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Restriction Of Tort Remedies And The Constraints Of Due Process: The Right To An Adequate Remedy, Tracy A. Thomas

Tracy A. Thomas

In the recent proliferation of tort reform statutes, the dangerous clause of remedial jurisdiction stripping has sneaked into the law. Reminiscent of federal statutes in other areas of the law, these jurisdictional provisions strip courts of all power to award punitive or non-pecuniary damages in excess of legislative limits. Many states have acted to restrict frivolous claims and excessive recoveries by cabining “McTorts” and “runaway juries.” Regardless of the merits of these policy questions, the use of the simple expedient of remedial jurisdiction to accomplish these purposes raises significant concerns. By arbitrarily restricting an individual’s right to a meaningful remedy, …

Book Review, Sharon Hatfield, Never Seen The Moon: The Trials Of Edith Maxwell, Tracy A. Thomas

Tracy A. Thomas

In Never Seen the Moon, journalist Sharon Hatfield chronicles the story of school teacher Edith Maxwell accused of murdering her coal-miner father in depression-era Appalachia. Hatfield’s detective work brings together the threads of this story to provide a mystery novel using the headlines and trial transcripts from real life. There are surprises to rival a John Grisham novel as Hatfield tells the legal tale of the young and vibrant Edith battling her raging father. The book journeys through the trials and appeals as two juries of twelve men convict Edith of murder and sentence her to a lifetime in prison. …

Elizabeth Cady Stanton On The Federal Marriage Amendment: A Letter To The President, Tracy A. Thomas

Tracy A. Thomas

This essay written from a historical, first-person perspective explores the parallels between the current movement for a Federal Marriage Amendment and that of the nineteenth century through the lens of feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Using the archival sources of Stanton’s articles and speeches from 1880 to 1902, the paper identifies her key arguments opposing a constitutional standard of marriage. The paper then juxtaposes Stanton’s arguments against the 2004 Federal Marriage Amendment to reveal the continued relevance and import of her insights. Stanton’s analytical platform attacked the core pretexts of federalism and gender that fueled the proposed marriage amendment in her …

Powers Of Withdrawal, Claims For Set-Off, And Spendthrift Protection, Alan Newman

Alan Newman

If a beneficiary of a spendthrift trust has a right to withdraw property from the trust, may the beneficiary’s creditors reach the assets subject to the withdrawal power? That was the principle question recently addressed by the 1st District Court of Appeals in Great American Insurance Company v. Thompson Trust. Also of interest: the case may have involved an offset by the trustee of amounts distributable to the beneficiary to repay amounts owed by the beneficiary to the trust.

Unintended Consequences Of The Fourteenth Amendment And What They Tell Us About Its Interpretation, Richard L. Aynes

Richard L. Aynes

The Fourteenth Amendment has been compared to “second American Constitution.” Indeed, it is said that more litigation is based upon the Fourteenth Amendment or its implementing statutes than any other provision of the Constitution. As one would imagine for such an important charter of government, there is a substantial—and some might say overwhelming—body of scholarship on the “intent,” “meaning,” and “understanding” of the Fourteenth Amendment. Much of the literature, understandably, seeks to find out what the framers of the amendment or the ratifiers of the amendment “intended.” What did they want to accomplish by adopting this amendment? This article treats …

Personal And Political Bias In The Debate Over Federal Income Taxation Rates And Progressivity, Richard Kovach

Richard Kovach

Recently, the Boston College Law Review published a symposium issue containing twelve articles on federal income taxation issues pertaining to rates, progressivity, and budget processes. These articles are well written, copiously researched, and representative of contemporary legal scholarship. For the most part, these articles variously support the idea that our federal taxation system is insufficiently progressive. Often this body of work attributes deleterious social effects to insufficient progressivity caused by tax cuts legislated in 2001 and 2003. Some of the symposium writing advocates for increased federal taxation on wealthy taxpayers without structural limitations beyond those that might be necessary to …

Preparing New Students For Legal Practice In A "Flat World", Martin H. Belsky

Martin H. Belsky

I went to a law school [Columbia University] specifically because of their international program and became involved with almost all aspects of that program--which they called “transnational law.” I also did graduate work in International Affairs and Law. I was, and am, committed to incorporating transnational law concepts into the law school program. And I have had administrative responsibilities that have made me take a pragmatic approach to reaching that goal.

During this workshop, we have heard many ideas about bringing transnational law and issues into the first year curriculum. We have heard descriptions of the actions of individual faculty …

Report On Hb 416: The Ohio Trust Code As Enacted, Alan Newman

Alan Newman

Report on HB 416: The Ohio Trust Code As Enacted

This Report begins with a discussion of policy considerations related to the 2007 enactment of the Ohio Trust Code (OTC). Next, it discusses how the OTC will be incorporated into the Ohio Revised Code. The Report then discusses many of the OTC’s provisions, in the same order as those provisions are included in the OTC. The focus of the discussion of OTC provisions is on those that will change existing Ohio law, or that are changes from the Uniform Trust Code (UTC). Thus, the Report does not provide a general …