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Course:
Common Law
Introduction to Common Law
Studying the Common Law [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Can Laws Be Simple? [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Is Moral Relativism the Right Approach? [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
What Is Self-Ownership? [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Does Natural Law Matter? [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Common Law and the State of Nature [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Positive Law v. Natural Law [Introduction to Common Law]
Simple Rules v. Regulation [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Property and the Common Law
Public v. Private Property [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Capture and Dealing with Common Property [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Property Arrangements [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Complex Property Arrangements [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Undermining Voluntary Property Arrangements [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
What Is Property? [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Common vs. Private Property in the Roman System [No. 86]
Private Rights and Public Resources in Roman Law [No. 86]
Lockean Water Law versus Roman Water Law [No. 86]
Sovereignty Over the Waterways: Roman vs. Modern Views [No. 86]
How Do Roman Property Rules Deal with Beaches? [No. 86]
Introduction to Contracts
What is a Contract? [No. 86]
How Do Transactions Improve Societal Value? [No. 86]
Why Do Contracts in Law Require Consideration? [No. 86]
When Are Contracts Unenforceable? [No. 86]
Writs & Origins of the Modern Contract [No. 86]
Is Contract Theory Useful? [No. 86]
The Morality of a Contract [No. 86]
Is the Constitution a Contract? [No. 86]
What is Promissory Estoppel? [No. 86]
Are You Bound by a Form You Didn’t Read? [No. 86]
What is Limited Liability? [No. 86]
Contracts: King of the Common Law [No. 86]
The Flexibility of Contracts [No. 86]
What Makes a Contract Enforceable? [No. 86]
Common Law and Torts
Consensual Cases and Product Liability in Tort Law [No. 86]
How is the Law of Tort Organized? [No. 86]
Deliberate Harm in Tort Law [No. 86]
Medical Malpractice in Tort Law: Ordinary Negligence and Recklessness [No. 86]
Brown v. Kendall: The Line Between Consensual and Stranger Cases [No. 86]
Establishing Harm in Tort Law Part I: But-for Causation and Proximate Causation [No. 86]
Examples of Proximate Causation in Tort Law [No. 86]
The Directness of Causation When Charging Defendants for Losses [No. 86]
Common Law and Contracts
What is a contract? The elements of a contract [No. 86]
What role do contracts play in social order? [No. 86]
Why are there set terms in contracts? [No. 86]
What happens when a contract becomes “impossible”? [No. 86]
When are promises legally enforceable? Contracts as formal promises [No. 86]
Do standard agreements lead to exploitation? Advantages of standard agreements [No. 86]
What are limits on freedom of contract? Conspiracy, force, cartels, and rate regulation [No. 86]
Establishing conditions in contracts [No. 86]
Dealing with third party interests in contracts: Assignment & third-party beneficiaries [No. 86]
When Do We Need Contracts? [No. 86]
Classification in Contracts in the Roman System [No. 86]
Course:
Constitutional Law
The Structure of the Constitution
The Era of State Constitution Writing [No. 86]
The Importance of Structure v. Parchment Barriers [No. 86]
Diverse Views at the Founding [No. 86]
Why Should We be Bound by the Constitution? [No. 86]
How the Founders Perfected the British System [No. 86]
The Importance of the Preamble - “We the People” are Sovereign [No. 86]
A Democratic Version of Britain’s Mixed Regime [No. 86]
Slavery, States Rights, and the Constitution [No. 86]
The Structural Constitution as a Protection for Liberty [No. 86]
Due Process of Law [No. 86]
Why Do We Need a Structural Constitution? [No. 86]
The Law of Democracy [No. 86]
What is Popular Sovereignty? [No. 86]
What Kind of Document is the Constitution? [No. 86]
