Law Commons^™

Federal Youth Corrections Act: The Continuing Charade, Wilfred J. Ritz

University of Richmond Law Review

No one will ever know, at least with any certainty, whether more harm than good has been done by the Federal Youth Corrections Act. The Act was enacted by Congress in 1950 upon the recommendation of a committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. The youth offenders who have benefited under YCA are those who have committed the most serious crimes, such as murder, robbery, and rape, and those with the longest records of serious criminal conduct. Because of the YCA, some of these dangerous offenders have received less severe sentences, and some have been released on parole …

Virginia Abolishes Locality Rule In Medical Malpractice, John Y. Richardson Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

The Virginia General Assembly, in recognition of a modem medical society, has abolished the presumption which favors the application of a "same or similar" locale standard to determine the requisite care of a health care provider. The "same or similar" standard has been used consistently since 1918 in malpractice litigation and, more recently, in proceedings before the medical malpractice review panels in Virginia. This standard was first adopted by statute in 1977, and though it appeared to intend a broader standard than the local standard, it was in fact interpreted as a clear statutory adoption of the Virginia case law …

J. Westwood Smithers, M. Ray Doubles

University of Richmond Law Review

John Westwood Smithers-versatile and brilliant scholar; dedicated and inspiring teacher; cooperative and genial colleague-these are my impressions after a fifty year association with him.

The History Of Legal Education In Virginia, W. Hamilton Bryson

University of Richmond Law Review

The English Inns of Court in London had ceased to perform their educational functions in the middle of the seventeenth century. For the next hundred years or so, there was no formal or organized instruction of the English common law. Lawyers, both barristers and solicitors in England and in America, learned their profession as best they could in unstructured situations. They learned by serving as apprentices or clerks to practicing lawyers, by the independent reading of law books, and by observation in the courtroom itself.

Barring Slayers' Acquisition Of Property Rights In Virginia: A Proposed Statute, Sandra Gross Schneider

University of Richmond Law Review

The above passage by Justice Benjamin Cardozo clearly reflects the age-old maxim of the common law, Nullus commodurn caperepotest de injuria sua propria, which expounds the philosophy that no individual shall profit from his own wrong. The present Virginia statute concerning homicide and succession to property was enacted by the legislature to reflect this common law policy. However, because of the very narrow scope of the statute and the requirement that it be strictly construed, it is presently inadequate to respond to many of the issues facing our judges in Virginia. Section 64.1-18 of the Virginia Code states that no …

Notes On Virginia Civil Procedure By W. Hamilton Bryson, Lewis T. Booker

University of Richmond Law Review

Although W. Hamilton Bryson modestly describes his Notes on Virginia Civil Procedure,the Michie Company, 1979, as "little more than an outline," he has in fact made a significant contribution to practical jurisprudence in his handbook on Virginia civil procedure. Mr. Bryson is a professor of law at the T. C. Williams School of Law of the University of Richmond and teaches Virginia Procedure there.

Divorce Planning In Antenuptial Agreements: Toward A New Objectivity, Peter N. Swisher

Law Faculty Publications

Within the past fifty years, there have been numerous articles written about the validity and enforceability of antenuptial agreements. Such agreements are generally favored by the law when prospective spouses privately contract to vary, limit, or relinquish certain rights which they would otherwise acquire in each other's property or in each other's estate by reason of their impending marriage. Traditionally, this antenuptial agreement is typically made by older people who are about to be remarried, and who have acquired considerable property from a prior marriage that they wish to control.

However, unless the antenuptial agreement provisions fall squarely within this …

The Fourth Amendment In Flux: The Rise And Fall Of Probable Cause, Ronald J. Bacigal

Law Faculty Publications

This article will demonstrate the Supreme Court's inability to develop an objective methodology to derive and apply fourth amendment principles under either the traditional probable cause approach or the balancing approach. A detailed analysis of traditional probable cause will reveal that its premises are ultimately subjectively derived? This examination will also show that returning to traditional probable cause would necessitate resurrecting the unrealistic premise that an individual's privacy interest is always outweighed by the government's interest in searching if the authorities meet a static standard of probable cause. The article will then discuss the advent of the balancing approach and …

Service Of Process In Virginia, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

Initial process is an official summons to a person requiring him to appear in court and defend himself or suffer default judgment. The purpose of the summons is notification to the defendant.

