Law Commons^™

The Independent Agency After Bowsher V. Synar--Alive And Kicking, William H. Hardie, Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

Because the modern administrative agency combines executive, legislative, and judicial powers, various authorities throughout history have argued that the fundamental structure of the administrative system is unconstitutional. Recently, the relationship between the separation of powers doctrine and the administrative state has returned to the foreground of both American politics and constitutional law. Attempts by the current executive branch to rein in the policy and rule making activities of "independent" federal agencies have resulted in both praise and cries of foul from the legal community and Congress.' These attempts at executive branch control have been precipitated by a perceived shift in …

Book Review: Federal Rulemaking, Jeffrey A. Parness

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the 1979 Annual Report on the State of the Judiciary'Chief Justice Burger called for a fresh look at the entire federal rule making process. Following the Chief Justice's lead, the Federal Judicial Center' responded with a report by Winifred R. Brown entitled Federal Rulemaking: Problems and Possibilities. In a foreward to that report Professor A. Leo Levin, the Federal Judicial Center's director, discouraged any attempt to intiate "a thorough review of the strengths and weaknesses of the process," and advised the author instead to focus "on those aspects of the process that had been singled out for criticism and …

The Civil Investigative Demand: A Constitutional Analysis And Model Proposal, Anthony J. Mcfarland

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note first traces the initial judicial reaction to administrative demands for information and administrative investigations and delineates the constitutional requirement set forth therein. The Note next examines the development of CIDs and analyzes decisions upholding their constitutionality. This Note contends that most courts either have incorrectly applied current administrative standards to the CID or have failed to apply such standards altogether. The analysis is broken down into six parts,each dealing with a separate constitutional basis for a CID challenge. Because most suits that contest CIDs are based on fourth amendment search and seizure issues, the bulk of this Note …

Agencies In Conflict: Overlapping Agencies And The Legitimacy Of The Administrative Process, Louis J. Sirico Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article demonstrates how multi-agency decision making can enhance the legitimacy of the administrative system. After discussing the meaning of legitimacy in a highly stable society, it analyzes multi-agency decision making process from the perspective of the political scientist. I particularly emphasize "partisan mutual adjustment" analysis, which views the system as adjusting continually to the conduct of interacting participants. This theory comports not only with the pluralistic, pressure politics model of American government, but also with the methodology of classical economics, which celebrates the product of competing, conflicting interests.The Article concludes by demonstrating that the multi-agency process can increase legitimacy …

Recent Cases, Cornelia H. Boozman, R. Preston Bolt, Jr., Kenneth L. Stewart

Vanderbilt Law Review

Administrative Law--Ripeness--Agency Head's Informal Opinion Letters Held Unripe for Review When No Substantial Hardship Placed on Parties

Cornelia H. Boozman

The basic premise of the ripeness doctrine is that judicial machinery should operate only on concrete problems that are present or imminent, not on problems that are abstract, hypothetical,or remote... The Supreme Court articulated a more definitive standard for determining ripeness in "Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner." Espousing what it considered to be the basic rationale of the ripeness doctrine, avoidance of premature adjudication of discretionary administrative policies, the Court established a procedure for evaluating the ripeness issue in challenges to …

Recent Cases, David G. Russell, Thomas J. Hartland Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

David G. Russell -- Private Nuisance--Urban Redevelopment

Outside the realm of eminent domain and zoning, the law of private nuisance provides judicial response to problems of conflicting land uses. As the private landowner's legal weapon for eliminating a use incompatible in the neighborhood, private nuisance law affords an effective remedy because the unreasonable, nonconforming use can be enjoined or its perpetrator subjected to liability for damages. Nevertheless, indiscriminate application of existing doctrine might jeopardize fair and efficient resolution of problems of land use control. Considered in the light of equity and economics, a recent New York decision reveals the need …

Recent Developments, James D. Holland

Vanderbilt Law Review

The power to parole prisoners derives from the legislative power to define crimes and set penalties for offenses, and has been delegated by Congress and state legislatures to the federal and state parole boards.' Recent litigation of inmates' post-conviction rights in federal and state correctional systems has focused increasingly on the broad discretionary power that parole boards exercise by performing their statutory mandate... The recent development of a flexible concept of due process,' however, has permitted a finer balancing of governmental and individual interests than the prior requirement of a "full panoply" of procedural safeguards, or none at all, and …

