Law Commons^™

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Cercla Liability Exposure Unfortunately Created By Pre-Acquisition Soil Testing, Jennifer L. Scheller

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that CERCLA, as it is currently written, requires courts to hold parties liable for pre-purchase soil investigations that spread or mix contamination because to conclude otherwise would stretch CERCLA beyond its breaking point. Part I argues that both those who order pre-acquisition soil testing and those who conduct the tests are PRPs if the testing spreads existing contamination. Part II argues that the statute does not allow for the judicial creation of a soil testing liability exception. Part III acknowledges the policy problems created by testing liability and advocates a legislative solution to exempt pre-purchase soil testing …

Of Property And Antiproperty, Abraham Bell, Gideon Parchomovsky

Michigan Law Review

Private property is widely perceived as a potent prodevelopment and anticonservationist force. The drive to accumulate wealth through private property rights is thought to encourage environmentally destructive development; legal protection of such property rights is believed to thwart environmentally friendly public measures. Indeed, property rights advocates and environmentalists are generally described as irreconcilable foes. This presumed clash often leads environmentalists to urge public acquisition of private lands. Interestingly, less attention is paid to the possibility that the government may prove no better a conservator than private owners. Government actors often mismanage conservation properties, collaborating with private developers to dispose of …

Consuming Government, Richard Schragger

Michigan Law Review

In his ambitious new book, William Fischel, a Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College, gives us a new political animal: "The Homevoter." The homevoter is simply a homeowner who votes (p. ix). According to Fischel, she is the key to understanding the political economy of American local government. By implication, she is the key to understanding state and national government as well. Homeowners warrant special attention because "residents who own their own homes have a stake in the outcome of local politics that make them especially attentive to the public policies of local government" (p. ix). That is because local …

Accountability Conceptions And Federalism Tales: Disney's Wonderful World?, William W. Buzbee

Michigan Law Review

Richard Foglesong's Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando, may not offer the thrills of an entertainment park, but it is an uncommonly good read. In a book focused on approximately four decades of Disney's interactions with Orlando and state officials, political scientist Foglesong tells the tale of how Walt Disney ended up locating his new East Coast entertainment park in Orlando, Florida and what happened in subsequent government-Disney company interactions. Using chapter headings based on stages in a personal relationship's progression ("Serendipity" to "Seduction" through "Marriage," and ultimately, after interim stages, "Therapy"), Foglesong shows that while the …

The Limits Of Localism, Richard C. Schragger

Michigan Law Review

In Chicago v. Morales, the Supreme Court struck down Chicago's Gang Congregation Ordinance, which barred "criminal street gang members from loitering with one another or with other persons in any public place." The stated purpose of the ordinance was to wrest control of public areas from gang members who, simply by their presence, intimidated the public and established control over identifiable areas of the city, namely certain inner-city streets, sidewalks, and corners. The ordinance required that police officers determine whether at least one of two or more persons present in a public place were members of a criminal street gang …

Understanding Sprawl: Lessons From Architecture For Legal Scholars, Mark S. Davies

Michigan Law Review

What is suburban "sprawl"? Why is it undesirable? Why do many Americans nevertheless choose to live in sprawl? Do local zoning laws contribute to sprawl? Can democratic institutions discourage it? Legal scholars are beginning to study these urgent and complex questions. This Essay reviews Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream, by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck, leading architects of the influential New Urbanism or traditional town planning movement. This review makes five points about the legal study of sprawl. First, Suburban Nation provides a definition of "sprawl" that the law can …

Prohibiting Conduct, Not Consequences: The Limited Reach Of The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Benjamin Means

Michigan Law Review

Dissatisfied with the protection afforded wildlife by more recent environmental laws, some environmentalists seek to reinterpret one of the oldest federal environmental laws, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). Long understood simply to regulate hunting, the MBTA makes it illegal to "take" or "kill" migratory birds without a permit. The MBTA imposes strict liability for a violation. A heady combination of strict liability, criminal penalty provisions, and vague language, the MBTA appeals to those seeking to control land use activity. Some environmentalists advocate an interpretation of the MBTA that, contrary to legislative intent and 80 years of enforcement practice, would …

Lawyers, Judges, And The Public Interest, John M. Payne

Michigan Law Review

Chares Haar, the Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law Emeritus at the Harvard Law School and a certified elder statesman of the housing and land-use community, was one of those scholar-politicians of the 1960s who spun out innovative theories in law reviews and then moved into government to see them applied. His generation inspired mine to pursue law as a means to serve the public interest. But the days of the Kennedy brothers' Camelot are long past. Today, big government and "big courts" alike are seen as parts of the problem. In the more austere political climate of the 1990s, …

Determining Ripeness Of Substantive Due Process Claims Brought By Landowners Against Local Governments, David S. Mendel

