Failures of American Methods of Lawmaking in Historical and Comparative Perspectives

Failures of American Methods of Lawmaking in Historical and Comparative Perspectives PDF Author: James R. Maxeiner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108187420
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 605

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Book Description
In this book, James R. Maxeiner takes on the challenge of demonstrating that historically American law makers did consider a statutory methodology as part of formulating laws. In the nineteenth century, when the people wanted laws they could understand, lawyers inflicted judge-made, statute-destroying, common law on them. Maxeiner offers the cure for common law, in the form of sensible statute law. Building on this historical evidence, Maxeiner shows how rule-making in civil law jurisdictions in other countries makes for a far more equitable legal system. Sensible statute laws fit together: one statute governs, as opposed to several laws that even lawyers have trouble disentangling. In a statute law system, lawmakers make laws for the common good in sensible procedures, and judges apply sensible laws and do not make them. This book shows how such a system works in Germany and how it would be a solution for the American legal system as well.

Failures of American Methods of Lawmaking in Historical and Comparative Perspectives

Failures of American Methods of Lawmaking in Historical and Comparative Perspectives PDF Author: James R. Maxeiner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108187420
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 605

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this book, James R. Maxeiner takes on the challenge of demonstrating that historically American law makers did consider a statutory methodology as part of formulating laws. In the nineteenth century, when the people wanted laws they could understand, lawyers inflicted judge-made, statute-destroying, common law on them. Maxeiner offers the cure for common law, in the form of sensible statute law. Building on this historical evidence, Maxeiner shows how rule-making in civil law jurisdictions in other countries makes for a far more equitable legal system. Sensible statute laws fit together: one statute governs, as opposed to several laws that even lawyers have trouble disentangling. In a statute law system, lawmakers make laws for the common good in sensible procedures, and judges apply sensible laws and do not make them. This book shows how such a system works in Germany and how it would be a solution for the American legal system as well.

Global Lawmaking and Social Change

Global Lawmaking and Social Change PDF Author: Gregor Novak
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1509968504
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
Customary international law is a widely-recognised modality of international lawmaking. It underpins all norms of international law and shapes all aspects of global society. Yet familiar approaches to customary international law struggle to answer basic questions about its role, operation, and prospects. Pursuing an interdisciplinary approach, this book offers an alternative perspective on customary international law as a dynamic and multifaceted social phenomenon and idea. It explores customary international lawmaking in different social contexts, including the regulation of armed conflict, the treatment of the 'other', and the management of global environmental risks. Focusing on the 'varieties' of customary international law, it identifies four types of customary international law norms and explores their roles and implications. Critically revisiting a classic topic of international law, the book provides a tool for understanding and shaping global lawmaking and social change in a rapidly changing international legal order.

Redefining Codification

Redefining Codification PDF Author: Dirk Heirbaut
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198947380
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
More than half of the world's population lives under law codes. Yet, defining the concept of codification remains elusive. Rather than delving into abstract theories, this book provides a rich and contextual comparative legal history of codes in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium from the late eighteenth century to the present. The author starts by examining the evolution of French, German, Dutch, and Belgian codes in their political and comparative context, thus challenging deeply rooted national narratives. He covers the well-studied civil codes and the often-overlooked commercial and procedural codes and drafts that failed to become law. Against this backdrop, the book embarks on a comprehensive analysis of the factors contributing to the success or failure of codification efforts. Employing an innovative method of comparative legal history, Redefining Codification explores the key players and objectives behind codification, revealing that traditional notions of codification are far removed from reality. Following the deconstruction of some 'universal truths' about codifications, this volume offers fresh insights into the behind-the-scenes of the lawmaking machinery and an empirically based definition of codification.

Comparative Law

Comparative Law PDF Author: Mathias Siems
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110884085X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 591

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Book Description
Presents a fresh, contextualised and sophisticated perspective on comparative law for both students and scholars.

Failures of American Civil Justice in International Perspective

Failures of American Civil Justice in International Perspective PDF Author: James R. Maxeiner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139504894
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
Civil justice in the United States is neither civil nor just. Instead it embodies a maxim that the American legal system is a paragon of legal process which assures its citizens a fair and equal treatment under the law. Long have critics recognized the system's failings while offering abundant criticism but few solutions. This book provides a comparative-critical introduction to civil justice systems in the United States, Germany and Korea. It shows the shortcomings of the American system and compares them with German and Korean successes in implementing the rule of law. The author argues that these shortcomings could easily be fixed if the American legal systems were open to seeing how other legal systems' civil justice processes handle cases more efficiently and fairly. Far from being a treatise for specialists, this book is an introductory text for civil justice in the three aforementioned legal systems.

