The Yale Law Journal


RECENT


Forum

The Illusory Promise of General Property Law

This Essay criticizes using “general” or federal property law to define constitutional rights, including protections against unlawful search and seizure. Federal property law is an ahistorical and indeterminate concept. Its ascendance in Takings Clause opinions illustrates its flaws and the risks it poses for beneficial variation in state property rules.

28 Feb 2023
PropertyConstitutional Law

Forum

The New Public Nuisance: Illegitimate and Dysfunctional

The new public nuisance is illegitimate because it violates the rule of law and is inconsistent with norms of democratic accountability. It also ignores the dangers of over- and under-deterrence associated with joint ventures between prosecutors and  personal-injury lawyers seeking massive damages from deep-pocketed defendants.

20 Feb 2023
Torts

Collection

2022 Yale Law Journal Student-Essay Competition

The Essays in this Collection won the sixth annual Yale Law Journal Student-Essay Competition. Essays by current and recent law students explore emerging issues in law and the changing natural environment.

17 Feb 2023
Administrative LawEnvironmental LawFederal Indian Law

Article

General Citizenship Rights

This Article explores ideas of citizenship rights from the Revolutionary Era through Reconstruction and challenges the conventional view that citizenship rights came in only two sets—state and national. It argues that Americans also widely recognized general citizenship rights, reflecting an older constellation of ideas about federalism and fundamental law.

 

31 Jan 2023
Constitutional LawLegal HistoryFederalism

Article

The Perils and Promise of Public Nuisance

Public nuisance is a puzzle: both a medieval action and a contemporary force in large-scale opioid settlements, it has provoked historical, formalist, and institutional objections. Close examination reveals, however, that public nuisance adheres to the common law’s accepted bounds and can play an important role in today’s regulatory landscape.

31 Jan 2023
Torts

Note

Familial-Status Discrimination: A New Frontier in Fair Housing Act Litigation

A key exception to the Fair Housing Act’s prohibition of familial-status discrimination has allowed municipalities to weaponize senior-only housing to block the construction of affordable housing and perpetuate segregation. This Note documents this practice, offers a framework for advocates to challenge it through litigation, and proposes policy solutions.

31 Jan 2023
Antidiscrimination LawHousing Law


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