Michigan Law Review

Landowners who sustain economic harm from arbitrary and capricious applications of land use regulations may sue the local government entities responsible for applying those regulations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the local government entities deprived them of substantive due process in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. A landowner who brings this claim - an "as-applied arbitrary and capricious substantive due process" claim - may in appropriate cases seek declaratory and injunctive relief, damages, and attorney's fees. Despite controversy among courts and commentators over both the definition of property interests protected by the Due Process Clause and the standard …

Less Law Than Meets The Eye, David D. Friedman

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Order Without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes by Robert C. Ellickson

Icons And Aliens: Law, Aesthetics, And Environmental Change, Scott Schrader

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Icons and Aliens: Law, Aesthetics, and Environmental Change by John J. Costonis

That Old Due Process Magic: Growth Control And The Federal Constitution, Keith R. Denny

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the interests of nonmunicipal federal citizens in being able freely to migrate about the nation are not adequately accounted for in a due process analysis which sanctions regulations with any, even a debatable, relation to the public welfare.

More adaptable and appropriate are the constitutional safeguards designed to protect the interests of nonmunicipal federal citizens: the privileges and immunities clause, the right of interstate travel, and the commerce clause. This Note concludes that GCOs should be measured against these safeguards and not the standards of the due process clause. When so reviewed, GCOs are found wanting. …

American Indian Sacred Religious Sites And Government Development: A Conventional Analysis In An Unconventional Setting, Mark S. Cohen

Michigan Law Review

For centuries, American Indians have regarded specific lands as essential to their livelihood, government, culture, and religion. Congress and the courts have at times recognized the important relationship between tribes and their lands. Recognition has not always coincided with protection; during the nineteenth century and part of the twentieth century a series of governmental actions resulted in the tribes surrendering title and possession to many of their ancestral lands. Recently, however, American Indians have become increasingly active litigants in a variety of contexts. In one set of cases, Indians challenged government development projects on public lands, contending that because the …

City Zoning: The Once And Future Frontier, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of City Zoning: The Once and Future Frontier by Clifford L. Weaver and Richard F. Babcock

Everything In Its Place: Social Order And Land Use In America, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Everything in its Place: Social Order and Land Use in America by Constance Perin

Reflections On Stare Decisis In Michigan: The Rise And Fall Of The "Rezoning As Administrative Act" Doctrine, Roger A. Cunningham

Michigan Law Review

In an earlier article in this law review, I discussed the new doctrine that in certain municipalities a decision by the local governing body to rezone or not to rezone land should be deemed an "administrative" or "quasi-judicial," rather than a "legislative," act. This doctrine was introduced into Michigan law several years ago in a series of opinions signed by only three justices of the Michigan Supreme Court. The earlier article dealt principally with the merits of the new "rezoning as administrative act" doctrine. The present article discusses troublesome aspects of the Michigan Supreme Court's attitude toward the principle of …

Proprietary Duties Of The Federal Government Under The Public Land Trust, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines one mechanism by which the courts might supervise public land administration: the common-law public land trust. It contends that by implementing this trust, which is a means of enforcing the government's responsibility for property held in a proprietary capacity, the courts can rectify their neglect of the public lands without overstepping the boundaries of permissible judicial involvement. The trust doctrine is particularly valuable in this context because it is a source of substantive standards in situations where statutes provide little guidance. Vitalization of the public land trust, which is distinct from the more commonly known public trust, …

Helpless Giants: The National Parks And The Regulation Of Private Lands, Joseph L. Sax

Michigan Law Review

While intrusive private activities have increased all around them, park managers have stood by nervously, sensing that they were caring for helpless giants. The Park Service is aware that Congress has given it very little explicit authority to regulate private lands, but underlying Park Service hesitancy to act is a more profound concern about the constitutional power of the federal government to control private land uses near and within the parks. These constitutional doubts, though largely misconceived, arise out of a complex set of issues that need to be clarified. This article first describes current administrative practice and existing legislation …

The Role Of The Local Comprehensive Plan In Land Use Regulation, Daniel R. Mandelker

Michigan Law Review

This article will deal with the enlarged role of the comprehensive plan in the local land use control process. Part I examines traditional judicial views of the role of the comprehensive plan as a guide to zoning administration. Part II suggests that innovations in land use control and comprehensive planning techniques evidence a need for mandatory planning. Subsequent sections examine changes in the judicial attitude toward the role of the comprehensive plan in land use control administration, and survey some enacted and proposed state legislation that modifies the early planning acts by requiring comprehensive planning. This legislation is analyzed to …

The Inadequacy Of Judicial Remedies In Cases Of Exclusionary Zoning, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note presents and evaluates the possible judicial responses to cases, like Mount Laurel, that involve challenges to entire zoning ordinances on exclusionary grounds. It argues that pragmatic and legal difficulties militate against any judicial imposition of affirmative relief not tailored to specific tracts of land and suggests that the most effective resolution of the problems confronted by low-income housing advocates lies in comprehensive legislative programs.

