Law Commons^™

Adapting Private Law For Climate Change Adaptation, Jim Rossi, J. B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law Review

The private law of torts, property, and contracts will and should play an important role in resolving disputes regarding how private individuals and entities respond to and manage the harms of climate change that cannot be avoided through mitigation (known in climate change policy dialogue as “adaptation”). While adaptation is commonly presented as a problem needing legislative solutions, this Article presents a novel and overdue case for private law to take climate adaptation seriously.

To date, the role of private law is a significant blind spot in scholarly discussions of climate adaptation. Litigation invoking common-law doctrines in climate adaption disputes …

Overcoming Another Tragedy In New Orleans: Rebuilding In The Wake Of "Kelo" And Act No. 851, William C. Spaht

Vanderbilt Law Review

During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, thousands of Gulf Coast residents lost their homes, their possessions, their savings, and some, their lives. Those states hit hardest by the hurricanes have struggled to recover. In places like New Orleans, where hundreds of thousands of residents evacuated and may never return, uncertainty regarding the future of private property has become a fact of life. As the excerpt from Senator McPherson's letter indicates, arguably the single most critical question facing local and state governments trying to rebuild the devastated coast is how to encourage use of abandoned properties to spark the economy.

Michael A. …

Regulatory Takings And Ripeness In The Federal Courts, Gregory M. Stein

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Supreme Court held in 1987 that compensation is required automatically whenever a municipality takes property by regulation. The Court has also held repeatedly that federal courts cannot even hear such claims until the landowner meets a demanding ripeness test. Landowners are often unable to survive the protracted ripening period even though their claims might ultimately have proved to be valid. And the occasional municipality that loses a takings case may be liable for a huge award that reflects the lengthy ripening period. Federal courts have persistently refused to acknowledge this tension between takings law and takings procedure.

This Article …

"Property" In The Fifth Amendment: A Quest For Common Ground In The Maze Of Regulatory Takings, David C. Buck

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1922, the Supreme Court embarked on its first decision to protect property owners from unbridled, uncompensated government regulation. Prior to Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, the courts applied the Just Compensation Clause of the Fifth Amendments only to "'direct appropriation[s]' of property ... or the functional equivalent of a 'practical ouster of [the owner's] possession.' " Mahon established that governmental regulation that affects an owner's use of his land may constitute a taking under the Fifth Amendment. In Mahon, Justice Holmes recognized the need for constitutional limits on the government's power to impair certain rights inherent in the ownership …

Property And Liberty Reconsidered, Herman Belz

Vanderbilt Law Review

This perceptive, lucid, and sympathetic account of property rights in American constitutional law by Professor James W. Ely, Jr., is further evidence of the conservative challenge to liberal orthodoxy that has emerged in recent years in American historiography. That the book appears under the cosponsorship of the Organization of American Historians, one of the more militantly liberal scholarly associations in the United States, is a small but significant sign of the changing intellectual climate.

As conceived of in contemporary liberal historiography, protection of individual property rights is but one element of economic liberty. Equally if not more important, according to …

The Great Section 38 Property Muddle, J. A. Cragwall, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Twelve full years have elapsed since section 38 property made its first appearance on the stage of tax law. In those twelve years, a complicated, confusing, ad hoc, and often inconsistent body of rulings and judicial decisions has grown up around the definitional regulation; words and phrases have acquired strange new meanings and connotations in the lush overgrowth of legal reasoning clinging to that regulation. The paradoxes in the regulation (such as that addressed in Weirick) and, more often, the ambiguities resulting from an almost universal failure by the regulations to define, instead of simply illustrate, its terms (such as …

Alternative Gains Tax Treatments Of Decedents' Appreciated Capital Assets, D. Allen Grumbine

Vanderbilt Law Review

The present treatment of appreciated assets under section 1014' of the Code permits a great deal of accrued appreciation to escape the income tax. While decedents pay a greater estate tax because asset appreciation swells their estates, they pay no gains tax at death on this accrued appreciation. Moreover, the recipients of the decedent's property generally take a stepped-up basis for the property equal to its fair market value at the time of death. A great deal of criticism has been leveled at this system, and numerous proposals have been made for remedying the situation: imposition of a capital gains …

