A Theory of Legal Strategy

By the conventional view, case outcomes are largely the product of courts\u27 application of law to facts. Even when courts do not generate outcomes in this manner, prevailing legal theory casts them as the arbiters of those outcomes. In a competing strategic view, lawyers and parties construct legal outcomes in what amounts to a contest of skill. Though the latter view better explains the process, no theory has yet been propounded as to how lawyers can replace judges as arbiters. This article propounds such a theory. It classifies legal strategies into three types: those that require willing acceptance by judges, those that constrain the actions of judges, and those that entirely deprive judges of control. Strategies that depend upon the persuasion of judges are explained through a conception of law in which cases and statutes are almost wholly indeterminate and strategists infuse meaning into these empty rules in the process of argumentation. Such meaning derives from social norms, patterns of outcomes, local practices and understandings, informal rules of factual inference, systems imperatives, community expectations, and so-called public policies. Constraint strategies operate through case selection, record-making, legal planning, or media pressure. Strategists deprive judges of control by forum shopping, by preventing cases from reaching decision, or by causing them to be decided on issues other than the merits. The theory presented explains how superior lawyering can determine outcomes, why local legal cultures exist, how resources confer advantages in litigation, and one of the means by which law evolves

Searching for VHE gamma-ray emission associated with IceCube neutrino alerts using FACT, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS

The realtime follow-up of neutrino events is a promising approach to searchfor astrophysical neutrino sources. It has so far provided compelling evidencefor a neutrino point source: the flaring gamma-ray blazar TXS 0506+056 observedin coincidence with the high-energy neutrino IceCube-170922A detected byIceCube. The detection of very-high-energy gamma rays (VHE, $\mathrm{E} >100\,\mathrm{GeV}$) from this source helped establish the coincidence andconstrained the modeling of the blazar emission at the time of the IceCubeevent. The four major imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope arrays (IACTs) -FACT, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS - operate an active follow-up program oftarget-of-opportunity observations of neutrino alerts sent by IceCube. Thisprogram has two main components. One are the observations of known gamma-raysources around which a cluster of candidate neutrino events has been identifiedby IceCube (Gamma-ray Follow-Up, GFU). Second one is the follow-up of singlehigh-energy neutrino candidate events of potential astrophysical origin such asIceCube-170922A. GFU has been recently upgraded by IceCube in collaborationwith the IACT groups. We present here recent results from the IACT follow-upprograms of IceCube neutrino alerts and a description of the upgraded IceCubeGFU system.<br

Gypsy law: Romani legal traditions and culture

Approximately one thousand years ago Gypsies, or Roma, left their native India. Today Gypsies can be found in countries throughout the world, their distinct culture still intact in spite of the intense persecution they have endured. This authoritative collection brings together leading Gypsy and non-Gypsy scholars to examine the Romani legal system, an autonomous body of law based on an oral tradition and existing alongside dominant national legal networks. For centuries the Roma have survived by using defensive strategies, especially the absolute exclusion of gadje (non-Gypsies) from their private lives, their values, and information about Romani language and social institutions. Sexuality, gender, and the body are fundamental to Gypsy law, with rules that govern being pure (vujo) or impure (marime) . Women play an important role in maintaining legal customs, having the power to sanction and to contaminate, but they are not directly involved in legal proceedings. These essays offer a comparative perspective on Romani legal procedures and identity, including topics such as the United States' criminalization of many aspects of Gypsy law, parallels between Jewish and Gypsy law, and legal distinctions between Romani communities. The contributors raise broad theoretical questions that transcend the specific Gypsy context and offer important insights into understanding oral legal traditions. Together they suggest a theoretical framework for explaining the coexistence of formal and informal law within a single legal system. They also highlight the ethical dilemmas encountered in comparative law research and definitions of "human rights.