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Reading List for the Night Before Christmas

By E.L. Lipman

In the hopes that sometime this evening, all through my house, not a creature will be stirring, not even a mouse ? a truly rare event indeed in my home ? I have downloaded a few items that have been posted recently to the Social Science Research Network. I thought that some of you might be interested in these monographs, too.

In "Revisiting the Fable of Reform," Professor Allison Hayward of the George Mason University School of Law closely scrutinizes the history leading up to the landmark decision U.S. Supreme Court decision in United States v. UAW-CIO and the dawn of modern campaign finance regulation. Professor Hayward argues that campaign finance reform was in fact "a way to capitalize on public sentiment ... and restrict political rivals' access to financial resources." Detailing why this historical inquiry is important, Hayward explains: "Where high purpose can conceal self-interest, it does no good to adopt a fable as history, or adapt history to a fable."

The article is accessible here.

"In the Pursuit of a Next Generation Network for Public Safety Communications," Professors Phil Weiser of the University of Colorado Law School and Dale N. Hatfield of the University of Colorado at Boulder, explain the evolution of modern public safety communications systems and highlight some of the technological and regulatory challenges facing policymakers as they seek to deploy Congress' hoped-for nationwide interoperable broadband communications network for public safety.

The article is accessible here.

In "Maharam of Padua v. Giustiniani: The Sixteenth-Century Origins of the Jewish Law of Copyright," Professor Neil W. Netanel examines the famous case of Rabbi Meir ben Isaac Katzenellenbogen of Padua ? known by the Hebrew acronym, the "Maharam" of Padua. In 1550, the Maharam had published a new edition of Moses Maimonides' code of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah. When Marc Antonio Giustiniani, a local printer, published a cheaper edition of the same volume, copying the Maharam's work, the Maharam sought to bar distribution of Giustiniani's edition. While the Maharam's case predates the era that is ordinarily considered the wellspring of copyright law ? the Statute of Anne in 1710 ? Professor Netanel asserts that "remarkably, the ruling in that dispute reaches some of the same fundamental issues that animate copyright jurisprudence today: Is copyright a property right or a limited regulatory prerogative? What is copyright's rationale? What is its scope?"

The article is accessible here.

With such a reading pile, a "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

Full post as published by Within the Scope on December 24, 2007 (boomark / email).