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IF
Women Wrote the Laws
What kind of world would this be like if our laws originated from estrogen
instead of testosterone? By Laurie L. Levenson, Esq.
Queen Victoria demanded that her House of Lords draft an insanity defense standard in response to the infamous M’Naghten case. M’Naghten’s Case, House of Lords, 10 Cl. & F. 200, 8 Eng. Rep. 718 (1843).
Throughout criminal law, one can find examples of legal doctrines that would likely have been different if H
women wrote the laws. Consider, first, the basic rule that there is no duty to help your fellow person, even if you can do so without harm to yourself. America does not have a general Good Samaritan law.
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ave you ever wondered how the legal system might be different if women wrote the laws? Certainly, there are women in legislative po- sitions today to enact and revise the laws. However, that development is relatively recent. At least in the area of criminal law, most laws are based upon common law precedent, which was a strictly male affair. The closest that women got to influencing the law was when
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