Law Commons^™

The Continuing Evolution Of Criminal Constitutional Law In State Courts, S. Carran Daughtrey

Vanderbilt Law Review

Although early state constitutions were important and ambitious documents for their time, the development of state constitutional law stagnated after the drafting and adoption of the federal constitution., As the doctrine of federalism has resurfaced, however, states have begun to turn to their constitutions to grant more protection for their citizens. The states' criminal constitutional laws have changed significantly and continue to evolve today.

In the 1960s, the Warren Court expanded basic protections for criminal defendants by finding that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments. The Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual …

Stretching The "Terry" Doctrine To The Search For Evidence Of Crime: Canine Sniffs, State Constitutions, And The Reasonable Suspicion Standard, Kenneth L. Pollack

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Fourth Amendment, protects an individual's interest in freedom from unreasonable government intrusions into personal privacy. When a court finds an investigative technique to be a search within the Amendment's meaning, it effectively concludes that Fourth Amendment protection should apply. If the government activity constitutes a search, that activity must be reasonable. If the activity does not amount to a search, however, the government enjoys virtual freedom to conduct that activity as unreasonably as it pleases. For pure investigatory searches, the United States Supreme Court has found that the probable cause requirement strikes the proper balance in defining reasonableness. Unlike …

The Consensual Electronic Surveillance Experiment: State Courts React To "United States V. White", Melanie L. Black Dubis

Vanderbilt Law Review

It has long been recognized that a state, if its citizens so chose, may "serve as a laboratory" for economic and social legislation. In an era of new federalism, state courts have experimented by extending individual rights under state constitutions that the United States Supreme Court, beginning with the Burger Court, refused to recognize under the federal constitution. Although this approach has been criticized by the judiciary and academia, it continues to be a driving force in the development of individual rights.

In United States v. White, the Supreme Court held that the police practice of obtaining evidence with warrantless …

New York's Loyalty To The Spirit Of "Miranda": Simply The Best For Twenty-Five Years, Lorraine J. Adler

Vanderbilt Law Review

The landmark Supreme Court decision Miranda v. Arizona, recognized a defendant's right to be informed of the rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment's self-incrimination clause, including the right to counsel. The Miranda Court realized that a suspect may feel compelled to waive his Fifth Amendment privilege while in official detention. The Court held that the police must read the now-familiar warnings to a subject in custodial interrogation before he can waive his rights. Therefore, the Court in Miranda chose to strike the balance between effective law enforcement and protecting a subject's constitutional rights at the point of informing the subject …

Administrative Subpoenas And The Grand Jury: Converging Streams Of Criminal And Civil Compulsory Process, Graham Hughes

Vanderbilt Law Review

Litigation depends on information. In the last few decades, discovery in civil cases has been dramatically extended in order to move toward a position in which litigants' files are open to other parties with very few restrictions.' This movement in civil cases has been relatively smooth, for its merits in terms of economy and efficiency can be fortified by pointing to its even-handed mutuality and reciprocity. In criminal cases, by contrast, courts at one time thought that any considerable expansion in discovery must be rejected because the constraints of the Fifth Amendment's self-incrimination clause would bar the exercise of compulsion …

A Precarious Path: The Bill Of Rights After 200 Years, Tony A. Freyer

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Bill of Rights occupies an ambiguous place in American society. Americans favor the Bill of Rights in principle, but when asked whether they support particular rights guarantees for real-life practices such as gun ownership, capital punishment, abortion, and flag burning, Americans fervently and profoundly disagree. The essays David J. Bodenhamer and James W. Ely, Jr. have compiled in The Bill of Rights in Modern America After 200 Years, richly suggest why Americans have reconciled principle and practice with such difficulty. Written for a popular audience by specialists who possess a profound knowledge of and differing views concerning the technical …

State Courts Reject "Leon" On State Constitutional Grounds: A Defense Of Reactive Rulings, Leigh A. Morrissey

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1984, the United States Supreme Court announced a broad exception to the federal exclusionary rule' in United States v. Leon. The Court held the exclusionary rule inapplicable when police officers obtain evidence in reasonable, good faith reliance on a warrant later found to be defective. Commentators had advised against the creation of the so-called good faith exception before Leon. After Leon, they promulgated a torrent of commentary criticizing both the Leon Court's reasoning and its result. Today, because Leon does not control state constitutional decisions, the battle over the good faith exception is fought on the state level. Currently, …

Truth, Justice, And The American Way: The Case Against The Client Perjury Rules, Jay S. Silver

