Virtue and the Law: The Good Moral Character Requirement in Occupational Licensing, Bar Regulation, and Immigration Proceedings

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (03) ◽  
pp. 1027-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah L. Rhode
Keyword(s):  
Moral Character ◽  
The United States ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Criminal Records ◽  
Occupational Licensing ◽  
Situational Influences ◽  
Reform Strategies ◽  
The Law ◽  
Licensing Laws

Character plays a crucial role in US law. This article explores flaws in how moral character requirements determine who can work in licensed occupations, who can practice law, and who can immigrate to the United States or become a citizen. Section I summarizes psychological research on character, which raises questions about a central legal premise that individuals have a settled disposition capable of accurately predicting their behavior independent of situational influences. Section II examines the role of moral character as an employment credential. Almost a third of the workforce is covered by licensing laws that typically require proof of good character and often unjustly penalize the seventy million Americans with criminal records. Section III examines the idiosyncratic and inconsistent application of moral character requirements for lawyers. Section IV focuses on similar flaws in immigration contexts. Section V identifies reform strategies to improve the fairness of character-related decisions in the law.

DIGITAL FINANCIAL TOOLS FOR SOCIALIZING PRIVATE LAW

2021 ◽  
pp. 208-224
Author(s):  
Julia S. Kharitonova ◽  
◽  
Larisa V. Sannikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Private Law ◽  
Property Relations ◽  
The World ◽  
The Law ◽  
Private Investors ◽  
The Way

Nowadays, the law is being transformed as a regulator of relations. The idea of strengthe-ning the regulatory role of technologies in the field of streamlining public relations is making much headway in the world. This trend is most pronounced in the area of regulation of private relations. The way of such access to the market as crowdfunding is becoming increasingly widespread. The issuing of the so-called secured tokens is becoming popular for both small businesses and private investors. The trust in new ways of attracting investments is condi-tioned by the applied technology - the use of blockchain as a decentralized transparent data-base management system. Under these conditions, there is such a phenomenon as the democ-ratization of property relations. Every individual receives unlimited opportunities to invest via technologies. Thus, legal scholars all over the world face the question about the role of the law and law in these relations? We believe that we are dealing with such a worldwide trend of regulating public relations as the socialization of the law. Specific examples of issuing tokens in Russia and abroad show the main global trends in the transformation of private law. The platformization of economics leads to the tokenization and democratization of property relations. In this aspect, the aim of lawyers should be to create a comfortable legal environment for the implementation of projects aimed at democratizing property relations in Russia. The socialization of private law is aimed at achieving social jus-tice and is manifested in the creation of mechanisms to protect the rights of the weak party and rules to protect private investors. Globalization requires the study of both Russian and foreign law. To confirm their hypothesis, the authors conducted a detailed analysis of the legislation of Russia, Europe and the United States to identify the norms allowing to see the process of socialization of law in the above field. The generalization of Russian and foreign experience showed that when searching for proper legal regulation, the states elect one of the policies. In some countries, direct regulation of ICOs and related emission relations are being created, in others, it is about the extension of the existing legislation to a new changing tokenization relationship. The European Union countries are seeking to develop common rules to create a regulatory environment to attract investors to the crypto industry and protect them. Asian countries are predominantly developing national legislation in isolation from one another, but most of them are following a unified course to encourage investment in crypto assets while introducing strict rules against fraud on financial markets. The emphasis on the protection of the rights of investors or shareholders, token holders by setting a framework, including private law mechanisms, can be called common to all approaches. This is the aim of private law on the way to social justice.

