Law Commons^™

Workmen's Compensation And Radiation Injury, Gerald L. Hutton

Vanderbilt Law Review

The utilitarian and research value of radioisotopes, x-ray and fluoroscopic devices, cyclotrons and other particle accelerators, nuclear reactors, and other materials or devices emitting ionizing radiation is unquestioned. Ionizing radiation, however, can prove harmful as well as beneficial depending upon the care which is exercised in its use. Numerous cases of x-ray and radium injuries are reported in the literature, such injuries dating from 1896 when Roentgen first announced the discovery of x-rays. The most publicized cases of radiation injury are those occurring in the radium poisoning or "dial painters" cases in the 1920's. Unlike most noxious materials encountered in …

Book Reviews, William J. Curran (Reviewer), Edward R. Hayes (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Forensic Medicine By Douglas J. A. Kerr New York: MacMillan Co.,1957. Pp. v, 363. $6.50.

Practical Forensic Medicine By Francis E. Camps & W. B. Purchase New York: MacMillan Co., Pp. vii, 541. $13.50.

reviewer: William J. Curran

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Close Corporations: Law and Practice By F. Hodge O'Neal. Chicago: Callaghan & Co. 2v. Pp xx, 369; vii, 437. $30.00.

reviewer: Edward R. Hayes

The Law Of Reactor Safety, Harold P. Green

Vanderbilt Law Review

Nuclear reactors are devices for creating and controlling nuclear chain reactions. Reactors come in many sizes and shapes and have various uses. The most dramatic and probably the most important use of reactors from the economic standpoint is to provide power in the form of electricity or heat. Some such power reactors may be stationary; others may be mobile, e.g., those which exist to provide propulsive force and hence move from place to place with their vehicle. Other reactors may be used for various industrial purposes such as for the testing of materials. Still other reactors are used primarily for …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

In a hearing before the Commissioner of Investigation of the City of New York, appellant refused to state whether he was then a member of the Communist Party and based his refusal to answer on the fifth amendment to the United States Constitution. He was thereafter discharged as an employee of the New York Transit Authority pursuant to provisions of the New York Security Risk Law' which allows dismissal of employees of security agencies who are found to be of "doubtful trust and reliability." Without seeking administrative remedies, appellant brought a proceeding in the state court for reinstatement contending that …

Book Note, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Written primarily for the layman, this book reads much like a historical novel, detailing the lives of the two men whose personalities came into such violent conflict in a troubled time. Two-thirds of the book sets the stage for the trial which occupies the final third of the volume. The trial portion of the book consists mainly of quotes from the arguments of counsel, illustrating the rhetorical effects achieved by the attorneys in arguing a case that loomed large in the public eye. The authors--a husband and wife team, neither of whom appears to have a legal background--have successfully edited …

Antitrust Provisions Of The Atomic Energy Act, Richard Cosway

Vanderbilt Law Review

"It is ... declared to be the policy of the United States that... the development, use, and control of atomic energy shall be directed so as to promote world peace, improve the general welfare, increase the standard of living, and strengthen free competition in private enterprise." These are almost the first words of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 which, in stating the policy of the United States, establish the goals to be sought. As stated, the strengthening of free competition is a goal; it is not the device by which the other goals are to be achieved. Apparently of …

International Cooperation In The Peaceful Uses Of Atomic Energy, David F. Cavers

Vanderbilt Law Review

Today cooperation in the peaceful uses of atomic energy is occurring under bilateral agreements between the major atomic powers--the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union--and many other nations. Schemes of cooperation on a regional basis are well advanced in Europe and are emerging elsewhere. A new international agency with an almost world-wide constituency, Communist China being the chief omission, has come into being. After a three-year interval, the second of two great international conferences for the exchange of knowledge concerning nuclear fission and thermonuclear fusion was held in Geneva in the past summer. At Geneva, American scientists …

Atomic Energy And World Trade, Aley Allan

Vanderbilt Law Review

In what follows an attempt is made first to arrive at an estimate of the pattern and the volume of trade in atomic equipment and services in the areas and for the period under discussion (1960-1970); and then a brief survey is attempted of the principal problems affecting this trade. Most of what is discussed is not the usual stuff of a legal periodical. But it will be apparent that a great deal of it has important implications for lawyers and lawyering. In any case one may be forgiven, perhaps, for trying to describe in skeletal form the context in …