Another And Hopefully Final Look At The Property--Personal Liberty Distinction Of Section 1343(3), John Lecornu

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent years have witnessed increasing confusion and uncertainty over the proper scope of section 1343(3) of Title 28 of the United States Code, the jurisdictional counterpart of section 1983 of Title 42. Both provisions originated in the Civil Rights Act of 1871. Section 1983 creates a cause of action to redress the deprivation, under color of state law, of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution or laws. Section 1343(3) grants to the federal district courts original jurisdiction, irrespective of amount in controversy, over any civil action authorized by law that is commenced by any person: "To redress …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Corporations--Equity--Specific Performance of Stock Option Granted Because of Tax Advantage Feature of Option

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Property--Landlord-Tenant--Rabbinical Court Establishes Far-Reaching Standard of Landlords' Obligations to Tenants

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Taxation--Federal Estate Taxation--Under Treasury Regulation Section 20.2031-8(b), Value of Shares in Mutual Funds Is Public Offering Price on Date of Death Rather Than Redemption Price

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Taxation--Mineral Rights--Carried Interest Loses Deduction for Depletion, Depreciation, and Intangible Drilling Costs During Recoupment

Conflict Of Laws -- Constitutionality Of State Statutes Governing Ability Of Nonresident Aliens To Receive Property Under American Wills: Zschernig V. Miller, Richard N. Hale

Vanderbilt Law Review

An excellent illustration of the vertical conflict of laws problem involves the ability of nonresident aliens to receive property under American wills. Traditionally, under the American federal system,the acquisition and transmission of property located within a state has been controlled by state law. Yet article I, section 10 of the United States Constitution imposes strict limitations on a state's power to deal with matters having a bearing on international relations, such matters being within the ambit of the national government. The supremacy of the national government in the general field of foreign affairs has been given continuous recognition by the …

Corporate Securities As "Business Property", Thomas G. Bost

Vanderbilt Law Review

Inadequacies of the statutory definition of "capital asset" have led the courts to develop the concept of "business property," which serves to distinguish everyday business activities from investment activities.This concept is now being applied by courts in a wide variety of factual situations involving corporate securities. However, unless objective, easily ascertainable limits to the "business property" concept are found, confusion and inconsistency may mark the development of future case law. The rules developed by the American Law Institute's Discussion Draft Study of Definitional Problems in Capital Gains Taxation appear to provide these objective limits. Because they are consistent with the …

Condominium: A Reconciliation Of Competing Interests?, James C. Clark

Vanderbilt Law Review

This note will first examine some of the operative provisions of the condominium statutes. Particular emphasis will be placed upon those provisions which are basic to the creation, existence, and dissolution of this unique form of property ownership. The FHA Model Statute For Creation of Apartment Ownership will be the principal vehicle of analysis, for it is the basis of many of the state condominium statutes. State provisions which differ from the Model Act will then be examined to discover the best statutory answer to the needs of condominium housing. Finally, attention will be focused on the tax implications of …

Right Of First Refusal--Homogeniety In The Condominium, Ira E. Parker, Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

The condominium, a newly popular but relatively old' concept in real property law, is defined basically as an apartment project involving individual fee ownership of a family unit in a multi-unit structure or structures. To complete the ownership picture, the individual fee owners are also tenants in common, with undivided interests, in the land on which the structure is built, and in other parts of the structure which are not part of an individual unit. Due to the anticipated popularity of this unconventional real estate ownership,state legislation has blossomed in the past four years, and today, all but a few …

Decedents' Estates, Trusts And Future Interest -- 1964 Tennessee Survey, Herman L. Trautman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Validity of Instrument Which Only Appoints Fiduciary--Is an instrument which makes no testamentary gift, but only designates or appoints the personal representative to administer the estate and provides certain special powers of fiduciary administration entitled to probate as a valid will? While it has been said that there need be no dispositive gift of property to entitle a testamentary writing to probate as a will,' there seems to have been no definite court decision in Tennessee so holding until the recent case of Delaney v. First Peoples Bank of Johnson City. In that case a writing properly executed with the …

