Law Commons^™

Law School Examinations, Philip C. Kissam

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Essay explores the values, limits, and adverse effects of our system of law school examinations. Law school examinations encourage or require students to acquire certain knowledge while measuring a kind of knowledge as well. Importantly, this process occurs within a context of political relationships between law schools, law firms, the legal profession, and the state, as well as between law school administrators, faculty, and students. This system of "power/knowledge"relationships constitutes the law school's basic mechanism of self-regulation or, more generally, a mechanism of social control over legal education. In this era of substantial uncertainty about purposes and methods in …

Strict Liability For Defective Ideas In Publications, Andrew T. Bayman

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1963 the Supreme Court of California revolutionized the law of torts by adopting the theory of strict liability in products liability cases.' The American Law Institute subsequently promulgated section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts in 1965. Section 402A provides that the seller of a "product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous" may be held liable even though he has "exercised all possible care."' Today, nearly every state has adopted some form of section 402A.' Moreover, the list of modern products to which section 402A applies is virtually limitless. Yet, despite the unprecedented expansion of strict liability into …

Stock In A Closely Held Corporation:Is It A Security For Uniform Commercial Code Purposes?, Tracy A. Powell

Vanderbilt Law Review

The term security has many applications. No application, however,is more important than when an interest owned or traded is determined to be within the legal definition of security. Security is defined by statutes and applied by many courts for the purposes of federal securities laws and for state blue sky laws. When interpreting the term security for federal securities laws, courts have emphasized the underlying congressional purpose of protecting investors. State courts also have interpreted the term liberally in an effort to protect the public under blue sky laws.'

The definition of security in the Uniform Commercial Code(U.C.C.), however, has …

Evening The Odds In Civil Litigation:A Proposed Methodology For Using Adverse Inferences When Nonparty Witnesses Invoke The Fifth Amendment, Charles H. Rabon, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

A nonparty witness who responds to questioning by invoking the privilege against self-incrimination seriously can impair the party against whom the response suggests an unfavorable answer. The possible injury to a party's case is greatest when the invocation occurs unexpectedly at trial, but may cause equal damage when the privilege is relied on during discovery because the deposition of an unavailable witness may be read to the jury. In the past, courts and commentators generally opposed allowing such invocations in the jury's presence based on the belief that invocations lack credible evidentiary value because witnesses can invoke validly for a …

The Early Virginia Tradition Of Extra-Textual Interpretation, Suzanna Sherry

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Gender Justice, Suzanna Sherry

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

GENDER JUSTICE is an avowedly liberal tract on the problems of gender discrimination in our society. It seeks to provide an alternative to the visions of both conservatives and radical feminists. The book fails in its liberal mission for some of the same reasons that the new breed of Democrats cannot seem to raise much of a challenge to the Republican ideology currently sweeping the country. The authors endorse many of the policies advocated by conservatives-- they reject affirmative action and comparable worth, for example-- but they do so by means of a liberal, process-oriented approach.

Separation Of Powers: Asking A Different Question, Suzanna Sherry

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

What I find most intriguing about Professor Casper's essay1 is its historical description of the founders' attitude not so much toward "separation of powers," but toward separation of powers "questions." In other words, I am more interested in how the founders approached questions and in the sources of their answers than in the substance of those answers. In comparing Professor Casper's description of the late eighteenth-century approach to separation of powers questions with the predominant way of asking separation of powers questions today, I find that the two are quite different. The difference in approach is equivalent to the difference …

Intellectual Property And International Trade: Merger Or Marriage Of Convenience?, R. Michael Gadbaw

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the interaction between trade and intellectual property rights policies through certain key developments in United States law, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). While this brief review is not intended to provide a definitive analysis, it will offer worthwhile insights into the prospects for, and implications of, such a merger. For this purpose, this Article considers the efforts in GATT to negotiate a code on intellectual property rights and the parallel efforts in WIPO to negotiate a treaty for the protection of semiconductor designs. While the GATT talks …

The United States Proposal For A Gatt Agreement On Intellectual Property And The Paris Convention For The Protection Of Industrial Property, Hans P. Kunz-Hallstein

