Legislative history
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"Revenge Porn" Reform: a View From the Front Lines Open
The legal and social landscape of "revenge porn" has changed dramatically in the last few years. Before 2013, only three states criminalized the unauthorized disclosure of sexually explicit images of adults and few people had ever heard th…
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Does mandatory reporting legislation increase contact with child protection? – a legal doctrinal review and an analytical examination Open
These findings show that mandatory reporting laws increase reporting contact with CPO, particularly for severe and frequent CM. Whether they have had the intended effect of improving children's lives remains an important, unanswered questi…
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Rape Trials and Sexual History Evidence Open
Despite repeated legislative attempts to restrict the use of sexual history evidence in rape trials, it continues to be admitted in many cases, causing considerable debate and leading to further attempts to reform the law. In this light, t…
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Clarity in Remedies for Patent Cases Open
This Article summarizes more detailed work done elsewhere and argues that after more than a decade of disjointed application and discussion regarding eBay’s precedent, it is time to add clarity to remedies for patent cases. Part I chronicl…
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Thinking justice outside the docket: A critical assessment of the reform of the EUS court system Open
The 2015 reform of the EU’s court system will go down in history as the most radical transformation of the EU judicial architecture since the establishment of the General Court in 1989. It doubles the number of General Court judges but als…
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Rejecting Word Worship: An Integrative Approach to Judicial Construction of Insurance Policies Open
Litigation over insurance coverage is really a quest for meaning: Does the insurance policy cover the loss at issue? Construing the insurance policy, courts are attempting to give legal effect to what the document purports to command. But …
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Three Kinds of Intention in Lawmaking Open
The nature of legislative intent remains a subject of vigorous debate. Its many participants perceive the intent in different ways. In this paper, I identify the reason for such diverse perceptions: three intentions are involved in lawmaki…
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The Internet as a Speech Machine and Other Myths Confounding Section 230 Reform Open
A robust public debate is currently underway about the responsibility of online platforms. We have long called for this discussion, but only recently has it been seriously taken up by legislators and the public. The debate begins with a ba…
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Lessons From the Long and Winding Road to Medicare for All Open
Recently there has been a surge in political attention to Medicare for all, the latest chapter in a long history of conflict over national health insurance in the United States. This essay places the current Medicare for all debate in hist…
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Hitchhikers’ guide to the legal context of protected area management plans in South Africa Open
Background: Although formal protected areas in South Africa date back to the turn of the 19th century, requirements for protected area management plans only became mandatory a century later. Prior to the promulgation of the World Heritage …
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With and Without 'Best Interests': the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Adults With Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 and constructing decisions Open
This article compares the bases upon which actions are taken or decisions are made in relation to those considered to lack the material capacity in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (‘MCA’) and the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 (‘A…
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Disability Rights in the Age Of Uber: Applying the Americans With Disabilities Act Of 1990 To Transportation Network Companies Open
Within the past year, individual plaintiffs and disability rights organizations have initiated a number of lawsuits against Uber, and similar companies like Lyft, alleging violations of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1…
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The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): A Brief Legislative History Open
This report provides a general overview of the current earned income tax credit (EITC). The report summarizes the key legislative changes to the credit and provides analysis of some of the congressional intentions behind these changes. An …
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Lobbying and the Petition Clause Open
Contrary to popular opinion, the Supreme Court has not yet resolved whether lobbying is constitutionally protected. Belying this fact, courts, Congress, and scholars mistakenly assume that lobbying is protected under the Petition Clause. B…
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Irresponsible Corporate-Responsibility Rules Open
A wave of legislative efforts in the first half of this decade, at both the federal and state levels, has steered corporations to engage in corporate social responsibility. At the national level, Congress is increasingly calling upon the S…
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Exploring the Federal Arbitration Act Through the Lens of History Open
My initial interest in the history of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) arose out of my experiences representing clients and seeing how the FAA could be a game-changer for dispute resolution. In light of the broad and powerful use of the s…
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Robots, Pirates, and the Rise of the Automated Takedown Regime: Using the DMCA to Fight Piracy and Protect End-Users Open
This very second, a battle between robots and pirates is being waged online. Pirates are stealing content from copyright holders and uploading it to various websites. Robots are crawling the Web, searching for pirated content. When a robot…
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Protected Class Gatekeeping Open
Courts routinely begin their analyses of discrimination claims with the question of whether the plaintiff has proven he or she is a “member of the protected class.” Although this refrain may sometimes be an empty formality, it has taken on…
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‘Not Just the Ideas of a Few Enthusiasts’: Early Twentieth Century Legal Activism and Reformation of the Age of Sexual Consent Open
In July 1885, a reluctant House of Lords was eventually persuaded to pass the Criminal Law Amendment Bill after three years of intense Parliamentary debate and prompted by W.T. Stead’s shocking expose of the Maiden Tribute scandal. The 188…
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The History of Denying Federal Financial Aid to System-Impacted Students Open
People who are impacted by the criminal justice system (“system-impacted”) face barriers when seeking financial aid to pay for college. Between the late 1960s and the early 2000s, Congress created laws that prohibited incarcerated students…
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Façadism, Building Renovation and the Boundaries of Authenticity Open
The paper presents the history and trends of façadism, with examples from around the world, including a case where the State intervened for the suspension of façadism plans after alarmed academics referred to the Supreme Administrative C…
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The Legislative History of the Administrative Procedure Act Open
During the twentieth century, one of the most important developments in American government and politics was the expanding power of administrative agencies of all kinds. The enactment of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) of 1946 was…
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When was co-drafting ‘invented’? On history and concepts in Legal Translation Studies Open
Scholars of legal translation have shown particular interest in the methods of multilingual legislative drafting that are used in several national and international institutions. The origin of these methods is usually traced back to Canada…
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Textual Gerrymandering: The Eclipse of Republican Government in an Era of Statutory Populism Open
We have entered the era of a fracturing high textualism, illustrated by the three warring original public meaning opinions in the blockbuster sexual orientation case, Bostock v. Clayton County. This paper provides conceptual tools that all…
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33rd Annual APRN Legislative Update Open
In a year unlike any other in recent history, healthcare workers, including advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), faced challenges and triumphs as the frontline in the battle against COVID-19. This 33 rd Annual Legislative Update co…
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Present at Antitrust's Creation: Consumer Welfare in the Sherman Act's State Statutory Forerunners Open
For the last four decades, federal courts have construed the Sherman Act as a consumer welfare statute. But considerable disagreement persists within the legal academy regarding the true legislative aims of American antitrust law. This Not…
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Legal History of Medical Aid in Dying: Physician Assisted Death in U.S. Courts and Legislatures Open
Terminally ill patients in the United States have four medical options for controlling the time and manner of their death. Three of these are legally available to certain clinically qualified patients. First, all patients may withhold or w…
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Revisiting a Classic Problem in Statutory Interpretation: Is a Minister a Laborer? Open
This study presents a new analysis of an iconic United States Supreme Court case, Holy Trinity Church v. United States (1892). The question in Holy Trinity Church concerned whether a law making it illegal to pay the transportation of a per…
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Facing the Inevitable: The Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine and the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 Open
Congress passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act in 2016, creating the first federal cause of action for trade secret misappropriation in the United States. State law has historically governed trade secret misappropriation claims. Certain stat…
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An analysis of issues relating to the taxation of cryptocurrencies as financial instruments Open
CITATION: Basson, R. 2020. An analysis of issues relating to the taxation of cryptocurrencies as financial instruments. Journal of Economic and Financial Sciences, 13(1):a487, doi:10.4102/jef.v13i1.487.