After retiring to California in 2006, John Boyd found himself bored. So he returned to the Philippines. Once back, the dean of a Philippine law school asked him if he would be a lecturer. John was thinking about environmental law, but the dean noted that students want to know more about US law, and some of them may be practicing in the US at a later time. Further, while the Philippine legal system needs to find Philippine solutions, the Philippine law relies in part on the precedents set by some US cases.
John had studied constitutional law in college and law school, and started to review Constitutional Law in a Nutshell—600 pages seems like a large nutshell! He also reviewed five other books. John figures that each 3-hour lecture he gives for the first time takes 3 days of preparation. His lecture class has 15 students—all sharp, and interested.
Among the more interesting, and important, cases in US legal history that John discussed in his class is Marbury vs. Madison. In that case the Federalist John Adams, in his last night in office as US president in 1801, signed appointment papers for numerous justices of the peace, William Marbury among them. When Thomas Jefferson, an Anti- Federalist (or Republican) assumed the Presidency the next day, some of these papers had not been delivered due to time pressures. Jefferson ordered James Madison, his secretary of state, to withhold delivery of these remaining papers. Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court to force Madison to deliver the papers.
But in 1803 the Supreme Court denied his petition, maintaining that part of the statute on which he based his claim was unconstitutional. This is a landmark decision because it was the first time the Supreme Court had declared that legislation was unconstitutional, and it initiated the practice of judicial review in the US, allowing the courts to invalidate acts of the President and the Congress, and helping to define the checks and balances among them. After the lecture, one of the students congratulated John on providing the best explanation of the case he had heard, making it easier for his students to understand the origins of judicial review, a concept employed by the judiciary in the Philippines and many other countries.
John notes that there are lots of great cases, and the discussions with his students are energizing, fun, interesting, and very rewarding.
John also gives lectures on sustainable development and related legal issues, based on his experiences at ADB and a book that he authored with two colleagues, Professors Peter Rogers and Kazi Jalal (formerly head of the Office of Environment and Social Development before retiring from ADB). This book—An Introduction to Sustainable Development—is published in English by Earthscan and in Chinese by authorization of Harvard University Press. Since publishing the book, John has given lectures at Tulane University, the University of Utah, and annually at Harvard University, where Professors Rogers and Jalal teach.
John also authored an article published in the Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy.
In the article, he argued in part that international financial institutions should strengthen the legal education of lawyers and judges to help prevent discrimination against women and the poor, protect the environment, combat corruption, improve governance, and facilitate trade and investment.
John’s current big project is to lose 20 pounds by sticking to a strict diet and going swimming for 1/2 hour a day, 5 days a week. John finds the diet a bit confining, but he thinks that life is still an enjoyable swim in Manila’s warm weather.