Cert Grant Today
The Supreme Court granted review today in LabCorp v. Metabolite. The case turns on the scope of what processes are… Read More »Cert Grant Today
Law & Technology
Judge Alito on Copyright
Yesterday, Larry Ribstein offered a fascinating analysis of numerous of Judge Samuel Alito’s opinions in business law cases. Dave Hoffman,… Read More »Judge Alito on Copyright
On Designing the Network
Susan Crawford has a typically insightful post about the role of competition in communications law, and how competition policy may… Read More »On Designing the Network
Common Law and Institutional Design
Beth Noveck posts some interesting reflections on reading Fred Schauer’s recent piece, The Failure of the Common Law (36 Ariz. St. L.J. 765 (2004)). Schauer argues, descriptively, that the common law really isn’t so superior after all, since it relies on faith in a certain set of customary social patterns, and the growing particularization of law shows that the faith is fading. In light of Schauer, she wonders, what forms will legal institutions take? Look not to the common law in particular, or to institutional design in general, but to novel forms of lawmaking: open standards for software and open access principles for content. Debates between open and closed content will pull lawmaking away from older rules/standards dichotomies and into new, blended institutional designs that accommodate new customs, built on open and closed interests.
I wonder whether this line of thinking casts “the law” too narrowly as “the decisionmaker(s).”
Reporting for Duty
Greetings to Madisonian Theory regulars! I’m honored to join Mike and Brett, making the transition from loyal reader to novice… Read More »Reporting for Duty