The Principle of legality of crimes and punishments (nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege) refers to the fact that an act is not considered a crime and deserves no punishment, unless the Legislator determines and announces the criminal title and its penalty before. The legality principle protects individual security by ensuring basic individual…

Public school leaders must be certain that students' freedom of expression rights are not suppressed based on a conflict with their own personal views. School leaders must also refrain from regulating student expression based solely on content, unless there is evidence that speech content creates material and substantial disruption to school…

Several decisions of the United States Supreme Court on eminent domain and the impact of these decisions were explore. These decisions involved the Fifth Amendment, which provides the legal standard for eminent domain. We reviewed the history of the Court regarding what is "public use" within the Fifth Amendment. Moreover, what the Court…

This paper shows how Koranic Law was enshrined in the Moroccan Family Code (the "Mudawwana") in its first draft between the years 1957 and 1958. The changes that were included in 1993 and especially in 2004 partially modify the philosophy of Islamic resources and give more freedom of action to women. At present, the "Mudawwana…

In May 2005, university administrators were rudely awakened from their civic slumbers by a "notice of implementation" from the U.S. Department of Education. With little advance comment from the academy, Congress had passed and the President had signed into law a requirement that "each educational institution that receives Federal…

Debates about flag desecration present sensitive issues. This opinion paper examines the defeat of the flag burning amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which would have read "The Congress and the States shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." The most talked about points in the…

This article suggests guidelines drawn from court rulings, which are reliable indicators of the current status of legal opinion on the subject of procedural due process and the rights it guarantees students. (Editor/RK)

This document is one of a series of papers by leading scholars presented at the State University of New York's annual program of educational policy seminars. The paper reviews recent judicial attempts to interpret the U.S. Constitution's first amendment's establishment clause in areas that have had a significant impact on educational policy…

The concept of institutional academic freedom is discussed. Attention is directed to how the concept confounds the distinct values and standards traditionally used in analysis of cases involving individual rights in higher education, and legal and practical problems it raises for the maintenance of traditional concepts of academic freedom. The…

With the Bicentennial Bookshelf as a foundation stone, communities will be able to stimulate public discourse on the meaning of constitutionalism in the United States through the use of this guide. Guidelines and model programs are provided for initiating reading and discussion programs, conferences, lectures series, and seminars and institutes.…

The problems of formulating a legal definition of religion as used in the U.S. Constitution may be traced through the Supreme Court's interpretation of the word. According to the U.S. Constitution, religious tests cannot be required for any office or public trust under the central government. The Bill of Rights states that the national government…

Questions concerning the relative protection afforded by the speech and press clauses of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the law of libel, and protection for the editorial process are the focus of this paper. The first section summarizes arguments for First Amendment press protection, focusing on the question of whether…

Justice John Paul Stevens of the United States Supreme Court has ruled on obscenity cases in seven instances since his appointment. His rulings reveal that he regards obscenity as a nuisance rather than as a danger threatening to undermine the nation's morality, that he supports a nationwide standard to adjudicate obscenity cases, and that he…

This monograph traces the recent legal developments on newsmen's privilege (to keep sources of information confidential) and attempts to synthesize the status of newsmen's privilege in 1974. Some of the current arguments for and against a journalist's privilege are reviewed in regard to both consitutional and statutory approaches to it. And this…

In this booklet the content and implications of the First Amendment are analyzed. Historical origins of free speech from ancient Greece to England before the discovery of America, free speech in colonial America, and the Bill of Rights and its meaning for free speech are outlined. The evolution of the First Amendment is described, and the…