Reflections Upon Hegel's Concept Of Property, Contract, Punishment, And Constitutional Law, Morris D. Forkosch

Vanderbilt Law Review

Codification and re-codification in federal and state jurisdictions has proceeded in a geometrical progression these past decades. To what extent is the old law yielding or, au contraire, to what extent is the ancient law reappearing? For example, are Plato's views on crime and punishment being revived, continued, or changed?' Or,to what extent are Hegel's views in a certain few legal areas of present interest and value? As we shall see, an understanding of Hegel's juris-prudential views, as related to specific topics, is a present-day pragmatic necessity. We propose to seek these views, albeit briefly, in the fields of property, …

A Tale Of Two Cases, William H. Agnor

Vanderbilt Law Review

Professor Agnor here traces the development of what he suggests is a bad rule of law which originated in a poor decision of a jurisdiction highly respected for its decisions on the law of future interests. The author's demonstration of how the case has been blindly followed by both bench and bar underscores his message that members of the legal profession must not rely on encyclopedic statements of the law without an examination into the policies and problems involved.

Removal Of Future Interest Encumbrances--Sale Of The Fee Simple Estate, Candler S. Rogers

Vanderbilt Law Review

The removal of future interest encumbrances on realty may in proper cases relieve hardship of private parties and be of benefit to the community by rendering the land marketable and productive. The author here examines the scope of equity jurisdiction in these cases and the applicable statutes. The author concludes with proposals to improve the statutory treatment of the problem and suggests that equity already has the power to provide the relief contained in his statutory proposals.

Restitution - 1963 Tennessee Survey, Brad Reed

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constructive trusts are related to the field of trusts in somewhat the same way that quasi-contracts are today related to the field of contracts-in misnomer only. A judicial declaration of a constructive trust means simply that the holder of legal title to the property affected, must convey it to the person for whose benefit the constructive trust is declared.' The primary efficacy of this equitable remedy is that it gives the successful complainant a preference over all the defendant's creditors; its theory is not that the complainant is trying to reach the defendant's property, but rather that the property which …

The Capital Gains "Holding" Dilemma, Allen Sultan

Vanderbilt Law Review

An important question under the capital gains provisions of the revenue laws is the meaning of the term "hold." The author studies judicial concepts of "holding" and concludes that inconsistencies have been introduced by judicial reaction to changing concepts of property. Noting that past legislative attempts to remedy the situation have been fruitless, he issues a call for "enlightened" congressional action.

Insurance--1959 Tennessee Survey, William R. Andersen

Vanderbilt Law Review

What is the meaning of the term "actual cash value" in the standard fire policy? The middle section of the court of appeals, following a prior Tennessee case and the weight of authority, held that the phrase is synonomous with "market value" only where the goods are readily replaceable in a current market. Where there is no market, or where the market value is inadequate to properly indemnify the insured, "actual cash value" means the "'value to the owner' or the loss he suffers in being deprived of the goods." Since the goods involved in this case were personal effects, …

Loss Of Citizenship -- Statutory Expatriation, David E. Nelson Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

There is no provision in the United States Constitution which expressly gives or denies Congress a right to deprive a person of, or prescribe a method whereby a person may lose, his citizenship. Yet in the Nationality Act of 1940 Congress provided for the involuntary expatriation of an American citizen upon the intentional commission of one or more of several specified acts. In 1957 three cases involving this statute reached the Supreme Court of the United States. The constitutionality of the section providing for loss of citizenship by voting in a foreign election was upheld; the one providing for loss …

Local Government Law -- 1957 Tennessee Survey, Thomas G. Roady Jr., Robert L. White

Vanderbilt Law Review

The substantial amount of litigation involving local governmental units, their officers and agents, continued during the period covered by this survey and if volume alone were any indication of significant growth and development in a given area of law this survey article would be of considerable importance. But, in general, the cases decided in this period draw on fairly well established legal rules and principles or upon legislation which has been designed to clarify existing problems. In view of this fact it does not appear justifiable to do much more than to present a summary of these decisions with brief …

An Analysis Of Marriage Trends And Divorce Policies, Robert S. Redmount

Vanderbilt Law Review

Divorce law, theoretically, is the embodiment of policies governing the dissolution of marriage. It is the legal expression of the values attached to marriage and implicitly states the law's understanding of the marital relationship, at least that part of it that reflects conflict and disturbance.