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The GATT Arrangement would, in short, establish high international standards for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights of all kinds--including patents for biotechnology processes and products, patents for microorganisms, copyrights for computer programs, and the protection of trade secrets and integrated circuit layout designs. The parties to the GATT Arrangement would undertake to adapt their national laws and enforcement mechanisms accordingly and they are to agree on a dispute settlement mechanism that will provide for member states the possibility of resorting to retaliation, including withdrawal of other GATT concessions or obligations, against a state that fails to carry …

International Trade And Intellectual Property: Promise, Risks, And Reality, Congressman Robert W. Kastenmeier, David Beier

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The trading nations of the world are set to make decisions that will determine the future pattern of international trade. Negotiations are currently underway to bring trade in certain agricultural products, services, and goods and services protected as intellectual property" within the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). This Article will outline how the consideration of intellectual property came to be included in this round of talks. It will assess the potential benefits and risks of including intellectual property, forecast the probable outcome, and, finally, suggest ways to improve the chances for inclusion of intellectual property into the GATT. …

Remarks Of Dr. Carlos A. Primo Braga; Professor Robert Hudec; Yoichiro Yamaguchi; Alice T. Zalik; David Beier; Professor Donald S. Chisum; Professor John H. Jackson; Professor Suman Naresh; Professor Paul Goldstein; Mr. Emory Simon; Mr. Fred Koenigsberg; Mr. Harvey Schein; Mr. Ralph Oman; Mr. Michael Remington, Dr. Carlos A. Primo Braga

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

I am going to talk about LDCs intellectual property rights and the GATT. I do not think I need to talk too much on this, because Dr. Subramanian made an excellent presentation on the main issues yesterday. I will try to present the debate along the so-called North-South divide, and this is, of course, an oversimplification. I will be talking about the North proposal, which is basically the American proposal. It is a maximalist proposal, although parts of it are supported by other industrialized countries. The South proposals are basically the proposals of the foot draggers like Brazil and India, …

Aliens' Right To Seek Asylum: The Attorney General's Power To Exclude "Security Threats" And The Role Of The Courts, Mary S. Miller

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is the only circuit court to analyze the relationship between section 235(c) and section 243(h), as amended by the Refugee Act. In "Azzouka v. Sava," the court resolved the apparent conflict between the two acts by holding that if the Attorney General determines that an alien is a security threat, that alien may be excluded without a hearing before an immigration judge despite the fact that the alien has requested political asylum."

This Note examines the interrelationship between sections 235(c) and 243(h) by analyzing the legislative, judicial, and administrative interpretations …

The Death Of Ideology In Soviet Foreign Investment Policy, Christopher Osakwe

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article's primary thesis is that the Soviet Government's decision to permit the creation of international joint ventures in the Soviet Union is a major instrument of the policy of perestroika. As such, the stability and profitability of any international commercial joint enterprise in the Soviet Union is inextricably linked with the fate of perestroika. If perestroika succeeds, the Soviet Union will have a market-oriented socialist economy, fully integrated into the world economy. By virtue of this success, Western investors and entrepreneurs will be in a position to make deeper, more profitable, and more lasting inroads into the Soviet economy. …

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Case Digest provides brief analyses of cases that represent current aspects of transnational law. The Digest includes cases that establish legal principles and cases that apply established legal principles to new factual situations. The cases are grouped in topical categories, and references are given for further research:

Constitutionality of the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments Upheld over Challenge by Deportable Alien and United States Spouse

Anetekhai v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

876 F.2d 1218 (5th Cir. 1989)

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Standing Granted to Challenge Hostile Takeover between Foreign Firms under United States Antitrust and Securities Laws

Consolidated Gold Fields PLC v. Minorco, …

Death Of A Treaty: The Decline And Fall Of The Antarctic Minerals Convention, Deborah C. Waller

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

On June 2, 1988, in Wellington, New Zealand, thirty-three states signed the Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resources. This agreement, the product of six years of negotiation, fills a significant gap in the Antarctic Treaty System: it provides rules governing the prospecting, exploration, and development of minerals in Antarctica. Recently, however, two Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties--France and Australia--have refused to ratify the Minerals Convention, instead advocating a permanent ban on mineral activities in Antarctica. Their opposition thwarts plans for the ratification of the Minerals Convention. This Note provides an overview of the present Antarctic Treaty System, sets forth …

The Economics Of Intellectual Property Rights And The Gatt: A View From The South, Carlos A.P. Braga

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article explores the attitude of less developed countries (LDCs) with respect to the debate on TRIPs at the Uruguay Round. Part II addresses the evolution of the debate at the GATT level. Part III presents the economics of intellectual property rights protection from the point of view of LDCs. Finally, Part IV summarizes the main conclusions and recommendations of the Article.

