Law Commons^™

A New Role For An Ancient Writ: Postconviction Habeas Corpus Relief In Georgia (Part Ii), Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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In Part I of this Article, appearing in Volume 8 of the Georgia Law Review at page 313, Professor Wilkes traced the development of postconviction habeas corpus in Georgia up to 1967. In this the second part of the Article, he examines the background and passage of the Georgia Habeas Corpus Act of 1967. Finally, Professor Wilkes assesses the degree to which the Act has fulfilled its purposes, and suggests several possible changes for the future.

Some Reflections On The State Taxation Of A Nonresident's Personal Income, Walter Hellerstein

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With respect to the taxation of personal income, it was plain by 1940 that states were constitutionally free to tax residents on all personal income wherever earned and nonresidents on personal income earned within the state, even though these two principles, taken together, meant that an individual's income might be subject to double-taxation by different states. The Supreme Court, after toying with the idea for a decade, finally rejected the invitation to forge the due process clause into a tool for preventing multiple taxation and reverted to the ruling law of an earlier era that left the solution of such …

Discretion In Georgia Local Government Law, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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The initial question in evaluating the ability of a municipal corporation to control the affairs of its citizens is the existence of an allocation of power from the state sovereign. Once such power is found, Georgia courts traditionally view any activity within the scope of that power as a privilege of citizenship in a municipal corporation, controlled at the generally unrestricted discretion of the local government. But when and how do such privileges become rights? With an overview of the typical positions taken by Georgia courts on the power of local governments to control the affairs of their citizens, Professor …

Book Review: From Confederation To Nation: The American Constitution, 1835-1877 By Bernard Schwartz (1973), Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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From Confederation to Nation is a constitutional history of the United States in the nineteenth century. To be more exact, it is an examination of the operation of the Federal Constitution from 1835 (the year of John Marshall's death) to 1877 (the end of Reconstruction).

Although the book is. rather short (only 243 pages, including index), it is packed with information and analysis. None of the important American constitutional developments of the period is excluded from discussion. The thesis of the book is that between 1835 and 1877 the United States was transformed from a loose confederation with a weak …

A New Role For An Ancient Writ: Postconviction Habeas Corpus Relief In Georgia (Part I), Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

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Because it has been esteemed in this state for centuries, the writ of habeas corpus has played a significant role in the history of Georgia civil liberties. Indeed, one Georgia court early state that "[w]hen the writ is applied for, no inquiry is made as to the complexion of the petitioner, or the place of his permanent allegiance. All of every condition, of every country and of every complexion are equally entitled to it, the native of South Africa, not less than the Peer of the Realms." In the first part of his Article, Professor Wilkes examines the origins of …

Unconstitutionality In Georgia: Problems Of Nothing, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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Professor Sentell's Article examines the apparently well-established principle in Georgia that an unconstitutional statute is an absolute nullity. Against the backdrop of City of Atlanta v. Gower, Professor Sentell first focuses on the developmen of-the-void-from-inception doctrine and then reviews its application in Georgia. Finally, he concludes that this principle has had a substantial impact upon constitutional and legislative law in this state.

Book Review: Sexual Freedom And The Constitution (1973), Wayne Mccormack

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Book Review of SEXUAL FREEDOM AND THE CONSTITUTION, by Walter Barnett (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973).

Federalizing Through The Franchise: The Supreme Court And Local Government, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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Decisionmaking at the local government level has been significantly affected by both national legislation and federal court decisions seeking to protect the right to vote. Indeed, Professor Sentell feels that the Supreme Court, through decisions invalidating restrictions on the franchise, has involved itself to an unparalleled degree in heretofore purely local affairs. In examining these decisions, the author queries if legitimate voting regulations may be now imposed by local governments. In so doing he focuses upon the Court's equal protection analysis of extraordinary majority vote requirements and elections restricted to certain segments of the electorate and upon the expansive judicial …

Hawkins V. Town Of Shaw: The Court As City Manager, C. Ronald Ellington, Lawrence F. Jones

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For over one hundred years Congress and the federal courts have pursued the goal of racial equality in the United States. In areas such as voting rights, public accommodations, and housing, Congress and the courts have interacted closely, with broad judicial interpretations upholding major remedial legislation. Moreover, when confronted by official state sources of racial discrimination, courts have traditionally responded to the clear command of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment without awaiting congressional action. Brown v. Board of Education stands as perhaps the best known instance in which a court has, on its own, ordered the elimination …

