Homeowner,
Thanks for your interest. Yes, the article is being written for an academic audience.
I don’t have any illusions of U.S.C. or Fed. Rep. being replaced by Shulchan Aruch and Shailos U’teshuvos Chassam Sofer. However, there is a growing movement in legal academia to study Jewish law.
There is also an interesting Law Review article (sorry, I don’t have the citation off hand, but I believe its available at jlaw.com) that goes through many State and Federal decisions that reference Jewish law. Even the United State’s Supreme Court has done so on occasion (a footnote in Miranda, and Justice Scalia’s dissent in Caperton are just two examples).
For me, its not so much about getting getting a Chapter on Arbah Avos Nezikin included in the next edition of Prosser on Torts. It’s more about bringing to light the Torah’s duty-based approach to life and law, which I believe stems from the Torah’s view that law is not just about regulating conduct; its about doing so in a way that calls individuals and communities to ennoble themselves by choosing to shoulder the burdens that the law imposes for the benefit of others.
Also, much of what American lawyers, judges, and academics do know about Torah law is unfortunately wrong as it is based on the work of several non-orthodox writers (Robert Cover, for example). I do not think correcting misconceptions among those who do care about Jewish law is an empty effort at all, and I hope to contribute more in this regard during my career.