Law Commons^™

Universal Citation And The American Association Of Law Libraries: A White Paper, Timothy L. Coggins

Law Faculty Publications

This white paper is a collaborative endeavor of many individuals, including members of the American Association of Law Libraries and its Digital Access to Legal Information Committee (DALIC), formerly the Electronic Legal Information Access & Citation (ELIAC) Committee. First, Justice Yvonne Kauger introduces the topic by identifying the groundbreaking steps taken by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Law librarians Carol Billings and Kathy Carlson next provide a detailed and comprehensive history of citation reform and the American Association of Law Libraries' leadership and involvement in the issue. They also summarize the citation reform steps taken in selected jurisdictions. Finally, John Cannan, …

Mobile Legal Research: Do We Need An App For That?, Roger V. Skalbeck

Law Faculty Publications

A month after the conference, Thomson Reuters launched the WestlawNext iPad app. Current marketing touts mobile access to WestlawNext that is suitable on four major smartphone platforms. At right is a screen shot from the native iPad app as well as WestlawNext in Apple's Safari browser. The iPad app does not let you send documents to your Kindle, and in fact does not let you download or print items directly, as shown in the highlighted screen element in each.

Using this as a starting point, below I suggest arguments for and against using apps for mobile legal research. The focus …

Top 10 Law School Home Pages Of 2010, Roger V. Skalbeck

Law Faculty Publications

This ranking report attempts to identify the best law school home pages based exclusively- on objective criteria. The goal is to assess elements that make websites easier to use for sighted as well as visually impaired users. Most elements require no special design skills, sophisticated technology or significant expenses.

Saving Some Green: Free Resources On Environmental Law, Suzanne B. Corriell

Law Faculty Publications

Environmental legal research often requires examining federal, state, and local laws, in addition to understanding science and technology. While there are many print and subscription-based resources available for a fee, websites also can help you navigate the laws and stay current with environmental news, and legal and scientific developments.

From Coverture To Contract: Engendering Insurance On Lives, Mary L. Heen

Law Faculty Publications

In the 1840s, state legislatures began modifying the law of marital status to ease the economic distress of widows and children at the family breadwinner's death. Insurance-related exceptions to the common law doctrine of "marital unity" under coverture permitted married women to enter into insurance contracts and protected life insurance proceeds from their husbands' creditors. These early insurance-related statutory exceptions to coverture introduced an important theoretical question that persisted for the rest of the nineteenth century-and into the next-as broader legal and social reforms took hold. How could equality of contract for married women be reconciled with the traditional dependencies …

Review Of George Athan Billias, American Constitutionalism Heard Round The World, 1776-1989: A Global Perspective., John Paul Jones

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Judicious Influence: Non-Self-Executing Treaties And The Charming Betsy Canon, Rebecca Crootof

Law Faculty Publications

Despite their seeming impotency, non-self-executing treaties play an important role in domestic jurisprudence. When a statute permits more than one construction, judges have a number of interpretive tools at their disposal. One of these is the Charming Betsy canon, which encourages judges to select an interpretation of an ambiguous statute that accords with U.S. international obligations -including those expressed in non-self-executing treaties. This Note concludes that the judicial practice of giving indirect force to all treaties through the Charming Betsy canon is both justified and beneficial.

Top Jobs Act Higher Education Reform Legislation, Mark E. Rubin

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The most important piece of legislation affecting higher educa- tion passed by the 2011 Virginia General Assembly was Governor McDonnell's higher education reform bill. The title of the bill is quite expressive-"Preparing for the Top Jobs of the 21st Century: The Virginia Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2011," or "TJ21.", It is significant because of its breadth, its innovative ap- proach to funding, and the government relations strategy utilized to assure its passage.

With Great Technology Comes Great Responsibility: Virginia's Legislative Approach To Combating Cyberbullying, Kelsey Farbotko

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This comment will examine Virginia's statutory response to the growing problem of cyberbullying, focusing particularly on the bills introduced in the most recent Virginia General Assembly ses- sion. Section II will define cyberbullying and other cybercrimes, as well as discuss the effects of this form of harassment and the impor- tance of regulating speech in this manner. Section III will describe current statutes that regulate cyberbullying, as well as the three bills that came before the Virginia General Assembly in its 2011 session. Particularly important is House Bill 2059, which differs from the oth- er two bills not only because …

Book Review: Beyond Intellectual Property: Matching Information Protection To Innovation, Kristen Jakobsen Osenga

Law Faculty Publications

William Kingston frames this book around a clearly stated premise: the focus of information protection regimes has shifted from benefiting the public to benefiting private individuals with interests in the game—and this shift is not good. Early on, protection of information was shaped by actors with no personal stake but rather a desire to encourage invention and innovation for the public good. These actors were primarily limited by constitutional provisions and bureaucratic inefficiencies. As time went on,and as information became a more important commodity, information protection schemes were fashioned, or perhaps twisted, by the parties that would derive the most …

Polygamy, Publicity, And Locality: The Place Of The Public In Marriage Practice, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

This Article offers a reading of State v. Holm that highlights the Utah court's struggle to define marriage and presents the court's eventual definition of marriage as one that is based on visual indicators.

