Law Commons^™

The Scope Of The Eighth Amendment Does Not Include A Per Se Bar To The Use Of Victim Impact Evidence In The Sentencing Phase Of A Capital Trial., Jimmie O. Clements Jr.

St. Mary's Law Journal

In Payne v. Tennessee, the United States Supreme Court held the scope of the Eighth Amendment does not include a per se bar to the use of victim impact evidence in the sentencing phase of a capital trial. As a result of Payne, the realm of information admissible during the sentencing phase of a capital trial now includes victim impact evidence. The use of victim impact evidence improperly diverts the sentencer’s attention away from the defendant’s moral blameworthiness to the victim’s character and reputation. Although advocates of victim’s rights may see this decision as a victory, the reasoning of the …

First-To-Invent: A Superior System For The United States., Ned L. Conley

St. Mary's Law Journal

The United States uses the first-to-invent patent system, which is a time-honored system not worth abandoning in pursuit of harmonization. First-to-invent and first-to-file patent systems incentivize different approaches to obtaining a patent. However, a first-to-invent approach is, in part, what has allowed the United States to lead the world in innovation and it should not abandon this approach. The United States patent system is unique when compared to most other patent systems used by democratic, capitalistic, developed nations. A first-to-invent system provides incentive to invent, particularly to inventors who are less well financed. The incentive to innovate is in the …

Limitations On Medical Malpractice Damages Pursuant To The Medical Liability Act Are Constitutional In Wrongful Death Cases., Lynn B. Layne

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Debts, Job Choices, And Financial Burden: Educational Debts At Nine American Law Schools, David L. Chambers

Books

American law students are borrowing large sums of money. For graduates at many schools, cumulative debts of $35,000 from college and law school have become the norm and debts of $40,000, $50,000 and even more are common. The sums students are borrowing are much larger today than they were ten years ago, even after adjusting for increases in the cost of living. They have risen at a vastly faster pace than the initial salaries at small law firms and government agencies. They have even risen at a faster pace than the initial salaries in many large firms. The new pattern …

Commentary: Meeting The Financial Needs Of Children, David L. Chambers

Articles

Those who drafted the equitable distribution statutes adopted in New York and elsewhere wanted to help assure women and children an acceptable level of financial well-being after divorce. Marsha Garrison has shown that divorcing couples rarely possess enough resources to attain financial well-being even when they live together as a couple, let alone when they live in two separate households. She has also shown that, even in the cases of couples with substantial assets, the broad and general language of the equitable distribution statute did not lead (and could not have been expected to lead) to consistent distributions that assured …

The Multiple-Marriage Society And Spousal Rights Under The Revised Uniform Probate Code, Lawrence W. Waggoner

Articles

Nearly everyone knows about the transformation of the American family that has taken place over the last couple of decades. The changes, from the latter half of the 1970s into the present, comprise one of the great events of our age. Articles on one aspect or another of the phenomenon frequent the popular press, and a special edition of Newsweek was recently devoted to the topic.' The traditional "Leave It To Beaver" family no longer prevails in American society. To be sure, families consisting of a wage-earning husband, a homemaking and child-rearing wife, and their two joint children still exist. …

Hud And Housing In The 1990s: Crises In Affordability And Accountability, Michael Allan Wolf

Law Faculty Publications

America is increasingly becoming a nation of housing haves and have-nots. While the majority of American homeowners are well housed and have significant equity in their homes, the prosperity of these homeowners does not reflect the plight of the nation's growing number of low- and moderate-income households.

[D]uring the tenure of Secretary Pierce HUD was an agency in total disarray and was woefully mismanaged. Housing programs established to benefit the poor were abused. During much of the 1980's, HUD was enveloped by influence peddling, favoritism, abuse, greed, fraud, embezzlement and theft. In many housing problems objective criteria gave way to …

International Law, Mark Weston Janis

Faculty Articles and Papers

The recent developments in Eastern Europe and the Persian Gulf dramatize the efforts of the United States to muster the support of other states and international organizations in asserting principles of international law and process. These diplomatic initiatives to win a global consensus about the rule of law in international politics reflect an important turn in U.S. policy. In the past few decades the United States has mostly enunciated a parochial rhetoric regarding international law, treating it either as a sort of extension of United States law or as a flexible framework that somehow always promoted U.S. legal and political …

Divorce Stories: Readings, Comments And Questions On Law And Narrative, Carol Weisbrod

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

"A Lost Generation": The Battle For Private Enforcement Of The Adoption Assistance And Child Welfare Act Of 1980, Barbara L. Atwell

