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Sealing the Deal: How Outside Factors Can Contribute to an American Book’s Success in the Foreign Market.
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Young Adult Fiction in 2015: Authors Teen Love, Topics They Need, and Fantasies Reimagined.
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Anarchy, Status Updates, and Utopia
Get PDFSocial software has a power problem. Actually, it has two. The first is technical. Unlike the rule of law, the rule of software is simple and brutal: whoever controls the software makes the rules. And if power corrupts, then automatic power corrupts automatically. Facebook can drop you down the memory hole; PayPal can garnish your pay. These sovereigns of software have absolute and dictatorial control over their domains.
Is it possible to create online spaces without technical power? It is not, because of social software’s second power problem. Behind technical power, there is also social power. Whenever people come together through software, they must agree which software they will use. That agreement vests technical power in whoever controls the software. Social software cannot be completely free of coercion—not without ceasing to be social, or ceasing to be software.
Rule-of-law values are worth defending in the age of software empires, but they cannot be fully embedded in software itself. Any technical design can always be changed through an exercise of social power. Software can help by making this coercion more obvious, or by requiring more people to join together in it, but software alone cannot fully protect users. Whatever limits make social software humane, free, and fair will have to come from somewhere else—they will have to come from We the Users
The Night is Dark and Full of . . . Family Law?: California Law and Marital Presumption in Game of Thrones
Get PDFThe television show Game of Thrones has developed a tremendous following in recent years. The show takes place primarily in the fictional state of Westeros, a feudal society that mirrors many of the legal structures of medieval England. As such, many of the laws and customs of Westeros seem antithetical to the beliefs and values of modern viewers. In an attempt to posit a more just outcome following the death of Westeros’ king (the action which springboards the primary power struggle), this Article applies California law to the disposition of King Robert’s property. Shockingly, this Article finds that California’s marital presumption laws are as unsettling as some of the laws found in Westeros itself.
This Article argues that the current marital presumption laws are outdated and badly in need of reform. Using the disposition of King Robert’s property as an example, this Article critiques the modern California Family Code’s approach to paternity disestablishment. Part I provides a description of the marital presumption rule. Part II applies it to situations such as King Robert’s where the father incorrectly believed that a child was his own. Part III concludes by suggesting how the law should be altered to create a more just outcome to situations of mistaken paternity.
While more information can be gleaned from A Song of Fire and Ice book series, this Article relies on the information obtained through the HBO series unless otherwise indicated. Additionally, this Article only addresses the disposition of property as it would occur under California law
Babies Behind Bars: An Evaluation of Prison Nurseries in American Female Prisons and Their Potential Constitutional Challenges
Get PDFThis note opens the prison doors and delves into the United States female prison system, primarily focusing on the positive and negative impact of nursery programs on mothers and children, along with potential constitutional claims that can be brought against these programs. Part I provides a general background about the American prison system, and briefly touches on the constitutional standards of prisoners’ rights. It also discusses the history and development of female prisons and illustrates the rapid increase of female incarceration. Part II focuses on the prevalence of mothers within the female population in prisons. Part III introduces prison nursery programs and explains their history and how they operate. Part IV discusses the positive impact prison nurseries have had on both mothers and children. Part V touches on a few negative effects and the limitations of these programs. Finally, Part VI raises three potential constitutional challenges that can be raised against prison nurseries: two arguments based on the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause and one argument based on the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause. As this note will conclude, there should be an increase in the implementation of prison nursery programs in American prisons, as the value of these programs greatly outweighs their limitations. Moreover, potential constitutional attacks on these programs should not be discouraging, as they are unlikely to prevail
Festschrift for Dean Simon
Get PDFOthers in the Festschrift will list Dean Simon’s many decanal accomplishments and initiatives, and I join them in their praise. I understand and accept the principle that law school faculty should be primarily engaged in teaching and scholarship, but I will always remember Dean Simon’s commitment to encouraging and supporting faculty involvement in outreach activities that benefit legal reform, the bench and bar, and the citizens of our community and state. I hope her successors will continue her outreach work and wish my old friend and valued colleague Dean Michelle Simon many more years of professional success and personal happiness
Balancing National Public Policy and Free Trade
Get PDFIn the wake of the impasse between the World Trade Organization (WTO) and India regarding the ratification of the Protocol to the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) that concluded during the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali, Indonesia on December of 2013, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo admitted that while the WTO succeeds in resolving trade disputes and monitoring trade practices, it “has failed to deliver new multilateral results since its creation.” This systemic failure in the trade negotiations pillar of the WTO is evident to all of its 160 Members. It is evident from thirteen years of stalled negotiations under the Doha Round; the inability of the WTO to encourage agreements between developing and developed countries on the Doha Development Agenda; the contemporaneous proliferation of around 585 regional trade agreements (RTAs) which, at best, have not facilitated any apparent global agreement under the Doha Round; and (more recently) India’s demand for permanent changes to WTO rules to avoid sanctioning developing countries’ food security policies. While many WTO Members have publicly criticized India for unfairly holding the TFA hostage, other powerful Green Room members at the WTO have maintained silence over India’s concerns on food security other than to affirm the devastating consequences of failing to ratify the TFA. These members maintain this silence even in light of economic and policy grounds that may well publicly demonstrate the critical importance to India that its continued participation in global trade under multilateral trading rules would have in ensuring cheaper access to food for India’s population and, ultimately, higher wages for India’s poorest