Effects Of Radiation On Man, Clinton C. Powell

Vanderbilt Law Review

Shortly after the discovery of natural radioactivity and of x-rays(now more properly known as roentgen rays) during the final decade of the last century, it became apparent that these invisible radiations could produce serious effects on the human body in a relatively short period of time. Three or four decades ago additional effects became apparent in individuals who had received relatively large radiation exposures. The cumulative nature of radiation effects and the fact that detectable changes may be delayed for many years have become increasingly apparent with the passage of time. The rapid expansion in potential exposure accompanying the discovery …

Tort Liability For Radiation Injuries, E. Blythe Stason

Vanderbilt Law Review

The discovery that atomic chain reaction will produce substantial quantities of heat together with highly radioactive by-products gives rise to anticipation of an entirely new technology and of many newlines of industrial, medical, and agricultural endeavor. In due course widespread use will be made of the potentialities of this new source of energy.At the same time the likelihood of personal and property injuries resulting from overexposure to radiation brings about a new hazard against which protection must be afforded so far as it is possible to do so. The health and safety codes that are now being formulated at national, …

Federal Support Of Domestic Atomic Power Development -- The Policy Issues, James L. Morrisson

Vanderbilt Law Review

The possibility that controlled nuclear fission could produce useful energy was recognized early in 1939. During World War II developmental effort was focused on production of the bomb. Since the war, the U. S. atomic power program has grown to substantial proportions.By June 30, 1958, there were in operation in the United States one full scale civilian power reactor and seven civilian power reactor experiments, with a total rated electrical capacity of over 77,000 kw, as well as a number of military propulsion reactors and reactor experiments. There are currently planned fourteen power reactors in addition to the one now …

The Legal Aspects Of The Development Of Atomic Energy In The United Kingdom, C. J. Highton

Vanderbilt Law Review

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority was constituted as a public corporation in 1954 by the Atomic Energy Authority Act.' The Government had decided in the previous year that the atomic energy undertaking, then in the hands of the Minister of Supply, should be transferred to a non-departmental organization and a committee of three under the chairmanship of Lord Waverley had been appointed to devise a plan for the transfer and to work out the most suitable form for the new organization. The committee fulfilled their task with admirable clarity, but many legal problems arose in drafting the bill, which …

Atomic Energy And The Law: A Bibliography, Eileen M. Murphy

Vanderbilt Law Review

To compile a bibliography, it is a prerequisite that one be a lover of books. It is hoped that this paper will be of assistance to those in need and secondarily, that it might possibly open the world of the bibliophile to many others and give Brooklyn a little competition. Atomic energy is a fascinating field for the bibliographer; the surface has yet to be scratched. The work presented is divided into seven sections:

I. Atomic Energy Legislation, 1946-1958.

II. Publications of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, 1945/46-1958.

III. Books. (Annotated.)

IV. Periodicals-U. S. and Foreign. (Annotated.)

V. Selected …

Labor Relations In The Atomic Program, David B. Johnson

Vanderbilt Law Review

As in other areas of the United States program, the most pervasive influence in labor relations in atomic energy has been the federal government. The non-government sector is expanding rapidly in terms of the number of companies launching atomic energy operations, but this expansion is still in the exploratory and research and development stage. During this period of development in the private sector of the industry employers have relatively heavy need for engineering and technical skills and less for manual workers who are more susceptible to union organization. Although some problems for management and labor in the private sector of …

Licensing Interstate Vehicles: State Cooperation Or Federal Intervention?, Jess N. Rosenberg

Vanderbilt Law Review

Roads have been an essential part of transportation since man began to travel and to take his goods with him. This fact is sometimes obscured by the intense current preoccupation with motor vehicles which are often regarded as the cause of roads rather than instruments for utilization of roads. In any event, it is true that, with the advent of the motor vehicle, highways have become an increasingly important part of the nation's transportation system. That this tendency and importance will continue and even be accelerated is portended by the creation of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways' …