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1637, England's dreaded Court of Star Chamber pronounced the sentence: John Bastwick, a Puritan activist,' was to be pilloried twice with one ear cut off each time, imprisoned in perpetuity without "books, pen, ink, or paper," stripped of his university degrees, and fined 5,000. Shortly before, he had been escorted up a twisting staircase in Westminster Palace and into a dark, cavernous room with stars painted on the ceiling to be tried on charges of criminal libel for having penned a political tract critical of the government. According to Star Chamber procedure, since Bastwick's counsel refused to vouch for …

The Algebra Of Pluralism: Subjective Experience As A Constitutional Variable, Barbara J. Flagg

Vanderbilt Law Review

Adzan Bedonie is a Navajo woman who speaks no English, holds tightly to traditional Navajo beliefs, and lives in a one-room hogan on the wrong side of the line drawn by a federal court to partition Navajo and Hopi lands.' The law that mandates her relocation and thus threatens to sever what for her is a spiritual connection to the land on which she lives offers a potential escape route: Congress provided for a limited number of life estates for older individuals subject to relocation. But Adzan Bedonie, like most elderly Navajo, has not applied for a life estate, because …

A Paradigm For Sexual Harassment: Toward The Optimal Level Of Loss, Marie T. Reilly

Vanderbilt Law Review

The emerging law of sexual harassment has focused discussion on the political, sociological, and legal issues surrounding sexual conduct. Some commentators have argued that the developing law insufficiently addresses an underlying political imbalance between men and women. Although these commentators eschew sexual harassment law as a plausible means of achieving an egalitarian, sex-blind society, they offer few concrete suggestions for reaching their goal. A few scholars have taken a position at the other extreme, that sexual harassment is more or less a chimera, and that the injury women claim to experience is simply part of the vicissitudes of life, or, …

Developing A Meaningful Fourth Amendment Approach To Automobile Investigatory Stops, Andrew J. Pulliam

Vanderbilt Law Review

Police officers throughout the nation face the practical application of Fourth Amendment' protections in the automobile investigatory stop context daily in a wide variety of settings. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has yet to articulate a functional analytical approach to automobile investigatory stops. This lack of guidance is particularly troublesome when one considers that the Framers specifically designed the Fourth Amendment to prevent government officials from conducting investigations in an oppressive, unreasonable manner. The problem is not simply theoretical but has manifested itself through confusion in the lower courts. The lack of response from the Court on this issue has left …

The Emerging Trend Of Corporate Liability: Courts' Uneven Treatment Of Hospital Standards Leaves Hospitals Uncertain And Exposed, David H. Rutchik

Vanderbilt Law Review

Under the doctrine of hospital corporate liability, a hospital has a nondelegable, direct duty to provide adequate care to all of its patients.' This duty is not a product of a master-servant or a principal-agent relationship, nor is hospital tort liability predicated on a showing of vicarious liability, because the hospital's liability flows directly from the hospital to its patients. Consequently, a hospital may be liable for the negligent act of an independent staff physician, even if that physician is an independent contractor. The corporate liability, or corporate negligence, doctrine thus extends potential liability beyond the sphere of respondeat superior. …

The New Legal Hermeneutics, Francis J. Mootz, Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

Incorporating the Continental philosophical tradition of hermeneutics into legal scholarship appears to be a project relevant only to a few jurisprudes locked away in the uppermost reaches of the ivory tower. Many scholars undoubtedly would argue that the tradition and focus of twentieth-century German philosophy is far removed from the troubling interpretive issues that arise in the American legal system, regardless of any interesting parallels or comparisons that might be drawn., From this perspective, the renewed attention to hermeneutical philosophy by legal scholars is viewed as just one of an increasing number of esoteric, intellectual cul-de-sacs that have diverged from …

Public Values And Private Virtue, Suzanna Sherry

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Professor Novak's article' is a much-needed breath of fresh air, because of both its historical approach and its rejection of a paradigm of pure individualism. Professor Novak eloquently reminds us that constitutional theorists of all political stripes are today both more presentist and more individualist than their predecessors. His paper is a gentle suggestion that we might do well to moderate these modern tendencies. Professor Novak's thorough historical examination persuasively debunks the myth of the early nineteenth century as the constitutional parent of the twentieth. Indeed, his paper shows us that comparing the length of a line and the weight …

The 200,000 Cards Of Dimitri Yurasov: Further Reflections On Scholarship And Truth, Suzanna Sherry, Daniel A. Farber

