Catholic Law Scholarship Repository

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  A Student's Guide to Relevance, Character, Habit, and Impeachment

  Clifford S. Fishman

  Relevance is the basic concept of evidence law. Professor Fishman, who taught evidence for 41 years at Catholic University of America Law School, covers the entire subject—including conditional relevance, inferences, direct and circumstantial evidence, and order of proof—in all its applications, particularly character, "other acts" evidence, and habit. The book then covers every aspect of impeaching and rehabilitating a witness's testimony: perception; memory; narration; prior consistent or inconsistent statements; and potential bias or motive to lie. In other words, this book covers Rules 104–106, 401–415, 607–613, and 801(d)(1) of the Federal Rules of Evidence.

  When an offer of evidence implicates several of these rules, Professor Fishman explains how to identify the rules (and sub-rules and "unwritten rules") that need to be considered and those which need not be; the procedural and tactical trial context in which these issues arise; and how to figure out what your professor is looking for in class and on exams.

  Each chapter contains numerous essay and multiple-choice questions and answers applying the rules. In addition, he reveals the evidentiary "relevance" of (a) animals large and small; (b) cultural icons, including Shakespeare, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Blake Shelton, and Linus van Pelt; and (c) major historical figures, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Confucius, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Howie Kendrick.

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  The Fundamentals of Elder Law: Cases and Materials (2d ed.)

  Raymond C. O'Brien

  The second edition of this casebook continues to provide the fundamentals for a lively, contemporary course in elder law. It emphasizes illustrative factual cases and statutes, and is supported by materials from elder law practitioners and statistical data. It is distinctive in its emphasis upon state and federal court decisions, not simply a recitation of statutory provisions. Elder law is of burgeoning historical and social importance. Statistics indicate that by 2030, one-fifth of all Americans will be 65 or older, and each day 10,000 persons turn 65. Among the legal issues pertinent to an aging population are estate planning objectives in the context of possible incapacity, integrating nonprobate and probate transfers, asset protection planning, philanthropy and dynasty options, and beneficial tax planning. Statutory changes establish guidance for personal health care decision-making and designations of guardians and surrogates to exercise authority when needed. Clients and institutions require legal assistance to navigate federal benefits such as Medicare, Social Security, Veterans Benefits, and the interaction of state-federal Medicaid opportunities. Statistics also indicate that almost two-thirds of all individuals over age 65 will need some form of long-term care. The cost of this care can be as little as $1,000 a month for simple help around the house, but at least $15,000 to $20,000 a month is needed for continual care by health care professionals. This edition continues the discussion on ageism, the pandemic of elder abuse in all its forms, and discrimination in housing and employment.
  

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  The Vatican and Permanent Neutrality

  Marshall J. Breger and Herbert R. Reginbogin

  The essays in this book cover a fast-paced 150 years of Vatican diplomacy, starting from the fall of the Papal States in 1870 to the present day. They trace the transformation of the Vatican from a state like any other to an entity uniquely providing spiritual and moral sustenance in world affairs. In particular, the book details the Holy See’s use of neutrality as a tool and the principal statecraft in its diplomatic portmanteau. This concept of “permanent neutrality,” as codified in the Lateran Treaties of 1929, is a central concept adding to the Vatican's uniqueness and, as a result, the analysis of its policies does not easily fit within standard international relations or foreign policy scholarship. These essays consider in detail the Vatican’s history with “permanent neutrality” and its application in diplomacy toward delicate situations as, for instance, vis a vis Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan, but also in the international relations of the Cold War in debates about nuclear non-proliferation, or outreach toward the third world, including Cuba and Venezuela. The book also considers the ineluctable tension between pastoral teachings and realpolitik, as the church faces a reckoning with its history.