How Federal Judicial Administration Came To Be The Way It Is, Robert A. Leflar

Vanderbilt Law Review

Differences about how the business of federal circuit and district courts should be administered--as distinguished from how their cases should be decided--down through the years have presented a persistent conflict between an ideal of national uniformity and an effort to maintain local control over administrative details. In one sense this has been a contest between reformers who have sought increased efficiency in federal judicial administration and local judges whose rallying cry was judicial independence and whose personal interest was in continuing to run things as they were accustomed within their own little domains. Occasionally patronage was involved. This did not …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Topics Discussed in Recent Cases:

Administrative Law--Freedom of Information Act--Unclassified Documents Physically Connected with Classified Documents May Not Be Withheld Under the National Security and Foreign Affairs Secrets Exemption

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Antitrust--Treble Damage Class Actions--Privity with Defendant Required To Maintain Suit

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Constitutional Law--Equal Protection-State Probate Code Discriminating in Favor of Males Violates Equal Protection Clause

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Constitutional Law--Federal Preemption--Atomic Energy Act Requires Exclusive Federal Regulation of Radioactive Discharges from Nuclear Power Plants

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Corporations -Shareholder Suits -Shareholder May Inspect Corporate Records Only for Proper Purpose Ger-mane to his Economic Interest As Shareholder, Not Merely To Further his Own Social and …

Parajudges And The Administration Of Justice, Tom C. Clark

Vanderbilt Law Review

The parajudge idea, like the paramedical and paralegal proposals, has met with opposition. Many persons have objected on the ground that since the judiciary's work has become increasingly complex and specialized, it is foolish to expect a nonprofessional with less training to handle it properly. On the other hand, many persons have raised more pragmatic objections based upon the argument that past parajudge systems have, regardless of the reasons, led to inadequate adjudication without reducing the strain on the judiciary. To evaluate these criticisms, we must first understand both the desperate condition of our judicial system today and the most …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Administrative Law--Judicial Review of SEC Decisions--No-Action Letter Under Commission's Proxy Rules Procedures Has Sufficient Finality and Formality to be Reviewable

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Creditors' Rights--Section 77 Railroad Reorganization--Federal Priority Under Section 191 Denied; Interline Balance Claims Granted Priority Under Equitable Six-Months Rule

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Criminal Procedure --Breach of the Peace--State Peace Bond Statute Establishes Criminal Proceedings and Must Satisfy Requirements of Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses

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Criminal Procedure--Presumption of Innocence--Cautionary Instruction to Jury that Presumption of Innocence is Not Intended To Aid the Guilty To Escape is Not Misleading or Erroneous

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Landlord and Tenant Law--Warranty of Habitability Implied by Law …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Accountants--Auditors--Compliance with General Accounting Principles Not a Complete Defense To Criminal Fraud

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Administrative Law--Standing to Challenge Administrative Actions--Anyone Arguably Protected by Statute May Sue

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Constitutional Law--Abortion--Standard Excepting Abortions Done as "Necessary for the Preservation of the Mother's Life or Health" Held Unconstitutionally Vague

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Constitutional Law--Civil Rights--Discrimination by a Third Party in Connection with the Rental of Property Entitles the Injured Party to a Private Right of Damages Under Section 1982

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Constitutional Law--Double Jeopardy--Benton v. Maryland Applies Retroactively to State Criminal Convictions

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Copyright--Unfair Competition--Unauthorized Reproduction of Another's Recording for Resale Violates State Unfair Competition Doctrine

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Better Days In Court For A New Day's Problems, Roger I. Traynor Honorable

Vanderbilt Law Review

We do not lack first-rate proposals for court organization and administration and procedures that would befit a new day. Neither do we lack well-conceived plans for the selection and retention of judges that would attract able and independent men to the bench. Nevertheless, the few states that have undertaken substantial reforms are far outnumbered by those that have not. It is high time to inquire why there has been such a woeful lack of will in the legal profession throughout the country to have done with ways so antiquated as chronically to impede the just operation of the laws. It …

The Local Administrative Agencies, Maurice H. Merrill

Vanderbilt Law Review

We have become accustomed to the concept, once thoroughly horrendous to most lawyers, that the dispensation of justice may, be properly entrusted to those tribunals which, for want of a better term, we label administrative. In past years they were considered the illicit offspring of miscegenatious commingling of powers which,constitutionally, should have been kept in rigid segregation. In the last half century, this habit of thought has all but disappeared; our concern has been rather with the full acknowledgment and acceptance of these agencies into the family of makers and appliers of the law. We have undertaken to nurture and …

