Praxis and Paradox: Inside the Black Box

In the American legal system, we typically conceive of legal disputes as governed by specific rules and procedures, resolved in a formalized court setting, with lawyers shepherding both parties through an adversarial process involving the introduction of evidence and burdens of proof. The often-highlighted exception to this understanding is the mass, assembly-line processing of cases, whether civil or criminal, in large, urban, lower-level courts. The gap left unfilled by either of these two narratives is how court functions for the average unrepresented litigant in smaller and nonurban jurisdictions across the United States. For many tenants facing eviction, elements of the typical formal legal process are absent, resulting in an experience that only loosely resembles what is taught in law school. This Article is based on a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary, multi-year, mixed-methods study of suburban and rural dispossessory (eviction) courts in Georgia that aims to contribute to the knowledge gap described above. Through detailed quantitative analysis of case files and qualitative data gleaned from court observation and stakeholder interviews, and its unique focus on courts outside of a major city, it provides a clearer picture of how eviction court in such jurisdictions operates in practice and what resulting variations in process mean for case outcomes. Ultimately, this Article demonstrates that while one set of laws may govern throughout the state, the process for applying and enforcing those laws is highly localized, dependent on the nature of place and the attitudes of the stakeholders involved. While smaller, lower-volume courts have fewer caseload pressures and appear to prioritize procedural justice, the process they conduct functions less like a traditional legal proceeding and more as a vehicle for rent collection. Paradoxically, elements typically associated with fair process-like the opportunity to respond to legal claims through filing an answer or the scheduling of a hearing on the merits-do not always manifest in substantively improved outcomes for tenants, given the structure of the underlying law. The Article concludes by reflecting on what these observations suggest about the limitations and effectiveness of different forms of legal assistance and how court processes, regardless of their locale and the people who operate within them, can maximize access to justice

Praxis and Paradox: Inside the Black Box of Eviction Court

In the American legal system, we typically conceive of legal disputes as governed by specific rules and procedures, resolved in a formalized court setting, with lawyers shepherding both parties through an adversarial process involving the introduction of evidence and burdens of proof. The often- highlighted exception to this understanding is the mass, assembly-line processing of cases, whether civil or criminal, in large, urban, lower-level courts. The gap left unfilled by either of these two narratives is how “court” functions for the average unrepresented litigant in smaller and nonurban jurisdictions across the United States. For many tenants facing eviction, elements of the “typical” formal legal process are absent, resulting in an experience that only loosely resembles what is taught in law school. This Article is based on a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary, multi-year, mixed-methods study of suburban and rural dispossessory (eviction) courts in Georgia that aims to contribute to the knowledge gap described above. Through detailed quantitative analysis of case files and qualitative data gleaned from court observation and stakeholder interviews, and its unique focus on courts outside of a major city, it provides a clearer picture of how eviction court in such jurisdictions operates in practice and what resulting variations in process mean for case outcomes. Ultimately, this Article demonstrates that while one set of laws may govern throughout the state, the process for applying and enforcing those laws is highly localized, dependent on the nature of place and the attitudes of the stakeholders involved. While smaller, lower-volume courts have fewer caseload pressures and appear to prioritize procedural justice, the process they conduct functions less like a traditional legal proceeding and more as a vehicle for rent collection. Paradoxically, elements typically associated with fair process—like the opportunity to respond to legal claims through filing an answer or the scheduling of a hearing on the merits—do not always manifest in substantively improved outcomes for tenants, given the structure of the underlying law. The Article concludes by reflecting on what these observations suggest about the limitations and effectiveness of different forms of legal assistance and how court processes, regardless of their locale and the people who operate within them, can maximize access to justice

THE CITY IN TIME AND SPACE: POLITICAL POWER, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND URBAN TRANSFORMATIONS, 1400-2010

This dissertation analyzes the world’s largest cities from 1400 to 2010, using a database of historical estimates of urban population that was compiled and developed by the author. Using this database, I identify a recurrent reorganization of global urban space moving between a hierarchical and heterarchical distribution of cities. Moreover, I show how this pendulum swing between hierarchy and heterarchy is highly correlated with recurrent crises of capital accumulation and associated shifts in the geographical center of power in the capitalist world economy. Finally, through a comparative-historical analysis of key cities over the past six centuries, this study develops a causal analysis of the relationship between systemic cycles of accumulation, urban (re)development, and crises of capital. By placing cities into a marco-historical perspective, this study shows how contemporary urban crises are embedded in the dynamics of capital accumulation over the longue durée. The comparative-historical analysis presented in this study helps demonstrate why much of the current literature on urbanization is unable to reconcile the role and history of ‘primate’ cities in the world economy of the twentieth century and the emergence of new urban spaces in the twenty-first century. By challenging the narrative of national urban development in the twentieth century, it becomes clear that the ongoing urban transformation of the twenty-first century is not unprecedented (as it is commonly argued in the literature on urbanization), but is part of a recurrent cyclical reorganization and secular expansion of capital accumulation. Finally, the longue durée analysis presented here leads us to expect a transition away from the national cities of the twentieth century and towards an urban form that in many ways shares a closer commonality, politically, to the city states of fifteenth century Italy and, demographically, to the imperial cities of the nineteenth century

Praxis and Paradox: Inside the Black Box of Eviction Court

In the American legal system, we typically conceive of legal disputes as governed by specific rules and procedures, resolved in a formalized court setting, with lawyers shepherding both parties through an adversarial process involving the introduction of evidence and burdens of proof. The often- highlighted exception to this understanding is the mass, assembly-line processing of cases, whether civil or criminal, in large, urban, lower-level courts. The gap left unfilled by either of these two narratives is how “court” functions for the average unrepresented litigant in smaller and nonurban jurisdictions across the United States. For many tenants facing eviction, elements of the “typical” formal legal process are absent, resulting in an experience that only loosely resembles what is taught in law school. This Article is based on a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary, multi-year, mixed-methods study of suburban and rural dispossessory (eviction) courts in Georgia that aims to contribute to the knowledge gap described above. Through detailed quantitative analysis of case files and qualitative data gleaned from court observation and stakeholder interviews, and its unique focus on courts outside of a major city, it provides a clearer picture of how eviction court in such jurisdictions operates in practice and what resulting variations in process mean for case outcomes. Ultimately, this Article demonstrates that while one set of laws may govern throughout the state, the process for applying and enforcing those laws is highly localized, dependent on the nature of place and the attitudes of the stakeholders involved. While smaller, lower-volume courts have fewer caseload pressures and appear to prioritize procedural justice, the process they conduct functions less like a traditional legal proceeding and more as a vehicle for rent collection. Paradoxically, elements typically associated with fair process—like the opportunity to respond to legal claims through filing an answer or the scheduling of a hearing on the merits—do not always manifest in substantively improved outcomes for tenants, given the structure of the underlying law. The Article concludes by reflecting on what these observations suggest about the limitations and effectiveness of different forms of legal assistance and how court processes, regardless of their locale and the people who operate within them, can maximize access to justice