Silent Rights

Silent Rights

Author: Calvin R. Massey

Publisher:

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 9781566393126

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The right to be presumed innocence; the right to privacy; the right to equal protection under the law; the right to travel, marry, or have children and the right of a woman to terminate her pregnancy—these are a few of the many constitutional rights never mentioned explicitly in the Constitution. Such rights can be, but often aren't, supported by invoking the Ninth Amendment. Because of its open-endedness, the Ninth Amendment is still mired in an ill-fated perception as a constitutional nonentity and a legislative tradition that ignores its potential. As an antidote to this entrenched tradition, Calvin R. Massey presents a comprehensive and sensible account of how the Ninth Amendment could be, and has been, used to secure and preserve individual rights. For example, in a recent ruling the Supreme Court held that the right to terminate pregnancy was protected by the due process clause; in doing so, it cited the Ninth Amendment. By looking at such decisions and at its various interpretations in the literature, Massey explores the Ninth Amendment's original meaning and function, and the intention of its authors to prevent the creation of implied powers in the federal government and ensure that the bill of rights not become an exhaustive list of human rights. Massey presents a new method for recognizing implied constitutional rights and the possible contemporary role of the Ninth Amendment in constitutional law—a formula in which state constitutions would assume a larger role in fashioning unenumerated rights and the Supreme Court's voice would be less final. Author note:Calvin R. Masseyis Professor of Law at Hastings College of the Law, University of California, San Francisco, and the co-author ofThe California State Constitution.


Right of Way

Right of Way

Author: Angie Schmitt

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2020-08-27

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 1642830836

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The face of the pedestrian safety crisis looks a lot like Ignacio Duarte-Rodriguez. The 77-year old grandfather was struck in a hit-and-run crash while trying to cross a high-speed, six-lane road without crosswalks near his son’s home in Phoenix, Arizona. He was one of the more than 6,000 people killed while walking in America in 2018. In the last ten years, there has been a 50 percent increase in pedestrian deaths. The tragedy of traffic violence has barely registered with the media and wider culture. Disproportionately the victims are like Duarte-Rodriguez—immigrants, the poor, and people of color. They have largely been blamed and forgotten. In Right of Way, journalist Angie Schmitt shows us that deaths like Duarte-Rodriguez’s are not unavoidable “accidents.” They don’t happen because of jaywalking or distracted walking. They are predictable, occurring in stark geographic patterns that tell a story about systemic inequality. These deaths are the forgotten faces of an increasingly urgent public-health crisis that we have the tools, but not the will, to solve. Schmitt examines the possible causes of the increase in pedestrian deaths as well as programs and movements that are beginning to respond to the epidemic. Her investigation unveils why pedestrians are dying—and she demands action. Right of Way is a call to reframe the problem, acknowledge the role of racism and classism in the public response to these deaths, and energize advocacy around road safety. Ultimately, Schmitt argues that we need improvements in infrastructure and changes to policy to save lives. Right of Way unveils a crisis that is rooted in both inequality and the undeterred reign of the automobile in our cities. It challenges us to imagine and demand safer and more equitable cities, where no one is expendable.


The Silent Prologue

The Silent Prologue

Author: Ofer Raban

Publisher:

Published: 2020-03-04

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 9781942695202

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The U.S. Constitution contains a series of rights and liberties operating as restrictions on the powers of government, and courts have the final authority to determine what these often nebulous restrictions require. But judges are deeply divided over the correct methodology to follow in making these determinations: different judges employ different judicial philosophies--and may consequently reach different constitutional results. Understanding these methodological disagreements is therefore crucial for anyone wishing to attain a full understanding of our constitutional law, or to appraise the legitimacy of our institutional arrangements--especially that of judicial review. In The Silent Prologue, Ofer Raban provides an engaging examination of the interpretive theories judges use to reach their verdicts. Using key case histories as illustration, Raban illuminates the rationales and assumptions behind competing judicial philosophies that have far-reaching implications for the rights of American citizens. Distributed for George Mason University Press


Beat the Heat

Beat the Heat

Author: Katya Komisaruk

Publisher: AK Press

Published: 2003-01-01

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 9781902593555

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Know your rights and exercise them.


The Myth of Rights

The Myth of Rights

Author: Ashutosh Bhagwat

Publisher:

Published: 2010-04-08

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 0195377788

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What is a constitutional right? If asked, most Americans would say that it is an entitlement to act as one pleases, i.e. that rights protect autonomy. That understanding, however, is wrong and is, indeed, 'The Myth of Rights'. This book addresses the constitutional issues posed in these and many other areas of law and public policy.


