Until SSRN discontinued institutional research paper series as a product offering in June 2026, the The University of Michigan Law School, Public Law & Legal Theory Research Paper Series journal contained abstracts and papers focused on the Public Law & Legal Theory area of study. Michigan Law faculty papers were sent in eDistributions to subscribers.
This series preserves the metadata for papers which were included in the series from 2003-2026, with links out to the SSRN paper landing pages. Papers remain available through individual author pages for current and former faculty.
Submissions from 2011
Systems Pluralism and Institutional Pluralism in Constitutional Law: National, Supranational, and Global Governance, Daniel Halberstam
The Authority of Law, Scott Hershovitz
Exclusion from Income of Compensation for Services and Pooling of Labor Occurring in a Noncommercial Setting, Douglas A. Kahn
Federal Income Tax - Gifts and Inheritances, Douglas A. Kahn and Jeffrey H. Kahn
The Unaffordable Health Act - A Response to Professors Bagley and Horwitz, Douglas A. Kahn and Jeffrey H. Kahn
Distribution of Stock and Section 306 Stock, Douglas A. Kahn, Jeffrey H. Kahn, and Terrence G. Perris
Free Rider – A Justification for Mandatory Medical Insurance Under Health Care Reform?, Jeffrey H. Kahn and Douglas A. Kahn
Toward Transatlantic Convergence in Financial Regulation, Hwa-JIn Kim
Antibiotic Resistance, Jessica Litman
Readers' Copyright, Jessica Litman
Another Word on the President's Statutory Authority Over Agency Action, Nina A. Mendelson
Foreword: Rulemaking, Democracy, and Torrents of E-Mail, Nina A. Mendelson
Executive Power and the Discipline of History, Julian Davis Mortenson
The Meaning of 'Investment': ICSID's Travaux and the Domain of International Investment Law, Julian Davis Mortenson
What is ‘Good Legal Writing’ and Why Does it Matter?, Mark K. Osbeck
Ability to Pay, John A. E. Pottow
A New Role for Secondary Proceedings in International Bankruptcies, John A. E. Pottow
After the Spill is Gone: The Gulf of Mexico, Environmental Crime, and the Criminal Law, David M. Uhlmann
From Here to Eternity: The Folly of Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Answer Self-Incriminating Questions or Be Fired, Peter K. Westen
Is Intent Constitutive of Wrongdoing?, Peter K. Westen
The Ontological Problem of Risk and Endangerment in Criminal Law, Peter K. Westen
Submissions from 2010
Taxation as Regulation: Carbon Tax, Health Care Tax, Bank Tax and Other Regulatory Taxes, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Tax Convergence and Globalization, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The Case Against Taxing Citizens, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The Redemption Puzzle, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
To Be or Not to Be? Citizens United and the Corporate Form, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Formulary Apportionment: Myths and Prospects - Promoting Better International Tax Policy and Utilizing the Misunderstood and Under-Theorized Formulary Alternative, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah and Ilan Benshalom
Agency Hygiene, Nicholas Bagley
Disentangling Administrative Searches, Eve Brensike Primus
The Case for Dividend Deduction, Amir C. Chenchinski and Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Did We Avoid Historical Failures of Antitrust Enforcement During the 2008-09 Financial Crisis?, Daniel A. Crane
Predation Analysis and the FTC's Case Against Intel, Daniel A. Crane
Reflections on Section 5 of the FTC Act and the FTC’s Case against Intel, Daniel A. Crane
Toward a Unified Theory of Exclusionary Vertical Restraints, Daniel A. Crane and Graciela Miralles
Can Bundled Discounting Increase Consumer Prices Without Excluding Rivals? A Comment on 'Tying, Bundled Discounts, and the Death of the Single Monopoly Profit' by Einer Elhauge, Daniel A. Crane and Joshua D. Wright
Reply to Richard A. Leo and Jon B. Gould, Samuel R. Gross and Barbara O'Brien
State Bystander Responsibility, Monica Hakimi
The Promise of Comparative Administrative Law: A Constitutional Perspective on Independent Agencies, Daniel Halberstam
Federalism and Legal Unification: Comparing Methods, Results, and Explanations Across 20 Systems, Daniel Halberstam and Mathias W. Reimann
Harry Potter and the Trouble with Tort Theory, Scott Hershovitz
The Role of Authority, Scott Hershovitz
The Attack on Nonprofit Status: A Charitable Assessment, James R. Hines Jr., Jill R. Horwitz, and Austin Nichols
It is Logic Rather than Whom You Trust: A Rejoinder to Prof. Cohen, Douglas A. Kahn
Engineering the Endgame, Ellen D. Katz
Curing Execution Errors and Mistaken Terms in Wills, John H. Langbien and Lawrence W. Waggoner
Toward a Theory of Decriminalization, Richard Lempert
The Invention of Common Law Play Right, Jessica Litman
