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Autonomous Weapons: How Existing Law Can Regulate Future Weapons
Get PDFThis Article provides the first comprehensive analysis of how fundamental principles of IHL can and should be interpreted and applied in light of rapidly changing advances in warfare and the correlated humanitarian risks. This Article will accordingly focus on the challenge of using weapons with significant degrees of autonomy without violating IHL, as well as the challenges for IHL in regulating the use of this new technology
Silenced by Instruction
Get PDFCriminal law and procedure tell us a criminal defendant is presumed innocent. Jurors in criminal trials receive a specific instruction on the presumption of innocence prior to beginning deliberations in trial. But the instructions given to the jury in a number of jurisdictions when a defendant testifies is a significant legal obstacle standing in the way of the presumption of innocence. Jurors in a few states and federal courts all over the country receive instructions that a defendant’s testimony should be viewed with caution because of his interest in the outcome of the case. In other states the general instructions about assessing credibility of all witnesses asks courts to consider the witnesses “interest in the outcome of the case.” Since no one has a clearer or more apparent interest in the outcome of the case than the defendant, any type of instructions that highlights an interest in the outcome of the case undermines the presumption of the innocence is a significant infringement on his constitutional right. Despite the presumption of innocence, jurors are told when a person accused of a crime proclaims his innocence in the courtroom, that testimony should be viewed with skepticism. This Article shows how these types of instructions work to silence defendants. The Article proposes a new jury instruction that should be given whenever an accused person testifies
Judging Hypocrisy
Get PDFEditorialists, politicians, and others sometimes accuse U.S. Supreme Court Justices of hypocrisy, especially when they believe that divisions among the Justices are the product of partisan loyalties rather than good-faith differences in impartial legal judgment. These hypocrisy charges pose a serious threat to the Court’s legitimacy. In legal circles and elsewhere, however, one finds a remarkable lack of clarity about what hypocrisy is and the moral precepts that define its boundaries. As a result, participants in public discourse about the Court can easily find themselves talking past one another. To be assured that the Justices are not hypocrites with respect to their commitment to impartiality, for example, is it sufficient to be persuaded that the Justices are not trying to deceive us when they say they do not regard themselves as mere politicians in robes, or is more required? In this Article, I offer a conceptual framework for thinking about hypocrisy of all sorts. I argue that hypocrisy appears in three principal forms—Faking Hypocrisy, Concealing Hypocrisy, and Gerrymandering Hypocrisy—and I identify the anti-equality thread that runs through all of them. I then show how this three-part framework can deepen our thinking about the work of the Court. With respect to the Justices’ pledge to be impartial, for example, I argue that there are circumstances in which the Justices can be guilty of hypocrisy only if they are schemers bent on duping the American public into believing they are unbiased. In other circumstances, however, the Justices can be guilty of hypocrisy even if they sincerely believe they are doing what the law requires
Bringing Relevance Back to Consumer Bankruptcy
Get PDFThis Paper was presented at the Seventeenth Annual Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal Symposium in February of 2020. Less than a month later, all or most travel had ceased and many of us began the process of social distancing and restructuring our lives in the face of the coronavirus. No one could have predicted this event and its effects on the world are both profound and unknown. The virus has uncovered or at least highlighted vast inequalities in our entire economic system, including consumer credit systems. While some of us lament not being able to see our friends or teach live classes, others wonder when they will see their next paycheck, how they will pay the rent, or feed their families
The Fraudulent Conveyance Origins of Chapter 11: An Essay on the Unwritten Law of Corporate Reorganizations
Get PDFIn the first few decades of the Bankruptcy Code, experienced reorganization professionals followed a set of norms that ensured that parties, notwithstanding their conflicting positions, would continue bargaining with each other. Such norms helped keep the parties bargaining with each other, and these norms followed a few familiar patterns. In this Essay, Professor Baird contends that time and tradition have produced unwritten rules with respect to the conduct of a reorganization. These unwritten rules are now an essential feature of corporate reorganization practice. Baird reconceptualizes the role of the judges, who he argues no longer are neutral arbiters of disputes, and are more like vigilant referees, intervening if one of the players violates these unwritten rules
Cross-Fertilization of Westphalian Approaches to International Law: Third World Studies and a New Era of International Law Scholarship
Get PDFThis Article explores the possibility of creating new legal paradigms in the changing global context and looks at what it means for Chinese and Indian leaders and scholars to have a Third World Approaches to International Law attitude. In this process, emphasis is placed on the importance of scholars adopting a multidisciplinary approach to fully understand international law in general, as well as to appreciate new Asian paradigms
Panel I: Data Privacy as It Relates to Financial Services
No full textPanel I: Data Privacy as It Relates to Financial Services
(Moderator) Nicole Morris, Director of TI:GER and Professor in Practice, Emory University School of La
Where’s My Refund? How to Address Overpaid Domestic Support Obligations under the Bankruptcy Code
Get PDFDomestic support obligations are a source of much debate among bankruptcy courts throughout the United States. Concomitantly, overpayments of domestic support obligations are no exception. Courts across the nation are split as to whether overpayments of support debts fall within the definition of a domestic support obligation listed in 11 U.S.C. §101(14A). The specific language enumerated in §101(14A) giving rise to the jurisdictional split pertains to whether the debt in question is “in the nature of alimony, maintenance, or support.” Courts that deem overpaid support debts as domestic support obligations focus on the debt’s function at the time of the original agreement whereas other courts reject this approach and view the overpayment as a simple money judgment. This discrepancy has led to an inequity for families across the nation as jurisdictions throughout the United States produce distinctive interpretations of overpaid support debts. This Comment will specifically analyze overpaid domestic support obligations with reference to the 11 U.S.C. §507 list of priorities and §523 exceptions to discharge. In order to remedy the jurisdictional split, I propose a new set of standards for bankruptcy courts to follow when confronted with overpaid domestic support obligations. Instead of understanding child support and alimony collectively within the term domestic support obligation, I propose that the two obligations should be considered independently. The emerging standards include three main factors: (1) all domestic support obligations should be excepted from discharge, (2) the overpayment of child support should be entitled to priority status whereas (3) the overpayment of alimony should not. These standards are determined after analyzing the jurisdictional split, Congress’s intent in drafting the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the substance of the obligation, and the intent and current condition of the parties. Exceptions to the standards arise when confronted with unique circumstances; however, this interpretation should be followed as a general rule
Stingy Bankruptcy Relief is Sinking the U.S. Economy
Get PDFProfessor Lander responds to Professor Martin’s article by pointing out that the issue may not be so black and white. This Article lays out the factors that policymakers should consider when they make consumer bankruptcy policy and discussed the forces on the various sides of the debate on that issue. Lander argues that our current stingy bankruptcy relief system is killing the economy and supports Professor Martin’s proposal to see bankruptcy as a key for reducing inequality
The Impact of Religion on Character Formation, Ethical Education and the Communication of Values in Late Modern Pluralistic Societies
No full textPluralism has become the defining characteristic of modern societies. Individuals with differing values clamor for equality. Organizations and groups assert particular interests. Social movements flourish and fade. Some see in this clash of principles and aims the potential for a more just human community, while others fear the erosion of enduring culture. Yet beneath this welter stand powerful and pervasive institutions, whose distinctive norms profoundly shape our moral commitments and character—notably the family, the market, the media, and systems of law, religion, politics, research, education, health care, and defense.https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/cslr-books/1132/thumbnail.jp