The Dmca And Repeat Infringers, James Gibson

Law Faculty Publications

The recent agreement between big media companies and big Internet service providers (ISPs) concerning online copyright infringement has the law and technology world abuzz. ISPs like Comcast, Verizon, and Time Warner Cable have agreed to implement a system under which subscribers who repeatedly and illegally download copyrighted content will have their Internet access impeded and maybe even terminated.

This is big news, and it will probably receive more attention in this IP Viewpoints series. But the purpose of this column is to put this agreement in context, because much of what the companies have agreed to do appears to be …

Issue 2: Table Of Contents

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Failed Constitutional Metaphors: The Wall Of Separation And The Penumbra, Louis J. Sirico Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Putting Rationality Back Into The Rational Basis Test: Saving Substantive Due Process And Redeeming The Promise Of The Ninth Amendment, Jeffrey D. Jackson

University of Richmond Law Review

This article argues for the adoption of a strengthened rational basis test that would allow courts to scrutinize the actual purpose behind legislation and demand that the legislation actually be reasonably related to its valid legislative purpose. Part II looks at the question of why it is desirable to save substantive due process rather than replace it with some other doctrine. Part III examines how substantive due process came to be the dominant form of protection for unenumerated rights, and how it has evolved from its antecedents in English law to the current test. It concludes that substantive due process …

The Admissibility Of Electronic Evidence Under The Federal Rules Of Evidence, Jonathan D. Frieden, Leigh M. Murray

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Following the December 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, much has been written about the discovery of electronically-stored information.

Busting Blocks: Revisiting 47 U.S.C. § 230 To Address The Lack Of Effective Legal Recourse For Wrongful Inclusion In Spam Filters, Jonathan I. Ezor

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Consider a company that uses e-mail to conduct a majority of its business, including customer and vendor communication, marketing, and filing official documents. After conducting business in this manner for several years, one day the company discovers that its most recent e-mails were not delivered to recipients using a major Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) because the company was recently listed on an automated block list as a sender of unwanted bulk commercial e-mail (“spam”).

Sanctuary From De Facto Deportation: The New Sanctuary Movement And De Facto Deportation Claims For Children Challenging Illegal Immigrant Parents' Removal Orders, Kristin Maun

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This comment will give an overview of past and present sanctuary movements, the legal strategies they have formulated to defend those whom they shelter, and their impact on immigration law and policy. Then it will examine the particular strategy of de facto deportation-the NSM's legal strategy of choice-to understand what is necessary to establish the claim, and whether it could nullify an alien parent's removal order. Next, it will analyze two legal principles underlying de facto deportation claims: the right of a child to be raised by his parents and the right of a citizen child to reside in the …

Judicial Gatekeeping And The Seventh Amendment: How Daubert Infringes On The Constitutional Right To A Civil Jury Trial, Brandon L. Boxler

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This Article begins by reviewing the history, purpose, and function of the Seventh Amendment within the American constitutional system. It then discusses the Supreme Court's analytical framework for preserving the fundamental features of the right to a civil jury trial while simultaneously permitting rational legal development of the jury system. Next, the Article provides a brief overview of the Court's Daubert jurisprudence, and argues that the creation of judicial gatekeeping has caused an institutional shift of adjudicatory authority away from juries and into the hands of judges in violation of the Seventh Amendment. The Article concludes by suggesting three legal …

The Unavoidable Ecclesiastical Collision In Virginia, Isaac A. Mcbeth, Jennifer R. Sykes

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Section 5 7-9(A) of the Code of Virginia is a statute that purports to resolve church property disputes. There is, however, a significant amount of controversy as to whether the statute encroaches on the free exercise rights of hierarchical churches located in Virginia and enmeshes Virginia courts in the ecclesiastical thicket. Given the debate surrounding Section 57-9(A) and the controversial shift of several mainstream denominations in matters of substantive church doctrine, Virginia is a fertile breeding ground for church property disputes. Accordingly, the Commonwealth is in the midst of an ecclesiastical crisis. The impact of the crisis is evidenced by …

Health Care Reform In Virginia: Lessons Learned Before, During, And After The 2011 Virginia General Assembly, Hunter W. Jamerson

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This article surveys Virginia's initial foray into health care reform. This process began with the Virginia Health Reform Initiative, which had a significant presence in the Virginia 2011 General Assembly session. While the nascent health care reform efforts this session reflect only incremental steps, they are indicative of Virginia's direction and commitment to change. Such change, however, will carry great political and professional strife. This article highlights some examples of the challenges faced on the road to health care reform and discusses possible directions of future legislation in the Virginia General Assembly.