Clinical Education-A Golden Dancer?, W. Wade Berryhill

Law Faculty Publications

Clinical education is acclaimed by its advocates to be the salvation of the wayward and sick soul of the legal profession. Others, the staunch defenders of the more traditional academic methods, believing it to be nothing more than spit and sealing wax, shake their heads and murmur "is nothing sacred?" The purpose of this paper is to take a good "look behind the paint" of clinical education.

The Uniform Disposition Of Community Property Rights At Death Act: Virginia In 1979?, J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

The presence of community property in the estate of a Virginia domiciliary poses a series of problems that are being faced with increasing regularity by a growing number of Virginia attorneys. While Virginia has always followed the common-law system of property ownership, Virginia also adheres to the general rule that " (a) change of domicile from a state where the community property prevails to a commonlaw state does not affect the community character of property previously acquired".1 Thus, although Virginia's common-law system of property ownership will govern the property rights of married persons who have moved from a community property …

Proof Of Paternity - The New Test, J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

The true identity of a child's father has been the subject of speculation in many a case, literally speaking, as far back as the memory of man runneth. And, the rather obvious social problem giving occasion to this speculation refuses to remain a facet of our moral history. Indeed, if statistics relating to the number of illegitimate births in the United States can be viewed as a valid indicator of the magnitude of this problem of speculative paternity in contemporary times, the problem has never been greater.

Some Observations And Proposals On The Nature Of The Fourth Amendment, Ronald J. Bacigal

Law Faculty Publications

This article will analyze the fourth amendment from both the individual and limitation perspectives, and evaluate the desirability of each as a determinant of the reach of fourth amendment protection in specific situations. The individual perspective alone is an inadequate model to evaluate all interests relevant to fourth amendment problems.Conjunctive use of both perspectives, however, allows a complete and balanced analysis of the fourth amendment, and can eliminate the need to ponder such difficult questions as which expectations of privacy are socially justifiable and when an individual has waived his privacy rights. Although an accommodation between the two perspectives is …

Due Process Protections For Tenants In Section 8 Assisted Housing: Prospects For A Good Cause Eviction Standard, Mary L. Heen

Law Faculty Publications

...the Section 8 program was designed to attract private participation in a program of economically mixed housing, it poses special problems and obstacles to Section 8 tenants who, in the absence of HUD action, may turn to the courts for protection from arbitrary evictions. This article seeks to examine those difficulties and explore arguments for establishment of a Section 8 due process good cause eviction standard similar to that already judicially established for conventional public housing and for the FHA subsidized housing program.

Does Virginia Deny Indigents The Right To Divorce?, Jackson M. Bruce

University of Richmond Law Review

The United States Supreme Court in Boddie v. Connecticut held that a state denies due process of law to indigent persons by refusing to permit them to bring divorce actions except on payment of court fees and service-of-process costs. Virginia allows a waiver of court fees by its in forma paupersstatute, Va. Code Ann. § 14.1-183 (Repl. Vol. 1977), but the Commonwealth continues to require indigents to serve by newspaper publication any non-resident defendant who otherwise cannot be served. Newspaper publication costs in the city of Richmond approximate $150. This practice directly confronts the Boddie mandate that ". . . …

Review On The First Hundred Years: A Short History Of The School Of Law Of The University Of Virginia For The Period 1826-1926, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

A book review on The First Hundred Years: A Short History of the School of Law of the University of Virginia for the Period 1826-1926 by John Ritchie.

Intellectual Life In The Colonial South, 1585-1763, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

A book review on, Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585-1763, by Richard Beale Davis.

Review Of Beverley Tucker: Heart Over Head In The Old South, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

A book review on, Beverley Tucker: Heart over Head in the Old South, by Robert J. Brugger.

The Professional Corporation: An Overview, Halford I. Hayes

University of Richmond Law Review

The purpose of this comment is to provide a newly formed, moderate-sized legal firm or the beginning legal individual practitioner with a broad overview of the benefits and problems that a professional corporation [hereinafter PC] offers when compared to a partnership or individual proprietorship structure. The emphasis here will be on the availability of in-depth material in the field along with the governing Internal Revenue Code and Treasury Regulations sections.

