Law Commons^™

Checklists: Not Just For Pilots Anymore, Diane B. Kraft

Law Faculty Popular Media

In this column for Kentucky Bar Association's magazine (B&B - Bench & Bar), Professor Diane B. Kraft discusses how using checklists can improve an individual's legal writing skills.

Why Law?, James Donovan

Law Faculty Popular Media

According to the 2011 Statistical Abstract, legal services in 2007 reported gross receipts of 267 billion dollars. Students view it as a wise investment to incur debts on average of $100K to go to law school for the chance to assume roles in the legal system.

If we assume people to be minimally rational, such investments are reasonable only if we believe law serves a valuable purpose, one that merits our money and, for many, our lives. Efforts to describe the details of that importance, however, can be exasperatingly vague.

An Overview Of The U.S. Retirement Income Security System And The Principles And Values It Reflects, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article is designed to provide an overview of the U.S. retirement income security system from a comparative law perspective. Like many countries, the U.S. has a three tier pension or retirement income system, with the three tiers consisting of (1) Social Security, (2) employment-based pensions, and (3) individual savings. Thus, superficially, the U.S. retirement income security system resembles that of many around the world. Yet, in other ways, such as its focus on individual rights and responsibility, the U.S. system is unique.

The article begins by discussing the nine guiding principles of the U.S. Social Security system as identified …

Citation Advantage Of Open Access Legal Scholarship, James M. Donovan, Carol A. Watson

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In this study focusing on the impact of open access on legal scholarship, the authors examine open access articles from three journals at the University of Georgia School of Law and confirm that legal scholarship freely available via open access improves an article’s research impact. Open access legal scholarship—which today appears to account for almost half of the output of law faculties—can expect to receive fifty-eight percent more citations than non–open access writings of similar age from the same venue.

Reconciling Chevron, Mead, And The Review Of Agency Discretion: Source Of Law And The Standards Of Judicial Review, Michael P. Healy

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Although the Supreme Court's watershed decision in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. has been understood by many as defining the framework for judicial review of agency legal determinations, there have been longstanding questions about the application of the standards for reviewing administrative action. These questions have become more troublesome following the Supreme Court's 2001 decision in United States v. Mead Corp. Mead established that Chevron review only applies when defined requirements are met and held that so-called Skidmore deference applies when Chevron deference does not apply. Surveying the aftermath of Mead and its effect on the …

The Wreck Of Regulation D: The Unintended (And Bad) Outcomes For The Sec’S Crown Jewel Exemptions, Rutheford B. Campbell Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Regulation D is—or at least should be—the crown jewel of the Securities and Exchange Commission's regulatory exemptions from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933. It offers businesses—especially businesses with relatively small capital requirements—fair and efficient access to vital, external capital.

In this article, I present data derived from deep samples of recent Form Ds filed with the Commission. The data show that Regulation D is not working in the way the Commission intended or in a way that benefits society The data reveal that companies attempting to raise relatively small amounts of capital under Regulation D overwhelmingly …

The Sustainable Development Principle In United States Environmental Law, Michael P. Healy

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The American public perceives the principle of sustainable development and sustainability, the shorthand nomenclature, through green-tinted lenses. Whether the user of the term is academic, corporate, or governmental, the advocate of sustainability is understood as an advocate of protecting the environment. The international legal understanding of the principle of sustainable development, however, is more ambiguous than this popular American understanding.

Part II of this Article describes the important principle of sustainable development in modern international environmental law. It discusses how the sustainable development principle has evolved from its initial appearance in the 1987 Brundtland Commission Report through its central position …

Risky Business: Liability Of Product Sellers Who Offer Safety Devices As Optional Equipment, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article examines the question of whether (or when) product sellers should be allowed to offer optional safety equipment without fear of being held strictly liable for selling a defectively designed product. Part II of this Article examines several approaches to risk-bearing. At one end of the spectrum, the principle of personal autonomy dictates that consumers should decide how much risk they wish to accept. On the other hand, products liability law assumes that if consumers are allowed to subject themselves to greater risk, producers will be quick to take advantage of their inability to make rational decisions about what …

The Perils Of Hyperbole, Diane B. Kraft

Law Faculty Popular Media

In this column for Kentucky Bar Association's magazine (B&B - Bench & Bar), Professor Diane B. Kraft makes suggestions about avoiding hyperbole in legal writing.

Wigfall V. Mobley Et Al.: Heirs Property Rights In Family And In Law, Brian Grabbatin, Jennie L. Stephens

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

No abstract provided.