Notable Bills Of The 2011 General Assembly

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

House and Senate Bills from the 2011 General Assembly

Legislative Control Of The Menhaden Fishery, Nicole M. Rovner, Matthew G. Curtis

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

This year, six menhaden- related bills were introduced in the Virginia General Assembly. Delegate John Cosgrove (RChesapeake) introduced legislation in the House of Delegates that was identical to Senate Bill 765, a bill that proposed to shift oversight of the menhaden fishery to the VMRC. This article aims to highlight the unique stance taken by Virginia's legislature and explain why this management is better left to the commission responsible for managing every other fishery in the Commonwealth. While there may not be a conclusive link between reduction industry practices and a decline in water quality, Virginia's legislators should recognize the …

Liability Insurance Coverage For Clergy Sexual Abuse Claims, Peter N. Swisher

Law Faculty Publications

This article addresses issues that arise when a policyholder under a standard general liability insurance policy, not containing an express sexual abuse coverage endorsement (or an express sexual abuse exclusion), seeks insurance coverage for sexual abuse claims. Such cases continue to increase in frequency as the legacy of sexual abuse and molestation generates an unrelenting deluge of insurance coverage claims.

The purpose of this article is to explore and analyze the case law and various legal theories supporting and rejecting liability insurance coverage claims involving institutional sexual abuse allegations. This article concludes by recommending a better-reasoned objective concurrent causation legal …

Strength Of The International Trade Commission As A Patent Venue, Christopher A. Cotropia

Law Faculty Publications

The data suggests that the ITC is here to stay and almost all patent enforcement actions will take place, at least in part, in the ITC. The landscape of patent enforcement has permanently changed, and the ITC is a solid part of it. This Article reaches these conclusions by first, in Part I, describing the unique features of the ITC that make it a favored venue of patentees. Part II describes the Federal Circuit's decision in Kyocera and the various postulates as to its impact. Part III describes the study, the specific data obtained, and the results. Part IV analyzes …

Commercial Law's Complexity, David Frisch

Law Faculty Publications

This Article proceeds as follows. Part I briefly surveys prevailing ideas about the social costs of complexity and identifies additional costs that have escaped the attention of earlier commentators. The aim is to demonstrate why reducing the complexity of the commercial law system matters. Part II describes three legislative responses-two already enacted ·and one proposed- representing efforts to mediate the tension between the need for precise regulation and the generation of overly complex rules that often results. Part III provides a closer examination of these legislative responses and demonstrates that, taken together, they create an opportunity for the implementation of …

"Till Death (Or Doma) Does Us Part": How Doma Imposes An Unconstitutional Classifying And Coercive Condition On Federal Funding In The Wake Of Massachusetts V. United States Department Of Health And Human Services, Erin Bender

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This Note suggests that the Court adopt a new test that would look at a condition attached to federal funding and determine whether it is a classifying condition or a coercive condition. Under this new test, a classifying condition will be deemed constitutional unless it violates equal protection principles; a coercive condition, on the other hand, will usually implicate the unconstitutional conditions doctrine.' On July 8, 2010, in Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Judge Tauro of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted Massachusetts' motion for summary judgment by determining that …

With Great Technology Comes Great Responsibility: Virginia's Legislative Approach To Combating Cyberbullying, Kelsey Farbotko

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

This comment will examine Virginia's statutory response to the growing problem of cyberbullying, focusing particularly on the bills introduced in the most recent Virginia General Assembly ses- sion. Section II will define cyberbullying and other cybercrimes, as well as discuss the effects of this form of harassment and the impor- tance of regulating speech in this manner. Section III will describe current statutes that regulate cyberbullying, as well as the three bills that came before the Virginia General Assembly in its 2011 session. Particularly important is House Bill 2059, which differs from the oth- er two bills not only because …

[Introduction To] The Hank Adams Reader: An Exemplary Native Activist And The Unleashing Of Indigenous Sovereignty, David E. Wilkins (Editor)

Bookshelf

Vine Deloria once said that Hank Adams was the most important Native American in the country. From his treaty rights work to his mediation of disputes between AIM and the US government in the 1970s, Adams shaped modern Native activism. For the first time, Adams' writings are collected, evidencing his unparalleled role in Indian affairs and beyond.

Rescuing The Strong Precautionary Principle From Its Critics, Noah M. Sachs

Law Faculty Publications

The Strong Precautionary Principle, an approach to risk regulation that shifts the burden of proof on safety, can provide a valuable framework for preventing harm to human health and the environment. Cass Sunstein and other scholars, however, have consistently criticized the Principle, rejecting it as paralyzing, inflexible, and extreme.

In this reassessment of the Strong Precautionary Principle, I highlight the significant benefits of the Principle for risk decision making, with the aim of rescuing the Principle from its dismissive critics. The Principle sends a clear message that firms must research the health and environmental risks of their products, before harm …