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article suggests that the scope of enforceable section 1983 rights is broader than most courts have recognized. The Act creates comprehensive rights to 1) preplacement preventive services, 2) proper care while children are in state custody, and 3) permanency planning services. Courts must be more willing to recognize these rights and to take a more creative role in structuring injunctive relief when these rights have been violated. Part I is an overview of the Act. Part II analyzes the appropriateness of section 1983 claims under the Act. Finally, Part III analyzes the proper scope of section 1983 claims. The …

Foreword: Racist Speech On Campus, Kingsley R. Browne

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Abortion And Consensus: The Futility Of Speech, The Power Of Disobedience, Charles R. Disalvo

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cultural Critique And Legal Change, Charles W. Collier

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Social Infrastructure Needs Of The Maquiladora Industry: A Proposal For United States Corporate Contributions., Rodolfo Villalobos, Bruce B. Barshop

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Why The United States Should Adopt The First-To-File System For Patents., Bernarr R. Pravel

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Alamo Lumber And Texas Usury Law: Playing With Fire In The Usury Forest., Terry W. Wright, W. Alan Wright, Scott G. Night

St. Mary's Law Journal

The effect of Alamo Lumber Co. v. Gold, and later cases interpreting third party assumption of debt as interest can be perilous to lenders. Lenders are in the business of offering loans to make money. Lenders achieve profit maximization by charging as much interest as possible in the market. Although economic and market factors are always considerations in a lender’s business, in Texas, lenders must also consider harsh usury laws that restrain the maximum amount of chargeable loan interest. Texas defines interest broadly. Statutes define interest as the receipt of compensation for the detention, forbearance or use of money. The …

Review Of Honorable Justice: The Life Of Oliver Wendell Holmes By Sheldon Novick., Michael S. Ariens

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Reactions To Opression: Jurisgenesis In The Jurispathic State, John Valery White

Scholarly Works

This Note offers a model for analyzing the political and legal traditions of oppressed communities and developing a jurisprudence that accurately reflects the communities' views. Under this model, each of these diverse views can be understood from one of four perspectives: parochialism, fatalism, neo-liberalism, and individualism. These four perspectives are defined by an oppressed community's members' aspirations for liberation. Different ideals of justice and liberation underlie each perspective. Though touching on some of the communities' sentiments, the examinations of scholars of color have thus far been largely piecemeal, overemphasizing certain views, unwittingly combining divergent views, or marginalizing and dismissing unpopular …

Operation Rescue And The Necessity Defense: Beginning A Feminist Deconstruction, Susan B. Apel

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Civil Disobedience And Operation Rescue: A Historical And Theoretical Analysis, John W. Whitehead

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Civil Disobedience And The Iawyer's Obligation To The Law, Judith A. Mcmorrow

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Towards A Recognition Of The Necessity Defense For Political Protesters, Matthew Lippman

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Balancing First Amendment Rights Of Abortion Protestors With The Rights Of Their 'Victims'

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Testimony Of Ambassador Carla A. Hills, United States Trade Representative, Before The Subcommittee On Trade, Committee On Ways And Means, U.S. House Of Representatives, June 14, 1990., Editorial Board St. Mary's School Of Law

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Ethics And Due Diligence: A Lawyer's Perspective On Doing Business With Mexico., Rona R. Mears

St. Mary's Law Journal

The focus of this study is to survey ethical issues faced by legal practitioners in providing legal counsel for international business transactions, with special attention to lawyers counseling clients who are doing business with Mexico. This paper is intended for lawyers who practice in the United States (U.S.), involved in counseling clients outside the U.S. The purpose of this study is to highlight only those issues that raise special difficulties for such a practitioner, and then to provide practical advice on how to avoid ethical problems in U.S.-Mexico transactions. The Model Rules of Professional Conduct (MPRC), the International Code of …

Salinastroika: Recent Developments In Technology Transfer Law In Mexico., Mark O'C. O'Brien, Carlos R.V. Muggenburg

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Binding Arbitration: A Preferred Alternative For Resolving Commercial Disputes Between Mexican And U.S. Businessmen., Hope H. Camp Jr.

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

The Empire Strikes Back., E. Joshua Rosenkranz

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Giving The Gift Of Life: A Survey Of Texas Law Facilitating Organ Donation., Eric C. Sutton

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

In Sharp Contrast To The Past: The Demise Of The Per Se Rule Against Vertical Price Fixing., Christopher J. Pettit

St. Mary's Law Journal

Actions by the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court lessening vertical pricing protections under the Sherman Antitrust Act require Congressional intervention. By enacting the Sherman Antitrust Act, Congress intended agreements fixing vertical prices or having the ultimate effect of fixing vertical prices at any level be illegal per se. Vertical pricing agreements set, maintain, stabilize, raise, or depress prices of goods or services among the different levels of the product distribution chain. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has taken positive steps in limiting the per se rule of illegality by failing to pursue allegations of vertical price fixing and …