The Oxford Handbook of the American Congress

The Oxford Handbook of the American Congress PDF Author: Eric Schickler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191628255
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 942

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Book Description
No legislature in the world has a greater influence over its nation's public affairs than the US Congress. The Congress's centrality in the US system of government has placed research on Congress at the heart of scholarship on American politics. Generations of American government scholars working in a wide range of methodological traditions have focused their analysis on understanding Congress, both as a lawmaking and a representative institution. The purpose of this volume is to take stock of this impressive and diverse literature, identifying areas of accomplishment and promising directions for future work. The editors have commissioned 37 chapters by leading scholars in the field, each chapter critically engages the scholarship focusing on a particular aspect of congressional politics, including the institution's responsiveness to the American public, its procedures and capacities for policymaking, its internal procedures and development, relationships between the branches of government, and the scholarly methodologies for approaching these topics. The Handbook also includes chapters addressing timely questions, including partisan polarization, congressional war powers, and the supermajoritarian procedures of the contemporary Senate. Beyond simply bringing readers up to speed on the current state of research, the volume offers critical assessments of how each literature has progressed - or failed to progress - in recent decades. The chapters identify the major questions posed by each line of research and assess the degree to which the answers developed in the literature are persuasive. The goal is not simply to tell us where we have been as a field, but to set an agenda for research on Congress for the next decade. The Oxford Handbooks of American Politics are a set of reference books offering authoritative and engaging critical overviews of the state of scholarship on American politics. Each volume focuses on a particular aspect of the field. The project is under the General Editorship of George C. Edwards III, and distinguished specialists in their respective fields edit each volume. The Handbooks aim not just to report on the discipline, but also to shape it as scholars critically assess the scholarship on a topic and propose directions in which it needs to move. The series is an indispensable reference for anyone working in American politics. General Editor for The Oxford Handbooks of American Politics: George C. Edwards III

The Politics Industry

The Politics Industry PDF Author: Katherine M. Gehl
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
ISBN: 1633699242
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation.

Interpreting Constitutions

Interpreting Constitutions PDF Author: Jeffrey Denys Goldsworthy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199274134
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
This book describes the constitutions of six major federations and how they have been interpreted by their highest courts, compares the interpretive methods and underlying principles that have guided the courts, and explores the reasons for major differences between these methods and principles. Among the interpretive methods discussed are textualism, purposivism, structuralism and originalism. Each of the six federations is the subject of a separate chapter written by a leading authority in the field: Jeffrey Goldsworthy (Australia), Peter Hogg (Canada), Donald Kommers (Germany), S.P. Sathe (India), Heinz Klug (South Africa), and Mark Tushnet (United States). Each chapter describes not only the interpretive methodology currently used by the courts, but the evolution of that methodology since the constitution was first enacted. The book also includes a concluding chapter which compares these methodologies, and attempts to explain variations by reference to different social, historical, institutional and political circumstances.

Responding to Imperfection

Responding to Imperfection PDF Author: Sanford Levinson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400821630
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
An increasing number of constitutional theorists, within both the legal academy and university departments of government, are focusing on the conceptual and political problems attached to the notion of constitutional amendment. Amendments are, among other things, recognitions of the imperfection of existing schemes of government. The relative ease or difficulty of amendment has significant implications for the ways that governments respond to problems that call either for new structures of governance or new powers for already established structures. This book brings together essays by leading legal authorities and political scientists on a range of questions from whether the U.S. Constitution is subject to amendment by procedures other than those authorized by Article V to how significant change is conceptualized within classical rabbinic Judaism. Though the essays are concerned for the most part with the American experience, other constitutional traditions are considered as well. The contributors include Bruce Ackerman, Akhil Reed Amar, Mark E. Brandon, David R. Dow, Stephen M. Griffin, Stephen Holmes and Cass R. Sunstein, Sanford Levinson, Donald Lutz, Walter Murphy, Frederick Schauer, John R. Vile, and Noam J. Zohar.

Thinking Like a Lawyer

Thinking Like a Lawyer PDF Author: Frederick F. Schauer
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674032705
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
This primer on legal reasoning is aimed at law students and upper-level undergraduates. But it is also an original exposition of basic legal concepts that scholars and lawyers will find stimulating. It covers such topics as rules, precedent, authority, analogical reasoning, the common law, statutory interpretation, legal realism, judicial opinions, legal facts, and burden of proof. In addressing the question whether legal reasoning is distinctive, Frederick Schauer emphasizes the formality and rule-dependence of law. When taking the words of a statute seriously, when following a rule even when it does not produce the best result, when treating the fact of a past decision as a reason for making the same decision again, or when relying on authoritative sources, the law embodies values other than simply that of making the best decision for the particular occasion or dispute. In thus pursuing goals of stability, predictability, and constraint on the idiosyncrasies of individual decision-makers, the law employs forms of reasoning that may not be unique to it but are far more dominant in legal decision-making than elsewhere. Schauer’s analysis of what makes legal reasoning special will be a valuable guide for students while also presenting a challenge to a wide range of current academic theories.