Good Samaritan laws, often confused with duty to rescue laws, provide immunity against tort claims for those who attempt to rescue someone in peril. In general, however, these laws provide immunity if the peril was imminent, if the rescuer obtained consent, … Continue reading
Tag Archives: ian c. pilarczyk
The George Zimmerman case shone a spotlight on Florida’s ‘stand your ground’ law, an extension of the “castle doctrine” which is an ancient common law concept that a homeowner has no duty to retreat when threatened within his or her home by a third party. The … Continue reading
Under the common law, originally there were only two felonies related to injuries to a home. The first was the criminal invasion of a home, or burglary (originally known as “house breach”), while the more serious of the two involved … Continue reading
In addition to the standard for-profit and limited-liability model of the traditional corporation, other variants exist. A public-benefit corporation is state-chartered and designed to perform some public benefit, such as the MBTA and Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. A B Corporation is a corporation … Continue reading
My first legal publication, written as a student note for the Probate Law Journal in 1995, this article discussed two theoretical vehicles for promoting organ donation: the creation of a inter vivos organ trust, modeled after a pour-over trust or … Continue reading
Reading, Writing, and Regs (March 1, 2013) … Continue reading
Last week I had the pleasure of being invited to participate in a ‘talk back’ session following a performance of Radium Girls with cast members and several trial lawyers who handle worker’s compensation cases. Put on at the Regent Theatre in Arlington … Continue reading
From the introduction to the issue: “Our final article, by Ian Pilarczyk, examines the phenomemon of infanticide and the legal responses to [it] in Montreal from 1825 to 1850, a period marked by significant economic, social, political, and legal flux. … Continue reading
“Infanticide as heinous a crime as there is, even in 1840“, by John Kalbfleisch … Continue reading
An earlier blog post talked about ‘straw men’ and compurgation; and to continue in that vein I wanted to say a few words about the origins of the modern jury. The timing for me is quite fortuitous, as I just hosted … Continue reading
I was recently asked a very interesting question, somewhat related to legal history: namely, what is constitutional autochthony? ‘Autochthony’ is a word that rarely surfaces in everyday English, but it is a synonym for ‘native’ or ‘indigenous’. It is most … Continue reading
“Building A Stronger McGill” … Continue reading