Does Aggression Make Us Human?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Vandello ◽  
Curtis Puryear
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Research ◽  
Biological Pathways ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Human Aggression ◽  
Situational Influences ◽  
Human Essence ◽  
Human Conflict ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Evolutionary Perspectives

This chapter explores the conceptual and practical implications of the idea that aggression is a defining element of the human essence. To determine whether aggression is part of the human essence, the chapter considers historical philosophical perspectives on this issue, such as Sigmund Freud’s belief that humans have an instinct toward destruction and violence. We also review psychological research on the topic that takes into account biological, environmental, personality, and situational influences on human aggression and incorporates cross-cultural, ethological, and evolutionary perspectives. In particular, we examine the role of culture in aggression and aggression as a tool of intrasexual competition. Finally, we discuss aggression in animals from an ethological perspective as well as the possible biological pathways of aggression. Collectively, the evidence suggests great malleability and adaptability in response to human conflict; Aggression is one of many tools humans use to solve problems of social living. Rather than an essence, aggression may be best thought of as a strategy that is sometimes viable and sometimes counterproductive.

scholarly journals Migraciones y fronteras en la época del fetichismo de la ley/ Migrations and borders in the age of the fetishism of the law

2018 ◽  
pp. 29-43
Author(s):  
Yerko Castro Neira
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Law ◽  
Human Displacement

En este artículo revisamos diversos aspectos que caracterizan a las migraciones y los desplazamientos humanos en la actualidad. Vemos cómo en diversas latitudes se repiten escenarios de violencias múltiples y complejas, que afectan a las personas y a los países. Con base en el trabajo de campo desarrollado en Tijuana, en la frontera de México con Estados Unidos, reflexionamos sobre el papel de la ley y la seguridad en la conformación de esos escenarios violentos. Así, nos proponemos cuestionar la ambigüedad de la ley y de los discursos de seguridad, intentando aportar a una visión en la que el derecho pueda coexistir con una cultura de sentimientos favorables a la convivencia humana y social diversa. Abstract In this paper, we review various aspects that characterize migrations and human displacement today. We see how, in different latitudes, scenarios of multiple and complex violence are repeated. Based on fieldwork developed in Tijuana, on the border of Mexico with the United States, we reflect on the role of law and security in shaping those violent scenarios. In this way, we propose to question the ambiguity of the law and security discourses, trying to contribute to a vision in which the law is in conformity with a culture of feelings favorable to the human and social diverse coexistence.

Authorizing Attacks in Response to Terrorist Attacks

2019 ◽  
pp. 21-39
Author(s):  
Patrycja Grzebyk
Keyword(s):  
Use Of Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Legal Justification ◽  
The Law ◽  
Legal Constraints

Some states (mainly the United States and Israel) intermingle the terms/principles of the law of armed conflicts/international humanitarian law regime and the regime of the law on the use of force in order to avoid legal constraints and to justify attacks against non-state armed groups in violation of the sovereignty of other states and the rights of particular persons. The counterterrorism strategy is created under the influence of legal arguments, and thus the recent trend of abusive interpretation of the regimes could encourage decision-makers to resort to military measures instead of using less intrusive instruments such as criminal cooperation. This tendency is more visible in times of crisis. States are then still interested in having legal justification for their actions, but they tend to see the role of law differently: the law is expected to serve the authorities, rather than to guide them, when the state’s fundamental interest—its security—is under threat.

Unequal Coverage

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Citizenship Status ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The Law

Unequal Coverage documents the everyday experiences of individuals across the United States as they attempted to access coverage and care in the five years following the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The contributors to this edited volume employ research methods rooted in ethnography and focused on how reform was actually experienced on the ground by frontline health care workers, the newly insured, and those who remained uninsured. The book argues that while the ACA did extend social protections to some groups previously excluded from health insurance, its design- and controversy-plagued implementation also created new forms of exclusion. Access to affordable coverage options were highly segmented by state of residence, income, and citizenship status. To explain and contextualize the stratified experiences of health reform that the book’s authors documented across nine states, Unequal Coverage explores interrelated themes from medical anthropology: stratified citizenship, risk, and responsibility. In the years since its enactment, some 20 million uninsured Americans gained access to insurance coverage. And yet, the law remained unpopular and politically vulnerable. This book illustrates lessons learned from the contentious implementation of the ACA and reveals how the law became a flashpoint for battles over inequality, fairness, and the role of government.

