Law Commons^™

Inheritance Rights Of Children In Virginia, J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

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. 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 problem area without always taking into account the "spin-off' effect that their particular legislation might have on all of the other sections dealing with the succession rights of children, it is not surprising to find that there …

The Cumulation Of The Abortion Reform Movement

University of Richmond Law Review

We forthwith acknowledge our awareness of the sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy, of the vigorous opposing views, even among physicians, and of the deep and seemingly absolute convictions that the subject inspires. One's philosophy, one's experiences, one's exposure to the raw edges of human existence, one's religious training, one's attitudes toward life and family and their values, and the moral standards one establishes and seeks to observe, are all likely to influence and to color one's thinking and conclusions about abortion.

University Of Richmond Bulletin: Catalog Of The T.C. Williams School Of Law For 1972-1973, University Of Richmond

Law School Catalogues

General Statement:

The Law School, established as a part of Richmond College in 1870, celebrates its Centennial this session. In 1890 the family of the late Mr. 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, …

Counsel Fees In Stockholders' Derivative And Class Actions-Hornstein Revisited, Douglas G. Cole

University of Richmond Law Review

In 1939, the first in a series of four comprehensive law review articles by Professor George D. Hornstein was published on the subject of the award of counsel fees in stockholders' derivative suits and corporate class actions. These articles highlighted equitable principles peculiar to such actions, previously not fully understood by either attorneys or the courts, which have made derivative and class actions extremely effective weapons in the battle for corporate democracy. Three very basic questions were posed and answered: 1) Who will pay for the attorneys fees and expenses incurred in such litigation? 2) What factors govern the award …

Constitutional Law - Search And Seizure - Magnetometer As Search

University of Richmond Law Review

As a result of the great number of airborne hijackings and in an attempt to prevent them, the United States Government has developed a "system for discouraging and apprehending potential hijackers" that includes the use of a metal detecting device known as a magnetometer. The constitutional validity of the use of this device recently has been questioned in regard to the fourth amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures in the case of Epperson v. United States.

Equal Pay: The Hospital-Nursing Home Dilemma

University of Richmond Law Review

The Equal Pay Act of 19631 (EPA) is not an independent piece of legis- lation, but rather an amendment to existing legislation. The EPA simply adds an additional fair labor standard to the already familiar Fair Labor Standards Act of 19382 (FLSA) [hereinafter alternately referred to as "the Act"]. By utilizing the process of amendment, Congress hoped to avoid the creation of a new bureaucratic structure to enforce the new law,8 and hoped to facilitate compliance because both industry and labor were already aware of the operation and provisions of the FLSA.4 However, what appeared to be a simple matter …

Enforcing Security Interests In Consumer Goods: Some Notes On The Vicious Cycle, Richard E. Speidel

University of Richmond Law Review

The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), now effective everywhere except Louisiana, is conspicuously neutral on consumer protection issues, leaving these matters to other laws, if any, in the adopting state. In the past few years, considerable pressure for reform of the consumer credit transaction has been manifested. One example of proposed re- form is the Uniform Consumer Credit Code (UCCC), approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and the American Bar Association, and recommended for adoption by the several states.

Constitutional Law-Utility Shutoffs-A Violation Of Due Process Under Color Of State Law?

University of Richmond Law Review

Past judicial decisions concerning the right of a private utility to terminate-service for nonpayment of bills have consistently favored the utility. Yet victims of shutoffs, whether poor or merely outraged and inconvenienced, continue to attack shutoff actions through the regulatory commissions, legislation, and the courts. Their efforts have met with failure in all forums.

Recovery For Wrongful Death In Virginia: The Effect Of "Dependency" And "Pecuniary Loss"

University of Richmond Law Review

In 1968, substantial changes occurred m the statute allowing recovery for wrongful death in Virginia. The General Assembly established "dependents" as a new class of persons, entitled to recover up to a maximum of $50,000 in proportion to their "pecuniary loss." The statute also designates a class of persons as beneficiaries and allows them to recover an additional $25,000 for solace. Thus, the total amount potentially available to persons who qualify as both a dependent and a statutory beneficiary is $75,000.

Restraints On Incumbent Directors In Intracorporate Battles For Control (Introduction), Aaron Yoran

University of Richmond Law Review

Any organization that entrusts the management of its affairs to a controlling group must devise checks to restrain the controllers during their incumbency. Those in control must specifically be placed under restraints that will prevent their using the organization's powers and assets to perpetuate their incumbency. In the corporate system, the need for effective restraints has become more compelling with the progression from private ownership through majority ownership and minority control to management control.