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Last April, Professors Daniel Farber and Suzanna Sherry published a critique in these pages of the legal storytelling movement. Their legal position has been the subject of several responses, including an essay by Professor William Eskridge in this issue. In reply, Professors Farber and Sherry challenge their critics' reliance on postmodern views such as social constructionism. Social constructionism, according to Farber and Sherry, embraces forms of community that would be destructive to the scholarly enterprise. It also risks conflating scholarship with politics in ways harmful to both. More generally, Farber and Sherry contend, postmodernism lacks any clear lessons for legal …

Psychological Barriers To Litigation Settlement: An Experimental Approach, Chris Guthrie, Russell Korobkin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The traditional economic model of settlement breakdown -- as developed by Priest and Klein -- provides an important first step in understanding why some lawsuits settle and others go to trial. Rational miscalculation undoubtedly pushes some litigants into court who might otherwise reach out-of-court settlement. Absent miscalculation, however, some litigants still find themselves in court. We have presented experimental evidence suggesting that these litigants may proceed to trial because psychological barriers to value maximizing behavior impede their settlement efforts. Indeed, our research empirically grounds the hypothesis that psychological barriers are powerful causal agents of trials. The usefulness of this evidence …

Opening Offers And Out-Of-Court Settlement: A Little Moderation May Not Go A Long Way, Chris Guthrie, Russell Korobkin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

When two litigants resolve a dispute through out-of-court settlement rather than trial, they realize joint gains of trade equal to the sum of the costs both parties would have incurred had they obtained a trial judgment minus the costs they incur reaching settlement. This opportunity for mutual gain causes most civil lawsuits to settle out-of-court. Yet, in spite of the opportunity for joint gain, negotiations fail in a significant number of lawsuits. One reason for this surprising result is that even when joint gains are substantial and obvious to the litigants, they still must agree on a method of dividing …

Human Health Risk Assessments For Superfund, W. Kip Viscusi, James T. Hamilton

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) is scheduled for reauthorization in the spring of 1995, and Congress must decide either to continue the Superfund program in its current form or to modify it in some manner. Congress cannot sensibly decide how to reauthorize CERCLA without understanding the program's progress toward one of its fundamental missions: the reduction of risks to human health and the environment from uncontrolled hazardous waste sites... This article is structured in six sections. Section I provides background on how risk assessment data are used at Superfund sites.Section II details the construction and organization …

Deterring Inefficient Pharmaceutical Litigation: An Economic Rationale For The Fda Regulatory Compliance Defense, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article examines the interaction between direct regulation of pharmaceuticals under the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) and the indirect regulation of pharmaceuticals provided by common law tort incentives. The Article concludes that tort liability is generally inappropriate in cases where manufacturers have complied with the FDCA. The Article begins with a description of the FDCA's operation, and provides an overview of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) role in the drug approval process and drug labeling. This overview will demonstrate the need for centralized control over drug labeling. Moreover, we will provide an explanation of the costs …

Mortality Effects Of Regulatory Costs And Policy Evaluation Criteria, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Risk regulations directly reduce risks, but they may produce offsetting risk increases. Regulated risks generate a substitution effect, as individuals' risk-averting actions will diminish. Recognition of these effects alters benefit-cost criteria and the value-of-life estimates pertinent to policy analysis. Particularly expensive risk regulations may be counterproductive. The expenditure level that will lead to the loss of one statistical life equals the value of life divided by the marginal propensity to spend on health. Regulations with a cost of $30 million to $70 million per life saved will, on balance, have a net adverse effect on mortality because of these linkages.

Book Review--Global Dimensions Of Intellectual Property Rights In Science And Technology, Mark J. Patterson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A complete reading of the book leaves open the question of for whom the book is primarily intended. The best answer perhaps is that it has something to offer everyone--lawyer, scientist, intellectual property owner, economist, and politician--having an intellectual curiosity in how global intellectual property systems can and should evolve. From an individual reader's perspective, a cover to cover study of the book may leave the reader feeling overwhelmed and unsatisfied. However, if viewed as a resource, from which portions applicable to the reader's own field of interest are selected for close examination, the book has much to offer. Fortunately, …

Case Digest, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Case Digest provides brief analyses of cases that represent current aspects of international law. The Digest includes cases that establish legal principles and cases that apply established legal principles to new factual situations. The cases are grouped by topic and include references for further research.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. AID TO FOREIGN TRIBUNALS

II. TRADE

III.TREATIES

IV. IMMIGRATION

The Changing Game: The United States Evolving Supply-Side Approach To Narcotics Trafficking, Gregory Wilson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Despite over two decades of focused government efforts, drug use and related problems persist in the United States. Moreover, combatting narcotics trafficking now may be more difficult than ever as the sophisticated Cali Cartel has replaced the Medellin Cartel as the world's preeminent supplier of cocaine. Cali's advanced methods of operation have rendered traditional approaches to battling drugs even less effective than they were previously. Clearly, the United States must establish a new direction in drug law enforcement. This Note traces the development of Colombia's drug cartels from the rise of the Medellin Cartel to the emergence of Cali as …