Rights Retained by the People

Rights Retained by the People

Author: Hallie Murray

Publisher: Enslow Publishing, LLC

Published: 2017-07-15

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 0766085651

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The Ninth Amendment, which guarantees individuals rights not specifically named within the Constitution or the other amendments, was written using vague, open-ended language to ensure no American citizen would be denied the many rights he or she retained that were not explicitly enumerated. Yet this vagueness has caused confusion and uncertainty even in the Supreme Court. Through full-color and black-and-white photos, engaging text, and primary sources, readers will learn why it was proposed and ratified, how it has been interpreted in several landmark Supreme Court cases, and how it has impacted society through such issues as labor activities, fair housing laws, and privacy. Sidebars, a glossary, and further reading are also included.


Inherent Rights, the Written Constitution, and Popular Sovereignty

Inherent Rights, the Written Constitution, and Popular Sovereignty

Author: Thomas B. McAffee

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2000-07-30

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 0313001103

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In recent decades the Ninth Amendment, a provision designed to clarify that the federal government was to be one of enumerated and limited powers, has been turned into an unenumerated rights clause that effectively grants unlimited power to the judiciary. Was this the intent of the framers of the Constitution? McAffee argues that the founders had a rather different set of priorities than ours, and that the goal of enforcing fundamental human rights was not why they drafted any of the first ten amendments. They did not intend to grant to the courts the power to generate fundamental rights, whether by reference to custom or history, reason or natural law, or societal values or consensus. It has become increasingly popular to identify our constitutional order as an experiment in the protection of fundamental human rights and to forget that it is also an experiment in self-government. As fundamental as the founding generation believed basic rights to be, they saw popular authority to make decisions about government as being even more central to the project in which they were engaged. They supported natural law and rights, but they felt strongly that those rights did not bind the people or their government unless they were inserted in the written Constitution. They did not contemplate that there would be unwritten limitations on the powers granted to government.


Powers Reserved for the People and the States

Powers Reserved for the People and the States

Author: Jay S. Bybee

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2006-08-30

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 1567509800

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American judges and legal scholars have long misunderstood the intended meaning of the Ninth Amendment and its relationship to the Tenth. Because of misinterpretation, the Ninth and Tenth Amendments have not been used to fulfill their original purposes. The limited and unlimited powers of the federal government have been shaped greatly by that error. In this book the authors clarify the actual meaning of the Ninth Amendment and its connection to the Tenth Amendment in order to provide a clear understanding of the full potential of the two amendments. Historical and contemporary details are included to provide an appreciation of the intended purpose of the amendments.


Natural Human Rights

Natural Human Rights

Author: Michael Boylan

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-08-11

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1316060969

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This timely book by internationally regarded scholar of ethics and social/political philosophy, Michael Boylan, focuses on the history, application and significance of human rights in the West and China. Boylan engages the key current philosophical debates prevalent in human rights discourse today and draws them together to argue for the existence of natural, universal human rights. Arguing against the grain of mainstream philosophical beliefs, Boylan asserts that there is continuity between human rights and natural law and that human beings require basic, essential goods for minimum action. These include food, clean water and sanitation, clothing, shelter and protection from bodily harm, including basic healthcare. The achievement of this goal, Boylan demonstrates, will require significant resource allocation and creative methods of implementation involving public and private institutions. Combining technical argument with four fictional narratives about human rights, the book invites readers to engage with the most important aspects of the discipline.


Cases, Materials and Text on Property Law

Cases, Materials and Text on Property Law

Author: Sjef van Erp

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-07-23

Total Pages: 1252

ISBN-13: 1847319823

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This casebook presents a deep comparative analysis of property law systems in Europe (ie the law of immovables, movables and claims), offering signposts and stepping stones for the reader wishing to explore this fascinating area. The subject matter is explained with careful attention given to its history, foundations, thought-patterns, underlying principles and basic concepts. The casebook focuses on uncovering differences and similarities between Europe's major legal systems: French, German, Dutch and English law are examined, while Austrian and Belgian law are also touched upon. The book combines excerpts from primary source materials (case law and legislation) and from doctrine and soft law. In doing so it presents a faithful picture of the systems concerned. Separate chapters deal with the various types of property rights, their creation, transfer and destruction, with security rights (such as mortgages, pledges, retention of title) as well as with harmonising and unifying efforts at the EU and global level. Through the functional approach taken by the Ius Commune Casebooks this volume clearly demonstrates that traditional comparative insights no longer hold. The law of property used to be regarded as a product of historical developments and political ideology, which were considered to be almost set in stone and assumed to render any substantial form of harmonisation or approximation very unlikely. Even experienced comparative lawyers considered the divide between common law and civil law to be so deep that no common ground - so it was thought - could be found. However economic integration, in particular integration of financial markets and freedom of establishment, has led to the integration of particular areas of property law such as mortgage law and enforceable security instruments (eg retention of title). This pressure towards integration has led comparative lawyers to refocus their interest from contract, tort and unjustified enrichment to property law and delve beneath its surface. This book reveals that today property law systems are closer to one another than previously assumed, that common ground can be found and that differences can be analysed in a new light to enable comparison and further the development of property law in Europe.