The Model Cities Program, Otto J. Hetzel, David E. Pinsky

Vanderbilt Law Review

The period from 1961 through 1965 saw a dramatic increase in the number of federal grant-in-aid programs and the total federal funding levels directed at curing the ills of the urban community. There was a persistent anxiety, however, that, despite the proliferation of new drugs administered to the patient for his array of symptoms, the progress was not satisfactory, and that time was running out. In October, 1965, a Task Force on Urban Problems was appointed by President Johnson to study urban problems and recommend action. The Task Force looked at the prior efforts and decided a new approach was …

International Law, National Tribunals And The Rights Of Aliens: The West European Experience, Peter E. Herzog

Vanderbilt Law Review

The local remedies rule is usually considered a device to accommodate the legitimate desire of states to preserve their own sovereignty with the equally legitimate desire of states to protect their nationals who have suffered injury abroad. It is obvious that the adequacy of the rule in serving the second of these ends will depend on the nature and quality of the local remedies available. In turn, the effectiveness of local remedies in protecting the rights of aliens will depend on a variety of factors. Most importantly, there is the adequacy of the substantive legal rights in the fields of …

Report On Administrative Law To The Tennessee Law Revision Commission, Daniel J. Gifford

Vanderbilt Law Review

The following discussion of certain aspects of administrative law is a revised version of a report prepared during the 1963-64 academic year in response to a request by the Tennessee Law Revision Commission for an evaluation of issues to be considered in adopting an administrative procedure act for the State of Tennessee. Because one of the Model State Administrative Procedure Acts would probably be used as the basis for a Tennessee Act, the discussion is based upon a comparative analysis of the workings of the original Model Act, the Revised Model Act, and the federal Administrative Procedure Act.

Whether a …

Annual Survey Of Tennessee Law, E. Blythe Stason

Vanderbilt Law Review

In preparing the Survey of Administrative Law for 1964, we find only eleven cases upon which to comment. Seven of them arise from a single field of administrative action, i.e., the work of County Beer Boards. One is a zoning variation case, another involves a realtor's license revocation, and the other two are lower federal court cases decided in Tennessee, one relating to social security, and the other to an interpretation of the abandonment provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act. Compared with many other states this is a modest showing. Indeed, when one takes account of the number of boards …

Legislation, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Administrative Law--The Scope of Official Notice

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Associations--Definition of Cooperative

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Full Faith and Credit--Procedures for Enforcement of Foreign Money Judgments

Book Reviews, Richard C. Allen, Lawrence D. Gaughan

Vanderbilt Law Review

In this little book, Leon Radzinowicz, Wolfson Professor of Criminology and Director of the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge, presents a brief survey of criminology in England, the United States, and eight countries of continental Europe. His perspective is historical as well as geographical: in discussing each nation, he begins with a sketch of the concepts and personalities that lent vitality to the development of its criminological teaching and research and concludes with an analysis of the contemporary scene, based on his own first-hand observations during a recent world tour "in search of criminology."With so vast a …

Stability And Change In Procedure, Charles E. Clark Honorable

Vanderbilt Law Review

The invitation to participate in a symposium on Stability and Change Through Law, with stress upon procedure and its capacity to respond to the social and economic needs of the times, is one I have found difficult to decline. The historic and centuries-old lag in procedural advance, the great resurgence of the last quarter century, the extensive present achievements, and the vital needs for the future now apparent make this, in my judgment, the most fascinating and challenging branch of the law. And this is true, whether one looks to the law school curriculum or to the framing of judicial …

The Contribution Of Professional Organizations To Stability And Change Through Law, Glenn R. Winters

Vanderbilt Law Review

The term "stability" pertains more directly to the physical sciences than to law. Offhand, one associates stability with rest and instability with motion. Gibraltar is stable; a rowboat in rough water is not.There can be, however, stable motion and precarious rest. The earth moves at more than a thousand miles a minute in a stable orbit, and a railroad train thundering down a smooth and level track at ninety miles an hour may have a high degree of stability. On the other hand, the mass of rock and earth that recently plunged into the water behind an Italian dam killing …

