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Federalism and Legal Process: Historical and Contemporary Analysis of the American System
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 July 2024
Abstract
Whether federalism is more than a legal fiction is a question that generates considerable controversy among scholars in law and the social sciences. Historians of nineteenth-century American federalism have differed about the workings of the federal system in the era characterized as “dual federalism.” This article provides an analysis of these controversies and offers a theoretical position on the problem of real power under federalism. The historical literature, it is argued, provides legal scholars and social scientists with abundant data on the reach, diversity, and effects of governmental action in the different historical epochs of American federalism. The relationship of federalism in the United States to political freedom, governmental performance and efficiency, and the formation of public policy all receive attention.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Law & Society Review , Volume 14 , Issue 3: Contemporary Issues in Law and Social Science , Spring 1980 , pp. 663 - 722
- Copyright
- Copyright © 1980 Law and Society Association.
Footnotes
The author is grateful to Richard Abel for instructive criticism and suggestions at several stages of the work, and to Michael Parrish, Samuel Beer, Harold Hyman, and Lawrence M. Friedman, all of whom generously shared ideas but bear no responsibility for what is said here.
References
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