ProfessorBainbridge.com

The Restatement (Second) of Agency is Still Alive and Kicking

According to a Westlaw search I conducted this morning, in the last three years there were 506 cases that cited to the Restatement (Second) of Agency. In that same period, there were 630 cases that cited to the Restatement (Third). Ignoring the fact that some cases cited both, that means over 44.5% of cases in the last three years cited a 63 year old Restatement instead of citing a 15 year old Restatement.  I assume that a large part of the persistence of the Restatement (Second) is driven by lower courts following older higher court precedents that embraced the Restatement (Second). Eyeballing the results seems to confirm that. Yet, there were a fair number of state supreme court cases citing the Restatement (Second).

It might be interesting for someone with a lot of time on their hands to drill down into these results to see if there are doctrinal reasons courts are sticking with the Restatement (Second).

It also suggests that my fellow teachers of agency law cannot yet throw the Restatement (Second) into the dustbin of history.

Law and Science Fiction: The Tax Man by Stephen Robinett

I’ve been reading a bunch of old Analog Science Fiction magazines from my youth. Tonight I was reading the February 1975 Analog and a short story by Stephen Robinett entitled The Tax Man amused me. It would make a fun case study for a Law and Science Fiction seminar. There are going to be links to the story and other pertinent stuffs on my blog. So, if you want to read the story, stop here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPOILER WARNING 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the story, there is a massive wall between the USA and Mexico. But it’s not intended to keep people out. Instead, it’s intended to keep people in. (That'd trigger some class discussion, I suspect.)

 

You see, the Tax Reform Act of 1987 created a flat tax rate of 98 percent and made tax evasion a capital offense. The Supreme Court through that out as a violation of the 8th Amendment. Initially, Congress changed the penalty to life imprisonment, but that was too expensive due to the vast number of tax evaders. (There’s a law and economics subtext there.)

 

So they amended the Constitution to bring back the concept of Civil Death (with a citation to Blackstone’s Commentaries in the story, no less).

 

Our hero is visited by an IRS agent who informs Larry that he has been convicted of nonpayment of income taxes for 1998 in a trial conducted entirely by computers. There is no appeal. In three hours, Larry will declared civilly dead and anyone can kill him, after which he will buried in the middle of the road.

 

Larry’s a long distance trucker and decides to take his rig on a run from LA to the Mexican border. The IRS agent chases him and they argue over CB radio about tax policy.

 

In case you've decided to go get the link to the story, I've put another spoiler warning to avoid springing the ending on you.

 

 

 

 

SPOILER WARNING 2

 

Best week ever at CodeCracker. No brag. Just fact.

Leo Strine must be more important than the Queen of England

I was recently reading a new paper from Leo Strine and noticed the amazing number of titles he now holds:

Michael L. Wachter Distinguished Fellow in Law and Policy at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School; Ira M. Millstein Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Millstein Center at Columbia Law School; Senior Fellow, Harvard Program on Corporate Governance; Henry Crown Fellow, Aspen Institute; Of Counsel, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz; former Chief Justice and Chancellor of the State of Delaware.

My first thought was, how do you decide which title to list first? But then I noticed something. CJ Strine's titles add up to 60 words. In contrast, the Queen only needs 33 words:

Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

And she reigns over a Commonwealth of 54 nations with a total population of 2.4 billion people!