Efficiencies And Merger Review In Canada, The European Community, And The United States, Mark A.A. Warner

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines economic efficiencies analysis in the merger review processes of Canada, the European Community, and the United States. In recent years, legal counsel, academics, and policymakers have given greater attention to international harmonization and convergence of competition and antitrust law and policy. This trend has been spurred by the increasing acceptance of efficiency-based economics in competition policy generally and in merger policy particularly. The author, nevertheless, asks whether efficiency-based merger analysis also may create new jurisdictional conflicts among national merger enforcement authorities. For instance, a state concerned with its own domestic competitiveness might emphasize domestic efficiency gains in …

Conflict Of Laws And Accuracy In The Allocation Of Government Responsibility, Joel P. Trachtman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The field of conflict of laws suffers from a lack of theoretical coherence, and therefore fails to provide a satisfactory basis for discourse, adjudication, legislation, and inter-governmental negotiation regarding issues of prescriptive scope. This Article advances a law and economics-based approach to conflict of laws for use in both the domestic and international context. The Article first assesses the theoretical coherence of some principal conflict of laws approaches, analyzing their resolution of four tensions: predictability and adminstrability versus accuracy, unilateralism versus multilateralism, private interest versus public interests, and courts versus legislatures. It refers to Professor Baxter's "comparative impairment" methodology as …

The "Constitutionalization" Of The Un Security System, Matthias J. Herdegen

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The considerable activism displayed by the Security Council over the last years and its dynamic application of the powers under Chapter VII of the UN Charter recently have inspired concern for the institutional balance within the United Nations and the quest for justiciable restraints upon the Council. Such concern underlines a "constitutional" approach to the United Nations framework: the Charter is conceived as a kind of constitution for the community of states with the International Court of Justice as the ultimate guardian of its legality vis-a-vis the Council. Such a "constitutional" approach should be viewed with caution. The scrutiny of …

The Irish Abortion Debate: Substantive Rights And Affecting Commerce Jurisprudential Models, Anne M. Hilbert

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note examines the balance of power between the European Community and its Member States through the window of the Irish abortion debate. The framework for that debate has been shaped largely by two judicial bodies: the Irish judiciary and the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the judicial arm of the European Community. The Irish judiciary has approached the abortion question through an analysis of the content of substantive individual rights protected by the Irish Constitution. The ECJ, on the other hand, has addressed abortion from the standpoint of the European Community's goal of uninhibited commerce between Member States. These …

Straightening The "Timber": Toward A New Paradigm Of International Law, Louis R. Beres

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Immanuel Kant once remarked: " Out of timber so crooked as that from which man is made, nothing entirely straight can be built." Understood in terms of international law, this philosopher's wisdom points toward a far-reaching departure from traditional emphases on structures of global power and authority. Newly aware that structural alterations of international law are always epiphenomenal, ignoring root causes of international crimes in favor of their symptomatic expressions, we could craft from this departure a new and promising jurisprudence. Acknowledging that human transformations must lie at the heart of all world-order reform, we could build upon the knowledge …

United States Tax Rules For Nonresident Authors, Artists, Musicians, And Other Creative Professionals, Don R. Spellmann

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Although the United States rules for taxation of non-resident creative professionals may seem straight forward, the Internal Revenue Code contains significant traps for the unwary nonresident. However, it also offers significant opportunities for nonresidents to protect themselves from United States taxation. Discovering these traps and loopholes requires close attention to the Code and to income tax treaties which further complicate the system. This Note examines the Code's rules on taxation of nonresidents and discusses the effect that tax treaties have on those rules. The Note, intended to be a practical guide for nonresident authors, artists, musicians, and other creative professionals, …

Default Breakdown: The Vienna Convention On The Law Of Treaties' Inadequate Framework On Reservations, Daniel N. Hylton

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties attempted to give some order to the confusion that was treaty law after World War II. One treaty issue that was particularly in need of codification was the law governing reservations to treaties. With the growing number of participants in the international community making universal agreement more difficult, the frequency of reservations, as a vehicle for circumscribing disagreements in treaty negotiations, increased. However, most practices regarding reservations severely limited the ability of states to make reservations successfully. To remedy that problem, the Vienna Convention adopted a flexible approach to treaty reservations, …