Comments on Law and Versteeg's The Declining Influence of the United States Constitution

Governmen

On the Evasion of Executive Term Limits

Executive term limits are pre-commitments through which the polity restricts its ability to retain a popular executive down the road. But in recent years, many presidents around the world have chosen to remain in office even after their initial maximum term in office has expired. They have largely done so by amending the constitution, or sometimes by replacing it entirely. The practice of revising higher law for the sake of a particular incumbent raises intriguing issues that touch ultimately on the normative justification for term limits in the first place. This article reviews the normative debate over term limits and identifies the key claims of proponents and opponents. It introduces the idea of characterizing term limits as a variety of default rule to be overcome if sufficient political support is apparent. It then turns to the historical evidence in order to assess the probability of attempts (both successful and unsuccessful) to evade term limits. It finds that, notwithstanding some high profile cases, term limits are observed with remarkable frequency. The final section considers alternative institutional designs that might accomplish some of the goals of term limits, but finds that none is likely to provide a perfect substitute. Term limits have the advantage of clarity, making them relatively easy constitutional rules to enforce, and they should be considered an effective part of the arsenal of democratic institutions

Baghdad, Tokyo, Kabul ...: Constitution Making in Occupied States

Governmen

Military Occupations and Their Constitutional Residual

Governmen

What Counts as Good Writing for Knausgaard?

The essays I am posting on Humanities Commons are also on Librarything and Goodreads. These aren’t reviews. They are thoughts about the state of literary fiction, intended principally for writers and critics involved in seeing where literature might be able to go. Each one uses a book as an example of some current problem in writing

Deconstructing Danielewski's "Complexity"

The essays I am posting on Humanities Commons are also on Librarything and Goodreads. These aren’t reviews. They are thoughts about the state of literary fiction, intended principally for writers and critics involved in seeing where literature might be able to go. Each one uses a book as an example of some current problem in writing

Incoherences of the Art World

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Fundação Millennium bc

The Legal Persona: An Essay on the Professional Mask

The legal profession offers little opportunity for the practitioner to analyze the fundamental constructs underlying the legal system or the dynamics of the lawyering process. Jurisprudence and legal education traditionally have emphasized the external aspects of law, implying that man is a rational decisionmaker who freely controls his life and shapes societal institutions., This approach is unrealistic because it neglects the psychological dimension of man and the complexity of man\u27s behavior. Jurisprudential scholars and legal educators should recognize that a growing body of sophisticated literature in linguistics and anthropology as well as social psychology and psychiatry is also relevant to the study of the lawyer in society. This essay adopts a socio-psychological frame of reference and explores the images and guises of the lawyer as a professional in an attempt to add a new perspective to contemporary philosophy of lawyering

Book Review

Shaffer suggests a new paradigm for law practice that is not based on rigid control of clients in an impersonal attorney-client relationship. He argues forcefully that disregard for the client\u27s emotions ignores important facts that can be used in the law office and the legal process. Shaffer\u27s work suggests the possibility of gaining personal satisfaction and of providing more adequate legal services by actively counseling and understanding clients. Such a humanistic approach to the practice of law can be rooted only in an awareness of the psychological and social defenses erected against both the attorney\u27s clients and the attorney\u27s impact on society. Attorneys must learn to deal with the human emotions and feelings of clients primarily through managing their own greatest fear-the fear of knowing who they truly are. Shaffer\u27s prescription for law practice allows attorneys to ground and center themselves in authentic human experience through their work with clients. Legal Interviewing and Counseling offers a preliminary blueprint for that process