Maybe you don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing, but when a judge quotes Bob Dylan, it's a good guess the judge is a Baby Boomer. A law professor has done a study of popular-music references in judicial opinions and law review articles and finds Dylan is the most often cited, followed by the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, and Paul Simon. Alex B. Long, [Insert Song Lyrics Here]: The Uses and Misuses of Popular Music Lyrics in Legal Writing, 2006 ExpressO Preprint Series Paper 1609.
This evening's edition of "On the Media" had an interview with Prof. Long, accompanying his quotations from judicial opinions with the original tunes by the Clash, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and, of course, Dylan. You can listen or download the show.
Filed in: Long, judges, music, lyrics, empirical-studies
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Rock 'n' Roll Judges
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1 comment:
Ten years ago, I found it both heartening and disconcerting that the WA Growth Management Hearings Board cited a Bonnie Rait song in its decision (in our favor). Now that I've seen Ms. Raitt perform live here in San Francisco, I can understand their attraction to her work.
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