Why a Written Constitution? [No. 86]
The Common Law Part I: What is Common Law and What Role Did it Play in England? [No. 86]
The Common Law Part II: What Role Did Common Law Play in the New American Government? [No. 86]
How Did the Founders Decide on the Separation of Powers? [No. 86]
How Do the Legislative and Executive Powers Balance Each Other? [No. 86]
The Declaration & Constitution: Original Public Meaning [No. 86]
How Does the Structure of the Constitution Uphold the Rule of Law? [No. 86]
How Do Constitutional Property Rights Enable Economic Growth? [No. 86]
Government Intervention in the Economy During a Financial Crisis [No. 86]
Separation of Powers and Specialization [No. 86]
The Declaration & Constitution: The Framing of a Nation [No. 86]
How Federal Legislative Power Differs from State Legislative Power [No. 86]
Text, Structure, and History in Constitutional Law Casebooks [No. 86]
Federalism
Who Decides? That is the Question... [No. 86]
Can Federal Courts Dictate State Law? [No. 86]
51 Imperfect Solutions [No. 86]
Was Federalism Designed to Protect Slavery? [No. 86]
Federalism: We All Have Roles to Play [No. 86]
Laboratories of Experimentation [No. 86]
Enumerated Powers, the Necessary and Proper Clause, and Prigg v. Pennsylvania [No. 86]
New Federalism: Not Your Father’s Federalism [No. 86]
Key Cases on the Commerce Clause [No. 86]
What Power Does Congress Have to Regulate Commerce? [No. 86]
McCulloch v. Maryland: The Debate About Enumerated Federal Powers [No. 86]
Is NFIB v. Sebelius a Commerce Clause Case? [No. 86]
Federalism as Another Separation of Powers [No. 86]
The Demand for Federalism [No. 86]
Does the Federal Government Use of Financial Power Over States Amount to Coercion? [No. 86]
What is the Purpose of Article IV? [No. 86]
Electoral Chaos & the Twelfth Amendment [No. 86]
How Does the Difficulty of Legislating Protect Federalism? [No. 86]
What Can the Federal Government Do Better than the States? [No. 86]
How Does Federalism Result in More Competent and Competitive Governance? [No. 86]
Does the Commerce Clause Apply Only to Commerce? [No. 86]
How Does the Constitution Adapt to New Concepts of Liberty? [No. 86]
The Incorporated Bill of Rights and Federalism [No. 86]
Does the Stafford Act Apply During Pandemics? [No. 86]
Cooperative Federalism and the Growth of the Administrative State [No. 86]
Executive Power
How did the Framers define Executive Power? [No. 86]
Executive Removal Power Part II: The Problem of Independent Agencies [No. 86]
Executive Removal Power Part I: The Decision of 1789 [No. 86]
Who is an Officer of the United States? [No. 86]
The Appointments Clause and Democratic Accountability [No. 86]
What is the Constitutional Power of Presidential Appointments? [No. 86]
What experiences shaped the Founders’ perception of executive power? [No. 86 ]
How Powerful is the Executive Branch? [No. 86]
Can a President Choose to Not Enforce the Law? [No. 86]
Congressional Usurpation of Executive Power [No. 86]
The Founders and the Importance of Executive Power [No. 86]
What are Executive Orders? [No. 86]
Humphrey's Executor & Executive Appointments [No. 86]
Is there a Non-Partisan Standard for Evaluating Presidential Power? [No. 86]
Does the National Emergencies Act Increase Presidential Power? [No. 86]
What is the Defense Production Act? [No. 86]
Separation of Powers
How Do the Legislative and Executive Powers Balance Each Other? [No. 86]
How Did the Founders Decide on the Separation of Powers? [No. 86]
Constitutional Amendements
What Role Does the Bill of Rights Play? [No. 86]
History of the Bill of Rights [No. 86]
Have the Amendments Favored the National Government? [No. 86]
Judicial Power
Are administrative law judges constitutional? [No. 86]
Constitutional Law Stories: Heroes and Villains [No. 86]
Marbury v. Madison: Judicial Review and Judicial Supremacy [No. 86]
How Did the Framers View Judicial Power? [No. 86]
Conflict of Laws and Judicial Review [No. 86]
Can Courts Change the Constitution at Will? [No. 86]
The Role of the Supreme Court: What Happened? [No. 86]
Can the Supreme Court Change the Constitution Using Judicial Review? [No. 86]
Are Judges the Final Interpreters of the Constitution? [No. 86]