The Principle Of Nondivisiveness And The Constitutionality Of Public Aid To Parochial Schools, C. Ronald Ellington

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The establishment clause issues in the three cases now before the Supreme Court [Tilton v. Richardson, Lemon v. Kurtzman, DiCenso v. Robinison] will be explored in this article in the light of a postulate and three derivative maxims which, it is suggested, are implicit in the Court's earlier religion clause cases, particularly Walz v. Tax Commission. It is the author's view that the establishment clause intends that government no be a divisive force in matters of religion and that analysis grounded in such a premise provides the surest delineation of the interests at stake in …

Municipal Annexation In Georgia: Nay-Sayers Beward (Plantation Pipe Line Co. V. City Of Bremen), R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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In the Fall 1967 issue of the Georgia Law Review, there appeared a somewhat ambitious effort to survey the law of municipal annexation in Georgia. That rather stuffy treatment at least served to demonstrate the existence of a history on the subject dating from the beginning of time in this State. It also purported to make one or two daring thrusts at formulating principles then apparently settled and at identifying legal points around which further evolution might be anticipated.

Some apparently believed that these thrusts were more negative than daring and that they reflected an approach which was basically …

Warrantless Searches And Seizures, Mack Allen Player

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The fourth amendment to the Constitution has two basic clauses. The first, the reasonableness clause, protects the people against unreasonable searches and seizures. The second, the warrant clause, sets forth conditions under which a warrant may issue. Searches and seizures made pursuant to a warrant are, quite obviously, governed by the commands of the warrant clause. However, the effect of the warrant clause upon searches and seizures made without warrants is not clear from the amendment itself, and the Supreme Court has failed to develop a consistent interpretation of the proper role of that clause.

False Or Suppressed Evidence: Why A Need For The Prosecutorial Tie, Ronald L. Carlson

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Many United States Supreme Court decisions have overturned criminal convictions for the reason that the government employed false evidence to obtain the conviction or failed to disclose relevant evidence important to the defense. In reversing federal or state judgments, the Court often has located direct proof of wrongdoing by the prosecutor. The notorious "bloody shorts" case is an example in point.' There, the state introduced as evidence a pair of men's "blood-stained" undershorts to achieve conviction of the accused. When the blood turned out to be red paint, the Supreme Court granted habeas corpus relief to the defendant because "[it …

Avery V. Midland County: Reapportionment And Local Government Revisited, R. Perry Sentell Jr.

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Earlier in the pages of this Review the judicial application of the "one-man-one-vote" standard to local government is discussed in detail. As noted, the United States Supreme Court did not completely evolve this standard for state legislatures until June, 1964. Since that time, the state courts and the lower federal courts have been inundated with litigation raising the question of the basic applicability of the standard to local governments in this country, as well as a host of accompanying inquiries. This litigation and the courts' reactions to it were extensively traced. At the close of its term, however, the Court …

The Supreme Court, The Individual And The Criminal Process, E. Hunter Taylor Jr.

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The sweeping social changes presently occurring in this country are having important effects on the law. The impact of this philosophical revolution upon th elaw is manifesting itself most directly and vividly in the Supreme Court of the United States where the entire concept of "individual liberty and freedom" is undergoing far-reaching change. One of the most important changes is occurring in the development of constitutional rules of criminal procedure, particularly those applicable to the states through the fourteenth amendment. Most of the particular longstanding announced aims of the Court, e.g., protection against the conviction of the innocent and prevention …

Appointed Counsel In Criminal Prosecutions: A Study Of Indigent Defense, Ronald L. Carlson

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Attorney Carlson surveyed Iowa for the American Bar Association's study of the defense of indigent accused persons, and in this Article the results of that study are disclosed. The author sets forth recent constitutional developments involving appointments of counsel in criminal cases, then reviews criminal procedure and practice as it relates to the indigent. Survey techniques utilized in the study are revealed, and the responses obtained from jurists, prosecutors, and defense attorneys throughout the jurisdiction are detailed. Finally, he advances recommendations to assist in meeting the challenge of justice for the poor.