Rezoning By Amendment As An Administrative Or Quasi-Judicial Act: The "New Look" In Michigan Zoning, Roger A. Cunningham

Michigan Law Review

The traditional view in zoning law has been that the enactment of an original zoning ordinance and any amendments thereto by a local governing body is a "legislative" act, as contrasted with the granting of a "special exception" or a "variance" by the zoning board of appeals (or board of adjustment), which is an "administrative" or "quasi-judicial" act. Recently, however, the Oregon and Washington supreme courts have challenged this view, concluding that, under some circumstances at least, the enactment of a zoning amendment should be considered an "administrative" or "quasi-judicial" act, and thus subject to more extensive judicial review. Although …

Condemnation Blight And The Abutting Landowner, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This note will discuss the plight of abutting landowners, and explore various legal theories that may provide them with some recovery against the government units involved. Because most of the theories offer only limited possibilities of recovery, the final section of the note will argue for the creation of a more appropriate remedy.

Billboard Control Under The Highway Beautification Act Of 1965, Roger A. Cunningham

Michigan Law Review

Although the advertising control provisions of the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 have been the subject of unremitting controversy from the date of enactment until the present time, only three substantive amendments to title I have been adopted in the intervening years. These are the amendments to subsections ( d) and (j) and the addition of a new subsection (n) all of which were adopted in 1968.

Beyond The Eye Of The Beholder: Aesthetics And Objectivity, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The term "aesthetic legislation," as used in this Note, refers only to legislation that bears upon the visual character of the physical environment, rather than to legislation on problems of noise and odor. The legal system has handled problems of the latter sort much better; only the sense of sight has been left unprotected. Perhaps one reason for its neglect is that in order to make an area visually pleasing positive programs, such as zoning, must be used, as well as passive prohibitions of such noxious uses as billboards. Noise and odor problems, which can be resolved by prohibitions alone, …

Metropolitanization And Land-Use Parochialism--Toward A Judicial Attitude, Michael H. Feiler

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of this Article is to explore those situations in which courts have given meaning to the Euclid caveat in operation, and, from those instances, to attempt to evolve a judicial approach to the problems posed by the conflict between purely local interests on the one hand and more comprehensive regional interests on the other. Four basic premises are herein indulged: (1) that strictly local zoning is unsatisfactory; (2) that new and innovative legislation will not be readily forthcoming; (3) that the burden of mediating these conflict situations will continue to fall upon the judiciary; and (4) that present …

Constitutional Law--Equal Protection--Zoning--Snob Zoning: Must A Man's Home Be A Castle?, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note will analyze and evaluate the legal theories that may be employed to attack snob zoning in the courts. First, the feasibility of attacking snob zoning via the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment will be examined. The second part of this Note will delineate alternative judicial responses to snob zoning that are couched in more conventional zoning-law terms.

Preservation Of America's Open Space: Proposal For A National Land-Use Commission, Paul N. Mccloskey Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Environmental hazards may be divided into four types: those affecting air, those affecting water, those affecting quietude, and those affecting landscape. This Article will focus on the last of these hazards and will analyze a single aspect of it: the continuing loss of open-space lands. I suggest that this loss can be controlled only if we are willing, in the next decade, to review and to overhaul our entire basic system of land use and tax laws, accepting no present law as sacred other than the constitutional guarantee of just compensation for the taking of private property.

The Conservationists And The Public Lands: Administrative And Judicial Remedies Relating To The Use And Disposition Of The Public Lands Administered By The Department Of The Interior, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The scope of the Department's functions is vast, and the statutory and regulatory materials dealing with those functions are overwhelming in their complexity and breadth. For that reason, this Comment will not seek to make an exhaustive examination of the agency's functions and procedures; rather, it will attempt to provide a selective illustration of the agency's procedures and functions and to concentrate on adjudicatory and review procedures, including judicial review. Because recent years have seen a marked increase in attention to resources and to conservation issues by persons and groups not otherwise directly concerned with the disposition of public lands, …

Marine: America The Raped: The Engineering Mentality And The Devastation Of A Continent, Owen Olpin

Michigan Law Review

A Review of America the Raped: The Engineering Mentality and the Devastation of a Continent by Gene Marine

Sovereign Immunity And Nonstatutory Review Of Federal Administrative Action: Some Conclusions From The Public-Lands Cases, Antonin Scalia

Michigan Law Review

The purpose of the present Article is not to propose yet another route toward logical reconciliation of the sovereign-immunity cases; but, on the contrary, to urge general acceptance of the fact that such reconciliation is, and will probably remain, unattainable; to explain why this is so; and to suggest why it is not so bad. This modest goal will be attempted through a detailed examination of two recent Supreme Court cases and their most pertinent antecedents.