What is Civil Forfeiture and Why Has It Become Controversial? [No. 86]
Legislative Power
Why did the Framers Make it Hard for Congress to make Laws? [No. 86]
The Difficulties of Federal Legislation & How It Protects the Will of the People [No. 86]
The Power of the Senate in the Bicameral Legislature [No. 86]
Separation of Powers: The Legislative Branch [No. 86]
Congressional Transparency in the Budget Process [No. 86]
Does Congress Guard the Constitutional Power of Legislation? [No. 86]
What is the Purpose of the Contracts Clause in Article I? [No. 86]
Amendments
What Role Does the Bill of Rights Play? [No. 86]
History of the Bill of Rights [No. 86]
Have the Amendments Favored the National Government? [No. 86]
Five Exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule [No. 86]
What is the Exclusionary Rule? [No. 86]
What is the Lemon Test? Lemon v. Kurtzman [No. 86]
Remember the Ladies! [No. 86]
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan: A Landmark Case for Free Speech [No. 86]
The Founders
The 1787 Paradox: A Constitution Designed for Liberty That Protects Slavery [No. 86]
America's First Principles: The Declaration of Independence & Governing a Free Society [No. 86]
The Declaration of Independence: A Promissory Note for Liberty [No. 86]
Madison and the Fight for the Constitution
American Cincinnatus: George Washington Lays Down His Sword [Short Film]
Locke & Montesquieu: The Philosophers Behind the Founders
Exploring Federalist 51: Separation of Powers
Exploring Federalist 51: Legislative Power
The Declaration & Constitution: The Framing of a Nation [No. 86]
The Declaration & Constitution: Original Public Meaning [No. 86]
Why Should Law School Students Read Locke & Montesquieu? [The FSF Podcast]
Montesquieu’s Constitution | The Philosophers Behind the Founders [The FedSoc Films Podcast]
George Washington: Not Just Another Founder | American Cincinnatus [The FedSoc Films Podcast]
Founding Friends | Blueprint for American Rights [The FedSoc Films Podcast]
The Declaration & Constitution: The Legal Status of Founding Documents [No.86]
Course:
Roman Law
Approaches to Studying Roman Law
Is Roman Law a primitive system? [No. 86]
Why Study Roman Law? The Durability of Roman Law [No. 86]
Approaches to studying Roman Law [No. 86]
Do you need to be a classicist to understand Roman Law? [No. 86]
What was the Roman View of First Possession? Roman Rule v. John Locke [No. 86]
How Roman Law Evolved over 1,000 Years [No. 86]
The Roman Legal Structure for Territories [No. 86]
The Roman Law of Persons
What Does the Natural Law Say About Individual Persons? Guardianship and Incompetence [No. 86]
The Roman Law of Family Relationships: Paterfamilias [No. 86]
The Roman Law of Marriage [No. 86]
The Problem of Slavery: Natural Law v. Positive Law [No. 86]
The Modern Corporation's Roman Law Roots [No. 86]
The Roman Theory of Property Rights
Common vs. Private Property in the Roman System [No. 86]
Private Rights and Public Resources in Roman Law [No. 86]
Lockean Water Law versus Roman Water Law [No. 86]
Sovereignty Over the Waterways: Roman vs. Modern Views [No. 86]
How Do Roman Property Rules Deal with Beaches? [No. 86]
The Roman Law of Contracts
When Do We Need Contracts? [No. 86]
Classification in Contracts in the Roman System [No. 86]
The Roman Law of Tort
Roman Private Law as a Basis for Understanding Modern Public Law [No. 86]
What is the Law of Tort? [No. 86]
How Did the Romans Define Theft and Nuisance? [No. 86]
But-for vs. Direct Causation in Tort Law [No. 86]
Why is Self-Defense Justifiable as a Legal Principle? [No. 86]
Course:
Administrative Law
Introduction to Administrative Law
What is Administrative Law? [No. 86]
Classifying Different Kinds of Administrative Agencies [No. 86]
Growth of the Administrative State and the Administrative Procedure Act Compromise [No. 86]
Are Agencies Explicitly Contemplated by the Constitution? [No. 86]
A Brief History of Administrative Law [No. 86]
When do Regulations Have the Force of Law? [No. 86]
Agency Rulemaking
History of Benefit-Cost Analysis [No. 86]
Is it Time to Update the Administrative Procedure Act? [No. 86]
Civil Servants and Power at Administrative Agencies [No. 86]
