Scholars in search of quality standards for traditional legal scholarship could well end up disappointed. By answering the question concerning what standards legal academics use for evaluating such works—through reviewing the international literature on evaluative standards and interviews with forty law professors—this Article aims at filling this gap. This Article recommends that traditional legal scholarship is judged by using the following criteria: (1) the conceptual design—a clearly formulated research question that is both original and significant and the adequacy of the methods proposed to answer that question; (2) the composition of a particular line of reasoning—does the researcher adhere to principles of accountability, accuracy, balance, and credibility?; and (3) the overall characteristics of a work of scholarship—the readability and persuasiveness of the whole and the extent to which the researcher managed to identify and clarify the presuppositions that may have potentially affected her inquiry.

The area devoted to organic table fruit production in Switzerland remained virtually unchanged from the 1930s to the mid-1980s. However, during the last decade there has been a fivefold increase in the production area, approaching a total of 340 ha in 2000 (4.8% of the total area of table fruit production). Factors contributing to this dramatic increase include (1) new and effective non-chemical methods for pest and disease control, (2) improved management and production techniques from research and extension programs, (3) increased marketing of organic produce by supermarkets due to consumer demand, and (4) change in Swiss government policy that began to subsidize ecological performance rather than farm production. A 1994 poll of consumer demand indicated that 3 to 5% of the total apples marketed in Switzerland was organically grown, and projected a total market share of 10% in the near future. Despite this, conventional fruit growers are hesitant to convert to organic production methods because of certain risks involving (1) selection of varieties, (2) pest and disease control, (3) crop hectarage controls, (4) weed control, and (5) tree nutrition. Research and development programs are attempting to deal with these problems, to reduce the level of risk with organic production. Nevertheless, ecological considerations to optimize fruit production are strongly dictated by market conditions and consumer demand. Finally, the development of a stable organic fruit production sector will require that retailers and supermarkets make certain concessions for marketing organic fruit.