Some Problems Of Consumer Class Actions, John Krahmer

University of Richmond Law Review

As a procedural device the class action has a respectably long history and, from its beginnings, has been recognized as an action founded at least as much upon convenience as upon legal theory. Interestingly enough, it was the insistence of the early equity courts on the convenient administration of justice that led to the general rule requiring all parties interested in the subject matter of a suit to be joined before the suit could go forward, and this rule presented the first barrier to the maintenance of a class suit. As Professor Chafee has pointed out, the early judges, concerned …

Constitutional Law-The Indigent Misdemeanant's Right To Counsel

University of Richmond Law Review

In accordance with the provisions of the federal and most state constitutions, a person accused of a crime has the right to be heard and to be assisted by counsel in his defense. However, not until 1932 was the right to counsel for indigent criminal defendants recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States, and the extent of this right has remained unclear for forty years.

Warranties-Implied Warranties Of Fitness And Merchantability Held Applicable To The Sale Of Electricity As A Service

University of Richmond Law Review

The Uniform Commercial Code has had a great influence on the development of the doctrine of implied warranties in the sale of goods. However, where a transaction primarily involves the sale of services rather than products, the application of implied warranties under the Code is questionable. The technical requirement of a sale has been the principal obstacle to recovery for breach of implied warranty in the area of service contracts when the rendition of service predominates and the transfer of personal property is incidental to the transaction. Although the sale of goods is not the only transaction in which implied …

Insurance-Stacking-Multiple Recovery Permitted Under Single Policy Insuring More Than One Vehicle

University of Richmond Law Review

"Pyramiding" or "stacking" as applied to an automobile insurance policy covering more than one vehicle occurs when a claimant under the provisions of a policy is permitted to aggregate the limits of the units of coverage in that policy to satisfy a claim against the insurer. This enables a maximum possible recovery of a sum equal to the declared limits of the insurer's liability multiplied by the number of vehicles covered under the policy. The Virginia Supreme Court has previously applied the concept of stacking to a claim under the medical payments coverage provision of a multi-car policy. In two …

Government Contracts For Subsurface Excavation: Misrepresentation And Change Of Conditions

University of Richmond Law Review

Throughout the current century, federal, state and local governments have engaged the services of private construction companies in an increasing number of governmental construction projects. Many of these projects, such as the construction of roads, tunnels, dams, bridges, and buildings, require, at least to some degree, subsurface excavation. This comment deals with some of the legal problems facing contractors and governmental agencies in such excavation, and suggests possible solutions to these problems.

Some Reflections On Free Entry And The Rate Ceilings Under The Uniform Consumer Credit Code, Frank W. Smith Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

"Consumer protection" in recent years has become one of the great populist concerns, particularly in the area of consumer credit. As one should expect, however, there has been no unanimity as to who should be protected from what, or from whom, nor as to the means of providing such protection. Some feel that consumer protection still means "self-protection" in the existing system-let the buyer beware-and view consumer education in a broad sense as perhaps the most important aspect of providing protection. Others view consumer protection as a matter outlawing or regulating abusive practices and giving the consumer more rights. Some …

Vendor And Purchaser-Abrogation Of Caveat Emptor In New Home Sales By Builder

University of Richmond Law Review

Protection against latent defects exists for the purchaser of a forty-nine cent ball point pen under an implied warranty of merchantability, but no such protection prevails for the vendee of a $50,000 home in the absence of fraud, misrepresentation, or an express warranty of condition and habitability. Such is the anomaly created by the doctrine of caveat emptor, still ruthlessly applied in a majority of American jurisdictions. In two cases recently adjudicated, Elderkin v. Gaster and Smith v. Old Warson Development Co., the courts abandoned caveat emptor in the sales of new homes by builder-vendors where latent defects are at …

Book Reviews, Jack S. Shackleton, James R. Saul

University of Richmond Law Review

These are the book reviews from 1972.

University Of Richmond Law Review Table Of Contents

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

From The Editors

University of Richmond Law Review

With this volume the Review proudly welcomes Dr. Harold G. Wren as the new Dean of the T. C. Williams School of Law. Dr. Wren suc- ceeds M. Ray "Judge" Doubles, who unselfishly returned from retire- ment to serve as Interim Dean for almost an entire academic year. Dr. Wren has accepted a great challenge in becoming the Dean when many feel that bold and decisive steps need to be taken to insure that T. C. Williams continues as one of the forerunners of legal education in Virginia.

