SelectedWorks @ Widener University Commonwealth Law School
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Assessing a Decade of Interstate Bank Branching
No full textSince its inception, US. banking regulation has effectively prohibited a bank from opening or owning a branch located outside of its home state, commonly referred to as interstate branching. Only since the passage of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act (IBBEA) of 1994 have banks been able to engage in interstate branching, albeit still subject to significant state restrictions. Despite IBBEA \u27s removal of those barriers, it still allowed the states to impose anticompetitive restrictions governing the entry of out-of-state banks through the establishment of branch offices. As a result, states that were opposed to entry used IBBEA to erect barriers to out-of-state branch entry. This Article describes the changes in federal and state interstate branching law since passage of IBBEA and reviews how initial (1994-1997) and evolving (1998-2005) interstate branching laws affect out-of-state branch growth in a state\u27s banking market. We provide a detailed fifty-state plus the District of Columbia survey of each state\u27s initial interstate branch banking restrictions and changes to those provisions between 1994 and 2005. Based on the results of this survey, we employ regression analysis to determine whether there was an empirical association between restrictive state regulation and out-of-state branch banking entry. We conclude that anticompetitive state provisions restricted out-of-state growth when those provisions were more restrictive than the provisions set by neighboring states
DAPA and the Future of Immigration Law as Administrative Law
No full textImmigration law is a type of administrative law, of course. In some ways, however, linking immigration law to administrative law is an awkward fit. As a branch of administrative law, immigration law is about the direct regulation of human beings. In immigration law, administrative law doctrines are applied to determine some of the most fundamental and basic human concerns: where an individual will live and work, and whether that individual will live with family or will be separated from a spouse and children. Also, while immigration law is a part of administrative law, at times the two can appear to be distant cousins. Because immigration law is so technical, requires dedicated study to gain expertise, and perhaps because it involves the regulation of people, immigration law can seem like it occupies its own island, cut-off from the administrative law mainland.This Essay argues that the litigation over the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”) initiative shows that immigration law experts can no longer afford to think of immigration law as in any way estranged from mainstream administrative law principles. Immigration lawyers and scholars must embrace administrative law as their own. This Essay will explore the DAPA litigation and explain that the future of immigration law is tied to the future of administrative law
Party Autonomy in Tort Theory and Reform
No full textTort theory has been dominated by a debate between scholars who view tort law as rooted in individualized justice and scholars who argue tort law is an instrument of social policy. This dialogue has distracted scholars from the more important issue of how to properly separate cases worthy of individualized justice treatment from those better suited to routinized resolution. Tort law already contains both types. One potentially fruitful method of separation is to empower the parties themselves to make the decision. They could do so by voluntarily trading liability for the elimination or substantial reduction in non-economic damages. Such an approach honors individualized justice by leaving the parties in control of the case and, if used, would increase both compensation and administrative efficiency, arguably without a reduction in the deterrent effect. Although the purpose of this article is not to design the ideal proposal(s) to embody such an approach, Jeffrey O’Connell has given us several models to begin our deliberations. It is only the latest contribution in his impressive legacy
Can Shale Gas Help Accelerate the Transition to Sustainability?
No full textThe sudden and unexpected development of shale gas has the potential to accelerate or hinder the transition to sustainability, depending on how it is handled. Sustainable development is a useful evaluative framework for shale gas development. It would have us analyze its environmental, social, economic, and security dimensions at the same time, and look for ways to make all four dimensions mutually reinforcing. This article suggests that sustainable shale gas development: 1) requires a sophisticated and comprehensive regulatory system to protect the environment and public health as well as a legal and policy framework capable of both ensuring significant social and economic benefits and ensuring that no one is made socially or economically worse off in absolute terms; 2) must be nested in ambitious national and international energy and climate change laws to ensure that it is a bridge fuel to a sustainable future, and does not delay or divert from that objective; and 3) must occur within a political and legal system that is committed to accelerating the transition to sustainability. By focusing on the issues that are harder to address, most prominently climate disruption, we gain a better understanding of how, or whether, shale gas development can accelerate the transition
When Does Some Federal Interest Require a Different Result?: An Essay on the Use and Misuse of Butner v. United States
No full textThousands of judges and scholars have relied on the statement in the 1979 Supreme Court opinion in Butner v. United States that “property interests are created and defined by state law...unless some federal interest requires a different result.” Often, they cite to the statement as a policy constraint that elevates state property law over federal bankruptcy law. This Essay, written for the American Bankruptcy Institute – University of Illinois Symposium on Chapter 11 Reform, posits that the Butner rule is not as broadly applicable as commonly believed. To do so, the Essay surveys some notable uses and misuses of the Butner rule in the 35 years since the case was decided and concludes that so long as Congress clearly states a federal purpose for modifying a party’s state law property rights at the moment a bankruptcy case is filed, such a modification is permissible
Detection of Mycobacterium Ulcerans in the Environment Predicts Prevalence of Buruli Ulcer in Benin
No full textBackground: Mycobacterium ulcerans is the causative agent of Buruli ulcer (BU), a destructive skin disease found predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa and south-eastern Australia. The precise mode(s) of transmission and environmental reservoir(s) remain unknown, but several studies have explored the role of aquatic invertebrate species. The purpose of this study was to investigate the environmental distribution of M. ulcerans in south-eastern Australia
Recognition of Environmental Rights for Pennsylvania Citizens: A Tribute to Chief Justice Castille
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Sustainable Development and its Discontents
No full textSustainable development (or sustainability) is a decision-making framework for maintaining and achieving human well-being, both in the present and into the future. The framework requires both consideration and achievement of environmental protection, social justice and economic development. In that framework, environmental protection must be integrated into decisions about social and economic development, and social justice and economic viability must be integrated into decisions about environmental quality. First endorsed by the world’s nations in 1992, this framework is intended to provide an effective response to the twin global challenges of growing environmental degradation and widespread extreme poverty. Sustainability provides a framework for humans to live in harmony with nature, rather than at nature’s expense. It may therefore be one of the most important ideas to come out of the 20th century. In the last two decades, the framework has become a touchstone in nearly every economic sector and at every level of government, unleashing an extraordinary range of creativity in all of those realms. Sustainable development is having a significant effect on the practice of law and on the way in which laws are written and implemented. Understanding the framework is increasingly important for law makers and lawyers. As sustainable development (or sustainability) has grown in prominence, its critics have become more numerous and more vocal. Three major lines of criticism are that the term is “too boring” to command public attention, “too vague” to provide guidance, and “too late” to address the world’s problems. Critics suggest goals such as abundance, environmental integrity, and resilience. Beginning with the international agreements that shaped the concept of sustainable development, this Article provides a functional and historical analysis of the meaning of sustainable development. It then analyzes and responds to each of these criticisms in turn. While the critics, understood constructively, suggest ways of strengthening this framework, they do not provide a compelling alternative. The challenge for lawyers, law makers, and others is to use and improve this framework to make better decisions