Uruguay Round Trips: A Bibliographic Essay, William M. Walker

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations began with a special ministerial meeting of the Contracting Parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, on September 20, 1986. "Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Including Trade in Counterfeit Goods" (TRIPs) is a designated subject for negotiation in the Uruguay Round. The inclusion of intellectual property rights in the Uruguay Round is the culmination of a process that began during the Tokyo Round. While the Tokyo Round was in progress, the United States and the European Community reached a tentative accord on various …

Intellectual Property Rights: The Issues In Gatt, David Hartridge, Arvind Subramanian

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the need for a multilateral framework to address the trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPs). The authors trace the growing importance of TRIPs from its emergence at the Tokyo Round in 1978 to its present state as a major focus of multilateral negotiations at the Uruguay Round. A detailed discussion of existing GATT provisions and their relevance to intellectual property rights follows. The authors then describe the four major substantive issues related to TRIPs that are before the Negotiating Group: substantive standards of intellectual property protection; procedures for the enforcement of intellectual property protection; dispute settlement …

Book Review, Michael C. Doland

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The book is divided into two parts. The first part addresses those subjects that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act covers in detail, including the definition of foreign states and foreign government-owned corporations, judicial competence, jurisdiction, immunity, service of process, venue, and execution of judgments. The second part addresses those subjects that the Act covers in a cursory fashion, including burden of proof, rights of discovery, available remedies, and jury trials. In addition, the book treats those topics that received virtually no discussion under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act but that are essential to its understanding and enforcement, including the act …

The New Section 301 Of The Omnibus Trade And Competitiveness Act Of 1988, Steven R. Phillips

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the changes brought about in United States trade policy by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. Mr. Phillips provides a detailed history of the evolution of the Act's three main revisions of section 301: the transfer from the President to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) of the power to identify foreign unfair trade practices and to take action in response; the imposition of mandatory retaliation by the USTR against unfair trade practices unless one of six exceptions applies; and, under the "Super 301" provision, the USTR's obligation to identify unfair trade balances and either …

From Red Lion Square To Skokie To The Fatal Shore: Racial Defamation And Freedom Of Speech, David Partlett

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article addresses, against the backdrop of possible legislative reforms in Australia, the tension between the desire to eliminate racial defamation and the need to protect freedom of speech. In an historical overview, Mr. Partlett notes an increasing sensitivity to racial issues in Australia in the face of an assumed but nebulously stated value of free speech. Mr. Partlett analyzes theoretical and legal approaches to free speech from Commonwealth and United States perspectives, and analysis of recent legal and social developments in civil rights in the United States makes this Article relevant for both Commonwealth and United States reformers in …

Protecting First World Assets In The Third World: Intellectual Property Negotiations In The Gatt Multilateral Framework, Frederick M. Abbott

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article addresses industrialized countries' growing concerns over technology transfer and their efforts to obtain protection of intellectual property rights under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Mr. Abbott analyzes the intellectual property problem in the context of the GATT framework and the weakness of current intellectual property protection. Developing countries do not accept the United States contention either that intellectual property is covered implicitly by the GATT or that the current lack of protection reflects a fundamental flaw in the General Agreement. Mr. Abbott focuses on this disagreement in laying out the framework for possible solutions, which …

Europe 1992 And The Rise Of The Pacific Rim: Do Changing World Trading Patterns Require A Change In United States Shipping Laws?, Andrew M. Danas

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article analyzes the significant issues facing the Presidential Advisory Commission on Ocean Conferences in Ocean Shipping. This Commission will assess the success of the Shipping Act of 1984 and will report to Congress on the need for changes in the 1984 Act and in United States regulatory policy regarding international ocean common carriers. Mr. Danas recommends that the Commission carefully examine the antitrust-exempt conferences, which international ocean common carriers have been organizing for over one hundred years for the purpose of self-regulation and rationalization. Mr. Danas suggests that the review of the continued existence of the liner conference system …

The Public Policy Exception To The Recognition Of Foreign Judgments, Jonathan H. Pittman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note examines the public policy exception to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. The author first examines other grounds that a United States court can use to refuse to recognize a foreign judgment. An analysis of several cases construing the public policy exception follows. The author concludes with a suggested analysis for courts faced with the public policy exception.

