•  
  •  
 
West Virginia Law Review

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This Article advances a new theoretical framework to help explain and understand race and American law. In particular, the Article argues that we can employ a philosophical model to attempt to understand what often occurs when the dominant group deals with persons of color. The Article contends that when the dominant group acts with great power or lack of constraint, it often acts as though it were in what political philosophers have called the state of nature. Thus, the Article argues that there is a tendency for the dominant group to act as though it were in the state of nature when dealing with persons of color. There is a tendency not to feel any constraints or move toward a situation with fewer constraints on the dominant group. The Article contends that there is reason to believe that operating with great power or lack of constraint will have bad effects on the persons wielding such power.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.