Law Commons^™

Immunity Through Confession?, John A. Spanogle Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Does this advice from Judge Leonard P. Moore sound fanciful? Could it ever profit a criminal to confess his guilt? The advisability of such action may not be as improbable as it sounds. In order to determine whether it is fanciful or not it is necessary to review several cases decided by the United States Supreme Court, which this article will undertake to do.

The Establishment And Administration Of Pension Plans In The Labor Relations Process, Robert J. Hickey

Vanderbilt Law Review

The purpose of this article is to analyze the role of pension plans' in the labor relations process. The earliest pension plans had their origin in the early nineteenth century and were pioneered by fraternal associations established and operated by and for the employees. The advent of unions on the labor scene resulted in the union, instead of the fraternal association, administering the program. As for employer pension plans, the union leaders feared that such programs were only a devious employer's device to prevent unionization. Thus, prior to World War II, employer pension plans were usually unilaterally instituted. However, beginning …

Book Reviews, Ronan E. Degnan, Jerold Israel, Robert F. Drinan S.J.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Cases and Materials on Debtor and Creditor

By Vern Countryman

Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1964. Pp. lxiii, 841. $12.50.

reviewer: Ronan E. Degnan

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The Supreme Court on Trial

By Charles S. Hyneman

New York: Atherton Press, 1963. Pp. IX, 308. $6.50.

reviewer: Jerold Israel

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Religion and American Constitutions (1963 Rosenthal Lectures)

By Wilbur G. Katz

Northwestern University Press 1964. Pp. 114. $3.50.

reviewer: Rev. Robert F. Drinan, S.J.

Book Note, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Mr. Stringfellow strikes hard at the indifference of the legal profession to the plight of the poor before the bar. Usually, they are "simply not represented at all," much less honestly or effectively. He attributes this to three factors: the expense and time usually involved in the legal process, charlatan lawyers who exploit the poor, and the poor man's image of the law derived from police brutality. The police are the poor's most frequent contact with the law, and "the image that they see when they see the law in action is of the law as an enemy." Mr. Stringfellow …

The Question Of Union Activity On Company Property, William B. Gould

Vanderbilt Law Review

Trade unionism is not an accepted principle in this country today...

The National Labor Relations Act maintains an encouragement of its "practice and procedure" as a basic policy of the United States. Yet there is a pronounced disparity in atmosphere between many established collective bargaining relationships and industries or regions which are nominally unionized or unorganized. Since Congress has chosen to proscribe a good deal of picketing of an organizational and recognitional nature in the Landrum-Griffin amendments to the act it is quite likely that the grounds for union-management combat will shift in this area somewhat to less specifically regulated …

Credit Unions--Regulatory Control Development--Problems--Recommendations, Charles D. Matthews

Vanderbilt Law Review

An awareness of the credit union, its economic and social impact,has a special significance to the lawyer. Although such significance appears minimized by a dearth of litigation addressed to credit unions in the past, this is not a true reflection of fact; nor would a true history of credit union litigation be a guide to the future. The lack of identifiable credit union litigation is chiefly due to the lack of appreciation by the bench for the distinguishing features of savings and loan associations, commercial banks, and credit unions. Two prospective developments should cause increased attorney contact with credit unions. …

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, …

Federal Power To Seize And Search Without Warrant, Philip M. Carden

Vanderbilt Law Review

Mr. Garden here explores the history and development of the power of federal officers to seize and search without warrant. The study is divided into the power to search persons, places, vehicles, and to seize things The author concludes that, with a limited exception, no federal power of search or seizure of persons or property without prior special warrant can be derived from the federal constitution. Finally, the author suggests that the Supreme Court may refuse to follow its dicta upholding the federal power to search and seize without warrant if the proper case is brought before it.

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Antitrust--Consignment Agreements To Fix Retail Prices

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Constitutional Law--Fifth Amendment-Denial of Passport

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Constitutional Law--State Procedure To Determine The Voluntariness of a Confession

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Criminal Law--Statutory Rape-Good Faith, Reasonable Belief That Female Has Reached Age of Consent as a Defense

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Insurance--Validity of Policy Provision Permitting Insured To Choose Forum for Determination, of Disputes Under the Policy

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Labor Law-Closing of Plant Due to Unionization

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Labor Law--National Labor Relations Act--Strike by Minority of Union as Protected Concerted Activity When in Support of Union Position

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Labor Law--National Labor Relations Act--Union's Duty of Fair Representation Not Implicit in Section 7--Discrimination …

Legislation, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Estate Tax--Marital Deduction--Compliance With Revenue Procedure 64-19

In those cases where an executor or trustee is directed by the governing instrument to satisfy a pecuniary bequest or transfer in trust by a distribution of the property in kind,' with assets at values as finally determined for federal estate tax purposes, there is the possibility that the surviving spouse will receive property the fair market value of which at the time of distribution is less than the amount of the marital deduction.