Motor Carrier Taxation, Hal H. Hale

Vanderbilt Law Review

Provisions of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 vastly expanded the federal role in highway improvement on a long range basis, especially with respect to the so-called Interstate System. Authorizations of highway aid were further increased substantially by Congress in legislation enacted in 1958. The 1956 act for the first time also provided that the funds to pay for federal aid highway programs should come from specified levies upon highway users and a highway trust fund was established for this purpose. Owing principally to cost increases exceeding the original estimates, it has become apparent since the 1956 act was …

Regulation Of Motor Carrier Securities, Eugene T. Liipfert, John L. Mechem

Vanderbilt Law Review

The origins of the intercity trucking industry were humble. The development of the motor truck and of an intercity highway system which made its use in the transportation of freight practicable led many enterprising individuals to set themselves up as intercity truckers during the decade between 1925 and 1935. Capital requirements were minimal. The initial investment was frequently no more than the down payment on the motor vehicles employed. In the early stages of development, the typical motor carrier was a sole proprietorship, partnership or family-held corporation which relied for its financing on retained earnings of the business and hand-to-mouth …

Constitutional Law -- 1958 Tennessee Survey, Elvin E. Overton

Vanderbilt Law Review

State constitutional law decisions, lacking the universality of application of many other fields of the law, are vital and of significance frequently only to the local bar and local public officials. There is another difference between state constitutional law decisions, and federal constitutional law decisions: state courts are inclined to deal with state constitutional issues with an emphasis on the pragmatic problem of deciding the case and getting it out of the way,rather than with an emphasis on completing the blue print-of seeking to establish the general principle which reflects the conflicting policies struggling for recognition. In most United States …

Decedents' Estates, Trusts And Future Interests -- 1958 Tennessee Survey, Herman L. Trautman

Vanderbilt Law Review

The subject matter of this article will be presented in three parts entitled Decedents' Estates, Trusts, and Future Interests. The developments of the year' consist of judicial decisions of the appellate courts in Tennessee, and the work of the Section on Real Property,Probate and Trust Law of the Tennessee Bar Association on a new statute concerning intestate succession for the state. Since the General Assembly was not in session, there were no legislative developments. The part entitled Decendents' Estates will include a discussion of intestate succession, wills, and the problems of fiduciary administration in decendents' estates. The problems of fiduciary …

Equity -- 1958 Tennessee Survey, Theodore A. Smedley

Vanderbilt Law Review

Since Equity is a field of indefinite boundaries, it is to be expected that the cases discussed in this section of the survey involve a wide variety of issues. Of the thirteen decisions to be mentioned, four were suits for injunctions to restrain as many different types of alleged wrongs, three were suits to cancel or reform written instruments executed by mistake or fraud, two were suits to declare trusts, one was a suit for specific performance of a contract to sell land, one was a suit to enforce a promissory note, and two were suits turning on procedural factors.

Torts -- 1958 Tennessee Survey, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

The number of torts cases was somewhat less this year than in past years, being below the forty figure rather than above it. There were no particularly significant legal developments in the field. Perhaps the cases indicate, however, a developing fashion in automobile negligence actions. At least four of the cases seem to have been brought for whiplash injuries.'

Book Review, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

The National Probation and Parole Association has been working for over 35 years to improve the administration of justice and in the publication of "Guides for Sentencing" it has provided one of its most important services to judges who are charged with the administration of criminal justice and to juvenile and domestic relations courts. The book is the first of a series of practical manuals for all of the above named courts and it is the result of the combined labors of 37 specially selected United States, state and juvenile judges for a period of about five years. Bolitha J. …

Real Property -- 1958 Tennessee Survey, Thomas G. Roady, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

In Bailey v. Eagle Mountain Tel. Co.' the supreme court in an opinion by Justice Swepston affirmed the chancellor of Knox County who had sustained defendant's demurrer to a specific performance action because he regarded the following language in complainant's claim of title as creating a fee simple determinable in the grantee.