Finding Access To The Federal Courts: How The Inconsistent Application Of Federal Jurisdiction In Cases With Significant Foreign Relations Implications Affects Mining And Agriculture Industries, Rebecca C. Griffin

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Seeds Of Compromise: A Proposal And Justification For The Partial Deregulation Of Genetically Modified Alfalfa And Sugar Beets, Whitney J. Waters

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

The Case Against Preemption: Vaccines & Uncertainty, Mary J. Davis

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article begins with a brief recap of the state of current preemption doctrine and how it governs the interaction of federal regulation of product manufacturers and state tort actions related to the actions of those manufacturers. Second, the article provides observations on how that doctrine might apply to vaccine injury litigation. Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, Inc. involves the preemptive scope of the Vaccine Act and the unique compensation system Congress created to respond to vaccine injuries. Bruesewitz was decided on February 22, 2011, and held that design defect claims are expressly preempted by the Vaccine Act. This article endeavors …

Did The U.S. Supreme Court Recognize An Elusive Or Illusive Judicial Taking In Stop The Beach Renourishment?, Derek Leslie

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Cheap Meat: How Factory Farming Is Harming Our Health, The Environment, And The Economy, R. Jason Richards, Erica L. Richards

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Practicing Before A Board Of Adjustment: Seven Practical Tips, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Popular Media

In this article, Professor Kathryn L. Moore sets forth seven practical tips for presenting a case before the board of adjustment.

From Kyoto To Quito: Reassessing Oil Moratorium As An Effective Climate Change Policy From A Property-Based Approach, Patrick Wieland

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Rule Synthesis And Explanatory Synthesis: A Socratic Dialogue Between Ireac And Treat, Michael D. Murray

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article explores the theory and process of explanatory synthesis in comparison to rule synthesis and case-to-case analogical reasoning as a method of demonstrative legal reasoning and analysis and legal rhetoric. The Article takes the form of a Socratic dialogue to discuss the analytical and rhetorical advantages of explanatory synthesis. Explanatory synthesis provides an important option for inductive reasoning and argumentation within the deductive paradigm of legal analysis, and has rhetorical advantages over other forms of analogical reasoning when examined using the tools of modern argument theory and the rhetorical canons of law and economics.

The Future Of Employment-Based Health Insurance After The Patient Protection And Affordable Case Act, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In the United States, unlike in all other advanced industrial states, health care is financed principally through employment-based health insurance. In 2009, more than 156 million individuals under the age of sixty-five, or 59% of that population, were covered by employment- based health insurance.

On March 21, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Described as seminal as the enactment of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), PPACA fundamentally reforms the American health care system. PPACA, however, does not eliminate the system’s reliance on employment- based health insurance. Instead, it builds on, and arguably …

In Pari Delicto And Crop Gene Patents: An Equitable Defense For Innocently Infringing Farmers, David Costa

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Institutionalized Horse Abuse: The Soring Of Tennessee Walking Horses, Keith Dane

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Legal And Policy Issues Related To Anaerobic Digestion At United States Livestock Facilities, Jennifer C. Fiser

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

The Food Safety Modernization Act: Keeping Dinner Safe And Farmers In The Fields, Sarah K. Baker

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Equestrian Helmet Laws And Their Effect On Equestrian Liability, Litany Webster

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

A Dead Horse, You Can't Beat It: Equine Carcass Disposal Laws And Practices, Robert F. Dahlstrom, Kerry O'Neill Irwin, Emily J. Plant

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Cause And Effect: Surface Mine Reclamation And Flood Litigation In Appalachia, Bethany N. Baxter

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Down The Stretch: Reining In State Approaches Toward A Universal Medication Rule For Racehorses, Laurel Benson

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Taxation Of Unmined Coal In Kentucky, Jesse M. Parrish

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Snyder V. Phelps: A Hard Case That Did Not Make Bad Law, Paul E. Salamanca

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In Snyder v. Phelps, the Court stood by the First Amendment in hard times. A religious group conducted a protest some 1,000 feet from a fallen marine's funeral, holding such pickets as “God Hates the USA,” “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” and “You're Going to Hell.” Despite the empathy that virtually anyone would feel for the marine's grieving father, the Court held by a vote of eight to one that his action for intentional infliction of emotional distress and intrusion upon seclusion could not survive, owing largely to the public nature of the issues the protesters had raised. “Hard …

Explanatory Synthesis And Rule Synthesis: A Comparative Civil Law And Common Law Analysis, Michael D. Murray

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In comparative study of common law and civilian legal analysis, many scholars have noted a convergence in the two systems' use of precedent cases. Although common law legal theory historically has started from a position that judges are fully competent to create law and change the law through their adjudication of cases and the judicial opinions they write, and civilian theory historically has started from a position that judges are not empowered to create and change the law enacted by the legislature but rather are to read and apply the existing law to new cases, the practice of tribunals within …