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Abstract:
The magnitude of the Harry Potter phenomenon alone would make it worthy of consideration; the fact that it is children's literature, and thus may play a significant part in forming a future generation's attitudes toward law and legal institutions, makes it even more so. The various contributions to this article explore various aspects of law and culture as presented in or viewed through the Harry Potter stories. The contributions of James Charles Smith and Danaya Wright address the depiction of families in the narratives and the limited role and development of family law. Benjamin H. Barton's contribution considers the failings of the formal source of legal authority in Harry's world, the deeply-flawed Ministry of Magic. Particular flaws are examined in the two subsequent contributions: Aaron Schwabach looks at the operation of the legal system through the lens of the unforgivable curses and contends that they show an arbitrariness contrary to the rule of law, while Joel Fishman explores the arbitrariness of punishment in the narratives. James Charles Smith's contribution explores ambiguities in the legal status and wizarding conventions applicable to house-elves, while Daniel Austin Green's contribution uses the narratives to explore the roles of excuse and justification in their relationship with legal authority and rule of law.

Timothy S. Hall's contribution shows how the rule used to free Dobby the house elf can be used as a pedagogical tool to illustrate the importance of intent in contract law, while Jeffrey E. Thomas's contribution suggests that the negative and satirical depictions of law and legal institutions helps readers to focus on the importance of individual accountability in making moral decisions. Andrew Morriss's contribution addresses the centrality of individual moral choice to the Harry Potter novels, particularly The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Goblet of Fire. The final entry, also by Timothy S. Hall, compares the Harry Potter narratives to the Dick Whittington story, showing an interesting cultural evolution from Tudor to modern times.

Children's literature, cultural studies, Harry Potter, humor, humorous, interdisciplinary, fantasy, law & literature, law & popular culture

Abstract:
The Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Buckeye Check Cashing v. Cardegna explicitly extended the Court's separability doctrine from commercial contracting to consumer contracting. This Article will discuss the conflicts between the traditional judicial role in policing the bargaining process and the imposition of mandatory arbitration through separability. The Article further discusses questions left open after Buckeye regarding the appropriate scope of the Court's embrace of mandatory arbitration in the consumer context. While this Article does not argue, as some have done, for abolition of binding pre-dispute arbitration clauses in the consumer context, it does argue that common-law doctrines designed to ensure fairness and freedom of assent in consumer contracting should be entrusted to those best able to apply them and implement their underlying policies - the courts.

arbitration, consumer protection, consumer law, contracts, alternative dispute resolution, ADR

Abstract:
In order to reduce the number of unnecessary, and potentially even harmful, medical interventions, managed care imposes oversight on health care expenses. Oversight includes external controls on physician spending and internal financial incentives intended to bring the self-interest of the individual physician in line with the fiscal goals of the managed care organization. The current legal framework for such incentives presumes that patients can negotiate with physicians and other health care providers for their desired mix of cost savings and professional fidelity, if only the playing field is leveled through appropriate disclosures. This article will focus on the financial incentives provided to physicians by MCOs in order to change physicians' practice methods and patterns, and the conflicts of interest caused by those financial incentives. The article proposes a new way of thinking about regulation of financial incentives - a paradigm of respect for the personhood of patients and their unique position within the health care system, and proposes that the traditional physician-patient relationship be protected by insulating the central features of the doctor-patient relationship from the operations of the health care marketplace.

conflicts of interest, health law, bioethics

Abstract:
For the past decade, the learned intermediary rule - the rule of law that provides that drug manufacturers may satisfy theur duty to warn of a drug's dangers by warning the prescribing physician rather than the end user of the drug - has been the subject of vigorous academic debate. That debate has been largely moot, however, as the courts have proven reluctant to make significant inroads on the protection offered by the Rule to drug manufacturers. This Article proposes a new approach to the Rule. Part I discusses the history and overwhelming adoption of the Rule pursuant to the Restatement (Second) of Torts. Part II argues that changes in the health care delivery system have resulted in a legal system that introduces market distortions by effectively immunizing the pharmaceutical industry from the legal and social conseqences of its own actions. Part III then sets forth a reconceptualization of the Rule which preserves the Rule's benefits with respect to the drug industry, the health care system, and the goals of tort law, while also strengthening the protection the tort system offers to individuals injured by prescription drugs.

tort, learned intermediary, products liability, health law, FDA, food & drug law