The Internal Revenue Service: The Origin Story [No. 86]
What is Tax Exceptionalism? [No. 86]
Agency Rulemaking - Formal and Informal [No. 86]
Are Administrative Agencies Inherently Political? [No. 86]
Have Agency Policies Become More Political over Time? [No. 86]
Cooperative Federalism and the Growth of the Administrative State [No. 86]
When Are Agency Rules Problematic? [No. 86]
Pros and Cons of Agency Rulemaking [No. 86]
Administrative Law and the Executive
What is the Difference Between Executive and Independent Agencies? [No. 86]
What is OIRA Review? [No. 86]
How Does OIRA Make Agencies More Accountable? [No. 86]
Is OIRA Able to Serve Both Agencies and the Public? [No. 86]
What is OIRA and Why Does It Exist? [No. 86]
What Kind of Analysis Does OIRA Conduct? [No. 86]
Significant Regulations and OIRA Review [No. 86]
Should Independent Regulatory Commissions Be Subject to OIRA Review? [No. 86]
Where Do Agencies Fit In Our Constitutional Scheme? [No. 86]
Administrative Law and Congress
What is the Proper Relationship of Congress to Agencies? [No. 86]
Is There a Legal Difference Between Statutes and Rules? [No. 86]
Can Congress Sub-Delegate Legislative Powers? [No. 86]
Does the IRS Make Public Policy? [No. 86]
Why is Tax Law Important? [No. 86]
Administrative Law and the Courts
What is an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ)? [No. 86]
Are ALJ decisions the last word on agency policy? [No. 86]
Origins of the Chevron Deference Doctrine [No. 86]
Constitutional Concerns about Chevron [No. 86]
When and Why Would Courts Defer to Other Entities? [No. 86]
Why is the Chevron Doctrine Still Controversial? [No. 86]
Is the Question of Deference Only an Administrative Law Issue? [No. 86]
Chevron: A Gift or A Burden for Lower Courts? [No. 86]
Who Can Properly Be Called a Judge? [No. 86]
Agency Adjudication: What Power is Invested in These Courts? [No. 86]
John Marshall Defines Non-Delegation Doctrine [No. 86]
Non-Delegation Doctrine and the New Deal [No. 86]
King v. Burwell: Limits on the Scope of the Major Questions Doctrine [No. 86]
Mayo Foundation v. United States [No. 86]
Course:
Originalism
Originalism: Historic and Philosophic Roots
The Earth Belongs to the Living: Jefferson & Madison’s Debate [No. 86]
Intellectual Roots of the American Founding [No. 86]
Understanding the Constitution as Amended [No. 86]
Where does the Constitution get its authority? [No. 86]
The 14th Amendment interpreted against its original meaning [No. 86]
How Long Has Originalism Been Around? [No. 86]
Originalism and Determining Meaning
How far does the original meaning determine the legal meaning of the text? [No. 86]
Originalism and Uncovering Meaning [No. 86]
What is the original public meaning of “Officer of the United States”? [No. 86]
Evidence for the Original Public Meaning of “Officer” [No. 86]
Contenders in the Debate over the Construction Zone [No. 86]
Should We Focus on Individual Words or Overall Context in the Constitution? [No. 86]
What about rights didn't the Founders recognize? [No. 86]
How Do Originalists Interpret the Law? [No. 86]
Conceptual v. Normative Defenses of Originalism [No. 86]
Does Originalism mean there’s one right answer? [No. 86]
What is the Difference Between Interpretation and Construction? [No. 86]
Originalism and the Courts
Does the Supreme Court have the expertise to make public policy decisions? [No. 86]
Does the Implied Power of Judicial Review lead to “Living Constitutionalism”? [No. 86]
Is Natural Law Judicially Enforceable? Calder v. Bull [No. 86]
What About Brown v. Board of Education? [No. 86]
Should Courts Defer to Political Branches? [No. 86]
Modern Cases that Violate Original Meaning [No. 86]
Are Judges Competent to Determine Original Meaning? [No. 86]
Originalism and Precedent
When Should the Originalist Respect Precedent? [No. 86]
Is Originalism Too Hard An Enterprise? [No. 86]
Course:
Property
Property and the Common Law
Public v. Private Property [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Capture and Dealing with Common Property [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Property Arrangements [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Complex Property Arrangements [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Undermining Voluntary Property Arrangements [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
