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Prison Reform Issues For The Eighties: Modification And Dissolution Of Injunctions In The Federal Courts, Sarah N. Welling, Barbara W. Jones

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

During the past two decades, federal courts have become involved in the supervision of state and local prison systems. This supervisory role is the result of a new type of litigation, the institutional reform lawsuit. These lawsuits originate when prisoners sue state or local prison administrators, alleging unconstitutional conditions of confinement. Plaintiffs usually seek a permanent injunction outlining a plan to eliminate the offending conditions. As prison litigation matured, the normal evolution of these lawsuits led to new questions taking center stage in the 1980's, questions of injunction, modification, and dissolution.

This article begins with a summary examination of prison …

The Law Of Presumptions: A Look At Confusion, Kentucky Style, Robert G. Lawson

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Over the years the term “presumption” has been used by virtually all courts to “designate what are more accurately termed inferences or substantive rules of law.” It has also been used as a “loose synonym for presumption of fact, presumption of law, rebuttable presumption, and irrebuttable presumption.” To this list the Kentucky Court of Appeals had added mandatory presumption, presumptive evidence, and prima facie case. Perhaps of more significance than the indiscriminate use of terminology is the extent to which courts have used “presumptions” to describe judicial reasoning of various kinds and to perform chores more appropriate to unrelated procedural …