Inheritance Rights Of Children In Virginia, J. Rodney Johnson

University of Richmond Law Review

The rights of children to succeed to a deceased ancestor's property interests in Virginia are treated in some fifteen separate sections of the Virgina Code. The first of these sections was contained in Virginia's original code of descent and distribution which was enacted in October, 1785, and the last of these sections was enacted by the 1974 session of the General Assembly. When one considers that these fifteen sections were enacted over a period of 189 years, as the result of legislation introduced by various individuals who were at any given time focusing on a particular portion of this larger …

Prison Inmate Marriages: A Survey And A Proposal, Jackson M. Bruce, John M. Claytor, Herman C. Daniel Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

This comment explores one facet of the issue of inmate civil rights: the right to marry. An analysis will be made of the current situation nationwide with particular emphasis on Virginia, including proposed guidelines for Virginia's Department of Corrections that reflect the current national trend with regard to inmate marriages.

Enforcement Of Occupational Safety And Health Laws In Virginia: A New Beginning, Anthony F. Troy, Robert D. Perrow

University of Richmond Law Review

Preempted in 1972 from enforcing its laws and regulations pertaining to employee safety and health by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA), Virginia resumed enforcement activities on January 1, 1977, implementing, pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Act, a unique developmental State Plan. Virginia's resumption of enforcement activity in the area of job safety and health culminated a difficult four-year effort by the legislative and executive branches of Virginia government to gain recognition from the United States Department of Labor that her regulations and the method for enforcing the regulations were "at least as effective" as …

Statutory Changes In Child Placement, Kathleen S. Mehfoud

University of Richmond Law Review

Based on recommendations by the Joint Subcommittee on the Placement of Children for Adoption, [hereinafter cited as the Subcommittee], the 1978 Session of the General Assembly made significant changes in the adoption statutes. The study by the Subcommittee was authorized during the 1977 Session following the introduction of several bills which would have permitted physicians and attorneys to participate in child placement without being licensed. The Assembly felt that such an important issue was deserving of closer scrutiny and therefore commissioned the study. The Subcommittee was directed to probe with particular care the special case of "independent adoptions," that is, …

Subdivided Land Sales Act, Elliott H. Dejarnette

University of Richmond Law Review

In response to a committee study on the sale of recreational property, the 1978 Virginia General Assembly passed the Subdivided Land Sales Act. This act is designed to control the typical recreational land developer whose development consists of a hundred or more lots, part of which are sold by land sales installment contracts pursuant to a common promotional plan and where the purchasers are to have the use of and access to common facilities and amenities for which they pay annual assessments. It is estimated that there are over three hundred and fifty such recreational developments already existing in Virginia. …

University Of Richmond Law Review Index

University of Richmond Law Review

This is the Index for the Volume 12 Law Review.

Choice Of Law: The Abandonment Of Lex Loci Delicti--Should Virginia Follow The Trend?, Thomas J. Cavuto

University of Richmond Law Review

One of the great virtues of the common law is its dynamic nature that makes it adaptable to the requirements of society at the time of its application in court. There is not a rule of the common law in force today that has not evolved from some earlier rule of common law, gradually in some instances, more suddenly in others, leaving the common law of today when compared with the common law of centuries ago as different as day is from night. The nature of the common law requires that each time a rule of law is applied it …

Economic Competition And The Supreme Court: Decisions In The 1977 Term, Jeff Miles, John Russell

University of Richmond Law Review

Through the years, the Supreme Court has emphasized numerous times that "[t]he heart of our national economic policy long has been faith in the value of competition." Indeed, this principle was reiterated last Term. Crucial to economic competition are the anti-trust laws, especially the Sherman Act.

University Of Richmond Bulletin: Catalog Of The T.C. Williams School Of Law For 1978-1979, University Of Richmond

Law School Catalogues

General Information:

The Law School was established as a department of Richmond College in 1870. In 1890 the family of the late T. C . Williams, who had been a devoted and valued Trustee, donated $25,000 as the nucleus of an endowment for the Law School. In recognition of this gift, the name of the School was changed to The T. C . Williams School of Law. At various times the School has received further generous gifts from members of the family of Mr. Williams. A substantial gift came through a bequest from Mr. T. C. Williams, Jr. who, like …

University Of Richmond Law Review Table Of Contents

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Virginia Wealth Transfer Tax- Proposed Alternatives, Michael D. Flemming

University of Richmond Law Review

House Resolution 34, which was approved by the House of Delegates during the 1977 session of the Virginia General Assembly, observed that Virginia's inheritance and gift tax laws have remained essentially unchanged for more than 50 years and commissioned a study of those laws "in light of recent developments."' The proponents of House Resolution 34 no doubt had the 1976 amendments to the federal estate and gift tax laws fresh on their minds. But in addition to the federal changes, several of the states have altered their approach to transfer taxation in recent years. These changes expand the options available …