Rethinking Treaty-Shopping: Lessons for the European Union, Christiana HJI Panayi and Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The Rise in Elder Bankruptcy Filings and Failure of U.S. Bankruptcy Law, John A. E. Pottow
The Challenges of Calculating the Benefits of Providing Access to Legal Services, J. J. Prescott
Trial and Settlement: A Study of High-Low Agreements, J. J. Prescott, Kathryn E. Spier, and Albert Yoon
Public Consensus as Constitutional Authority, Richard Primus
The Functions of Ethical Originalism, Richard Primus
From Enlightened Positivism to Cosmopolitan Justice: Obstacles and Opportunities, Steven R. Ratner
Darkness at Noon: Judicial Interpretation May Have Made Things Worse for Benefit Plan Participants Under ERISA than had the Statute Never Been Enacted, Andrew Stumpff Morrison
Fifty Years of Utopia: A Half-Century after Louis Kelso’s The Capitalist Manifesto, a Look Back at the Weird History of the ESOP, Andrew Stumpff Morrison
Beyond Genetics and Environment: Recognition in Animal Law of the Third Factor, Joseph Vinning
The Consequence of Human Differences, Joseph Vinning
The Effect of Economic Integration with China on the Future of American Corporate Law, Joseph Vinning
Congress Should Impose a Two-Generation Limit on the GST Exemption: Here's Why, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Curtailing Dead-Hand Control: The American Law Institute Declares the Perpetual-Trust Movement Ill Advised, Lawrence W. Waggoner
Message to Congress: Halt the Tax Exemption for Perpetual Trusts, Lawrence W. Waggoner
The American Law Institute Proposes a New Approach to Perpetuities: Limiting the Dead Hand to Two Younger Generations, Lawrence W. Waggoner
The American Law Institute Proposes Simplifying the Doctrine of Estates, Lawrence W. Waggoner
The Uniform Probate Code’s Elective Share: Time for a Reassessment (With an Addendum Reporting on Post-Publication Amendments), Lawrence W. Waggoner
The Cultural Background of 'The Legal Imagination', James Boyd White
Submissions from 2009
Antarctic Whaling: Australia's Attempt to Protect Whales in the Southern Ocean, Don Anton
Between Formulary Apportionment and the OECD Guidelines: A Proposal for Reconciliation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Corporate and International Tax Reform: Long-, Medium-, and Short Term Proposals, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Designing a Federal VAT: Summary and Recommendations, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Structuring a US Federal VAT, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The Obama International Tax Plan: A Major Step Forward, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Combating Global Climate Change: Why a Carbon Tax is a Better Response to Global Warming than Cap and Trade, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah and David M. Uhlmann
Law and the Contradictions of the Disability Rights Movement, Samuel R. Bagenstos
Thurgood Marshall, Meet Adam Smith: How Fee-Shifting Statutes Provide a Market-Based System for Promoting Access to Justice (Though Some Judges Don't Get it), Samuel R. Bagenstos
Metals or Management? Explaining Africa's Recent Economic Growth Spurt, Laura Nyantung Beny and Lisa D. Cook
linkLine's Institutional Suspicions, Daniel A. Crane
Monopoly Broth Makes Bad Soup, Daniel A. Crane
Obama's Antitrust Agenda, Daniel A. Crane
Optimizing Private Antitrust Enforcement, Daniel A. Crane
The Jurisdictional Entrapment Defense: An Analytic Framework for Claims of Manufactured Jurisdiction in Child Exploitation Prosecutions, Leonid Feller
Local, Global, and Plural Constitutionalism: Europe Meets the World, Daniel Halberstam
The German Constitutional Court Says 'Ja Zu Deutschland!', Daniel Halberstam and Christoph Möllers
Alimony Treatment for a Single Payment, Douglas A. Kahn
Rudkin Testamentary Trust - A Response to Prof. Cohen, Douglas A. Kahn
The Proper Tax Treatment of the Transfer of a Compensatory Partnership Interest, Douglas A. Kahn
Will the Tax Man Cometh to Coach Rodriguez?, Douglas A. Kahn and Jeffrey H. Kahn
From Bush v. Gore to NAMUDNO: A Response to Professor Amar, Ellen D. Katz
Withdrawal: The Roberts Court and the Retreat from Election Law, Ellen D. Katz
Evolutionary Theory and the Origin of Property Rights, James E. Krier
The Uniform Probate Code Addresses the Class-Gift and Intestacy Rights of Children of Assisted Reproduction, Sheldon F. Kurtz and Lawrence W. Waggoner
Why the Supreme Court Changed its Mind About Government Aid to Religious Institutions: It’s a Lot More than Just Republican Appointments, Douglas Laycock
Real Copyright Reform, Jessica Litman
The Copyright Revision Act of 2026, Jessica Litman
The Politics of Intellectual Property, Jessica Litman
Disclosing 'Political' Oversight of Agency Decision Making, Nina A. Mendelson
Quick Off the Mark? In Favor of Empowering the President-Elect, Nina A. Mendelson
Constitutional Expectations, Richard Primus
The Future of Disparate Impact, Richard Primus