The analytic discourse which follows briefly assesses the roles and meanings of marriage, the sources and consequences of marital disharmony and the complications of marriage dissolution. The history and composition of divorce policies and laws is carefully savored and sharply scrutinized for fidelity to the reason and experience of marriage. The outcome of this analysis …

Creditors' Rights And Security Transactions -- 1956 Tennessee Survey, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Possession of Land Under Contract of Sale as Notice to Subsequent Purchaser of the Land: There is a security transaction facet in the ejectment case of Harris v. Buchignani,' decided by the Tennessee Supreme Court, which should be given some attention. In that case, by clear implication, the court put forth some disturbing doctrine relative to priorities under the Tennessee recording statute. Without specifically mentioning it, the court appears to have disavowed and repudiated the doctrine that possession of property inconsistent with the record title holder is notice to a subsequent deed of trust lender so as to prevent the …

Administration And Collection Problems, Dixwell L. Pierce

Vanderbilt Law Review

"In the field of revenue administration, there is no longer such a thing as a simple tax law. Complex problems require complex laws, and complex laws are made to protect all taxpayers alike."

When a state or local government provides for a general sales and use tax, it is assuming a heavy administrative responsibility. Such tax laws are deceptively simple. They are not easy to administer. Failure to recognize these facts has resulted all too often in disappointing revenue yields and widespread dissatisfaction among retailers and their customers.

No one really enjoys paying taxes. What may be merely mild distaste …

Business Associations -- 1955 Tennessee Survey, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Nature and Formation of Partnerships: The question whether a contract sued on was a partnership arrangement so as to be cognizable only in equity was considered by the Tennessee Court of Appeals in Powel v. Bundy.' There Bundy, a real estate broker, sued Powell on the lawside to recover $500, alleged to be plaintiff's one-half share of a commission earned by their joint efforts in selling a tract of real estate, but which commission had been collected and wrongfully retained by defendant. Among other defenses interposed was defendant's contention that the contract sued on was that of a partnership arrangement …

Contracts -- 1954 Tennessee Survey, Merton L. Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Mutual Assents: In the case of Jones v. Horner it appeared that Jones was a tenant of Mrs. Homer. The lease gave Jones an option to purchase the property for a stated price and provided that Jones might exercise his option "by payment or tender of the agreed purchase price." Jones, within the life of the option, without tendering the purchase price, gave notice that he would exercise the option. He said he would pay the purchase price upon receipt of a deed to the property. Mrs. Homer refused to treat this notice as a valid exercise of the option. …

The Non-General Power Of Appointment -- A Creature Of The Powers Of Appointment Act Of 1951, Allan Mccoid

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the course of the past fifty years, during which estate planning has become a specialty rather than one of many jobs handled by the general practitioner, the power of appointment has become an increasingly popular form of gift. The two great advantages which have been claimed for the power are the introduction of great flexibility into the estate plan and the reduction of the tax burden on the property as it passes from one generation to another. It was presumably with both of these objectives in mind that Professor William J. Bowe made a suggestion last year as to …

Contracts, Merton Ferson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The case of Thomas v. Million presented these facts: The defendant listed a house and lot for sale with the plaintiff, a real estate broker,for $16,500. The plaintiff advertised the property for sale and showed it to many prospects, including a man by the name of Cowell. After that, the defendant wrote a letter to the plaintiff, "terminating the agency contract" of the plaintiff. The defendant then sold the property to Cowell for $15,500. The plaintiff was allowed to recover $500 as a reasonable commission.

Constitutional Law, Paul H. Sanders

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Supreme Court of Tennessee has been faced with few major Constitutional Law problems during the period under consideration. Statistically, the action of the Court in invalidating one law out of almost a score that were attacked before it on the basis of constitutional defect suggests an attitude of judicial restraint toward the product of a coordinate branch of government. The relatively small number of constitutional questions raised-- and many of them were obviously make-weight rather than points of principal reliance-- suggests a general awareness of the Court's stability and the unlikelihood of its departing from established precedent. Similarly, regard …