Administrative Law -- 1962 Tennessee Survey, Val Sanford

Vanderbilt Law Review

The writing of this article is an experience in frustration and despair, for in Tennessee there is little recognition of the existence of any such body of principle, of legal concepts and techniques, of procedures and practice, as "administrative law." There is one law, substantive and procedural, for beer boards, another for the Public Service Commission, another for the rate-making decisions of the insurance commissioner, another for employment insurance benefits,another for licensing well-diggers, and so on ad infinitum--a separate law, both substantive and procedural, not only for each agency, but often for each function within an agency. All of these …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Administrative Law--Due Process--Expulsion From Public University Requires Notice and Hearing

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Antitrust Law--Investigatory Powers--Federal Trade Commission Has Right To Obtain Private Copies Of Privileged Census Information

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Constitutional Law--Due Process-Escheat By One State of a Fund Claimed By Other States Held To Violate Due Process

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Sales--Warranty--Advertisement That Cigarettes Are Harmless Held An Express Warranty

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Taxation--Income Tax-Deferral Of Prepaid Income Disallowed

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Taxation--Inheritance, Estate and Gift Taxes--Blockage Rule Rejected in Evaluating Stock For Ohio Succession Tax

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Taxation--Use Tax--Commerce and Equal Protection Clauses--Discrimination Against Multi-State Business

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Torts--Negligence--Vendor of Alcoholic Beverages Held Liable for Injuries to Intoxicated Vendee Despite …

Annual Survey Of Tennessee Law, Val Sanford

Vanderbilt Law Review

The principal conclusion to be derived from a survey of the decisions reported and the statutes adopted during the past year in the field of administrative procedure is that sound policy necessitates the enactment of a general, uniform and effective administrative procedure act in this state.The standards by which any procedural system should be measured can readily be stated. The basic purpose of any procedural system should be to attempt to assure that all matters within its scope are resolved on their true merits, and not on some failure to follow exactly the prescribed path. To accomplish this end, there …

The Function Of Legal Philosophy, Roscoe Pound

Vanderbilt Law Review

For twenty-four hundred years--from the Greek thinkers of the fifth century B.C. who asked whether right was right by nature or only by enactment and convention, to the social philosophers of today, who seek the ends, the ethical basis and the enduring principles of social control--the philosophy of law has taken a leading role in all study of human institutions. The perennial struggle of American administrative law with nineteenth-century constitutional formulations of Aristotle's threefold classification of governmental power, the stone wall of natural rights against which attempts to put an end to private war in industrial disputes for a long …

Disqualification Of Administrative Officials For Bias, Robert N. Covington

Vanderbilt Law Review

For centuries English and American writers on jurisprudence have been concerned with the problem of the impartial tribunal. With the rise in importance of the administrative agency, which often may function as investigator, prosecutor, and judge in the same proceeding, this concern has found a new focal point.' This note is designed to explore one question arising from the problem of administrative prejudice: When should an administrative official be disqualified from acting because of his bias? In investigating this problem, we shall examine the various formulas developed by the courts before whom disqualification has been urged; call attention briefly to …

Book Reviews, Laurence H. Eldredge, Henry N. Williams

Vanderbilt Law Review

Evidence of Guilt: Restrictions Upon its Discovery or Compulsory Disclosure

By John MacArthur Maguire

Boston: Little, Brown &Co. 1959. Pp. xi, 295. $12.50

reviewer: Edmund M. Morgan

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Government and Public Administration

By John D. Millett

New York. McGraw-Hill Book Co. 1959. Pp. x, 477. $7.95

reviewer: Henry N. Williams

Annual Survey Of Tennessee Law, Harold Seligman

Vanderbilt Law Review

The subject of administrative law in Tennessee remained generally static in the year in review. The supreme court held consistently to its line of decisions concerning review of administrative actions in the limited number of decided cases concerning the subject. The 1959 General Assembly of Tennessee made some sweeping revisions in the organization of several departments of government and various agencies and boards but these changes were solely for purposes of administrative efficiency and economy with no practical jurisdictional, regulatory or substantive effect.

Constitutional Law--1959 Tennessee Survey, Elvin E. Overton

Vanderbilt Law Review

A smaller number of cases have been selected for inclusion in this year's survey. Seven cases are included, including one federal court decision dealing with a municipal ordinance. In addition, two specific acts of the General Assembly are noted although there has as yet been no opportunity for the courts to rule upon them.