What Is Property? [Introduction to Common Law] [No. 86]
Common vs. Private Property in the Roman System [No. 86]
Private Rights and Public Resources in Roman Law [No. 86]
Lockean Water Law versus Roman Water Law [No. 86]
Sovereignty Over the Waterways: Roman vs. Modern Views [No. 86]
How Do Roman Property Rules Deal with Beaches? [No. 86]
Regulatory Takings
What is a regulatory taking? [No. 86]
Regulatory Takings Law: Penn Central v. City of New York [No. 86]
Regulatory Takings Law: Exceptions to the Penn Central Approach [No. 86]
Introduction to Property
Property Class and Learning to Think Like a Lawyer [No. 86]
How is Property Related to Torts? [No. 86]
Common Law Principles Part I: Property and Contracts [No. 86]
Limits on Property Rights: Reciprocity and Externalities [No. 86]
Does Property Class Always Start with a Fox Hunt? [No. 86]
Why Do We Need Personal Property Rights? [No. 86]
Pierson v. Post: The Backstory [No. 86]
The Roman Theory of Property Rights
Common vs. Private Property in the Roman System [No. 86]
Private Rights and Public Resources in Roman Law [No. 86]
Lockean Water Law versus Roman Water Law [No. 86]
Sovereignty Over the Waterways: Roman vs. Modern Views [No. 86]
How Do Roman Property Rules Deal with Beaches? [No. 86]
Course:
Contracts
Introduction to Contracts
What is a Contract? [No. 86]
How Do Transactions Improve Societal Value? [No. 86]
Why Do Contracts in Law Require Consideration? [No. 86]
When Are Contracts Unenforceable? [No. 86]
Writs & Origins of the Modern Contract [No. 86]
Is Contract Theory Useful? [No. 86]
The Morality of a Contract [No. 86]
Is the Constitution a Contract? [No. 86]
What is Promissory Estoppel? [No. 86]
Are You Bound by a Form You Didn’t Read? [No. 86]
What is Limited Liability? [No. 86]
Contracts: King of the Common Law [No. 86]
The Flexibility of Contracts [No. 86]
What Makes a Contract Enforceable? [No. 86]
The Roman Law of Contracts
When Do We Need Contracts? [No. 86]
Classification in Contracts in the Roman System [No. 86]
Common Law and Contracts
What is a contract? The elements of a contract [No. 86]
What role do contracts play in social order? [No. 86]
Why are there set terms in contracts? [No. 86]
What happens when a contract becomes “impossible”? [No. 86]
When are promises legally enforceable? Contracts as formal promises [No. 86]
Do standard agreements lead to exploitation? Advantages of standard agreements [No. 86]
What are limits on freedom of contract? Conspiracy, force, cartels, and rate regulation [No. 86]
Establishing conditions in contracts [No. 86]
Dealing with third party interests in contracts: Assignment & third-party beneficiaries [No. 86]
When Do We Need Contracts? [No. 86]
Classification in Contracts in the Roman System [No. 86]
Course:
Jurisprudence
Foundations of Law
The Relationship Between the Constitution & Natural Rights: Founding Era Debates [No. 86]
How Do Moral Judgments Underlie Positive Law? [No. 86]
What is the Basis of “Natural Rights?” [No. 86]
What is Jurisprudence? [No. 86]
How are Natural Rights Related to Just Laws? [No. 86]
Natural Law Jurisprudence: A Primer
Philosophical Questions About the Nature of Law [No. 86]
Three Ways to Talk about Law [No. 86]
Classical Jurisprudence [No. 86]
The Concept of Rights: A Tool or a Hindrance for Jurisprudence? [No. 86]
Can Natural Law Change When Human Nature Is Constant? [No. 86]
Does Natural Law Require a Belief in God? [No. 86]
Is the Natural Law Tradition Compatible with Precedent? [No. 86]
What is Natural Law? [No. 86]
Is Natural Law Relevant in a Mature Legal System? [No. 86]
Unpacking Natural Law Jurisprudence
Can Natural Law Change When Human Nature Is Constant? [No. 86]
Does Natural Law Require a Belief in God? [No. 86]
Is the Natural Law Tradition Compatible with Precedent? [No. 86]
Is Natural Law Relevant in a Mature Legal System? [No. 86]
Course:
Corporate Law
Introduction to Corporate Law
What Purpose Does the Corporate Form Serve? [No. 86]
Why Do Corporations Exist? [No. 86]
The Earliest Forms of Corporate Entities: Partnerships [No. 86]