Wrongful Death-"Child" As Used In Wrongful Death Statutes Includes Unacknowledged Posthumous Illegitimate

University of Richmond Law Review

"With liberty and justice for all" is a familiar phrase upon which the American system of jurisprudence is founded. Yet society has been slow to allow a large number of its citizens to enjoy the benefits of such equal justice. Exemplifying this inconsistency is the stigma that envelops illegitimacy. "Illegitimacy is a way of life-a second-class way of life, imposed not only by the fact of birth outside a family, but by law as well." The fact that society has accepted and continues to accept this legislatively enforced discrimination against illegitimate children, while favoring legitimate children, may rest on the …

An Introduction To Virginia's New Rules Of Criminal Practice And Procedure, Murray J. Janus

University of Richmond Law Review

On January 1, 1972 the new Virginia Rules of Criminal Practice and Procedure became effective, some three and one-half years after the President of the Virginia State Bar Association appointed a Special Committee to draft these proposed Rules. Mr. Justice Thomas C. Gordon, Jr., was appointed Chairman of the Committee in June of 1968. Peter C. Manson, Professor of Criminal Law at the University ,of.Virginia,acted as consultant for the Committee and he made available special student assistants who were invaluable with their research. In addition, two judges of courts of record with criminal jurisdiction, the Honorable Edmund P. Simpkins, Jr., …

Abrogation Of Governmental Immunity- Prospective, Quasi-Prospective, Or Retrospective Application

University of Richmond Law Review

There is probably no tenet in our law that has been more universally berated by courts and legal writers alike than the doctrine of governmental and sovereign immunity. In response to this criticism, recent cases have indicated the existence of a trend to abrogate the doctrine either in whole or in part. Because the merits of the abrogation of governmental and sovereign immunity have been thoroughly discussed in the past, only the various methods of application will be discussed herein.

Extension Of The Sixth Amendment Right To Counsel- The Road From Wade To Ash

University of Richmond Law Review

The sixth amendment of The United States Constitution provides: "[I]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to have Assistance of Counsel for his defence." The constitutional guarantee of right to counsel is no more explicit than this, thus creating the problem of determining at what point in our adversarial criminal system the guarantee attaches.

The Defendant In Jeopardy- Is Virginia Unique?

University of Richmond Law Review

The constitutional and statutory safeguards against a person being twice placed in jeopardy for the same offense are well known both to laymen and lawyers alike. What has gone largely unnoticed by the Virginia courts is the applicability of the doctrine of res judicata to the area of criminal law. It is the purpose of this comment to make the reader aware of the doctrine of res judicata as it applies to criminal cases and to attempt to clear up the confusion which has developed in this area of Virginia law.

Constitutional Law-Loyalty Oaths-The United States Supreme Court Relaxes Its Stringent Safeguards

University of Richmond Law Review

Loyalty oaths have long been imposed upon citizens of both monarchies and republics as conditions precedent to the granting of certain governmental favors or to the withholding of certain punishments. But whether the oath is taken to gain a benefit or to avoid a criminal sanction, the aftermath of refusing to take a loyalty oath is that the citizen is penalized. This is not to suggest that a loyalty oath is dangerous per se, although some Justices of the United States Supreme Court have taken this view., Certainly a governmental body should not be denied the power to protect itself …

Recent Legislation, J. Rodney Johnson

University of Richmond Law Review

The 1972 session of the General Assembly was especially active in the areas of wills, trusts, and estates. Much of this legislation deals with fine points not affecting the average lawyer in his practice. However, the following items of legislation should be of general interest to the attorney whose practice involves probate work or estate planning, even though he does not hold himself out as a specialist in these areas.

Command Performance: The Tax Treatment Of Employer Mandated Expenses, John W. Lee

University of Richmond Law Review

Employers frequently not only expect but require performance of duties by employees beyond a nine to five tour at the office or plant. Such obligations may include the employee's living or eating on the employer's business premises, relocating himself and his family as a condition precedent to promotion or continued employment, obtaining additional education, entertaining his employer's customers, and traveling, including trips (frequently accompanied by his spouse pursuant to employer command, express or implied) to meetings and conventions, either sponsored by the employer or otherwise.

Interspousal Immunity-Automobile Negligence

University of Richmond Law Review

At common law neither spouse could maintain an action against the other. With the passage of the Married Woman's Acts in the mid-nineteenth century it was agreed that a cause of action would then lie for property torts, but there was confusion as to whether the statutes gave a new cause of action for personal torts between the spouses. It therefore became a question of statutory interpretation, with the terminology of most of the statutes being consistent with either conclusion. The first courts to interpret the statutes held that no cause of action had been conferred and thereby laid the …

University Of Richmond Law Review Index

University of Richmond Law Review

This is the Index for Law Review Vol. 6.