in tobacco litigation, lists detailing the manner of the expert's involvement, and West Law references to these cases. This book offers profound and thought-provoking insights on the post-war forensification of history from an interdisciplinary perspective. In this way, Delafontaine makes a stirring call for debate on the contemporary engagement of historians as expert judicial witnesses in U.S. tobacco litigation.
In the first full length examination of the topic, Ethical Citizenship rediscovers a significant and distinctive contribution to how we might understand citizenship today. Leading international scholars bring together theory and practice to explore its historical roots, contemporary relevance and application to international politics.
View the Table of Contents. aIt addresses a powerful topic. It is a conceptually creative
piece of scholarship, forged from a sophisticated interdisciplinary
viewpoint.a "A rich and exceptionally clear account of the meaning-making
context and constitution of citizenship." "Mark Weiner provides a rare and radical insight into the racial
structures of American law. Reading this racial history through the
rhetoric of case law decisions--juridical racialism--provides a
dramatic sense of the anthropological scope of what law has done
and potentially continues to do." "An enthralling mixture of personages and cases that reveals
much about the intimate combining of law and 'American'
imperialism, including the complicities of scholarship." "Juridical racialism is legal rhetoric infused with Anglo-Saxon
racial superiority and Weiner shows how it operated from the Gilded
Age to the decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Reading the
news, one wonders if it is not still operating today." Americans Without Law shows how the racial boundaries of civic life are based on widespread perceptions about the relative capacity of minority groups for legal behavior, which Mark S. Weiner calls "juridical racialism." The book follows the history of this civic discourse by examining the legal status of four minority groups in four successive historical periods: American Indiansin the 1880s, Filipinos after the Spanish-American War, Japanese immigrants in the 1920s, and African Americans in the 1940s and 1950s. Weiner reveals the significance of juridical racialism for each group--and, in turn, Americans as a whole--by examining the work of anthropological social scientists who developed distinctive ways of understanding racial and legal identity, and through decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that put these ethno-legal views into practice. Combining history, anthropology, and legal analysis, the book argues that the story of juridical racialism shows how race and citizenship served as a nexus for the professionalization of the social sciences, the growth of national state power, economic modernization, and modern practices of the self. |
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