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Voting Rights--Residence Requirements for Voting in Presidential Elections

It seems safe to conclude that the choosing of presidential …

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.

Land Use Planning For Industrial Development, Peter J. Winders

Vanderbilt Law Review

For many reasons, a political unit may decide to undertake a program of encouraging the establishment of industry within its borders. This may be effectively done by informing entrepreneurs of the locational advantages which sites within the jurisdiction offer and by increasing the attractiveness of the sites. Research necessary to provide industry with information about possible plant sites and resources will provide part of the data from which projections may be made as to future development of the area. When such projections indicate that an area is one which will in the future be a desirable location for industry, steps …

Raising The Perpetuities Question: Conception, Adoption, "Wait And See," And Cy Pres, Robert J. Lynn

Vanderbilt Law Review

Applying the orthodox, the "wait and see," or the cy pres version of the Rule Against Perpetuities presupposes analyzing the limitations in the dispositive instrument as of the time of their creation to determine whether any gifts are future, whether any future gifts are remainders or executory interests, and whether any remainders or executory interests are contingent. If a contingent future interest might vest, if it vests at all, at a remote time, it is bad ab initio under the orthodox form of the Rule. That being so, the perpetuities question may properly be raised at the time the contingent …

Introductory Essay On The Literature Of Future Interests, Roy M. Mersky

Vanderbilt Law Review

The general practice of law involves, among other things, the drafting of wills and trust agreements and the litigation of cases arising out of such instruments as drawn by other lawyers. Successful practice in this field is predicated upon adequate training in the law of future interests. This difficult and technical branch of law contains rules and procedures which are understandable only in the light of their historical background

Legislation, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Budget Planners--Regulation To Protect Debtors

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Criminal Law--Taxation of Court Costs

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Statute of Limitations--Professional Negligence--Foreign Objects Left in Patient's Body

Perpetuities: Cy Pres On The March, W. Barton Leach

Vanderbilt Law Review

The standard doctrine has been that where an interest may vest too remotely the entire interest is stricken down; and this destructiveness is multiplied by the all-or-nothing rule of Leake v. Robinson which declares that the invalidity of a gift to any member of a class invalidates the gifts of all other members. It is the thesis of this paper that the penalty for violation of the Rule--a penalty inflicted, not on the violator, but on his or her intended beneficiaries, usually minors or unborns--should be, not the invalidation of the future interest, but rather a tailoring of the interest …

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.

Group Legal Services: The Bench, The Bar, And The Brotherhood, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

The bar has long sought to make legal services readily available to all persons whatever their situation. Thus, the bar has sponsored legal aid societies and lawyer referral systems, and has promoted neighborhood law offices. These methods all meet the bar's traditional individualistic view that the attorney-client relationship should be direct without any third party interference. However, the lay public, often bewildered by a myriad of unfamiliar names in the yellow pages, continues to seek means of securing legal services more cheaply, more efficiently, and more reliably. Group legal services--whereby an organized group procures legal services for its individual members--are …

The Art Of Interpretation In Future Interest Cases, Daniel M. Schuyler

Vanderbilt Law Review

Man's quest for an absolute, for a definition of "good," for the meaning of "justice," carries us back to the beginnings of philosophy. And although these concepts are as elusive as the Questing Beast pursued by King Pellinore in T. H. White's delightful book, The Once and Future King, the history of mankind indicates that the curiosity of thoughtful persons is insatiable and that the search will not end. It continues daily before our eyes-in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, psychology, sociology, economics, philosophy, and other disciplines not the least of which is law. Even Holmes, the supposed skeptic, who rejected absolutes' …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Antitrust Law--Violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act by Joint Venture

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Civil Rights--Anti-discrimination Law as a Vehicle for a Private Civil Action

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Condemnation--Landowner Cannot Recover From Federal Government for Damages Caused Before Date of Taking Where Government Did Not Previously Contemplate, Condemning Property

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Constitutional Law--Loss of Nationality--Foreign Residency Statute Held Violative of Due Process

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Constitutional Law--Reapportionment--Both Houses of a State Legislature Must Be Based as Nearly as Is Practicable on Population

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Constitutional Law--Twenty-first Amendment--Scope of State Power Over Intoxicants Moving Within Its Borders

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Evidence--Statutory Presumptions--Reasonableness Is Implicit in Test of Rational Connection

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State And Local Taxation -- 1963 Tennessee Survey, Paul I. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

I. Excise Tax--Entire Net Income of Domestic Corporation Engaged in Multistate Operations Attributable to Tennessee

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II. Privilege Tax as Applied to Foreign Corporation--Orders Solicited in State Accepted in Foreign State

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III. Applicability of Tax for Privilege of Doing Business to Foreign Corporation--Sufficiency of Local Activity

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IV. Use Tax--Exclusion if Subject to Sales Tax

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V. Franchise Tax--Leased Property Included in Measure

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VI. Privilege Tax on Persons Engaged in Business of Collecting Accounts--Deductability of Attorney's Fees from Gross Collections

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VII. Ad Valorem Tax--Applicability to Non-Domiciliary Interstate Motor Carriers

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VIII. Exemption of Religious Institution from Property …

Constitutional Law -- 1963 Tennessee Survey, James C. Kirby, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

A 1963 survey of Tennessee cases having to do with various issues of constitutional law, including legislative apportionment, desegregation, equal protection and due process.