Occupation as Liberation: International Humanitarian Law and Regime Change

2004 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 51-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Chesterman
Keyword(s):  
Security Council ◽  
Regime Change ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Occupation ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
The Law

The U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 has been the subject of much discussion for its impact on the use of force outside of UN Security Council authorization. Less commented upon is the fact that the so-called “Operation Iraqi Freedom” resurrected a body of international law that had been dormant through the second half of the twentieth century: the law of military occupation. Developed at a time when war itself was not illegal, this doctrine became something of an embarrassment after the UN Charter established a broad prohibition on the use of force. Nevertheless, through the 1990s the United Nations itself had become involved in operations in Kosovo that looked distinctly like military occupation. Even the most liberal reading of the instruments governing occupation law, however, finds it hard to reconcile this law with military intervention and post-conflict occupation premised on regime change. This article first surveys the law of military occupation before briefly examining the role of the UN Security Council in post-conflict administration. It then turns to the ambiguous responsibilities accorded to the United States and Britain as occupying powers in Iraq in 2003–2004.

The Restatement and Beyond

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The United States ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Foreign Government ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
Domestic Jurisdiction ◽  
The Law

This book, The Restatement and Beyond, grapples with the most significant issues in contemporary U.S. foreign relations law. The chapters in this text respond to the recently published Fourth Restatement of the Foreign Relations Law. They review the context and assumptions on which that work relied, criticize that work for its analysis and conclusions, and explore topics left out of the published work that need research and development. Collectively, the essays in this book provide an authoritative study of the issues generating controversy today as those most likely to emerge in the coming decade. The book is organized in six parts. The first part provides a historical context for the law of foreign relations from the beginning of the twentieth century, when the United States first envisioned itself as a peer and competitor of the major European powers, to the present, when the United States, although a hegemon, faces deep unrest and uncertainty with respect to its position in the world. The next four parts look at contested issues in foreign relations law today, specifically the law of treaties, the role of domestic courts in interpreting and applying international law, the limits on domestic jurisdiction, and the law of immunity as to states, international organizations, and foreign government officials. The last part considers what this body of law might look like in the future as well as the difficulties raised by using the Restatement process as a way of contributing to the law’s development.

Social Closure

2019 ◽  
pp. 134-161
Author(s):  
Donald Tomaskovic-Devey ◽  
Dustin Avent-Holt
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Criminal Records ◽  
Occupational Licensing ◽  
Employment Contracts ◽  
Social Closure ◽  
Job Segregation ◽  
Institutional Variation

Social closure is a process through which some groups, implicitly or explicitly, draw categorical boundaries around themselves and others to monopolize resources. Social closure has two faces: opportunity-hoarding for actors’ categorical in-group and exclusion of the out-group. We explore closure case studies around criminal records, occupational licensing, education, non-compete employment contracts, job segregation, sexual harassment, access to science and technology jobs, and discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. The case studies also highlight the important role of organizational and institutional variation in the degree and incidence of closure processes. We conclude that closure processes can be challenged by usurpationary movements, institutional regulation, and interactional resistance.

Complex Legal Legacies: The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, Scientific Study, and Kennewick Man

2006 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan B. Bruning
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
The United States ◽  
Scientific Study ◽  
Cultural Affiliation ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Anthropological Study ◽  
The Law

Debates over disposition options for an inadvertently discovered set of early Holocene human remains known as Kennewick Man have fueled discussions about the scientific, cultural, and ethical implications of the anthropological study of human remains. A high-profile lawsuit over Kennewick Man has led to the most extensive judicial analysis to date of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the primary law affecting access to, and the ultimate disposition of, ancient human remains found in the United States. However, despite years of litigation, some key questions remain unanswered. The judicial decisions in Kennewick address important questions about determining Native American status and assessing cultural affiliation under the law. However, the court opinions fail to address the role of scientific study within NAGPRA's confines. This article examines NAGPRA and concludes that two provisions in the law expressly permit the scientific study of human remains if certain conditions are met. Significantly, Kennewick Man might have qualified for study under NAGPRA even if found to be Native American and culturally affiliated with the claimant tribes, which would have enabled study to proceed from the outset while the parties debated the issues of Native American status and potential cultural affiliation.

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