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Agency for International Development's Adoption of Policy Placing Abortion-Related Restrictions on Grants to Nongovernmental Organizations Upheld DKT Memorial Fund Ltd. v. Agency for International Development 887 F.2d 275 (D.C. Cir.1989)

Federal Long-Arm Statute Authorizes Assertion of Personal Jurisdiction over Foreign Holder of United States Patent in Patent Ownership Suit National Patent Development Corporation v. T.J. Smith & Nephew Ltd. 877 F.2d 1003 (D.C. Cir.1989) (en banc)

Venue over Alien Defendants in Antitrust Suit Proper in any United States Federal District Court under Alien Venue AcT-Go-Video, Inc. v. Akai Electric Co., Ltd. 885 F.2d 1406(9th Cir. 1989)

INS Oral Notice to …

Book Review: Right V. Might--International Law And The Use Of Force, Erik M. Jensen

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Right V. Might contains much of interest, and it is a useful primer. But it is not helpful as a guide to national behavior. The amoralistic positions of many of its contributors are not ones that the United States, or any other states concerned with principle, should adopt. The United Nations Charter, narrowly construed, is not a moral document. While few seriously advocate the Charter's repudiation, moral discourse would not be harmed by such an act, and life would go on with states acting largely, although not entirely, on the basis of perceived self-interest. Professor Henkin uses doomsday rhetoric to …

Recent Decision, Mark D. Pethke

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

By directing courts to focus on the narrow question of whether the validity of a sovereign act is at issue, the Court clears some of the confusion that has arisen over the scope of the doctrine. It is no longer sufficient for courts to cite the mere possibility of embarrassment to foreign governments as a rationale for applying this doctrine when those governments' acts are not at issue. This opinion overrules Hunt and Clayco and their progeny.' In reminding courts that they possess "the power, and ordinarily the obligation, to decide cases and controversies properly presented to them," 'the Court …

Tender Offers In The European Community: The Playing Field Shrinks, Jeffrey P. Greenbaum

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article discusses the Proposal in the European Community to standardize the tender offer process in the Single European Market of 1992. The Proposal promotes equal treatment of shareholders and contains substantive measures to achieve this goal. Mr. Greenbaum compares the Proposal to its United States counterpart, the 1968 Williams Act, notes the different approach taken by the Williams Act, with its emphasis on disclosure rather than substantive regulation, and examines these different approaches primarily in the context of hostile tender offers. Mr. Greenbaum shows that the Proposal's procedural requirements for the bidder and restrictions on target management defenses leave …

Damages For Emotional Distress In Fraud Litigation: Dignitary Torts In A Commercial Society, Andrew L. Merritt

Vanderbilt Law Review

One of the most dynamic developments in modern tort law has been the increased focus on damages for emotional distress. During the past few decades courts have fashioned several new tort theories to allow recovery of emotional distress damages as independent causes of action. At the same time, lobbyists and legislators have attacked these damages for contributing to "runaway" jury verdicts. As a result of these attacks, a growing number of states are enacting statutes that limit recovery of emotional distress damages in traditional tort are as such as medical malpractice. Thus, damages for emotional distress are at a crossroads …

No Call To Glory: Thurgood Marshall's Thesis On The Intent Of A Pro-Slavery Constitution, Raymond T. Diamond

Vanderbilt Law Review

Thurgood Marshall sits as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court, the only black person ever to do so. Before taking that office he served as the Solicitor General of the United States and as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In these offices he has been called upon to bring his powers of judgment to bear on a multitude of matters concerning this Nation's Constitution. His views on the Constitution, therefore, cannot be easily dismissed.

The 200th anniversary of the Constitution was not only a time of celebration, but also …