Introduction The post provides a very basic introduction to the idea of "second best." The term "second best" originated in a famous 1956 article by Lipsey and Lancaster (see
bibliography), and it was originally used as a technical economic concept. Despite its technical origins, the idea behind the second best is very general: sometimes [...]
The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends Fidelity & Constraint: How the Supreme Court Has Read the American Constitution by Lawrence Lessig. Here is a description: The fundamental
fact about our Constitution is that it is old -- the oldest written constitution in the world. [...]
The Download of the Week is Originalism and the Law of the Past by William Baude (& Stephen E. Sachs. Here is the abstract: Originalism has long been criticized for its
“law office history” and other historical sins. But a recent “positive turn” in originalist thought may help make peace between history and law. [...]
Joao Andrade Neto (Universität Hamburg; Albrecht Mendelssohn Bartholdy Graduate School of Law; Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais) has posted On the (dis)Similar
Properties of Legal and Moral Duties (Paula, André Ferreira Leite de; Santacoloma Santacoloma, Andrés (eds.). [...]
Joao Andrade Neto (Universität Hamburg; Albrecht Mendelssohn Bartholdy Graduate School of Law; Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais) has posted On the (dis)Similar
Properties of Legal and Moral Duties (Paula, André Ferreira Leite de; Santacoloma Santacoloma, Andrés (eds.). [...]
Aya Gruber (University of Colorado Law School) has posted Sex Wars as Proxy Wars (Critical Analysis of Law. Vol. 6 (2019)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The clash between
feminists and queer theorists over the meaning of sex — danger versus pleasure — is well-trodden academic territory. [...]
Sophia Z. Lee (University of Pennsylvania Law School) has posted Our Administered Constitution: Administrative Constitutionalism from the Founding to the Present (University
of Pennsylvania Law Review) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article argues that administrative agencies have been primary interpreters and implementers of the [...]
Gerald J. Postema (University of North Carolina - Philosophy) has posted The British Tradition of Legal Positivism (Forthcoming in A Companion to Legal Positivism, Torben Spaak
and Patricia Mindus, eds. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This essay traces a thematic thread through broadly Anglophone [...]
Lisa Heinzerling (Georgetown University Law Center) has posted A Meditation on Juliana v. United States on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In this essay, I try to see, and to
appreciate, the wisdom in a species of climate litigation that has many detractors. [...]
Nadia E. Nedzel (Southern University Law Center) has posted The United States, Checks and Balances, and a Commercial Republic – An Experiment on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This chapter explains how the concept of the rule of law grew and changed in the founding of the United States. [...]