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  The Virtues

  John H. Garvey

  An ancient question asks what role moral formation ought to play in education. It leads to such questions as, do intellectual and moral formation belong together? Is it possible to form the mind and neglect the heart? Is it wise? These perennial questions take on new significance today, when education — especially, higher education — has become a defining feature in the lives of young people.
  During his two decades of presiding at commencement exercises, first as Dean of Boston College Law School and then as President of The Catholic University of America, Garvey made a single virtue the centerpiece of his remarks each year. The Virtues is the fruit of those addresses. More reflective than analytical, its purpose is to invite conversation about what it means to live well.
  Following Catholic tradition, The Virtues places the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love at the center of the moral life, and the cardinal virtues — justice, temperance, fortitude, and prudence — with them. Alongside these major virtues, Garvey considers a collection of "little virtues," habits that assist and accompany us in small but important ways on the path to goodness.
  Though he treats each virtue individually, a common thread unites his reflections. "The intellectual life depends on the moral life," Garvey writes. "Without virtue we cannot sustain the practices necessary for advanced learning. In fact, without virtue, it’s hard to see what the purpose of the university is. Learning begins with love (for the truth). If we don’t have that, it’s hard to know why we would bother with education at all." The Virtues invites its readers, especially students, to appreciate that the cultivation of virtue is indispensable to success, academic or otherwise, and more importantly, essential to their ultimate aim, a life well lived.

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  Criminal Law (9th ed)

  Cara H. Drinan, Paul Marcus, James A. Maloney, and William Berry III

  This casebook introduces the first-year student to the basics of American criminal law. Drawing on statutory, common and constitutional law, the book raises the questions of why and how we punish, and it enables instructors to discuss with students the thorny problem of the relationship between the state and the individual. As with most substantive criminal law courses, the book covers a range of topics including rationales for punishment, elements of key crimes, inchoate offenses, and defenses.

  This most recent edition includes several new problems and comments reflecting contemporary challenges in the criminal justice system, such as extreme juvenile sentencing, criminalization of poverty, disproportionate punishment along race and class lines, redrafting of the Model Penal Code sections on sexual offenses, limits on deadly force in law enforcement, assisted suicide, and the erosion of the insanity defense.

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  Domestic Relations: Cases and Materials (9th ed.)

  Raymond C. O'Brien, Walter Wadlington, and Robin F. Wilson

  The Ninth Edition continues to incorporate judicial opinions from state, federal, and international courts that illustrate the evolution and dynamism of domestic relations with compelling factual scenarios that illustrate both statutory and common law. Specifically, the casebook utilizes the newly revised Uniform Parentage Act, the federal Family First Prevention Services Act, and other newly enacted statutes pertaining to domestic violence, joint physical custody, and assisted reproductive technology.
  
  There are multiple Problems spread throughout the chapters, drawn from actual state and federal judicial opinions, which test student understanding and illustrate the real-life consequences of the legal issues being discussed. And the casebook has been streamlined to provide a logical and concise progression of material, from nonmarital cohabitation to adoption of adults. This logical sequencing permits the book to be used for two, three or four credit courses, especially since there is a statutory supplement offering a more complete view of the ways that statutes affect family law in today’s America.

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  Domestic Relations: Selected Uniform Laws, Model Legislation, Federal Statutes, State Statutes, & International Treaties (2021 statutory and documentary supp. to 9th ed. 2021)

  Raymond C. O'Brien, Walter Wadlington, and Robin F. Wilson

  This six-hundred page compendium of statutory materials affecting family law includes uniform acts, state and federal statutes, and international treaties. Each of the statutes is preceded by an editors' introduction, which includes relevant legal periodicals to assist with understanding how that particular statute applies. This book is meant to complement the ninth edition of the family law casebook, which shall be published by Foundation Press shortly, but the book may support a separate course on the interaction between common law and statutory interaction.

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  Comparative Negligence (6th ed.)

  Kathryn Kelly and Victor Schwartz

  Comparative Negligence, Sixth Edition fully discusses a doctrine that has been a major force of change in tort law over the past 50 years. Since its initial publication in 1974, this text has become the leading reference covering the interaction of comparative negligence with every relevant tort doctrine.

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  Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law (5th ed.)

  Lisa G. Lerman, Philip Schrag, and Robert Rubinson

  This problem-based book reflects the authors’ broad range of teaching, clinical, and policy-making experience. Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law’s carefully crafted ethical problems challenge students to engage in a deep analysis and participate in lively class discussion.

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  Monumental Harm: Reckoning With Jim Crow Era Confederate Monuments

  Roger C. Hartley

  In recent years, the debate over the future of Confederate monuments has taken center stage and caused bitter clashes in communities throughout the American South. At the heart of the debate is the question of what these monuments represent. The arguments and counterarguments are formulated around sets of assumptions grounded in Southern history, politics, culture, and race relations. Comprehending and evaluating accurately the associated claims and counterclaims calls for a careful examination of facts and legal considerations relevant to each side's assertations. In Monumental Harm, Roger C. Hartley offers a road map to addressing and resolving this acrimonious debate.