Showing papers in "American Journal of Legal History in 2004"
TL;DR: Brownlee as discussed by the authors provides a comprehensive historical overview of the US federal tax systems published since 1967, covering from the ratification of the Constitution to the present day, and describes the five principal stages of federal taxation in relation to the crises that led to their adoption.
Abstract: This brief survey is the first comprehensive historical overview of the US federal tax systems published since 1967. Its coverage extends from the ratification of the Constitution to the present day. Brownlee describes the five principal stages of federal taxation in relation to the crises that led to their adoption - the formation of the republic, the Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II - and discusses the significant modifications during the Reagan presidency. While focusing on federal policy, Brownlee also attends to the related history of state and local taxation. This 'democratic-institutionalist' interpretation is a novel and major contribution to the history of taxation and public finance. Now in a new edition, Brownlee extends his coverage to the present, with a new chapter focusing on the current tax policies of the George W. Bush administration.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors trace the role American academics played in shaping Indian legal education and reveal that the belief held by both Ford and its Indian partners that the American law school model could successfully be exported to India soon came to be rejected by many of these U.S. professor-consultants.
Abstract: On January 26, 1950 the Constitution of India came into effect. Nearly two and one-half years after winning independence from Britain, India enacted one of the most detailed, rights-based constitutions ever seen in the history of the world. The passage of such a democratic constitution was inspirational - not just for a country that endured centuries' of both informal and formal colonial rule, but also for those in the West. Many American observers, in particular, looked upon with awe as this economically poor, yet fiercely independent nation sought to embrace political and legal principles that had long been valued within the United States. The Ford Foundation - one of the world's leading philanthropic institutions based in the U.S. - soon also became infatuated with the promise and overall idea of India. For Ford, India exhibited great potential: its political and military leaders opted for democracy rather than dictatorship; its first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a dynamic, Western-educated figure committed to economic development and modernization; and it retained English as a main national language, thereby giving Americans, who so desired, a better opportunity to work more easily within the country. For these and as we shall see other reasons, the Ford Foundation began to take a serious interest in India. One area that Ford especially focused on involved the development of legal education. Policymakers at Ford Headquarters in New York as well as at Ford's New Delhi office believed that for Indian democracy to succeed, the country needed to have well-established, rule-based institutions administered by those educated in the legal principles of equity, due process, and individual rights. These officials consulted with a number of Indian legal elites, several of whom had studied in the United States, and together these Americans and Indians concluded that law schools in India would be the ideal place to promote such legal principles. After all, having Indians educated in Western legal doctrine was critical for maintaining Weberian, democratic institutions; and the hope was that this in turn would lead to greater public respect for the rule of law. Beginning in the 1950s, Ford thus began spending millions of dollars and decades of energy working with Indians to create strong schools of law. One of the first steps Ford took in its initiative was to hire a number of respected American law professors as consultants. These academics were charged with traveling to India, assessing the legal educational environment, and providing recommendations to both Ford and the government of India for how to improve the country's legal education system. Given that many of India's elite had routinely praised the American law school model, Ford worked under the reasonable assumption that U.S. academics would be in the best position to advise their Indian counterparts. As I will discuss, however, this assumption proved at best to be questionable. To date, no work has presented the views of the academic consultants hired by Ford. For decades these reports were confidential and the consultants were equally reluctant to talk about their opinions. But perhaps because enough time has passed and Ford's involvement in this area has waned, I was granted access to all of Ford's documents on legal education in India. I also was able to interview key American scholars who served as advisors to Ford. In this study I trace the role American academics played in shaping Indian legal education. As I show, the belief held by both Ford and its Indian partners that the American law school model could successfully be exported to India soon came to be rejected by many of these U.S. professor-consultants. A consensus developed among these American academics that India's distinctive history, traditions, and legal profession - not to mention its economic struggles and political climate - would make it difficult for the American law school model to thrive in this environment. And to their surprise, these consultants found that Indian legal scholars, who were not affiliated with Ford, had their own innovative ideas on how to improve the country's legal education system.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that Wharton's jurisprudence was an intriguing mixture of classicism, evangelical Protestantism, and non-Darwinian evolutionary theory, and that in blending law and morals, Wharton was more typical of classical scholars than the more widely studied Langdell.
Abstract: Francis Wharton was one of the Gilded Age's most productive legal scholars. Over a lifetime filled with accomplishment, he wrote comprehensive, well-received treatises on medical jurisprudence, criminal law and procedure, criminal and civil evidence, homicide, agency, negligence, contracts, domicile, conflict of law, and international law. He also wrote books on legal history and legal philosophy. Although Wharton's treatises are still in use, Wharton himself has fallen into obscurity. This neglect is unfortunate because Wharton was fairly representative of an important, but little recognized, strand of nineteenth-century classical legal thought. Based upon studies of Christopher Columbus Langdell, classical legal thought is believed to have posited a radical separation between law and morals. The thesis of this Article is that Wharton's jurisprudence was an intriguing mixture of classicism, evangelical Protestantism, and non-Darwinian evolutionary theory. The thesis of this article is also that in blending law and morals, Wharton was more typical of classical scholars than the more widely studied Langdell.
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TL;DR: In the mid-nineteenth century, state legislatures mostly enacted local, private, and special legislation and very little general legislation as discussed by the authors, and the ratio of special to general legislation ranged from three to one to more than ten to one, and by the early twentieth century, most states by the end of the nineteenth century or early twentieth prohibited or restricted much of the special legislation that had routinely been enacted by legislature.
Abstract: Until the midto late-nineteenth century, state legislatures mostly enacted local, private, and special legislation, and very little general legislation. Local legislation refers to statutes that apply to localities rather than to the state as a whole. Private legislation refers to statutes benefitting individuals rather than the general public. Special legislation can be either local or private, and this term will be used throughout this study to describe local and private legislation. General legislation applies to the entire state.1 State legislatures inherited their tradition of special legislation from their colonial antecedents, which, in turn, adopted the practice from Parliament. By the establishment of the English colonies in North America, it was customary in England for individuals and localities to petition Parliament for legislative redress of their particular problems. In solving individual and local problems by legislation, Parliament acted in a quasi-judicial fashion and fashioned elaborate procedures when performing this role. Unlike Parliament, neither colonial, nor later state, legislatures established elaborate procedures that governed special legislation, and by the mid-nineteenth century, this kind of legislation constituted a major obstacle to an efficient legislative process. To remove that obstacle, most states by the end of the nineteenth century or the early twentieth prohibited or restricted much of the special legislation that had routinely been enacted by legislature.2 Before reform the ratio of special to general legislation ranged from three to one to more than ten to one. In 1851 the delegates to the Indiana Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851 proclaimed that more than two-thirds of the laws enacted since statehood (1816) were special, not
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TL;DR: Spencer Perceval was the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated whilst in office as mentioned in this paper. But, he was assassinated by John Bellingham, who was tried and executed for the murder.
Abstract: The names Spencer Perceval and John Bellingham are not famous names. They do not feature prominently in history lessons. Few people, if asked, can accurately state any factual information about either man. However, their story is an interesting one, in that Spencer Perceval is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated whilst in office. In 1812, he was assassinated by John Bellingham, who was tried and executed for the murder. This article is a consideration of the circumstances sur-
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