The Abstention Doctrine: A Problem Of Federalism, Joyce Britt

Vanderbilt Law Review

Equitable abstention refers to the deference a federal court will give a state tribunal to determine the rights of the litigants, even though technically, a federal court could entertain the action, whether by means of diversity of citizenship or because of a federal issue involved. Because of comity, or convenience, or a sense of balance in the federal system, or better handling of the problem, or some other reason of policy, federal courts at times have required a litigant to proceed in the state courts before invoking federal court jurisdiction. How this doctrine arose, its extensions and limitations form the …

Corporations Insuring Employees' Lives, E. Ralph Cotham, Iv

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals' in 1959 reversed a tax court holding that a life insurance contract taken out by a corporation to insure an employee's life was a wagering contract because neither the corporation nor the beneficiary possessed an insurable interest in the employee's life and that the proceeds were thus not excludible as an amount received "under a life insurance contract." In 1964 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a federal district court's judgment entered on a jury's verdict that a corporation, which was both owner and the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, had no …

Evidence -- 1963 Tennessee Survey, Lyman R. Patterson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The doctrine of judicial notice is that an indisputable proposition of fact or a proposition of law of the jurisdiction is not subject to proof. The doctrine thus serves to relieve the litigant of the burden of proving certain facts and law, and is one of immense theoretical implication for the trial lawyer. A fact which is judicially noticed has much greater probative value than a fact which is proved, no matter how strong the proof. Judicial notice thus offers the trial lawyer an extremely effective, but apparently largely unused, device in litigation. None of the cases involving judicial notice …

Trade Regulation -- 1963 Tennessee Survey, Leo J. Raskind

Vanderbilt Law Review

In two cases, McKesson & Robbins v. Government Employees Department Store, Inc.,' and its companion, Plough, Inc. v. Hogue & Knott Super Market, the challenge to resale price maintenance, already successful in twenty-three other states, was brought to the Tennessee Supreme Court by appeals from two opinions holding the Tennessee Fair Trade Law unconstitutional. The historical background of fair trade legislation and the national controversy surrounding it since 1951 provide essential elements of perspective for consideration of these two cases.

Developments In Space Law, Albert Gore Senator

Vanderbilt Law Review

A democratic society could not long endure without the voluntary support of its citizens of application of legal proceedings for settlement of disputes. Perhaps few take the time to consider the extent to which our daily lives are affected by the judicial machinery which a free people have established. Here I refer not merely to the deterrent effect of criminal laws by which we deal with offenses against society. I refer also to our system for the legal settlement of controversies arising between individuals. After all, without our courts and our lawyers, questions involving tort and breach of contract would …

The Financing Of Benefits In Unemployment Insurance, Ernest J. Eberling

Vanderbilt Law Review

The current federal-state unemployment insurance system has been in operation throughout the country for over a quarter of a century. As one of the two major social insurance programs created by the Social Security Act of 1935, it has become generally accepted as one of the nation's most important measures against the privation of unemployment and as a stabilizer of the economy in helping offset the down drag on economic activity resulting from excessive joblessness. Despite its general acceptance, however, it has been subjected to vigorous controversy in recent years. Criticism of the program has focused largely upon two issues, …

The Role Of The American Bar Association In The Selection Of Federal Judges: Episodic Involvement To Institutionalized Power, Joel B. Grossman

Vanderbilt Law Review

One phenomenon of recent domestic politics has been the resurgence of the American Bar Association as a vital, and often influential, group in the political process as well as in the legal profession. There is no better characterization of this than the ABA's assumption of a lead position in a profession-wide campaign to improve the quality of judges selected for the several court systems in the United States. In a relatively short span of time, the ABA has grown from a group with a minimum of influence to one with a quasi-formal role in the federal selection process. Its success …

An Analysis Of Insurable Interest Under Article Two Of The Uniform Commercial Code, John M. Stockton

Vanderbilt Law Review

The basic requisite of an insurable interest pervades all types of insurance contracts.' The reason most commonly given to justify this requirement is that in the absence of such an interest the agreement is no more than a common wager. A second reason is that the absence of an insurable interest might encourage the insured willfully to destroy the property (or life) of the insured. Despite universal recognition of its need, insurable interest is a term of indefinite meaning. This is evidenced by the many opinions in which courts have had difficulty in determining the existence of such an interest. …