"In consideration of love and interest we have in Education, we this day deed, transfer, and convey a certain lot or parcel of land .... To have and to hold for school purposes ... so long as the aforesaid lot of land is used for the aforesaid purpose." …

Creditors' Rights And Security Transactions--1958 Tennessee Survey, Forrest W. Lacey

Vanderbilt Law Review

Fraudulent Conveyances: In Nashville Milk Producers, Inc. v. Alston' a bill to set aside transfers of a herd of dairy cattle alleged that the debtor in 1953 purported to transfer the herd to his wife, and that in 1955 the wife purported to transfer the herd to their son. Both transfers were alleged to have been made for no consideration, or a consideration that was not fair and adequate. The bill also charged that the conveyances rendered the grantor insolvent, and were part of a general scheme participated in by all three defendants to hinder, delay and defraud existing and …

Some Aspects Of The Problem Of Intercarrier Competition, Ernest W. Williams Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The past decade has been marked by numerous examinations of the transportation scene, and particularly of government policy toward transportation, which have borne partial fruit in the Transportation Act of 1958. More than anything else, the rapid weakening of the railroad system after World War II and the conviction of railroad managements that the worsening state of their industry was the result of "unfair" govenmental policies led to the almost continuous attention which has been devoted to the subject by agencies of the Congress and of the executive branch alike. And all such studies demonstrate, before they are done, that …

Evidence In Motor Carrier Application Cases, Everett Hutchinson, George M. Chandler

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Motor Carrier Act of 19351 brought under regulation by the Interstate Commerce Commission the operation of for-hire motor carriers. The act, which is now part II of the Interstate Commerce Act, requires all such motor carriers, with certain exceptions, to obtain operating authority from the Commission. Carriers operating prior to the passage of the act were granted authority under "grand-father" provisions by a mere showing of past operations, but carriers entering the field since that date or desiring to extend their operations are required to prove that there is a public need for the service which they propose. A …

Bills And Notes--1958 Tennessee Survey, S. B. Gilreath

Vanderbilt Law Review

Express Provision Concerning Negotiability. Phelan v. Phelan is the only case which has been found on the subject of bills and notes decided during the survey period. It was a suit in equity on a note in the sum of $4,000 made on April 10, 1954, by R. E. Phelan and payable to W. 0. Phelan on September 15, 1954. The note provided that it was "non-negotiable and non-transferable."

The payee, W. 0. Phelan, filed a bill to recover a decree on this note against R. E. Phelan, the maker, who, in turn, filed an answer pleading as a set-off …

Insurance -- 1958 Tennessee Survey, Robert W. Sturdivant

Vanderbilt Law Review

The case of Clinchfield R.R. v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.' involved the question of whether the insured, in a suit against his insurer, is bound by findings adverse to him in prior litigation between the insured and a third person.The liability insurance policy involved covered certain vehicles of the railroad company but expressly excluded from coverage injuries to employees in the course of their employment. One Harrison, a regular railroad employee, was injured while riding in an insured vehicle with a fellow employee. He sued the railroad company under the Federal Employers Liability Act. Before he could recover …

Procedure And Evidence -- 1958 Tennessee Survey, Edmund M. Morgan

Vanderbilt Law Review

Construction and Sufficiency on Demurrer: A pleading must be construed in the light of matters judicially noticed; an allegation of facts from which the inference of the existence of an essential fact is no more reasonable or is less reasonable than an inference of its non-existence is not the equivalent of an allegation of that essential fact. ...

Thus in an action against a Pension Board for money due, a demurrer to the bill of complaint specifying only the failure to allege a ground of recovery does not raise the question whether the decision of the Pension Board is made …

Creditors' Rights And Security Transactions -- 1958 Tennessee Survey, Forrest W. Lacey

Vanderbilt Law Review

Fraudulent Conveyances: In Nashville Milk Producers, Inc. v. Alston' a bill to set aside transfers of a herd of dairy cattle alleged that the debtor in 1953 purported to transfer the herd to his wife, and that in 1955 the wife purported to transfer the herd to their son.Both transfers were alleged to have been made for no consideration,or a consideration that was not fair and adequate. The bill also charged that the conveyances rendered the grantor insolvent, and were part of a general scheme participated in by all three defendants to hinder, delay and defraud existing and subsequent creditors. …